So we're seeing sustained good console sales right now, quite late in the generation. It seems to me sales of 360, for example, in the USA being at unprecedented high levels is about existing console owners (Wii / PS3) buying a 360 to extend the life of the generation. Cross ownership of consoles is reaching the masses, not just the hard core, must have every console, gamer.
With economies in the pooh, and 3DS selling quite badly until it received a drastic, and some might say desperate, price cut. Is it a bad time to be contemplating a new console cycle with the $400+ price tag the nexgen machines will come with?
A $299 Wii U would be a draw for people, as it's within the ballpark of current gen consoles. But if Sony and MS are contemplating $399 or $499 nexgen consoles they may really struggle to get momentum going unless economies turn around and people start feeling like they have disposable income to burn. With hyperbolic talk of "lost decades" doing the rounds in places like the UK, the suggestion is that the economic rough times might last through to 2018.
It may well be that the next console gen proves to be one that struggles to sell the sort of hardware we've seen being moved this gen.
Do the big 3 risk heavy losses if they don't take heed of the changed economic circumstances we're faced with. Something the world has not experienced since the birth of consumer electronics?
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
Jimi Hendrix
