With the Uncharted 4 delay, a PS4 for $299 later this year does not feel far off.

[binary solo]

Shadow1980 said:

Soundwave said:

The thing is honestly I don't exclusives are as big of a deal as "console warriors" on sites like these make it out to be.

The PS4 got termed the "console to buy" early in the gen because they made better design decisions than MS did with the X1 (banking on Kinect 2.0, underpowered chip, too much on TV/non-gaming).

But now it creates a cycle, if my friend has a PS4, then given a choice between a PS4/X1, I'm buying a PS4. Because I want to be able to play Madden NFL/NBA 2K/Call of Duty/etc. with my friend online.

I think really that's more of the thought process with the "average Joe" gamer. All this stuff about exclusives and release list dick measuring doesn't factor into their purchase decision as much as people here think.

More or less. Overall libraries seem to make more of a difference than anything. I can think of only three exclusive games that made a huge difference to the fortunes of the system they were on: Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog (possibly), Final Fantasy VII, and Halo. Otherwise, exclusives are simply short-term (usu. ≤1 month boost) system-sellers. Of course, back in the 80s & 90s exclusives comprised significantly greater portions of each system's library, but things have changed, with third parties making multiplatform releases increasingly standard over the past three generations. The PS4 and XBO share over 90% of the same games: they both have COD, Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, Destiny, FIFA, Madden, Far Cry, etc., etc. Unless one is a huge Halo fan or a huge Uncharted fan or whatever, exclusives won't make much of a difference in the long run. The sales leaders are now determined more by pricing, marketing, brand strength, and regional differences in sales patterns. The 360 beat the PS3 in the U.S. more because of the latter's high launch price than anything else, and probably for the same reason it was able to sell fairly well in Europe despite selling significantly slower than the PS3. Meanwhile, the PR blunders of spring 2013 and the $100 higher launch price crippled the XBO's momentum and tarnished the brand's name for many gamers, thus allowing Sony to recapture the top spot.

I wouldn't rule out the "better version of multiplats" element either. While it's clear the 6th gen was uninfluenced by this, I think the 7th gen made a thing of relative performance of multiplats with sites like Lens of Truth (where are they BTW?) and Digital Foundry.  Price, reputation and brand are probably the biggest factors but "which version looks best?" is part of it.

Nintendo is of course a very different beast. For Nintendo it is actually all about the exclusives. If Nintendo exclusives had a better general market appeal Nintendo would win every generation because people would say screw CoD I need to play ... but then because Nintendo's exclusives would be briging Cod fans to their console so CoD would be there too. But Nintnedo's exclusives are not in that position, so they are lagging instead of leading.

I do feel a $100 price cut coming on. Sony may have been mulling $50 with some Uncharted bundling and some special temporary deals. But with the Uncharted holiday pivot gone I think they will look to go straight to $299. The BF and similar deals will not be lower pricing, but increased value with bundling and gift cards. About 6 weeks will tell when we get Sony's PS4 shipment projections for the next financial year.