By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sales Discussion - Microsoft can win this generation

disolitude on 10 March 2008
TheBigFatJ said:
If MS did both, they'd still end up way in third place.

XBL is used by a fraction of all Xbox 360 owners. I recall MS bragging that XBL was used by 6 million unique consoles, Xbox and Xbox 360 included, after the original Xbox sold ~24 million and the 360 sold ~8 million. XBL may be a selling point for many prospective owners, but not the majority of prospective owners.



Umm, hate to knitpick but christmas 2007 they announced they had 10 million active live users. To put it in perspective...thats the total number of PS3's sold.

 

 



Around the Network
MattAAron on 10 March 2008
It all comes down to this:
Price will win this console war.
Whichever console is cheaper, and gets there faster and stays longer... wins.

The amount of good games won't win it because: All 3 systems have absolutly killer games... so a bit more great games won't push a console to victory (It will obviously help, but certainly wont be the deciding factor)

Online gaming won't win it because: All 3 systems have great online play... the quality and/or price of online gaming won't really matter as online gaming isnt' big enough to push a console to victory... I know online gaming is huge, Just not big enough to win the console 'race'

For example, one of the reasons the Wii is winning because of the price (The targetted audience/Controller of course helps) but the big reason is price

If the 360 was cheaper then the Wii at launch, itd be in the lead
If the PS3 was cheaper then the Wii at launch, itd be in the lead

So I think for now, in order for the PS3 or 360 to win (Beat the Wii), the only chance they have is to drop their prices by a lot... Which won't happen any time soon..

try not to flame me too much, this is simply my opinion

Edit: For some reason my post was all in 1 paragraph, wouldn't allow any spaces...hope its fixed


disolitude on 10 March 2008
MattAAron said:
It all comes down to this:
Price will win this console war.
Whichever console is cheaper, and gets there faster and stays longer... wins.
The amount of good games won't win it because: All 3 systems have absolutly killer games... so a bit more great games won't push a console to victory (It will obviously help, but certainly wont be the deciding factor)
Online gaming won't win it because: All 3 systems have great online play... the quality and/or price of online gaming won't really matter as online gaming isnt' big enough to push a console to victory... I know online gaming is huge, Just not big enough to win the console 'race'
For example, one of the reasons the Wii is winning because of the price (The targetted audience/Controller of course helps) but the big reason is price
If the 360 was cheaper then the Wii at launch, itd be in the lead
If the PS3 was cheaper then the Wii at launch, itd be in the lead
So I think for now, in order for the PS3 or 360 to win (Beat the Wii), the only chance they have is to drop their prices by a lot... Which won't happen any time soon..
try not to flame me too much, this is simply my opinion
Edit: For some reason my post was all in 1 paragraph, wouldn't allow any spaces...hope its fixed

 

Sony is already giving you the console pretty much as their profit margins are slim to none. How are they winning by lowering the price?

 



Cheebee on 10 March 2008
disolitude said:
TheBigFatJ said:
If MS did both, they'd still end up way in third place.

XBL is used by a fraction of all Xbox 360 owners. I recall MS bragging that XBL was used by 6 million unique consoles, Xbox and Xbox 360 included, after the original Xbox sold ~24 million and the 360 sold ~8 million. XBL may be a selling point for many prospective owners, but not the majority of prospective owners.

Umm, hate to knitpick but christmas 2007 they announced they had 10 million active live users. To put it in perspective...thats the total number of PS3's sold. 

 

^ He was saying 6 million XBL users at the point when 8 million Xbox 360's had been sold. Seeing as how it's over 17 million now, that must've been quite some time BEFORE christmas '07.  



Nintendo Network ID: Cheebee   3DS Code: 2320 - 6113 - 9046

 

MattAAron on 10 March 2008

My point is lowering the price will attract more consumers to buy the console, especially it being cheaper then the wii

But this would not happen, as lowering the price of a PS3 to compete with the Wii would make Sony lose hundreds of millions... im just stating a hypotheticaly situation on how to win the console race, thats the only option the 360 or PS3 has in my opinion...price.



Around the Network
Riot Of The Blood on 10 March 2008

It's not going to beat the Wii. There's no point in even thinking that way...

PSP has a better chance at beating the DS in Japan.



I am Washu-bot B, loyal servant of Final-Fan, the greatest scientific genius in the universe!


disolitude on 10 March 2008
Cheebee said:
disolitude said:
TheBigFatJ said:
If MS did both, they'd still end up way in third place.

XBL is used by a fraction of all Xbox 360 owners. I recall MS bragging that XBL was used by 6 million unique consoles, Xbox and Xbox 360 included, after the original Xbox sold ~24 million and the 360 sold ~8 million. XBL may be a selling point for many prospective owners, but not the majority of prospective owners.

Umm, hate to knitpick but christmas 2007 they announced they had 10 million active live users. To put it in perspective...thats the total number of PS3's sold.


^ He was saying 6 million XBL users at the point when 8 million Xbox 360's had been sold. Seeing as how it's over 17 million now, that must've been quite some time BEFORE christmas '07.

I don't know where he gets his stats from but there were 10 million gold (paying) subscribers for xbox live this christmas.

http://kotaku.com/341399/xbox-live-10-million-gold-subscribers 

 



normietrice on 10 March 2008
Fanatical111 said:
MS will come in second behind Nintendo at the end of the Console War for several reasons.

1. They have strategic placement over Sony for the remainder of this generation in terms of pricing.

Example: Sony decides to drop the PS3 price by $50. MS can automatically drop its console price by more then that seeing that a) console costs less, b) they have been on the market longer.

2. They are currently the primary console for multiplatform development (for the most part). It is cheaper for devs to make a game for the 360 and port it to the PS3. If you factor in all the other costs (manufacturing, distrubution, marketing etc.) for smaller devs it is just too expensive. Consider the mergers that have taken place so far this gen, the main attribute is so smaller firms can stay competitive and have resources allowing them to continue to create great games.

http://www.ps3power.com/ps3-dev-expensive.htm

3. MS has a concrete base of current games (new IP's)

MS basically has one aged franchise being Halo. I feel that this was recognized a long time ago which is why MS began to allocate more resources elsewhere to help grow the 360 franchise. This is why 360 owners have been exposed to games like BioShock, Gears of War and Mass Effect.

Sony seems to be sitting on games that have long past there time in my opinion. Will MGS4 be a great game? Of course it will, but at some point in the very near future they will need to begin pooring more money into new IP development which MS has already started to do.

I suppose this is debateable but I havent been to impressed with any new IP except for Uncharted.

4. They have only sold ~7 million consoles more then PS3

I dont think gamers realize how long it will take the PS3 to catch up to the 360 in terms of sales. They will have to outsell MS on a weekly basis by a large amount for a substancial period of time. Seeing that the sales have been close over the past couple months of PS3 outselling the 360, I dont forsee them really ever catching up.




Regarding #2, I think developers are going to use PS3 as their lead platform b/c the port job is easier and smoother. I believe Criterion did this and there were a couple articles about developers saying it makes more sense to do it that way. This point is still moot b/c no one outside the "gaming" community is going to know that there is a difference in multiplatform games.

For #3, the PS3 though has a big advantage in terms of IPs that people are familiar with. I'd expect to see first party and second party sequels for games like Twisted Metal, SOCOM, Jak & Daxter, etc in the future. These are games that many people played on the PS2. Just look at the sales numbers for the Nintendo developed games.

#4 This really depends on the life cycle of each console. I would give PS3 the edge b/c of Blu-ray. If it indeed does take off and become DVD's successor, you will have a lot of people buying it for the playback. Also the use of Blu-ray discs in games can increase the life of a PS3 as there would be more room for growth and tapping into the power of the system.  



The_Prince on 10 March 2008

I don't think at this point that the 360 or the ps3 will win the Wii even if they lower the price of the console. Wii targets alot of casual players and also hardcore for play its console.



My Brawl Friend Code: 2191-7328-1340

     My Brawl Characters

MattAAron on 10 March 2008
I agree The_Prince, I don't see it happening at all either... It's too late for the PS3 or 360 to beat the wii...Game was over a while ago

Like I said, the only way would be if the 360 or PS3 lowered their prices cheaper then the Wii... and we all know we won't be seeing a $200 PS3 any time soon...and thats the only way, and it aint happening, so congrats Wii...After declining console sales for the past couple decades you managed to come back on top, and its well deserved :)
Edit: Typo