Why Xbox 360 is losing appeal to new customers.

[Squilliam]

Dallinor said:

Squilliam said:
Well lets see:

I think things like the PS3s recent exclusives, Wifi, cost of live, relative price of the Xbox 360 vs PS3 = overstated relative to the actual difference they make.

The fact that the PS3 is the sequel to the strongest selling console of all times is understated.

Is the fact that Live costs a problem? Hell no! Its better than PSN and it has a better adoption rate amongst those whom really care about online gaming.

Is the fact that the PS3 got a few good exclusives recently a problem? Hell no because a lot hardly sold anything and you can measure your market impact from units moved not metacritic points acquired. The only big one is Uncharted 2 and thats not as big an impact as Gears of War so its still a large but not massive exclusive.

Is the fact that Xbox 360 doesn't come with wireless a problem? No because a lot of American homes have cable right next to their TVs and its online experience is still better and worth the extra money you'd pay for the adapter.

Is the fact that the PS3 comes with Blu Ray a problem? Nope because players come with remotes and people like remotes and these players with free remotes only really cost like $100-150 and they use far less power than the PS3 and are much quieter.

1. I think it's a problem. It's a problem of value in the eyes of the consumer. It might also be an issue with people not having access to credit cards etc. Actual stats for this we'll never know.

2. What does Gears have to do with anything? Sony recently released some compelling software on it's system, which moved units. That's a problem. The impact might not be huge, but we've only seen a few weeks of U2 sales. It's market impact will lie well beyond that measure.

3. I thought we were talking WW here.  It's also an issue of value. Even if the consumer doesn't really need it, if it's thrown in for (seemingly) free, it can make the product more desirable.

4. Your point seems to be concerned with consumers only interested in BR. I have no idea the size of the market segment interested in both a gaming machine and a BR player, but it exists.

1. WoW is a paid service with a lot of essentially similar free services out there and it survives and thrives. Its a network effect as both Live and PSN cannot talk to each other people have to choose what their friends have, not which is cheapest or offers the best price/value.

2. Its compelling for PS3, but until it gets some big sales numbers it doesn't really imply or explain anything. Its big but its not as big as something like Gears of War which defined a whole holiday season somewhat by itself. Its not enough really to bother to list as a reason why the XB isn't doing as well relative to the PS3 at present.

3. Well X % will never go online (1/3rd to 1/2) so theres that. Of the people whom do go online its only a problem for those cross shopping the PS3 and Xbox 360. These are people who haven't been pulled in a particular direction anyway. Most of the people whom a PS3 and Xbox 360 is an equal choice will pick the PS3 because Playstation is the brand they know. In this case whether wireless is there or not is irrelevant.

4. I don't doubt that it exists but you have to consider that X % already have a BR player, X % of people want a seperate one, X % don't want one at all. Its an added feature 'free' so its utility varies. I changed the colour setting on my Bravia, that makes me like one of 5% of people to touch that setting. Its hard to say what impact the feature has for the console, but since it only relates to one specific segment it doesn't speak of the overall dynamic and should probably be ignored as theres too much uncertainty and that metric is changing all the time.