| Conegamer said: No, nor can MS or Sony When Nintendo releases a new console, say, Winter 2011, then the other two will seem to be outdated and old. They won't want old tech. People want new tech, especially with Nintendo's brand recognition No way can MS and Sony afford to wait until 3-4 years after the Wii2 launch to release their next console, they'll effectively skip a generation. Nintendo have the upper hand here. They can release a Wii2 with better graphics than the PS360 in 2011, having made a tidy profit from the Wii, and sell both at the same time. PS360 however are different. Do they try and get back money from this generation and not release a console to fight with the Wii2, and stick with the PS360, or do they cut their losses, make a new console and get profit and games for the next generation? Bottom line is, Nintendo are firmly in the best situation here. Striking at the right time could really hurt MS or Sony... |
I doubt Nintendo could hurt MS even if they would want. MS made 17.8 billion dollar profits last year (more than Apple) and has 40 billion cash in reserve just waiting to be used. So, MS could easily afford even next generation with huge loss if they want. They don't want to because they want profits for shareholders but if Nintendo launches next generation console first, they will definitely launch their console soon after that even with loss. Then again, even Nintendo have a lot of money (not as much as MS but they are also smaller company) so even they could make risk with next generation.
Sony, however, can't afford making such big losses. They don't have big profits or cash reserves so they wouldn't want getting big losses again. Sure, they have biggest assets of the 3 but assets only matter when you sell them and I doubt they would like to do that because that also could hurt future revenue and profits.
