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jarrod on 27 May 2010
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Reasonable said:
jarrod said:
makingmusic476 said:
If those Natal prices are true and the new baseline price of a 360 will be $299 this holiday (assuming all 360s will come with Natal), Microsoft will have handed Sony second place imo.

But that's a big if. The rumored pricing makes no sense to me.

I have to agree with that, the rumored Natal pricepoints are nonsensical.  As is the fact that 360's cost of entry hasn't changed since 2008.  I'm starting to think Microsoft is purely putting profitability ahead of marketshare now, since their main rival and reason for even entering the market (Sony) is in such a diminished position.

TBH I'm starting to think that way.  I know a lot of 360 fans are sure MS will invest and do whatever it takes to stay in second place, make Natal easily affordable, etc.  but I wonder if that's really their focus now.

MS are guaranteed a much better LTD on 360 than Xbox, plus they've gained great traction in US and UK plus made decent inroads in Europe.

Live is considered generally the Gold standard for online and they've done very well with SW.

However, since they first started investing in Xbox they've spent a fortune to now sit in a profitable position (maybe not total lifetime of their Xbox business but on a recent quarterly basis) and with Sony having tripped themselves up and Wii slowing YOY I wonder whether they're going to focus more on slowly growing the brand - with Natal core to that - while remaining profitable knowing that, even if they slip to third in the end, they're in a great position for the launch of their next console and by any measure compared to the Xbox the 360 has been a huge success.

With first place long gone to the Wii whether the Wii does dip slowly from now on, I wonder if they'll really decide to drop prices like crazy to remain in second place rather than play it careful and steady now they're firmly established in the marketplace.

Of course, they might feel coming third in the end would tarnish their efforts with 360, but I'm beginning to doubt that.  By the time PS3 passses 360 I don't think anyone's going to be painting it as a big loss for MS, rather more of a victory in terms of how well they held of the supposed easy winner and how much they grew their marketshare and how they saw so many franchises hit their ecosphere.

Yeah, I think you're pretty dead on with all your points.  I also suspect the recent talk of a major management shake up in the E&D division too might be reflective of this sort of shift in ideology from market building to money making with the Xbox line.  And actually, 360's doing well enough to where it actually could be profitable overall for the platform by the time it's cycle ends (which probably won't be the case for PS3, which could be another PR victory angle for MS).  Before I was sure we'd see a $149 Arcade slim and $99 Natal this year, but more and more I'm really doubting that's the case.

And if MS doesn't drop, I doubt Sony or Nintendo will either... 5 years in and the cheapest console is still $199. :/