| Soundwave said: PS2 largely pulled away IMO because Microsoft stupidly decided to get involved in the game industry. That basically cut the competition in half, so instead of having one central competitor, it was divided into two. That was more of a factor than DVD. |
I don't think you would have wanted that. MS has a way of worming themselves into things, just to eventually take them over. A Nintendo run by MS would not have been a pretty picture. At least not if you look at how they handled Rare.
| VAMatt said: It is an absolute fact that having a DVD player helped drive sales. All features do. It is debatable how many sales occurred that otherwise would not have. But, it is not debatable that the number is greater than zero. I tend to agree that it probably wasn't a huge factor. But, if you're trying to justify the purchase to yourself, or your wife, or whoever, and you can say "If I buy this thing for $300, we won't have to buy that other thing for $150", it becomes a lot easier to justify. Also, it should be noted that the OP mentions the low black friday (and other) sale prices of DVD players, but does not mention that the PS2 was also frequently discounted and bundled. Discounts, at least in the US, happen on almost all products, almost all of the time. |
Actually, no, that didn't happen all the time. Mostly because the game companies handled the prices themselves. The Black Friday ad I posted showing the $18 DVD player also advertised the PS2 for $149. Which is the price Sony dropped it in May of that year. Same goes for Kmart and Target. Walmart didn't even advertise it. And Toys R Us was actually selling it for $220 with a few add-ins. In fact, 2005, which saw no official price cut was exactly the same. Best Buy - $149. Kmart - $149. Target - $149. Walmart - $149. A lot has changed in the past decade or so.
So, 2 years of the PS2 being $149, while a DVD player would only set you back $20-$30. $50-$60 for a nice one.
