People are focusing far too heavily on comparative system sales to determine whether companies were successful with their strategy ...

Nintendo's strategy will (likely) have increased their user-base by more than 300%
Microsoft's strategy will (likely) have increased their user-base by roughly 200%
Sony's strategy will (likely) have them decreasing their user-base by 50%

It is foolish to say that Microsoft releasing their console early has been bad for them. Even if the PS3 does surpass the XBox 360 it will ultimately be a pyrrhic victory

Actually up to the point PS3 released, the lead 360 had was <5 million. It only reached 8 million in 2008 when there was a 360 price cut and new models. Since the PS3 Slim in 2009, Sony has beencutting that lead down, but pre 2009 it's actually up and down, generally in favor of 360.

So 360 grew to 8 mil, then Ps3 cut it to 3 (and likely 2 or 1 before the gen ends).

Yup so we are in agreement.

However end of life price crashes don't count, it's the price the system sold for when it was new. Dreamcast and GCN both sold for $100 long, long before PS2 did and their sales never boomed. It's because they were trying to sell whatever they could in the end. Had their prices been so at launch....they may have outsold the PS2.

I would argue that the lower price is often a consequence of releasing earlier ... By releasing a system earlier a system will generally have a lower price and better game library at the same point in time, but your system will be less powerful; all relative to the same console releasing later.

Hypothetically speaking, had Microsoft released the XBox 360 in 2007 (a year after the PS3), the system would probably have been far more powerful and included things like a Blu-Ray player, but by still selling at $400 it would have lost (most of) its price advantage over the PS3; and, since it was now 12 months behind rather than 12 months ahead of the PS3 in terms of building a library, the XBox 360's game library would be far weaker than the PS3. The net result would be (maybe) a million or two fewer people a year would have bought a PS3 rather than an XBox 360, and the XBox 360 would be 20 to 40 million units behind the PS3.

I think the evidence shows launching first doesn't actually matter much. It's the games and the market perception.

For example Wii Sports made Wii an immediate sensation - the result was the console flattened 360 despite that consoles early lead.

360 sold okay but didn't really take off until after PS3 launched so it wasn't really the lead in the market it was the right games/services that made the difference.

Even launching two years ahead of the competition would matter little if the console didn't appeal and only gained a relatively small customer base.

Right now the Wii is dropping because globally it is less attrative than 360/PS3. So I'd say it's all about how attractive the console is to consumers - and maintaining that - that makes the difference. Launching first doesn't matter.

TBH I believe MS could have launched later and with a better console and I think they'd be even further ahead now : i.e. I think with hindsight their rush to market and the whole RROD cost them more than the rush to market gained them.

It can definitely be a nice advantage if the company makes the right moves.

The Dreamcast had to deal with the PS2 at launch as well as the Xbox and GameCube whereas the 360 went up against the PS3 and Wii launches. If we are going to discuss having to compete with the previous generation then we could mention the fact that the Dreamcast had to compete with the PS1. It is worth mentioning that the Wii is going to be nowehere as successful as the PS2 and neither is the PS3 for that matter. As far as the gap between the Wii and its competitors, it's not going to be as wide as you apparently expect.

if i rememebr correctly, the dreamcast was released first, and failed. the 360 was released first and was beat out by the Wii, and looks to be outsold by PS3, so i'd say it has nothing to do with being released first, but the ip it's released with.

that made no sense. the Wii won. who cares about second place?