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Blueyonder, Gamespot and several newspapers are beginning to report that Microsoft's entry into the console market has been somewhat less than spectacular. Microsoft is, like Sony did, making a loss on every X Box that is sold. Go out into any retailer of games, like Game, or even somewhere like Woolworths, and X Box games and consoles are there for the buying, but very few people are doing that. So, a great many of you Nintendo and Sony, and even PC, owners will no doubt be smiling a little about this. To a few it will possibly be the greatest piece of news this month. Break open the beers, or the Coca Cola, 'cause the X Box is failing !
Actually that might be a bad idea. The failure of the X Box, if it is true, is bad for the entire gaming industry and every person who plays games themselves.
Firstly, many new publishers, like Big Blue Box who are working on Project Ego for the X Box, have basically invested everything on the X Box being just a reasonable success. If it fails then it is game over for them and you'll never see any of their games on other formats. The industry is crying out for new ideas and if those with them go down with the black box then that's really bad news.
Then the retailers, those guys and gals we all buy our games and consoles from. They've all invested heavily in stock, promotional work, offers e.t.c If they are left with stock that simply cannot be shifted then they are going to need to get the money back somehow...by less heavily discounting other games and consoles. £34.99 has become a pretty standard price at SR and even Game for many new Playstation 2 releases but if the X Box fails that could change.
The gamers, those people who believe in Microsoft's magic enough to buy the console. Even the most frivolouos of us is unlikely to admit they can afford to have wasted £300 + on something that becomes obsolete. How many Dreamcast owners now find that their is little support for their console and that new releases are akin to winning the national lottery ? Too many, and many more may have been so fed up that they're left the world of gaming behind for good. Again, this is all bad news for an industry that is at its most successful time ever.
Many of you (well possibly not) wil remember the other plots in the console graveyard. There's the Lynx, the Atari Jaguar, the Colecovision, the Amstrad 4400, Mega CD, Saturn, Virtual Boy and the most infamous; 3DO.
3DO; Now those are three characters that will inspire fear in the heart of hardened gamers. The console failed disastrously, so what did Trip Hawkins and his team turn to....oh yes, Army Men.
Proof enough that a consoles failure spells trouble everytime !
Actually that might be a bad idea. The failure of the X Box, if it is true, is bad for the entire gaming industry and every person who plays games themselves.
Firstly, many new publishers, like Big Blue Box who are working on Project Ego for the X Box, have basically invested everything on the X Box being just a reasonable success. If it fails then it is game over for them and you'll never see any of their games on other formats. The industry is crying out for new ideas and if those with them go down with the black box then that's really bad news.
Then the retailers, those guys and gals we all buy our games and consoles from. They've all invested heavily in stock, promotional work, offers e.t.c If they are left with stock that simply cannot be shifted then they are going to need to get the money back somehow...by less heavily discounting other games and consoles. £34.99 has become a pretty standard price at SR and even Game for many new Playstation 2 releases but if the X Box fails that could change.
The gamers, those people who believe in Microsoft's magic enough to buy the console. Even the most frivolouos of us is unlikely to admit they can afford to have wasted £300 + on something that becomes obsolete. How many Dreamcast owners now find that their is little support for their console and that new releases are akin to winning the national lottery ? Too many, and many more may have been so fed up that they're left the world of gaming behind for good. Again, this is all bad news for an industry that is at its most successful time ever.
Many of you (well possibly not) wil remember the other plots in the console graveyard. There's the Lynx, the Atari Jaguar, the Colecovision, the Amstrad 4400, Mega CD, Saturn, Virtual Boy and the most infamous; 3DO.
3DO; Now those are three characters that will inspire fear in the heart of hardened gamers. The console failed disastrously, so what did Trip Hawkins and his team turn to....oh yes, Army Men.
Proof enough that a consoles failure spells trouble everytime !
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Though I will not be buying an Xbox for the immediate future, I take no satisfaction from seeing Microsoft fall head over t**, if indeed this is what is happening. It's all too easy to overestimate the UK consumers' importance in terms of the gaming world: Europe pales into comparison next to the US and Japan, and I'm not as informed of the Xbox's failure or otherwise in those markets as I am of its inauspicious start over in Blighty. The price is not right at the moment, for ordinary gamers. MS obviously have a problem; drop the price and lose more money on the consoles (which it isn't guaranteed to recoup in software sales) or continue to shift fewer and fewer units. I am not sure how reactive companies like Game and SR are to the Xbox's failings: companies lose money for a variety of different reasons and cutting the savings on unrelated software is not always the best policy, especially for companies like SR, which make a name for themselves out of heavily discounting the price of games, etc. It's a shame, however, because if certain Xbox t**les were on the PS2, I feel they would be every bit as 'must-own' as Grand Theft Auto 3 or Gran Turismo 3.
Actually, Sony won't because they don't need to! If the Xbox fails, there is no competing console in their demographic range!
However, such developers will get backing from a publisher anyway.
