Zappykins said:
Does anyone know what happened to the players of the original Xbox? Did most of them upgrade quickly to the X360? Did they lead the change - in that consumers stopped supporting the console. It was a big leap in just about everything. If 95% of the customers go to the new thing, then why bother with the old one? Or was Microsoft just killing it off. It is not clear to me. From what I see, they supported the Xbox until 2010 - which was longer than the original console was sold as their lead console. (4 years.) If that is the case, then they could support the Xbox 360 another *eight* years. (But I don't think that is likely.) It could be halfway in its lifecycle! I have a feeling the Xbox 360 will still be around for a much longer time than the original Xbox. But just being around AS long would put it at 2018! Also, the Dreamcast lasted a long time, even without any support. (if you include homebrew.) |
Support for the original xbox went in to freefall when the 360 was launched, 2006 (first full year 360 was on sale) saw title releases on the original xbox decline significantly, 2007 saw the release of only four games worldwide, including the last ever produced for the system,these games were:
Madden NFL 08 (8/14/07)
Ratatouille (7/31/07)
NCAA Football 08 (7/17/07)
Major League Baseball 2K7 (2/27/07)
Also, people like to cite that xbox 360 only does badly in japan because 'the japanese hate the american console and love their japanese consoles', well if you look back to microsofts first attempt at a console in japan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games and see how many games were left unreleased there, you can see why japanese xbox fans would avoid the next console entirely.
This generation will be no different, support for the 360 will drop off within 3-4 years entirely, and thats a generous estimate.
The only company of the three that continue to support their hardware with both software and hardware long in to the afterlife has been Sony, for example the last game released in eu/us for ps2 was pro evo 2013 (released in late 2012) and in japan, Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin later this month, this is 6 years after the next console was actually released.
Lets look at it directly, comparing the point at which a new console is released, and the point at which the old consoles last game was released.
Nintendo 64 - Longest support after new console release : 9 months
Gamecube release JP September 15, 2001 - last N64 game 'bomberman 64' - December 20, 2001 - Support : 3 months
Gamecube release NA November 18, 2001 - last n64 game 'tony hawks pro skater 3' - August 20, 2002 - Support : 9 months
Gamecube release EU May 3, 2002 - last n64 game 'mario party 3' - November 16, 2001 - Support : -5 1/2 months (MINUS!)
Nintendo Gamecube - Longest support after new console release : 9 months
Wii release NA November 19, 2006 - last GC game 'Madden NFL 08' - August 14, 2007 - Support : 9 months
Wii release JP December 2, 2006 - last GC game 'Twilight princess' - December 2, 2006 - Support : 0 days
Wii release EU December 8, 2006 - last GC game 'Rattatouille' - August 3, 2007 - Support :8 months
Sony playstation - Longest support after new console release : 6 years 10 months
PS2 release JP March 4, 2000 - last PS1 game 'Legendary hits: Dewprism' - January 25, 2007 - Support : 6 years 10 months
PS2 release NA October 26, 2000 - last PS1 game 'Fifa football 2005' - October 12, 2004 - Support : 4 years
PS2 release EU November 24, 2000 - last PS1 game 'Schnappi 3-Fun games' - March 1, 2005 - Support : 4 years 4 months
Sony playstation 2 - Longest support after new console release : 6 years 4 months
PS3 release JP November 11, 2006 - last PS2 game 'Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin' - March 27, 2013 - Support : 6 years 4 months
PS3 release NA November 16, 2006 - last PS2 game 'Pro evo 2013' - November 6, 2012 - Support : 6 years
PS3 release EU March 16, 2007 - last PS2 game 'Pro evo 2013' - October 26, 2012 - Support : 5 years 8 months
Microsoft Xbox - Longest support after new console release : 2 years 9 months
360 release JP December 10, 2005 - last XBOX game 'Fifa 2006 World Cup' - April 28, 2006 - Support : 4 months
360 release NA November 22, 2005 - last XBOX game 'NFL '09' - August 12, 2008 - Support : 2 years 9 months
360 release EU December 2, 2005 - last XBOX game 'Xiaolin Showdown' - June 29, 2007 - Support : 1 year6 months
It's funny that in the EU, the gamecube went 5 and a half months without a single game release before the new console to replace it was launched, but looking at the figures it clearly shows that Nintendo and its supporting 3rd parties are the worst for supporting an outdated console, followed by Microsoft, then Sony with a clear, huge lead.
And people say 'nintendo is fine without third party support', okay, right, because third party support doesn't effect the longevity of a platform at all does it *rollleyes*
