Microsoft does have one hope and this is backwards cloud compatibility.
This is something that is badly needed by the Xbox One and it should get it soon. Sony is moving towards that direction with the PlayStation Now service. A disc cannot be used from the PS3 in the PS4, however people are going to be able to stream soon from the PS3 to the PS4 console. So it is clear that Microsoft do have to do something fast if they want to keep up. At the moment they are not delivering and instead of seeing this as something they badly need, they merely think that it could be a good idea.
“There are [plans], but we’re not done thinking them through yet, unfortunately,” Frank Savage, Xbox development lead, told Kotaku Australia. “It turns out to be hard to emulate the PowerPC stuff on the X86 stuff. So there’s nothing to announce, but I would love to see it myself.”
So it looks like Microsoft will do as they always do and take their time while Sony are up and at it and getting it done now.
Microsoft is faced with the issue of games. Sony is ahead here for Indie development. Both of the consoles are sharing AAA games but Sony is going to widen the gap and then it will less of the risk should developers choose to go with exclusives for the PS4 and even let the Xbox One fade away. It could be that Xbox One will end up going the same way as the Nintendo Wii U. the Xbox One has to be competitive and so they do need compatibility cloud right now.
If they can manage to get that cloud up and running before the year is out they could pull back in the war against Sony. The library of games on the Xbox 360 is great and people would play games by streaming from that library. If Sony were to launch the PS Now while Microsoft is still debating the idea it could prove to be a disaster for them. The PS4 could end up being not only the cheaper of the two, but also the more powerful and it will allow gamers to stream older games.
Right now it is looking as though the PS4 is winning over the Xbox One, maybe Microsoft should give up on Kinect and let it go.
