| wohufana said: Should both Sony and Microsoft seriously consider March as viable release month for their next gen console so that enough supply is provided in the market and that their early adapters who are considered their most avid consumers will not suffer? Sony and its game developers will benefit a lot too. |
Worth noting that the Switch did indeed release in March and it seems to have had no real impact on its sales, it is selling really well. In fact it might arguably be slightly better to release a console in spring as opposed to winter, as the extra months will allow for more games to come out.
The 3DS also seems to have released in March, and although initial sales were very poor, the system sellers of Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land plus the price cut seem to have saved it just in time.
Then again excluding the Switch hybrid console, no "proper" home console has launched outside the autumn/winter period since (depending on what region you live in):
Europe & Japan: The original Xbox (NA launch was in autumn, but JP/EU got it in spring 2002)
North America: The Sega Saturn! (May 1995)
I wonder if the huge flop of the Sega Saturn and its infamously rushed launch caused companies to be extremely averse to a home console launch outside autumn in North America. Even in Europe and Japan lanuches outside that period are rare.
