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Forums - General Discussion - Total Cost of Ownership

Steve 3.2 on 01 April 2007

Something that hasn't been discussed much is the 'Total Cost of Ownership' of all the new systems. Today, we evaluate everything from cars to water heaters to determine how much more something will cost us down the road. As such, I think it's only fair to give some thought about how much a video game system may run us over the course of it's lifetime. Anyone care to break them down to come up with some estimates? I've got the ball rolling below: 360: $400 Initial Purchase $40 - Extra Controller $600 - 10 New Games $40 - Charge and Play Kit x 2 $250 - Online Service Over 5 Years Total So Far - $1,330 ($1,080 w/o Live Gold) PS3: $500 Initial Purchase $50 - Extra Controller $600 - 10 New Games Free - Batteries (Included in controllers) Free - Online Service Over 5 Years Total So Far: $1,150 Wii: $250 Initial Purchase $500 - 10 New Games $60 - Extra Controller (You really need both the Wiimote and Nunchuck) $30 - Batteries (Buy rechargeable NiMH) Free - Online Service Over 5 Years Total So Far: $840 So feel free to add whatever else you feel is necessary to own the system over 5 years. (10 games is based upon the attach rate of the last generation of system in the US.)



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PS360N64PSXBOX on 01 April 2007

The PS3 should be 600 not 500. The one with the 60 gig harddrive is 600 and thats what they advertise.



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BenKenobi88 on 01 April 2007

PS360N64PSXBOX said: The PS3 should be 600 not 500. The one with the 60 gig harddrive is 600 and thats what they advertise.
True. Most people buy the 600 version, since hey, they're forkin' out 500 already, why not throw another 100 down for a better system.



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YfzinJay on 01 April 2007

Then why not assume it is the xbox elite at $480 since it is a more comparable system configuration.



Bonafide732 on 02 April 2007

people who like all in one should buy a ps3 people who like add ons should get a 360.. it was vice versa last gen...



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reverie on 02 April 2007

Actually you would have to include the resale value of your kit after 5 years... But I don't know what this TCO is supposed to reveal. Wii is still the cheapest system, but in the end videogames are toys, not tools. TCO is not very relevant.



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robjoh on 02 April 2007

Steve 3.2 said: Something that hasn't been discussed much is the 'Total Cost of Ownership' of all the new systems. Today, we evaluate everything from cars to water heaters to determine how much more something will cost us down the road. As such, I think it's only fair to give some thought about how much a video game system may run us over the course of it's lifetime. Anyone care to break them down to come up with some estimates? I've got the ball rolling below: 360: $400 Initial Purchase $40 - Extra Controller $600 - 10 New Games $40 - Charge and Play Kit x 2 $250 - Online Service Over 5 Years Total So Far - $1,330 ($1,080 w/o Live Gold) PS3: $500 Initial Purchase $50 - Extra Controller $600 - 10 New Games Free - Batteries (Included in controllers) Free - Online Service Over 5 Years Total So Far: $1,150 Wii: $250 Initial Purchase $500 - 10 New Games $60 - Extra Controller (You really need both the Wiimote and Nunchuck) $30 - Batteries (Buy rechargeable NiMH) Free - Online Service Over 5 Years Total So Far: $840 So feel free to add whatever else you feel is necessary to own the system over 5 years. (10 games is based upon the attach rate of the last generation of system in the US.)
You can't calculate TCO in that way, you have resale value pointed out by reverie, and you have the cost for the money (yes spending money cost money). More xbox360 cost might be too high because some games actuly come with free hours gold membership. So you have to look at: 1, how often do you buy a new game, at which time? (etc what is the cost of that money) 2, The extra money I spend now (instead of buying a cheap consol) what intresst do I lose during this five years: (example, assuming 4% intresst at the bank, 250 USD = 304 USD after 5 years. That means that you should ad a cost on the PS3 with 54 USD. The same thing can be done with xbox360 just holding Wii as the base. (you could obvios to the revese thing to. You have to include the 10 USD extra per game to. 3, After 5 years when you sell the system, how much will you get back. PS3 should mayby be at 600 USD, because I have heard that the PS3 20 gb is pretty hard to get you hand on.



 

 

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YfzinJay on 02 April 2007

robjoh said: Steve 3.2 said: 2, The extra money I spend now (instead of buying a cheap consol) what intresst do I lose during this five years: (example, assuming 4% intresst at the bank, 250 USD = 304 USD after 5 years. That means that you should ad a cost on the PS3 with 54 USD. The same thing can be done with xbox360 just holding Wii as the base. (you could obvios to the revese thing to. You have to include the 10 USD extra per game to. 3, After 5 years when you sell the system, how much will you get back. PS3 should mayby be at 600 USD, because I have heard that the PS3 20 gb is pretty hard to get you hand on.
Thats all pretty insignificant. The only point I see him trying to make is that the 360/PS3 cost about the same, and the wii is cheaper by comparison. In my opinion the wii is a completely different system and doesn't effect my decision on whether to purchase a 360/PS3 as does a difference of 50 dollars.



fishamaphone on 02 April 2007

I'm stealing your basic frame, and changing stuff so it fits better how I'd purchase. Also, taking out the "THIS IS FREE SO I DON'T HAVE TO PAY" bullshit. If you want a separate utility list, *that* is when you mention the free stuff. But at that point, the fact that it's free doesn't matter. 360: $400 Initial Purchase $40 - Extra Wireless Controller $80 - 2 Extra Wired Controllers $40 - Charge and Play Kit x 2 $660 - 11 new games $30 - 3 XBLA games Total So Far - $1,250 PS3: $600 Initial Purchase $150 - 3 Extra Controllers (I don't think there is a cheaper wired option... if there is, I'll ammend this) $780 - 13 New Games Total So Far - $1,530 Wii: $250 Initial Purchase $120 - 3 Extra Wii-Motes $20 - 1 Extra Nunchuck $30 - Nyko Wii-Charge Station $550 - 11 New Games $25 - 3 Virtual Console games Total So Far: $995 I'm valuing 3 downloadable games at the same utility as 2 disc-based games, for refference. And I don't expect to use online all that much... not enough to pay for it, anyway. For comparisson's sake, I'm putting up what I *did* purchase for GameCube: $200 Initial Purchase $50 - 2 Extra Controllers $30 - Wavebird $650 - 13 New Games (for refference, a couple were used, and a couple were Player's Choice, but we didn't take that into account up above, so I'm not taking it into account here) Total So Far: $930 I'm too lazy to bring $930 into present-value dollars. If anyone knows average inflation rate between 2002 and today, be my guest and figure it out.



Munkeh on 02 April 2007

When you look at the cost, you have also got to look at wi-fi, hd-dvd drive for the 360. Maybe you should also include a bluetooth headset and an HDMI cable if you want to compare them properly



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