RubberWhistleHistle said:
Zanten said:
Why the heck is Wii U being included at all? I don't intend this to be as a 'lulNintendo' dig, because I do actually really enjoy their line of consoles, especially when it comes to the sheer joy of local multiplayer with my friends; bottom line, when it comes to social gaming with folks in the same room, my Wii (and eventually Wii U,) is going to be the top shelf item.
But that being said, the entire point (or so I thought, at least,) of monitoring the relative sales of the consoles was to try and determine the sort of leverage each company can exert on the market. Basically, 'If You Sell It, They (the publishers and developers) Will Come.'
But the reason the sales comparisons matter to the Xbox One and PS4 is because of how similar they are in most other respects. They even run on a similar architecture, and so the amount of Tender Loving Care a publisher gives one platform or the other, (whether it's taking advantage of unique hardware features, or simply pushing for a certain resolution or framerate,) will likely tie into how much profit they expect to extract from it. If the PS4 version of a game is selling in significantly higher numbers than the Xbox One version due to a gap in hardware numbers, then a publisher is going to inevitably keep that in mind when it comes time to decide whether they'll be doling any sort of exclusivity, how much they'll be charging, and if they reeeeally want to bother trying to get the Xbox One version of their game above 900p.
Nintendo is... well, it's Nintendo. It has its own little fiefdom in the market, and chances are it will rarely, if ever, be included in 8th generation third-party titles that are intended to push the limits of the PS4 and Xbox One. It doesn't matter, either, because it's pretty clear that they're quite happy being Nintendo, and to be honest, so am I. ^^ Still, their involvement in a sales comparison is a bit pointless, because when it comes to fighting tooth or nail for third party exclusive content, and the other concerns that Sony and Microsoft will be facing, the Wii U simply won't be in the equation. |
we dont come to this site and discuss sales because we are developers deciding what console to produce games on.. we are on this site because we like to see the race, as do most other people who have been a fan of video games since the genesis/snes days. its fun to see which console sells more. especially if you are a big fan of one and not necessarily so much of the other. its like rooting for the yankees or the giants. you want to see your favorite do well.
also, the wii u deserves to be in a sales conversation regardless. nintendo is competing for the same dollars that sony and ms is competing for. theyre all players in the same market. just because sony and microsoft have damn near the same system doesnt mean nintendo should be excluded. was a sales discussion pointless during the N64, PS, and SATURN days?
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...and the only way you could downplay Sony's performance was to take both of its competitors and combine them? You do realize that phrasing is likely the reason you're encountering most of the backlash, because you basically come across as desperate to find some way, ANY way, to claim that Sony's lead really isn't thaaaaat greeeeat. The way you finally picked isn't even a particularly good one.
'Yeah, if me and my friend BOTH attack that one guy, maybe while he's got his back turned, we can TOTALLY beat him, so he's not so tough! >.> '
He sounds pretty tough to me if you need to bring along a friend to stand a chance. o.o
Anyway, breaking them down individually, Sony's line-up has been pretty lackluster so far, they've been pretty sluggish to improve the platform itself, and many studios have yet to really throw their hat into the ring, yet they'd still been pretty handily outselling Microsoft month after month, in what was supposed to be Microsoft's home market no less. (Interested in seeing June's NPD; Microsoft may have had a lead the last three weeks, but they were probably slaughtered by Sony in the first week, so it will be interesting to see how it all balances out.) They've got an exclusive marketing deal going on with Activision for Destiny- which has the potential to greatly benefit Sony in particular giving the planned bundle- and Japan, Sony's usual stronghold, has been highly lackluster in terms of both developers and consumers using the new platform.
In other words, even though Sony is doing very, VERY well in terms of sales, the shocking part is that if Japan had received the PS4 like it did past generations, and if they'd hit more aggressively in terms of their lineup, it would be doing even BETTER, perhaps significantly so. Hell, I'm pretty surprised it's doing so well so early! Both the Japan situation AND the relative lack of content have the potential to be rectified, meaning that even when Sony's sales really begin to slouch- definition being 'Not The Lead Selling 8th Gen Console Week After Week'- they still have opportunities to improve and expand on these key weak points.
Microsoft on the other hand has actually, in my opinion, done a good job getting titles out there in the past eight months, they've reversed nearly EVERY negative sticking point on the console, and have made their pricing significantly more competitive, both with the removal of the Kinect, and with a greater emphasis on bundles, deals, and purchase incentives. They've been running, they've been running like Hell, and the best that it's seemed to do is slow the rate at which Sony pulls ahead of them. Sure, there are a large number of markets they haven't released in yet, but 1) chances of managing much in those markets are slim anyway, and 2) with no region locking, anyone IN those markets has the option of importing, meaning that consumer demand in Europe won't be as pent-up as some people think. Even assuming the VGChartz numbers are accurate and Microsoft has regained a sliver of a North America lead, (about time by the way, seriously, took them aaaages,) they still aren't even able to keep the global gap from increasing yet.
To frame it with your race analogy, Sony's stumbled a few times, and still seems to be kinda half-assing it, but is outpacing the others like Usain Bolt. Microsoft flat out tripped and face-planted at the starting line, but managed to get to its feet and has been running in a flat-out sprint ever since, only to watch Usony Bolt get further and further away. Microsoft might be able to tap into some reserves and run EVEN faster, but there's also the possibility that Sony will eventually actually start trying to actively compete, and will just end up pulling ahead even faster as a result.
As for Wii U, fiiine, if you want to include them. xP I think it has the potential to do very well, in no small part because, as I mentioned before, it is a much more distinct platform than the Xbox One/PS4 duo. Multi-console owners may be more likely to make their first two consoles an Xbox One (or PS4) and Wii U than they are an Xbox One and PS4, because you maximize the amount of content available. Folks who don't see the point in buying the Xbox One AND PS4 to try just a handful of exclusives are more likely to invest in a Nintendo machine as a second console. I know I intend to. So I have no doubt Wii U will be just fine, once they start getting some awesome Zelda and Smashing titles out there. They MIGHT even have a shot at a global lead, if they can secure the Japan market and keep Sony from getting a bigger foothold, in much the same way the PS3 caught up to the Xbox 360 because of that advantage; again, it's a fairly big 'if.' That being said, Nintendo will continue to be Nintendo, so short of indie titles, expect the larger third-party publishers to continue largely ignoring the Wii U in favor of the combined PS4 and Xbox One market.
In closing, I don't see the PS4 having PS2 or even Wii NUMBERS, but that's mostly because the market is different; most of the casual gamers who made the Wii so popular have moved on to mobile and tablets, and unlike the PS2 era, where it emerged during the rise of DVD popularity, PS4 has no exceptional media features that the competition doesn't. There are cheaper, smaller devices that provide a variety of multimedia functions now, which I expect will draw the bulk of the casual crowd, (for the same reason, don't have very high expectations on Microsoft's 'own the living room' plan succeeding.) I doubt any of the three consoles will achieve those kinds of numbers, (though I believe the software attach rates for all three might increase to compensate, meaning the game market itself will continue to grow, even if the hardware numbers are lower.)
I do however believe that the PS4 will continue to maintain a solid, consistent lead over the immediate competitor, in terms of percentages it will likely be even wider than the lead the Wii had over the 360 and PS3. The Wii U, however, is a bit of a wild card at the moment, so I can't speak towards the PS4's overall market share.
