HappySqurriel said:
People buy a console early on based almost entirely on expectations which are heavily influenced by how the console manufacturer did in the previous generation. One of the core reasons why Sega was so unsuccessful with the Dreamcast was because of the damage done with the Sega Saturn, Sega CD and 32X. With the PS3 in particular, the primary reason it performed so well was because of Sony's track record with the PS2. Had Microsoft released a system that was identical to the PS3, and Sony released a system that was identical to the XBox 360, it is highly likely that Microsoft's system would have flopped while Sony would be competitive with the Wii for the best selling system this generation. |
Plus, when the system fucks up on reliability the consumer is more likely just to stick with that system since they already heavily invested in games, controllers, etc for that system. I've seen it plenty of times where 360 owners just sucked it up and got another 360 just because they already had all the other stuff. So once you get the consumer to buy a system you usually can lock them into that system the entire gen (or at least continue to get support from them) unless they have a change of heart (which few usually do even when the company gives them good enough reason to).
