Historically the price point has been the most important single aspect to winning the console launch war.
It’s important but I dunno if it’ll matter as much this gen, to a degree.
Price matters more as long as the games are the same, more or less.
One thing you’re discounting is that Playstation also has a massive head start due to its huge sales lead in the current generation (PS4).
If even a sizeable minority of those ~110 million current ps4 owners stick with the same brand’s upgrade, Microsoft would’ve already lost the battle in a 2-3 years tops.
Most casuals just stick with the same ol same ol. In marketing, especially for consumer electronics, getting a foothold inside a household is the biggest sales lead you can get and the hardest to overcome.
And worldwide (outside N.A and I dunno about Europe but Africa and Asia) Playstation is synonymous with gaming.
Things would’ve been better for MS if the gap in this generation hadn’t been so massive.
EDIT : also since I have you here, what do you think about both companies, especially Microsoft, using console emulators to showcase games this late in release cycle ?
Seems to me there’s going to be hardware issues (here’s looking at you Microsoft) because it seems like it’s being rushed.
I’m pushing my console upgrade clear into mid next year at the earliest.