Is there a dispute between Microsoft and Sony that predates the Xbox?

Question

Is the rivalry between Microsoft and Sony just an attempt to grab business or is there some sort of animosity between the two companies?

I ask this because they have both adopted different formats in the high def disc format war.

Answer 1

It's just a business rivalry. MS really has nothing to do with the next gen format wars. It's basically between Sony and Toshiba. Sony opted to go with Blu-ray because it can hold more, while Toshiba opted to go with HD-DVD because of the HD and DVD name. At one time, there was talk about combining the two format so that there wouldn't be a war similar to the Beta vs. VHS war, but negotiations fell through, and each company decided to go their separate ways and duke it out.

MS went with the HD-DVD format because Sony went with Blu-ray. It makes sense for MS to go with HD-DVD because if MS went with Blu-ray, for every game that's made in Blu-ray, MS would have to pay Sony royalties, and if the 360 should win the next console war, think how much MS would have to pay Sony just for using the Blu-ray format. MS didn't enter the next gen format war until late in the game. The 360 uses DVD-9 because MS wasn't sure which format was going to win, so to keep it safe, it stuck with the DVD-9. The HD-DVD player is just a late stage attempt by MS to uproot Sony in the next gen format war. It really has nothing to do with gaming because Gates have said that HD-DVD will not be used for games, but movies only. MS really have nothing to lose regarding the next-gen format wars and everything to gain. If Blu-ray wins, it doesn't matter to MS because the 360 uses DVD-9. MS also isn't in the movie business, so no royalties for using Blu-ray disks. If HD-DVD wins, then MS gains a lot. First off, Sony would lose a lot of money with the failed Blu-ray. Second, the PS3 will most likely live or die with the Blu-ray. So if Blu-ray fails, people are not going to be picking up the PS3. And finally, people might buy the HD-DVD add-on player rather than buy a HD-DVD player, so MS can make a lot of money.

Ever wonder why Sony dropped the rumble from the Sixaxis? MS has a small share of Immersion, so if the PS3 wins the next gen console war, Sony would be paying a lot of royalties to MS.

Answer 2

Microsoft developed, produced, and sold their systems before the blue ray system was fully outed as a possible contender for hd. The cost of blue ray technology would have put the xbox 360 at an extremely higher price in 2005 when xbox first released the system for sale without any assurances that the movie industry would even produce blue ray so they took the safe route. Sony owns part of the movie industry so they could easily provide their own movie titles as incentive to go blue ray just as they did with UMD.

Yes there is a rivalry but it is generated by the gamers who are loyal to a specific system.
Xbox is great and since the release of playstation with true high def capabilities Microsoft has created an update to the xbox 360 to compete.
Playstation gives everything at once and microsoft gives it out slowly, which makes it seem like they are always chasing sony even though they released xbox360 in 2005 .

Playstation has a history of producing reliable systems and the backward capabilties keep long time gamers loyal and coming back to sony. Nintendo lost a huge part of their market when the N64 wouldn't take the older games, and the same with the game cube. The Wii can take gamecube games so nintendo did learn a lesson it should have learned in the early nineties.
Many weren't sure if microsoft would do the same and didn't buy the first xbox. Because the ps3 was a year delayed they did try the xbox360.