slowmo said:
The cheapest 360 is still $199, the rest doesn't matter guys. The PS3 sales figures to be frank aren't good enough for the huge price cut and new model they introduced. Time for you all to say when the PS3 will surpass the 360 sales again because your doom and gloom is tiresome now. Not one of you addressed my valid points on Microsoft being profitable and Sony still losing money, which might I add cannot go on forever before the shareholders decide to claw back their losses.
The Amazon gift card rebate proved there is a huge market waiting for another price cut on the 360 too so we know the sales are there when Microsoft decide to move. Thats without bringing up any other strategy than price.
Sony have done very well to keep in the race this generation with some bold strategy moves and the PS3 is a fantastic console but some of you are blinded by current sales. Perhaps some of you should try using the optimism you had for the PS3 when it was being trounced last year, for the 360 this year. The HD battle has gone in phases, this is Sony's turn to lead but next year the roles will swap once again. |
So by your logic, the 360 is going to beat the PS3 just because it offers an option for a cheaper console? How then is the PS3 beating it in sales? As it is now, the PS3's sales prove the fallacy in your argument.
The success of the Walmart/Amazon deals could be explained by a number of factors: there's nearly a million 360's that got banned from Live and a number of these consumers took advantage of these deals to replace their banned consoles; I've read many comments from people who saw a chance of making some money (bought a 360 and got the gift card, sold the 360 for $150 at gamestop for example) off this deal; RRoD victims; some consumers bought a second 360. There's no way of telling how large the actual number of new 360 owners was, so you can't use these deals to justify your argument. These deals do prove that consoles are still in high demand, not necessarily the 360, because the PS3 would have done just as well (if not better) had it gotten the deals instead. In contrast, the slim price cut proved that people were waiting for a cheaper PS3, and this is what you're not getting. If the 360 was the prefered console, wouldn't it be outselling the PS3 due to its iteration of a $200 console? The fact that it doesn't should tell you something.
In the end, this is all going to be decided by one thing: Blu-Ray. As the Blu-Ray format expands and becomes the new standard, DVD format movies will surely disappear. Note that I'm not necessarily stating that the DVD format in itself will cease to exist, as the CD format is still around to this day. But movies will only be going to Blu-Ray. This has happened in the past and it will most certainly happen again. The PS3 will succeed because it is future proof as it offers consumers the choice to either use it as a Blu-Ray player or a games console, whereas the 360 only offers one choice (disc-wise). Both Sony and MS (HD-DVD) were banking on this, and as HD-DVD lost the format war, so too will MS lose the console war.
When Microsoft decides to make a move, you say? They already made their move, several times in the past weeks alone, and still failed to swing the momentum their way. What strategies do they have left? Please don't say Natal, because you don't even know what it can do yet. It might be a disaster waiting to happen for all you know. MS can cut the price, you say? You talk as if Sony will never profit from the PS3. They're actually expecting to be making profit by the end of 2010, so it might not be as long as you think before Sony cuts the PS3's price once again. It's already a known fact that Sony sells its consoles at a loss for a time only to profit from them down the line, and the PS3's no exception. So what exactly are you trying to prove by bringing this up?
Regarding your other post about the slim consisting of cheap parts, the PS1 has really cheap components and mine still works fine to this day. Trying to rationalize cheap parts with a higher possibility of product failure is just ridiculous. Btw, I saw a video where a slim was being taken apart and unless you have really deep pockets, you can't call its components cheap at all. And even if you still choose to do so, who really cares? As long as it does what it's supposed to do, no one will be complaining about that.
Indeed, the HD battle has gone in phases, but this just might be strike 3 for the 360.
