FACTS vs. FICTION – Volume 1

[johnlucas]

Torillian said:

Ka-pi96 said:

PenguinZ said:

I think the last point is true to some extent... Power does not sell consoles.

Yeah, but at the same time power does not stop consoles from selling either...

I would assume that it was price more than anything that determined that the most powerful console didn't win as I'd suspect that the most expensive console at launch hasn't won before either.  That still could change, but I find it much more logical to think that console price is a large determining factor in sales success rather than console "power"

Not true, Torillian.

The PlayStation 2 launched at $300, the highest price of the 6th gen tied with the XBox at $300.
It won the 6th generation HANDILY & became the single best-selling console of all time.

You're right that price has an effect on sales success or lack of success but since the PS2 wasn't TOO far out of range on price it didn't suffer the NeoGeo effect.
Problem is power doesn't come cheap.
Luckily for the PS2 it was the weakest of the remaining 6th gen consoles so the "Good Enough" effect kept it viable.

When the XBox & Gamecube came out, PS2 could no longer sell on Power Hype.
What's even more amazing is that Gamecube managed that power at a cheap price.
It's probably why they have been drawing from Gamecube's structure on their home consoles ever since.
They did the hard pioneering already with Gamecube & just have to extrapolate from it.

John Lucas