The PlayStation 5 Is Still A Ways Off - Jason Schreier Kotaku

[DonFerrari]

Kristof81 said:

twintail said:

Please, the PS3s major issue was its price point. MS suffered a similar problem with the X1 not too long ago too. Sure there are other hooks but there really isnt much Sony will have to do. Make PS5 native 4K (which presumably is the idea), integrate VR more into the system (while not being mandatory) and load up on good quality software (obviously will happen) and they are good to go.

And actually, locking people into their ecosystem is pretty important right now. The subscription model hasnt been that effective in keeping people because digital was never that important back in 2002. Likewise, it was still pretty minor during the X360 days. Digital is a lot more important right now and actually making up a huge percentage for of sales for many publishers. To dismiss the ecosystem as unimportant right now would be short sighted.

With digital sales being more popular now than ever for consoles, combined with paying for console online services and the growing rate of "Live" games, being able to get people into your ecosystem and retaining them is incredibly valuable going forward.

Why do you think MS is pushing BC so much: the more purchases a user has with MS (X1, 360 and XB) the more attachment and history they have on the XB brand. Why do you think Sony doesnt budge on cross platform multiplayer? Because they want ppl buying into their increasingly more popular ecosystem instead of having the problem that ppl jump into MS/ Nintendo's and therefore having less users with them when next gen starts. 

The signs are everywhere for the importance of getting customers now and keeping them going forward.

Of course it's important, but price tag itself isn't the deciding factor, if you bring something really appealing alongside with the product. Both PS1 and PS2 were more expensive than Nintendo's counterparts, despite the fact that they were the weakest of the bunch in terms of power. GCN (at least in UK), was laughably cheap at launch, with the price tag of £129, compared to PS2's £299. Percentage wise, we're talking the same price difference as between Wii and PS3. Yet, it dominated GCN, because it brought something else to the table ... proper DVD format (just like PS1 did with CD). In other words, there was a reasonable justification of a higher price tag. The problem with PS3 was that Blu-ray players of 2006 were way more expensive than DVD players of 2000 (inc discs), but they pretty much used the same formula. Combine both for less. Did Sony push the price tag too far? Sure they did, but they also thought that the blu-ray player would be the best thing since sliced bread (or DVD in that case) and people would buy it regardless. In their eyes the price was just right. For MS this "magic" product supposed to be a mandatory Kinect and for Nintendo, tablet controller. All of them didn't quite match the expectations, which doesn't mean that they would fail too if there was a broader audience for those extra products. Of course there are plenty of other reasons why one product becomes more successful than the other, like software, advertisement, design, general reputation etc. Price is just one of many (I'm looking at you, Apple).

Sure companies try as hard as the can to lock users in their ecosystems, but with consoles the extent of that locking is nowhere near as bad as in, let's say, mobile market. There's still more physical copies sold than digital and while it's absolutely normal to own multiple systems (and many gamers do), owning multiple smart devices just for the sake of apps is perceived as silly and not many people do it. Even that, that's not stopping customers to change their preferred mobile platform if they think they can get better deal somewhere else, despite the fact that there's lot more going on there than just apps. With consoles the turning point will be a generation of systems with no physical media. After that, it will be harder than ever to change the platform, but we're not there yet.

On PS2 vs GCN thing, I think PS2 wasn't 299 anymore when GCN launched and it already had the benefit of being on the market and having good support.