daredevil.shark on 19 April 2014
| Shadow1980 said: Of course it's a marathon. Except in America the XBO is overweight and out of shape, in Europe it's got a broken leg, and in Japan it'll be on a mobility scooter with low batteries and a flat tire. Meanwhile, in America the PS4 has had better training than the PS3 and is in better shape than the PS3 or XBO, in Europe it's an Olympic-class athlete (Europe is PlayStation Country), and, well, in Japan it's more of a casual jogger, but that's still enough to beat someone on a broken-down scooter by several country miles. Games will help the XBO only so much. Both it and the PS4 share 90+% of the same library, and when it comes to exclusives Sony is capable of delivering on quantity as well as quality, whereas MS has been relying more on buying exclusivity rights to third-party games than on in-house development. Their first-party selection is still pretty much just Halo, Gears, Forza, and Fable. What happens when no third parties find it worth their while to release a game only on a system that's in second place? Will MS have invested more on first-party AAA development, or will the XBO end up like the 360 and be relatively lacking in exclusives in the latter half of its life compared to Sony? In any case, the XBO will never have a clear advantage in the games department. Both systems will be largely a wash for the time being. And besides, individual games only provide temporary boosts. The biggest problem facing the XBO is that price. Even with an unofficial price cut it's still not enough to help it take first place in the U.S. It needs a permanent, official price cut that gives it at least price parity with the PS4, but even that may not be quite enough. If they can release a Kinect-less SKU that costs at least $50 less than the PS4, then they stand a chance. That overweight, out of shape runner needs to shed some pounds to keep up in the U.S. marathon. As for Europe, it took the 360 being cut to 60% of the PS3's price for it to close the gap between the two, and even that didn't last because the PS3 had its price reduced as well. Once the PS3 Slim came out that sealed Sony's victory in Europe. The XBO getting a price cut could help in Europe as well, but it'll take more than reaching price parity to close the gap. The runner with the broken leg might have the cast come off, but the damage is done and he'll never run as fast as the other guy. With the right games and price, they might charge the batteries and fix the tire of the Japanese participant, but even then it'll plod along at a snail's pace. Price cuts are the only things that have demonstrated a capacity for long-term sales boosts. When all those limited edition Titanfall bundles go away, the PS4 will once again have a clear price advantage, and the longer MS waits to enact a permanent and official price cut, the bigger the gap between the XBO and PS4 will get. |
Ha ha ha.
