PS5/Xbox Series X Price Is Most Important Factor Of Next-Gen In Ed Boon's Survey

Mortal Kombat series creator Ed Boon recently posed a question to his more than 500,000 Twitter followers: what is the most important element of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X?

The options in Boon’s informal Twitter poll included affordable price, better graphics, exclusive games, and backwards compatibility for last-gen consoles. More than 50,000 people took part in the survey, and an affordable price was the most important for voters.

Price accounted for 37.5 percent of the vote, followed by last-gen compatibility (30 percent), better graphics (19.2 percent), and exclusive games (13.2 percent).

Boon said he was surprised to see exclusive games rank the lowest. In any event, a Twitter poll–even one that has 50,000 respondents–is not necessarily reflective of consumer interest or intent.

Sony and Microsoft have not yet announced the price points of their next-generation consoles, but with each system due to launch this year, those details should become clear in the months to come.

For comparison, the PS4 and Xbox One launched at $400 USD and $500 USD, respectively. The Xbox One was more expensive than the PS4 at launch in part because every system included a Kinect camera. Microsoft later cut the camera from the bundle and the price came down to be on par with the PS4.

Both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are slated to launch this holiday. Microsoft has been more forthcoming in regards to details, as it showed off the Xbox Series X in December 2019 during The Game Awards. Announcing and showing the console so early was a bold and risky move that Microsoft employed to compete with Sony, according to Microsoft.

For its part, Sony has confirmed smaller details like improved loading times and support for PS4 games, but the company has yet to actually show the console or announce more key particulars.