The_Liquid_Laser said:
thismeintiel said:
The PS4 doesn't prove your point, though. There is much more to it than A console is cheaper than B console, so A will win. Take the Dreamcast, for instance. When the PS2 launched, Sega dropped the price of the Dreamcast so that it was $150 cheaper than the PS2. So, why didn't it just completely trounce the PS2 like your theory says it should, since it was weaker AND cheaper? Because the PS2 was seen as the better product, both in power and game releases. It also helped that PS now had some brand loyalty.
This is what happened with the PS4 and XBO, as well. Even if they launched at the same price, the XBO had bad PR prelaunch, some they were able to dispel before launch. They also could not change the fact that the PS4 was more powerful than them. Even if they launched the XBO for $50 cheaper than the PS4, that gap would not have been enough for people not to buy the more powerful system with the greater game output and better performing multiplats. Like before, it also helps that the PS brand loyalty is now in full swing.
Looking at brand loyalty, it's easy to see that the Xbox has very little chance of winning a gen, unless Sony fucks up royally ($200 price gap and highly custom chipset, resulting in inferior multiplats), which I highly doubt they will. The XBox's big disadvantage is that it does better in a region with very little of it. In Japan, the PS is always going to sell millions more than the Xbox. In EU, the PS is always going to sell tens of millions more than the Xbox. In the US, however, it's a toss up. This region has gone back and almost every gen, with PS and Nintendo being one of the few repeats. With PS5 being B/C and them most likely launching at the same price, I think next gen will most likely play out just like this one.
Another thing to consider is that HW sales are very important for Sony, where Xbox is shifting to be a service. MS isn't going to be willing to take the same loss on HW that Sony will. We could see a more powerful PS5, which rumors are circling that that is the case, but they launch for the exact same price.
|
I can't believe people keep using the Dreamcast as an example, lol. Especially when they don't seem to know why the Dreamcast sold poorly.
Dreamcast sold poorly, because Sega stopped making it. You couldn't buy a Dreamcast, because they weren't being put on the shelves to buy after 2001. They ran out of money because they were managing their business poorly as a whole. The Dreamcast itself was actually selling a lot better than the Saturn was, so it is hard to say how it would have done if it had stayed around. Dreamcast didn't sink Sega though. Poor management sunk Sega.
Dreamcast really is a horrible example. Try using an actual normal console as an example instead of the ultimate fringe case.
|
Nope. Dreamcast sold below expectations and was discontinued when new management came in and decided to go 3rd party. In the 2 1/2 years it was available, 1 1/2 years globally, it didn't even hit 9.2M, and sales were slowing at the end, not picking up. The Dreamcast was also made with off the shelf parts to reduce costs.
RolStoppable said:
thismeintiel said:
Explain the Dreamcast, which was $150 cheaper than the PS2 when the latter launched. There's a lot more to it than just price.
Your PS4 Pro example isn't a very good one, either. The PS4 Pro isn't a new competing console, it's within the same family of PS4 consoles. It has a much smaller market to sell to. It has to sell to people willing to pay $399 not just for a console, but an upgraded version of a console they may already have, the OG version still being able to play everything the Pro can at $299 and below. That means people who wait for a consoles to hit $199/$299 before buying have no interest in the Pro until it hits those prices, and by then they may not feel the need to upgrade. Again, poor comparison.
It doesn't really matter if Scarlett can cut price against the PS5. If the PS5 is seen as the better value, because of power, games output and/or brand loyalty, like the PS2 was against the Dreamcast, people will buy the PS5. And yes, it would take Sony making PS3 level blunders for MS to gain traction. That gap between the amount of quality releases on XBO and PS4 has been reestablished this gen. There's a reason a basically $199 ($230 with game/s) XBO is losing to a $299 PS4.
|
I don't need to explain the Dreamcast. See bolded.
The PS4 Pro is clearly superior to the PS4 Slim and it costs only $100 more. You don't like the comparison because it contradicts your belief that the market cares more about power than price.
And no, the gap between the amount of important releases hasn't been reestablished. Most of the top 50 bestselling third party games on the PS4 have been released on the XB1 which is a far cry from the discrepancy between the PS2 and Xbox.
The reason why the XB1 got trounced is because Microsoft committed PS3-level blunders and the countries that are willing to look past that for Xbox are far less in number than for PlayStation. When you look at LTD sales of the PS4 and XB1 in the USA and see a gap of only ~5m after ~5.5 years despite Microsoft's huge mistakes, you shouldn't be so sure that people will buy the PS5, because Scarlett being merely equal could put Xbox ahead of PS again. Worldwide is a different story, but the USA is the single-biggest market for consoles, so it's very important.
|
No, I don't like it because it's a very poor example. One I wouldn't think you would even think to use. We are comparing consoles competing with each other, not ones competing with themselves. Especially when the upgraded version came out 3 years after the launch of the OG model, which was already approaching 50M units sold. Like I said, the Pro had a MUCH smaller market to sell to. Now, if they had launched at the same time, maybe you would have a point. But as is, is just reaching for straws.
There are still hundreds of games not launching on XBO. That makes a difference with plenty of gamers. And even being equal in power and price will probably still favor the PS5. People who bought a PS4 will most likely be sticking with it because of B/C and the good will they have with PS4. MS, on the other hand, has proven again that they will ditch their current audience, instead going with "please be excited for next gen."
