Background

Microsoft and Sony announced that their next console generation will be launched almost concurrently: Xbox One (XO) on Friday, November 22 in the UK and 13 more countries. PlayStation 4 (PS4) will launch one week earlier than that in North America and one week later in Europe. [1]

Differentiators

The two consoles' differences are as follows - for their impact on the forecast see in the "Discussion" section below:

1. Price -- PS4's price point, at US$400, is 20% below XO, at US$500. [2]
2. CPU -- Both: Single-chip x86 AMD "Jaguar" processor, 8 cores
3. RAM -- PS4: 8GB GDDR5 5500mhz; XO: 8GB DDR3 2133mhz, plus 32MB eSRAM
4. GPU -- PS4: 1152 ATI logic cores; XO: 768 ATI logic cores
5. Memory Bandwidth -- PS4: 176GBps; XO: 68.3GBps
6. PS4 Exclusive games -- Binding of Issac: Rebirth, Deep Down, DriveClub, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Galak-Z: The Dimensional, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Guns of Icarus, Helldivers, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, inFamous: Second Son, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, N++, Natural Doctrine, Octodad: Deadliest Catch, The Order: 1886, Rime, Rogue Legacy, TimeSplitters Rewind, Shadow of the Beast, Volume, War Thunder, Wasteland Kings, Wonder Flick, Yakuza Ishin;
7. Xbox One Exclusive games -- Below, Cobalt, Crimson Dragon, D4, Dead Rising 3, Fable Legends, Fighter Within, Forza Motorsport 5, Halo 5, Killer Instinct, Kinect Sports: Rivals, Quantum Break, Peggle 2, Powerstar Golf, Project Spark, Rabbids Invasion, RYSE: Son of Rome, Sunset Overdrive, Zumba Fitness: World Party, Untitled Black Tusk Game

Expert opinions

1. Michael Pachter Reckons That the PS4 Will Outsell the Xbox One at Launch - PushSquare, 29 September 2013

Discussion of differentiators

1. Balance or Power? Comparing Xbox One and PS4 Hardware - GameFront, 23 September 2013

External Links

1. Xbox One release date - Metro, 4 September 2013
2. PS4 vs. Xbox One vs. Wii U Comparison Chart - IGN
3. PS4 vs. Xbox One Games - IGN
4. Xbox One Hardware & Analysis: Comparison to Playstation 4 - Anandtech, 22 May 2013