PS4 vs Xbox One: console specs are "fairly marginal," says Microsoft

Xbox One and PlayStation 4 specs only have a marginal difference, according to a Microsoft Australasia executive.

It comes from Gameplanet's interview with Microsoft's Australasian vice president of retail sales & marketing Alan Bowman.

While reflecting on the differences offered by Xbox One, Bowman explained, "We've got a unique value proposition, and from just a pure specs perspective it's always gonna be a fairly marginal difference. The purists are gonna argue the toss, but I think it comes down to the games."

He added, "You're gonna see great exclusive games on Xbox One, and when you look at the cross-platform games, and there's gonna be exclusive content on Xbox One. We'd like to be in more markets - this is a global business - but it's also a long-term business, and we'll progressively launch in more markets over the coming year."

Bowman also commented on Xbox One in Japan, and he wasn't as positive. Last year I interviewed a pair of Japanese indies on how the Xbox brand is perceived in Japan, and the feedback wasn't good.

"That has been an ongoing challenge," he concluded. "Being a local brand makes such a huge difference in Japan. Sony are so strong in Japan as its their home base, and they certainly get a lot of support from the customer as well as the ecosystem - the local third-party developers, who primarily publish for Sony.

"We had moments midway through the life of the 360 where we'd see a sales spike if we had Japanese developer content released. Japan is very [local] content-driven. Same applies for Korea, same applies to Taiwan. Most of north Asia is very content-driven."

Do you think 2014 will be a big year for Xbox One? Let us know below.

Via OXM.