| LuckyTrouble said: Consumers really don't understand choice as much as anybody might think. They tend to gravitate towards the latest/most well advertised product. Only a small subset of consumers could be considered well informed. People are only okay with choice, and even then, that choice has to come with someone basically telling them what's best to get. Having a small circle that seems to at least represent the potentially well informed consumer subset does not mean everybody who wanders into Walmart looking to buy a piece of tech knows what's available, knows what they want, and won't be overwhelmed with choices if there's too much and it's too confusing. Buying an iPhone? People just look for the latest number. Buying an Android phone? You just go to a phone stand, the person tells you "the Galaxy series is popular", and you end up getting a Galaxy S6. Now imagine that NX line. Everything will likely be named similarly because Nintendo can't seem to name a console anymore to save their lives. Let's return to the Wii/Wii U example of persistent consumer confusion. Now multiply that by seven. Suddenly people are gravitating towards the competition because the competition is clear cut. Even when people can understand options, they don't always like them. You may think consumers want choice, but what they really desire is someone giving them an obvious answer, that x product is assuredly better than y product. |
Well clearly you are talking about massively successful products. The iPhone. Samsung Galaxy. They dwarf the PS4 in sales.
Consumers today are more savvy about electronics, electronics are not just appliances anymore, they are personal companions, almost like fashion statements. People want a device that tailors to their needs. Forcing everyone to have to buy one kind of console is a limited and IMO outdated concept.
I don't want a console that only consumes 33 watts of electricity. That is about no.15 on my list of important things in a console. Yet Nintendo spent a ton of time/effort/money making sure the Wii U runs at that electical output, at the expense of hardware power and several other factors.
I say ... enough with this nonsense. Let the consumer choose what they want.
STEAM is a good example of this, STEAM is just the game ecosystem. You can choose whatever PC floats your boat. A laptop even, if that's what you want. IMO that's the future. Valve doesn't care, as long as you're buying games through their store -- it's all good. In a way STEAM probably represents the future moreso than even the PS4 does.
You can't dictate and talk down to consumers about this stuff anymore or they will simply just take their business elsewhere. Even the mighty Apple, which has the greatest marketing machine behind them in the consumerism was losing momentum by forcing people to have no choice in the iPhone (one model, you buy it, no we won't make a bigger screen one). They finally offer choice, and voila, sales explode past records and now Samsung is on the defensive.
