Lafiel said:
personally I see MS in a very very good spot - they are likely to take US+UK markets (which probably are the most profitable markets) this gen and carry that advantage into next gen as the majority of the users seem convinced of MS' approach as by far most western devs are located in these countries and naturally will feel more inclined to work on the neXtbox, maybe using it as their go to main platform or even trying to produce exclusives (a big part of that decision is up to publishers though) additionally MS established their live subscription service very well and can use it to further subsidize their console, meaning they might put out the stronger console (than Sony) for the same price or a similar speced mashine for a lower price as they are sure to get a lot of revenue/profits from live subscriptions further enhanced is that advantage by the strong yen and relatively weak dollar/euro, which means Sony can't afford to invest that much into hardware if they want to sell their machine for a decent price in dollar/euro zones
overall I think MS is in a way stronger position than at the begin of the current gen, as their stronger market position and consumer accentance is more important than a 1 year headstart |
Sony had the weakest console 2 straight gens and dominated through software and reasonable cost. They had no software, were late, and cost waaaaaay too much at the beginning of this gen. Microsoft can go ahead and have the most powerful it won't help them much unless they are the only system that can handle games which would require a Wii to PS360 gap in power which I don't see occuring. Not to mention they have to integrate Kinect which will drive up the cost while Move can still function as an add-on and keep the system cost down.
