You're right, she's just giving the standard corporate line and painting the brightest picture possible. She also failed to mention that never in history has a major player split its console into 3+ different versions and only the most gimped version is $199.
I was reading this post and a slightly more excitable version here which stem from comments from a Mindy Mount (CFO of the MS Entertainment divsion) which may indicate a 10 year plan from Microsoft. The original Gamsutra post has gone but this post pretty covers the content.
The key quote is this one which has maybe been overplayed.
"It's a great milestone for us, but it's still only a start, when you consider that history shows that more than three-fourths of a console's sales come at a price of $199 or lower"
For my tuppence worth I think Mindy Mount is just repeating marketing statements and this is not a statement of direction. Still she must of understood how this would of been interpreted.
I think the shift forward would stand up if we were discussing a mid season cut but this is not and the competition (Sony) has no answer as yet (Obviously Nintendo appear not have any competition).
Also as I have mentioned before can anyone point to another set of circumstances such as Microsoft have put together this holiday season.
Significant price just ahead of the biggest sales of the year in all territories.
Major software overhaul Just ahead of the biggest sales of the year.
3 AAA titles going into the biggest sales of the year.
A massive add campaign which if Microsoft are to be believed we have not even seen the beginning of yet.
Maybe not a perfect storm but that early analysis was not based on this combination of events. If you can point out to me what Sony are doing to combat this Xmas onslaught.
I think if Microsoft listened to the experts it would of given up a long time ago. Microsoft and Nintendo because of the lower price point and simpler systems have always to my mind had the upper hand when it came to competing they also fortunately have had software to back them up.
P.S. ~Thank you for the English lesson luckily my Welsh side has not taken offence and I rather like the insightlyness of it all. I find the whole writing thing very complexifying.
@welshbloke, unsightly or insiteful? Either way I guess. I kept it short as I am not wanting to get into a numbers war...I was merely agreeing with you that it IS to early to call this a reversal of a trend.
We have had a major change to the pricing landscape and that has caused a shift in demand...as mentioned in previous threads and supported by Jesse D, this shift in demand could very well be a shift forward in time of someone's purchase and not necessarily an expansion of the ultimate market a console will get.
Early analysis Yes, to early No but that is my opinion. This is showing the early success prior to Christmas. I made the point that I see no reason for this success to not continue through the whole of the Christmas period as nothing has been done to counter it.
360 - Reversing the trend in Europe.
What this demonstrated to me is that over the 6 week period the combined weight of the Microsoft marketing has reversed its position. This ahead of Christmas.
Also next week we see Microsoft going into overdrive promoting the NXE platform.
Other bits of information that I thought useful that came from looking at the numbers in this was how sharp the decline is in Japan but also how it demonstrates how the UK has become such a fundamental battleground.
This information should be seen as setting the scene moving into Christmas. I looked at this information and it surprised me that is why I posted it as I thought others may find it worth discussing.
OK I wanted to get a feel for the success of the price cut which I have based on the 19th September. My source of information is the infamous VGChartz which for my purposes I have used to provide my trend analysis.
Prior to this price cut the 360 was losing or neutral in almost all territories including America as classified in VGC for 2008. This was a bit of a suprise and I fully expected a larger lead for America at least. Leading up to the price cut I deemed the PS3 to be leading in 7 of the 10 territories.
With the price cut we see a huge swing. The PS3 now only leads in Japan going neutral for a further 5 and losing in 4. Some major wins here for Microsoft not least of which UK, but more interesting some complete turnarounds France, Germany, Spain and other Europe. What is also interesting is the significant outselling in Italy, Scandinavia and the UK.
Another observation of note is UK is the second largest console consumer outside of the America with Japan clearly trailing against a number of European countries. When Microsoft or Sony talk about Europe being the key it all becomes a little clearer.
In conclusion it would appear from the trends seen here that Microsoft have reversed the flow and are now in a very good position to make this a very successful Christmas. It also demonstrates that the good work Sony had done earlier in the year have quickly begun to unravel and it is hard to see what can be done going into this Christmas period to help staunch some of this flow.
Now I agree this is still early days possible to early to really get a feel but the changes in Europe in particular are significant and if maintained will lead to real problems for the PS3.
Obviously the Wii is going through the roof but even here the Wii points to problems in the Japanese market with both the UK and France selling more. This when you consider the joint populations of UK and France are similar to that of Japan.
VGChartz Hardware data for the period 20th Sep 2008 to 08th Nov 2008:
Console Wii PS3 X360 America 1,587,675 469,828 677,855 Japan 205,592 95,296 72,301 UK 400,922 120,720 217,898 France 245,215 97,585 105,595 Germany 163,810 85,308 74,073 Spain 138,117 120,632 107,304 Italy 78,636 58,707 82,774 Scandi 62,408 25,563 36,579 Other Eur 116,351 89,718 91,419 Australia 43,453 33,589 39,930
VGChartz Hardware data for the period 05th Jan 2008 to 13th Sep 2008:
Console Wii PS3 X360 America 5,764,914 2,353,696 2,375,189 Japan 2,140,792 681,341 170,482 UK 1,834,022 671,696 627,892 France 1,135,868 502,402 252,752 Germany 722,382 317,884 175,886 Spain 488,674 447,104 187,552 Italy 338,685 261,689 176,433 Scandi 259,516 196,268 115,631 Other Eur 434,005 561,483 238,839 Australia 234,744 162,371 158,115
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You're right, she's just giving the standard corporate line and painting the brightest picture possible. She also failed to mention that never in history has a major player split its console into 3+ different versions and only the most gimped version is $199.