Sony PS3, Nintendo Revolution Thread (Part 3)

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
Nintendo is actually doing quite good given they are wrestling with biggest companies in the world one of which is basically dumping its console in order to get a foot in the market, not that they could not have done better market share wise, but they surely are OK profit wise so far...

Both MS and Sony are "dumping" their consoles.

[Adrian Hon]

And yeah, I would say that the Gamecube is at the end of its lifecycle. It came out over four years ago, in November 2001. Note that the Xbox came out in early 2002. Like a previous poster has said, profits were down at Sony as well, and I notice there is little discussion here of the Xbox profits...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Adrian Hon
And yeah, I would say that the Gamecube is at the end of its lifecycle. It came out over four years ago, in November 2001. Note that the Xbox came out in early 2002. Like a previous poster has said, profits were down at Sony as well, and I notice there is little discussion here of the Xbox profits...

Xbox launched a few days before Gamecube in North America.

The Xbox profits have been discussed to death, people understand that its goal was to never make a profit. The goal with the Xbox 360 is to make a profit over its lifetime, of course.

It's time the Nintendo fans stop beating their chest about how Nintendo still makes a profit. Every generation it loses about 40% marketshare, its profits are way down, its costs are rising, and less people are buying their hardware (and thus, their games). Their share prices are at all-time lows, too.

There's far more to it than making a tiny profit that shrinks every year.

[Barnabas]

dumping is evil!

[Adrian Hon]

Well, we'll see how things pan out with Xbox 360 vs PS3 vs Revolution then, and how the respective profits measure up. To be honest, I find it a bit ridiculous that it's OK to just lose $4 billion - you would've thought that Microsoft might have tried a little harder; it's not as if it would've been impossible for them to make a profit. In any case, I wouldn't draw a trend out of Nintendo losing marketshare 'every generation' after it's happened after two generations either. Sony's assault on the DS has clearly failed, with the PSP disappointing and DS hardware and software sales increasing...

Ultimately, I'm not really that fussed about Nintendo. They know how to make good games that appeal to a much wider audience. At the same time, I'm impressed by the Xbox 360's online capabilities and I'm sure it'll do pretty well. The console I'm most concerned about is the PS3.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Adrian Hon
Well, we'll see how things pan out with Xbox 360 vs PS3 vs Revolution then, and how the respective profits measure up. To be honest, I find it a bit ridiculous that it's OK to just lose $4 billion - you would've thought that Microsoft might have tried a little harder; it's not as if it would've been impossible for them to make a profit.

There's far more of a business case for Xbox than profit. Microsoft stated from the start the goal with the Xbox was not profit, it was to be a loss leader to get a foot in the market and confidence of the developers and consumers. Sony was trumpeting the PS2 as the center of the living room, it was to be a home server...center of your house, basically. Curiously, that's where Microsoft is heading too.

The Xbox was to combat that since Sony basically had no competition for that. The Xbox was as much of a defence of MS' marketshare in other areas as it was entering a new one, and a $4B loss to a company like Microsoft is easily marked as a business expense in this case. That's why Shareholders didn't put an end to it, and supported the development of the next Xbox.

And if you look at many of the choices made between the Xbox 360 an the original Xbox, they will this time make a profit on it. And they have a solid market position to do that, and they'll be far more successful now making a profit than if they tried for a profit last generation, too.

In any case, I wouldn't draw a trend out of Nintendo losing marketshare 'every generation' after it's happened after two generations either. Sony's assault on the DS has clearly failed, with the PSP disappointing and DS hardware and software sales increasing...

What? 10 years of consecutive marketshare loss is enough to make a pattern out of it.

And I don't see how the PSP failed, it's selling nearly as much as the DS despite a higher price and far less games available for it. I see it eclipsing the DS within a year for sales, as do most analysts.

Nintendo is establishing itself as a value brand. There's money to be made there for sure, but it's risky and it's disappointing to a lot of people. They need to be truly innovative with their games, because their controller is gimmicky -- not innovative. Gyroscopic controls have existed before, no one was dumb enough to replace the traditional gamepad with that, though.

Virtual Boy 2.0, here we come.

[Drake Tungsten]

The controller bothers me as well. I think the Revolution could be an ideal second console with its low price and access to Nintendo games, but that controller makes me wonder how many people and developers will support it.