Xbox has launched a new Mastercard credit card, issued with Barclays, with the goal of rewarding and maintaining its current host of loyal customers and attracting new ones.
Retail Banker International recently posted a comment piece on how Xbox appears to have found a niche group of customers who find the card very appealing. This being Xbox users who show no interest in ever changing console and want to relish rewards by maintaining the habits they already have.
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PlayStation, Sony’s gaming console brand, and Xbox have always been seen as the big rivalry in the gaming industry. While social media has shown Xbox has experienced relative success in one goal of its card, to reward current existing customers, the goal of attracting new customers remains to be seen. However, it must be noted that the timing of the release comes at a contentious time.
Sony fails to give banking security?
While Xbox is trending on Twitter for its new card, Sony is trending for being the victim of an alleged hacks. What makes it worse for Sony, is that this isn’t the first time. PlayStation Network was hacked in 2011, with 77m users affected. This was followed with Sony Entertainment being hacked in 2014, with unreleased films being stolen, with further compromise to Sony’s social media accounts in 2017. Now with the alleged hacking in 2023, the extent of which has not yet been revealed, however the group responsible, Ransomed, has claimed to have hacked all systems.
Customers have voiced their frustration, with some already suggesting the hack of Sony could result in them moving over to the Xbox console, with the timing of the new credit card and successful transition in the financial industry, making the brand look very appealing right now.
While the timing of Sony’s security woes could not be something Xbox planned, the company could look to benefit from its. The Xbox Credit Card, something which could have perhaps been viewed as a token gesture, could now be an unlikely weapon in Xbox’s arsenal and play a huge role in the game of establishing itself as the secure option for banking in the gaming industry.
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By GlobalDataSocial media could once again be the battleground for building or damaging brand reputation, with some impartial parties looking at the status of both gaming companies right now and seeing that one shows a lot more financial security than the other.
Our signals coverage is powered by GlobalData’s Thematic Engine, which tags millions of data items across six alternative datasets — patents, jobs, deals, company filings, social media mentions and news — to themes, sectors and companies. These signals enhance our predictive capabilities, helping us to identify the most disruptive threats across each of the sectors we cover and the companies best placed to succeed.
