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HappySqurriel on 12 February 2012
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Khuutra said:
HappySqurriel said:
Khuutra said:

I reject that reasoning from both of you; based on this generation and others, I have no reason to believe that there's such a thing as carrying over console loyalty for a large crowd. If there was, PS3 wouldn't have taken this long to really get going, and the 360 wouldn't have done as well as it did.

The Wii will not determine the success of the Wii U; the Wii U will determine the success of the Wii U.

I think you both misunderstand what the advantage of having a larger userbase is ... What I'm really talking about is brand loyalty and vendor lock in; and the more generic and interchangeable the products are the more these factors matter.

Regardless of whether you're looking at beverages, vehicles, or household cleaning products people have a demonstrated track record of buying products based on brand loyalty. It can't compensate for releasing a system that is $200 too expensive, or to protect you against a much more exciting and inovative product that has been released to specifically target a large portion of your userbase, but it can sway people to buy your system when all other factors are practically equal.

I simply have never been presented a convincing argument for brand loyalty in the context of video games. It didn't help the N64, it didn't really help the Super Nintendo, it damn sure didn't help the PS3, it wasn't what propped up the DS or the Wii.

From what I can discern, brand loyalty in the gaming sphere takes a firm backseat to compelling software. For most gamers, the brands might as well not exist.

I would actually argue that brand loyalty helped both the N64 and PS3 substantially ... The N64 sold 66% as many units as the SNES and was the best selling console that wasn't the market leader until this generation; and the PS3 may be on tract to being the second place console, and best selling second place console to date. With both these systems it is highly likely that they would have been market failures within their first couple of years had they not had the massive established userbase from their previous generation system.

You're trying to look at brand loyalty as a "magic bullet" that guarantees a "win", when what I'm saying that it is an advantage that helps a system sell better than it would have otherwise. Product loyalty, vendor lock-in through backwards compatibility, and being first to market are not the most important factors in what systems people choose to buy but do have an impact; especially when there is little difference between the systems otherwise.