20°

High cost of consoles a "strategic error" for manufacturers

Hardware manufacturers have kept the price of home consoles too high for too long, contributing to a slowdown in game sales this year.

That's according to analyst Michael Pachter, who said that a fourth consecutive month of declining sales in the in the US is in-part due to consumer fatigue at the current price points.

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gamesindustry.biz
SuperStrokey11235401d ago (Edited 5401d ago )

I only kind of agree with this.

First of all consoles are expensive, i wont debate that but given what you get out of them now days the VALUE of the them seems to be rather high.

Also i think many people are using the current economic "crisis" as a tool to vent and blame this on a systems failures or prehaps their lack of success might be the better term to use.

I think the error in pricing isnt in using expensive tech but rather that they use expensive tech that doesnt drop in price fast enough or regularly(the cell for example), or tech that isnt reliable enough (rrod) and because of these two issues the systems stay more expensive than they "need" to be in the publics eyes.

I know that pachter says that the markets are becoming saturated at these current prices and that this may be their issue but im wondering if its more of a perception thing than an actual one.

Rainstorm815401d ago

Xbox360 is at best 200
PS3 IS 400
Wii is 250

If anybody needs to drop the price its the wii/gamecube yet no one complains about it.

The PS2 is 100, How low should current gen consoles go???

We all know Pacther is really referring to the PS3 he made a joke on bonus round about how it will be 350 in fall 2010.

EvilTwin5401d ago (Edited 5401d ago )

Raiin -- As long as Wii is selling at a brisk enough pace, there really isn't any incentive for Nintendo to drop its price.

Sony is in the toughest spot. They have the priciest console, and despite some drops, it's still too expensive. If you can live without Blu-ray, you can buy a 360 (with comparable, but not better, graphics) for half the price, and play the big guns like GTAIV, Modern Warfare and Halo 3.

monkey nuts5401d ago

Basicly if I remember correctly: the more hardware units sony/ms/ninty produce and sell the lower the costs become for producing them, due to the economics of scale. Whether they decide to pass the reduced costs on to the consumer is another matter, its all about profits vs demand if they are in that position. If there is a healthy demand then they can sit and count profits all day, if not theres nothing like a price reduction to stimulate sales. I may be wrong but I'm sure it won't be long before someone corrects/mocks me. :P

EvilTwin5401d ago (Edited 5401d ago )

Gee, consoles that have been out a few years, cost a few hundred dollars, are in a AAA-game summer dry spell (lets hear it for...Call of Jaurez and inFAMOUS?), and are competing in the middle of a recession have their sales slowing down?

Imagine that.

ian725401d ago

IMO all consoles are priced well really. For what you get they are a decent price. I have a PS3 and the things it can do is amazing. Had it over 2 years now and it cost £425. Now you can get one for less than £300 which I think is a great deal. They cost a lot to make and Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have to make a profit.

Gamer_Politics5401d ago

we all know what console and handheld need a price cut

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50°

Pacific Rim Pinball comes to Pinball FX

This could be fun as they make great tables. Go big or go extinct. Prime your senses for a neural handshake and step into the cockpit of a Jaeger. It is on you to cancel the apocalypse when Pacific Rim Pinball comes to Pinball FX on May 16.

230°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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theverge.com
darthv7219h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle6h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic18814h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio3h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Cacabunga6h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff21835h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga4h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan16m ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

purple1019h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos8h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

XBManiac7h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple1017h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic5h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

Show all comments (25)
140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein18h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno14h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k413h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson12h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu13h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson12h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -