Intrinsic on 18 October 2014
Goint to cover certian aspects of all the platforms and what they could/would do going forward. Lets discuss these aspects and which of them are most likely to happen or would be most beneficial.
| STRATEGY | XB1 | PS4 | WiiU |
| Price Drop |
This is probably the most obvious approach for MS. and one that they could just as easily afford. More so than anyone else in the race. If MS wanted to, they could drop to $299 as early as May 2015 and still be able to pack in two games and a3 months free XBL. |
Sony could also drop the price of the PS4 if they really needed to. But sony is in a position where the profits they make from simply selling PS4 hardware is too good pas up. The PS4 also has shown that it could still outsell the XB1 even if its more expensive. Sony would no doubt drop the price eventually, but I don't see this happenning before holiday season 2015 if at all in 2015. Its more likely to happen around may/june 2016. | Nintendo needs to drop the price of the wiiU. And fast. I am actualy surprised they haven't done so already. Dropping its price to $199 may just be the shot in the arm the console needs. However i fear they will wait for one of the other platforms to first drop to $299 then pull of a reactive price drop of their own. both bad decisions. Its hard to fathom what they are waiting for to drop the price. |
| Upgrade programme/ subscriptions | This is somthing else only MS may be able to do. Though it could be an impossible sell to their share holders. MS can pretty much win this gen overnight if they offered a new XB1 to every 360 owner if they brought in their 360 and dropped off $150. Such a deal would be too much to pass up. However MS would be taking a minimum $200 hit on every console swapped. But everyone that owns a 360 will be lining up to make that swap. Finacial disaster? Maybe. But that $200 hit can be made back from every new user in less than 18 months. | Sony can't do this. However, if Ms does it sony would have to find a way to match it even if it means making those that made that swap pay more for PS+ or something along those lines. Sony could also partner with certain companies to make it possible too. Its a good thing for sony that this has very little chance of happenning. | Nope. Not in a million years. Nintendo would probably beat you to death with a toothbrush if you even as much as suggested this to them. |
| Hardare redesign | There no doubt is a hardware redesign just around the corner for the XB1. I expect we see it as early as next year and right around the time that the all encompassing windows 10 comes out. I expect a smaller console, bigger HDD and cheaper price. This could spur some interest and help boost sales. It worked for the PS3 so it could for MS. | Not expecting to see a redesigned PS4 till 2017 . Especially when you consider that a redesign from MS would probably only bring their console to around the size of the PS4. There is no reason for sony to do this just yet. I expect we just see SKus with bigger HDDs and different colors. A Red and/or Blue official PS4 next year joining the black and white SKUs. Sony has got a taste of the new colored SKU sales boost coolaid. They will be coming back for more. | I am drawing a blank here. What or how can you do anythig to the wiiU. Have a much cheaper SKU without the wiiU screen controller? Not gonna happen. Different colors? They have already tried that. Make it smaller? No need. |
| Bail Out | Call it a four year cycle and start the next one in fall 2017. They have done this before and they could do it again. Thoug this time it could be a lot harder for MS cause I fear their board would not be as supportive. I don't think third party publishers would be too happy either. But there is no better way to hit the reset button. They would in the very least try and come out a year before the next PS console though. And X86 in their next box means guaranteed BC too (the the ESRAM could be problematic). MS would also have to do more work into building a new console than sony as I believe tehy will never make the same mistake they made this gen again. | Sony is going to want to milk this generation as much as they can. Its the first time since the PS2 that they have a console that is profitable on seling hardware this early into a generation. They are dominating the market right now and things could only get better. They would have an eye on it though. If there is was one advantage in going with X86 architecture is that it making a new console probably has never been easier. especially for sony. This is because the PS4 is a perfectly designed architecture for a game console, so sony doesn't really have to go too far back into the drawing board. Just improve everything as much as possible. And we will also have a PS5 that is fully compatible with the PS4. 8 core CPU clocked at 4ghz? done. 125 CU GPU clocked at 1Ghz? No problem. 16GB GDDR5 (or its future iteation) with 1.5TB of memory bandwidth? Yup. As I said, just build on everything in there already. | Would probably benefit most from a bail out. But i doubt they are in a position to do that. If nintendo could get a new console out as early as next year. even if said console is exactly as powerful as a PS4/XB1 and come in at a lower price, full BC and an upgrade plan for everyone that bought a wiiU and NOT CALL IT a WIIanything. I think they are the least likely to be affected by such a decision and stand the most to gain. All they have to answer to are their 7M fans that has already picked up a wiiU. Third parties aren't supporting them now but if they made an x86 console too they could very well have third party support by default. And if they don't they should lobby for it. Dare I say I feel nintendo needs something like this more than anyone else. But i fear their window is next year... anything later than that and they are locked into this generation till whenever MS/Sony releases their new console. |
so what do you guys think?
