The video game industry continues to be one of the most profitable, comparable to other media such as movies and music. However, barring Chinese mobile giants like Tencent and Nexxon, it’s also only largely dominated by three key players: Sony, with their PlayStation brand; Nintendo, which has been a gaming company since its inception; and of course, Microsoft and the Xbox brand.
Going by the current generation, it’s pretty clear that Sony has been largely ahead of both Nintendo and Microsoft, as the PlayStation 4 now boasts over 90 million units sold. It’s a number bolstered by its large library of exclusives, including recently released big sellers such as Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man.
However, according to a new report published by the Financial Times, it would seem that PlayStation isn't as dominant as you might think. The financial report was made out of WPP’s research arm Kantar, called the BrandZ rankings. In it, it’s revealed that while Xbox ranks within the top 100 global brands, both PlayStation and Nintendo failed to make the same cut.
While it’s a bit unbelievable, it’s important to note that this same list has been in circulation for about 13 years now, and is largely calculated by the overall value given by the brand to the business itself. To achieve this, the report combines both market and financial data, in addition to a huge number of consumer surveys from around the world. As it stands, it’s not a perfect representation of the overall brand worth, but it does give us a look at one of the many sides of it.
Consider the fact that while PlayStation ultimately did sell the most consoles with the PlayStation 4, it also did this on the back of multi-platform titles like Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption II and various Call of Duty titles. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Xbox own the Minecraft brand, which continues to be the one of the most successful titles of all time. It would not be surprising if this is one of the key aspects that pushed Xbox to the top 100.
In any case, all bets are off as we get into the next generation of consoles, which should prove interesting, to say the least.
