| d21lewis said: In reference to the part I was quoted in, the N64 and GameCube were probably the cheapest when they launched. Dreamcast and WiiU, too (and with a year's headstart). By the time the SNES came out, the Genesis was much cheaper. Just like with power, there's a lot of factors that determine a winner. Price is a big one but far from the most important in the eyes of many. |
You are quite correct about the fact that the N64 launched at a cheaper price than the PS1. Though for many people the PS1 was a much cheaper console overall than the N64. For example PS1 games averaged at about $49.99, sometimes $39.99. N64 games were often $59.99 all the way to $89.99. The $70 title was quite common. Where the hardware was sold cheaply, the software and accessories were not. So in terms of the over all experience, I would definitely consider the PS1 a much cheaper outing. I was in elementary school back then and I can tell you that I wouldn't have had barely even a 3rd of the games I had, had I choose the N64 over the PS1.
Also if you look at the price cuts for the both the PS1 and N64. http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Price_cuts#Price_cuts_for_the_5th_generation You'll notice that the PS1 was never, at any point in time in the US, priced higher than the N64. I'm guessing Nintendo was aggressive in responding to the price cuts to keep their place. Something like around 67% of the global N64 sales were in North America. The thing was a complete flop in Japan.
So at the end of the day the PS1 was still cheaper, or equal to the N64 in price at any given time and offered far more software selection at a considerably cheaper price point. The only thing that can be said is that the N64 launched cheaper than the PS1. Keep in mind the PS1 first launched in Japan in December of 1994, and the first N64 didn't launch until September 1996.
But I do agree that price isn't everything. The Wii U's real failure was marketing and Nintendo seemingly lacking awareness of their consumers imho. I would rank price as one of the lowest determining reasons of it's low performance.
