Soundwave said:
I don't think so.
There's no real benefit for companies to hit some arbitrary number either if it means having to devalue their product.
Install base isn't some arbitrary number.
Sony could hit 200 million if they really were hell bent on doing so for example, but it would mean dropping the PS4 to $99 and selling it for another 8-10 years ... they don't want to do that. Because ultimately it means f*ck all to them. They don't get some special cookie or award for hitting some LTD target.
Sony doesn't do it because MS would destroy them assuming they didn't destroy themselves first with unsustainable losses.
Edit - PS4 couldn't hit 200m without Nintendo matching or beating them on gfx and it's pretty obvious what will happen if that were to occur given that Switch is going to outsell PS4 and 5 without the gfx.
Selling 100 million systems at an average price point of $250 for example is more revenue/profit than selling 150 million but having an average price of $150. Withholding newer hardware just to hit some LTD total is also even dumber business, you're basically sitting on something that could be making your company massive more profit and instead content to watch some $149.99 system spend years doing a slow motion death crawl to some imaginary number. There is a such thing as opportunity cost.
This is why companies don't do this. Because they don't care about LTD that much, it's a nice feather in the cap, but it doesn't make sense when you take into account any other business metric.
I'm pretty sure console sales are directly related to software and subscription profits.
You also don't want consumers conditioned to expect hardware at rock bottom prices. You *want* $300 to become the normal in their mind and hold there for as long as possible. A lot of people here just have no clue as to the business side of things.
Switch is already at a rock bottom price. When was the last time you could pick up a handheld and a home console for $300? The 80s?
|
