windbane said:
First of all, with inflation-adjusted numbers, the 360 (the real one, not the core) is priced about average when compared to the past consoles. The PS3 is one of the most expensive, and the Wii is one of the cheapest. I think you get what you pay for. The head of a major gaming company is releasing far more games on the PS3 and PSP than other consoles, so I'm not very concerned with him justifying throwing away a major RPG release on a graphically inferior handheld. He said the install base was high, and it's probably cheaper. Considering it takes longer than 2 years to make a game, it looks like the Wii will miss the party. They have very few games in development for the Wii, and if they start any now they will be on the PS3 and/or the 360. Kinda like The Last Remnant, huh?
|
Well something we can agree on, the core is not a real 360. Oh statistics, my pleasure of pleasures. Since I enjoy statistics so much and since the rest of your comments have been debated before I'll focus on them. Let's take a closer look at this "360 is about average in price" claim. First I should note I'm using GDP implicit price deflator here, you may, assuming you ran the numbers yourself, have used the CPI which I don't like personally (my advance macroeconomics professor preferred CPI but then he also loved PPP so to me that just links the two) but the difference is only 6% in 1991 so it doesn't matter much. This chart is entirely US figures and doesn't include also-rans like the 3DO or CDI.
| System | Launch Price | Price in 2005$ |
| NES | 200 | 333 |
| 3rd Gen | 200 | 333 |
| Genesis | 190 | 277 |
| SNES | 200 | 271 |
| 4th Gen | 195 | 274 |
| Saturn | 400 | 500 |
| PS1 | 300 | 371 |
| N64 | 200 | 243 |
| 5th Gen | 300 | 371 |
| DC | 200 | 235 |
| PS2 | 300 | 345 |
| Xbox | 300 | 336 |
| GCN | 200 | 224 |
| 6th Gen | 250 | 285 |
| System Avg | 249 | 313 |
| Xbox360 | 400 | 400 |
A few of those systems, the NES and SNES, came with 2 controllers and a game while the Wii of course comes with a game so they are technically even cheaper. The 360 is the 3rd most expensive system being bested only by the PS3 and Saturn. Excepting the Saturn, prior to the 360 the average generational price was settling around $290. The trend line in Excel has each system becoming $6.75 cheaper adjusting for inflation at launch until recently. The PS1 is somewhat close to the 360 though unfortunately I don't have the time or information to be able to figure out how much each system sold for at what price.
It's because of how long the 360 is hovering at $400 that its total average price is really being driven up. I can find that the PS1 took 9 months to fall to $199 and 21 months to fall to $149. We're at month 19 and the 360 just got more expensive with the $480 Elite. Maybe we'll see a $200 price drop in 2 months but I doubt it. Correcting for inflation and price drops the PS1 averaged around $280 in its first 2 years. Assuming we get a Halo 3 $100 price cut on the 360 its 2 year price average is $379. Even though at launch the 360 was only about 7% higher than the PS1 at this point in their lives it is 66% higher and even allowing for the price cute it will end its second year 35% higher.
This is in comparison with the next most expensive system that it comes off that badly. Comparing it to the SNES or N64 would be even worse. The simple fact is that the 360 is not about average even when looking at launch prices and fares even worse when averaging it's price due to it's long price drop wait. Again I didn't say an extra $100 was too much for some it's just too much for most. The Wii by the way would be around $245 so it's tied with the N64 and above the GCN and DC in launch price. Admittedly it could have easily launched at $200 (or even $150) but as we are seeing no point in Nintendo throwing away up to a billion in profits.
Anyways, anymore stats you need me to shoot down? It has been quite a delightful 40 minutes, I must thank you for that.
