Running Head: PLAYSTATION VS XBOX

PlayStation versus Xbox: Social Media Trends and Digital Presence

Caitlin Huber
University of South Alabama

PLAYSTATION VS XBOX
2

The video game industry is a relatively new one. While the first documented computer
game was created in 1952, the genre as it is known today didnt arrive until the 1970s. Pong,
created by Atari, because the first home video game to be mass produced and sold and 1975.
Video games continued to expand in the next twenty years, creating the rise and fall of several
different home consoles (PBS). PlayStation started in 1994, when the original console was
created by Sony Entertainment. It was first sold in the United States in 1995 and was followed by
the PlayStation 2 in 2000, the PlayStation 3 in 2006, and the PlayStation 4 in 2013 (Sony, 2015).
The Xbox was created by Microsoft and first released in 2000, followed by the Xbox 360 in
2005 and the Xbox One in 2013 (Marshall, 2013). As of now, the three major video game
console companies are PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox, with Nintendo trailing behind the other
two in shares.
Over 155 million Americans play video games according to the Entertainment Software
Associations latest report on the computer and video game industry. This means that 42% of
Americans play games regularly, and that consoles are present in four out of five houses. The
average game player is 35 years old, with the largest demographic of players falling between 1835 years. 44% of players are female, and women 18 or older represent 33% of players while boys
18 or younger only represent 15%. Over $22.4 billion dollars were spent on the industry in 2014,
and 56% of gamers use consoles to play their games, which means that both PlayStation and
Microsoft are part of an enormous industry that is constantly growing and pushing technology
standards (ESA 2015).
As industry leaders, both companies have similar website set-ups. The layouts are tablet
and mobile friendly and focus on pictures with only supportive copy. Both show store and
service options as well as a link to their respective networks for gamers to sign in. The Facebook

PLAYSTATION VS XBOX
3

pages are also similar in that they have much more frequent updates than the website. The
PlayStation page has over 37 million likes while the Xbox page has over 23 million likes. Both
Facebook pages keep more up to date on the current video games coming out on their respective
consoles, advertising console specific services such as early access and limited availability. The
Facebook pages and official websites of both PlayStation and Xbox are significantly different,
and its a good thing. The websites are designed to be a sort of base of information for gamers,
one that doesnt change as rapidly as the game industry as a whole. Their Facebook pages, along
with their other social media, are designed to keep up to date with the constant evolution of video
games and help gamers keep up as well.
After monitoring the Twitter and Instagram account of both console companies, it became
clear that Twitter was the favored outlet. PlayStations Twitter has more followers than Xbox,
with 8.66 million to 7.01 million, but Xbox has significantly more tweets, 124,000 to 18,800.
Both post original content about their consoles and retweet articles and links relevant to their
interests. Neither companies respond to gamers on their main account, but have separate Help
accounts to respond to twitter queries. The Instagram accounts are updated once every few days,
usually with art for the latest game or featuring an aspect of their console, such as a controller.
All of this content is intended to grab a gamers attention so that they are encouraged to continue
to support their main console.
Both companies exhibit an understanding of what kind of content gamers want to see,
and use that to their advantage. As Franks wrote, An engaged fan is more than willing to
traverse channels to deepen his or her experience with the transmedia story. (Franks, 2011)
They focus on the game that players are excited about and the ways things are different on their
specific consoles. Without video games there would be no consoles, and both PlayStation and

PLAYSTATION VS XBOX
4

Xbox know it. The new releases drive the industry, and both companies focus on using the hype.
All of the social media platforms had posts pertaining to Fallout 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops
III. Both games are highly anticipated and come out within the week, and both companies have
special edition consoles based off of those games. They each have partnered with popular Twitch
and YouTube streamers to host giveaways in an attempt to gain more followers and reputation.
Each post on both PlayStation and Xboxs social media sites are calculated to reinforce
the brand that has been decades in the making. PlayStation has consistently focused on being the
best for the player, which is reflected in the marketing slogans Greatness Awaits, This is 4 the
Players, and Where the Greatest Play. Xbox does not have a set of slogans like PlayStation,
but their advertising regularly focuses on the advanced attributes of the console, such as the
ability to play live television and the fact that they are bringing up over one hundred games from
the previous console to be played on the Xbox One.
Any digital media strategist would be able to see that both companies, while in strict
competition with each other, take very similar avenues with social media. While the specific
focuses are different, the overall effect is almost the same. A strategist for PlayStation would do
well to continue to emphasize the importance of the player, but highlight the abilities and choices
with the PlayStation 4 while doing so. A strategist for Xbox, however, would be encouraged to
focus more on the players themselves as opposed to what the console offers. Regardless of the
company, a strategist would be very successful if they did a social media stunt that separated one
company from the other in a dramatic way.

PLAYSTATION VS XBOX
5

Bibliography
ESA. (2015). Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry; 2015 Sales,
Demographic and Usage Data. Retrieved from http://www.theesa.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf
Franks, J. U. (2011). Media: From Chaos to Clarity; Five Global Truths That Makes Sense of a
Messy Media World. Evanston, IL: The Marketing Democracy, Ltd.
Marshall, R. (2013). The History of the Xbox. Retrieved from
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-history-of-the-xbox/
PBS. (2004). The Video Game Revolution. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/history/timeline_flash.html
PlayStation. (2015). The PlayStation Story. Retrieved from https://www.playstation.com/enus/corporate/about/theplaystationstory/