Choices of representation

This happens, we all make choices and that is fine, but when the BBC makes choices of representation there is a larger catch and we need to look at that. In this, I feel largely uneasy regarding the choices the BBC made, but I could agree that we all are allowed to make choices, so lets take a look and see whether their choices were really wrong.

First there is the title ‘UK video games market value dipped by 5.6% in 2022’ which we see (at https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65175394) and that is perfectly fine. Yet is the representation of a PS5 image correct? To see this we need to consider “The PlayStation 5 has sold 33.54 million units in 28 months, while the Xbox Series X|S sold 20.86 million units. The PlayStation 5 has a 61.7 percent marketshare (+2.0% year-over-year), compared to 38.3 percent for the Xbox Series X|S (-2.0% year-over-year)” (source: VGChartz), but in similar setting we always see this. You see, the setting (from my point of view) would need to be PS5 and Xbox series X, whilst the Xbox Series X is compared to the PS4 pro. But Microsoft is spinning the numbers to the extent that we can never do that, because that would show just HOW BAD Microsoft is actually doing. You see the Xbox series S is powerful enough to make next-gen games look great, albeit at a lower resolution and that is what Microsoft was toiling with, it was more powerful than the PS4 pro (not by much) but it was aggressively priced to do so and the series S now misses the drive and can only work with digital products (not a real issue in todays market). But that alone is setting a different stage and it makes Microsoft less than a winner in this. The second tier (completely unmentioned) is the Nintendo store, who is the massive winner here. In 2021 they had (according to released numbers) $15,990,000,000 in revenue in 2021, whist they ‘only’ had $14,011,000,000 in revenue in 2022, which was a drop for them to around 87.6%. There is your 5% market fall and I reckon that the fall will be the largest representation in the UK as well. No matter how great Nintendo is doing, losing out on $1.8 billion globally will do that, and the numbers I did not look at (as I do not give a hoot) is the mobile game revenue, which I expect show a somewhat similar drop. Yet the article does not show any of that, does it? So what was Emma Saunders doing? And why did she use a Getty image of Sony? The last one was the cherry on the cake, but it matters to me. The losses are clearly seen even if unexpected in the Nintendo and Mobile software setting and that is before I look at the funny money element of Mobile gaming. If anything Sony was a clear winner in 2022 and then we get “Pokémon merchandise was the top performer. According to the ERA Yearbook 2023, top performing titles in the UK in 2022 were Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, PlayStation exclusives God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Forbidden West, Pokémon Legends: Arceus on Switch and Elden Ring” which is fine. But that implies that Nintendo and Sony did amazing in these losses, as such why did we not see a Getty image of Microsoft there? Interesting how the BBC is shielding Microsoft from more established elements that do bring the bacon. The top performers do not mention anything by a Microsoft exclusive article, why is that? It perfectly fine that they failed to perform, but in that setting the 5% drop would be in the Microsoft realm, even as we see that Nintendo did a little less (and still was ahead of everyone else). 

So why did the BBC took to the streets with choices of representation by setting the image of Sony whilst they have been making numbers and growing marketshare? Is the stakeholder at the BBC shielding someone from bad news reflection? Just how neutral is the BBC at present? 

Just asking.