However, such developers will get backing from a publisher anyway.
"Firstly, many new publishers, like Big Blue Box who are working on Project Ego for the X Box, have basically invested everything on the X Box being just a reasonable success. If it fails then it is game over for them and you'll never see any of their games on other formats"
I'm sure another company (ie Sony) will buy them out if the X-Box fails, if they think the game will be good
I'm sure another company (ie Sony) will buy them out if the X-Box fails, if they think the game will be good
It's not just game stores either...
Book stores' "Recomended Lists" are solely compiled on how much the chain is paid. Same for book of the week- there are fixed prices to get different slots in their recommended charts! (WH Smiths charge the most for this).
Sonic
Book stores' "Recomended Lists" are solely compiled on how much the chain is paid. Same for book of the week- there are fixed prices to get different slots in their recommended charts! (WH Smiths charge the most for this).
Sonic
The company I work for charge publishers to use promotional space, it doesn't matter how good or bad the game is - pay up and you'll get a whole wall full of your game, posters displayed, instore demos e.t.c. One time we had This really really rubbish game on main display the same week that GTA3 came out - madness, and misleading. Many parents bought i for their kids because it was the "recommended game of the week"....lol
Belldandy wrote:
> Yeah, release waits are becoming a major hassle, but pricing is something that I
> think Sony, and Microsoft, are pretty faultless on.
Actually, I'd have to agree with you on that one. It is the retailers that make huge mark ups on games... even worse is that this is making developers get big losses....
You see, stores charge for a game to be sold in their stores. Just to get a game onto the shelves at EB, you have to pay for it to go into their catalogue... which costs tens of thousands (can't remember the figure off hand).
Then EB will often DEMAND that any unsold games be taken back by the publisher- a further cost.
Simply put, developers and publishers profits fell hugely last year (Codemasters managed to lose £0.9million a couple of years back), while retailers are making more money than ever.
Sonic
> Yeah, release waits are becoming a major hassle, but pricing is something that I
> think Sony, and Microsoft, are pretty faultless on.
Actually, I'd have to agree with you on that one. It is the retailers that make huge mark ups on games... even worse is that this is making developers get big losses....
You see, stores charge for a game to be sold in their stores. Just to get a game onto the shelves at EB, you have to pay for it to go into their catalogue... which costs tens of thousands (can't remember the figure off hand).
Then EB will often DEMAND that any unsold games be taken back by the publisher- a further cost.
Simply put, developers and publishers profits fell hugely last year (Codemasters managed to lose £0.9million a couple of years back), while retailers are making more money than ever.
Sonic
Yeah, release waits are becoming a major hassle, but pricing is something that I think Sony, and Microsoft, are pretty faultless on.
Sony owners generally enjoy games at £34.99 a time with a few exceptions and a machine that is coming down in price all the time whilst the X box is being sold at a loss by MS who are hoping software will, like it idd Sony, make it profitable.
Sony owners generally enjoy games at £34.99 a time with a few exceptions and a machine that is coming down in price all the time whilst the X box is being sold at a loss by MS who are hoping software will, like it idd Sony, make it profitable.
Anyway, I dd go very ott with my first reply! So here's a proper one:
The market has been in a dire state lately. With Sony owning almost all of it, it has allowed them to set the agenda on everything from pricing to release waits.
Indeed, it is often said that the PS2 was so poorly designed (in terms of dev kits not having features like Anti-aliasing) simply because Sony knew that, whatever they did, they owned the market and developers would have to follow them (this is pre Xbox days).
Of course, things have got better since (dev kits and support are excellent, so Ive been told), however, we can't have a one console market. With Ninty increasing their share, and MS here it looks like we won't have to worry anyway
The market has been in a dire state lately. With Sony owning almost all of it, it has allowed them to set the agenda on everything from pricing to release waits.
Indeed, it is often said that the PS2 was so poorly designed (in terms of dev kits not having features like Anti-aliasing) simply because Sony knew that, whatever they did, they owned the market and developers would have to follow them (this is pre Xbox days).
Of course, things have got better since (dev kits and support are excellent, so Ive been told), however, we can't have a one console market. With Ninty increasing their share, and MS here it looks like we won't have to worry anyway
I have indeed checked the post, and I appologie- the word was "many" and not "any".
However, how can you justify buying a PS2 (and I quote):
"Ridge Racer V may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it convinced me I wanted a PS2"
This was the poorest idea of all time- jaggie graphics, no new gameplay... it was just RR4!
However, how can you justify buying a PS2 (and I quote):
"Ridge Racer V may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it convinced me I wanted a PS2"
This was the poorest idea of all time- jaggie graphics, no new gameplay... it was just RR4!
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> BD, you're ignorance of facts is astounding me!
If you hadn't
> been so anti-MS and pro-Sony (and let's face it, having just read you say that
> "the Xbox and GC don't have games that people want" in another topic,
> I just can't take you seriously any more), then you may wake up and see the
> facts,
Okay sonic,my actual words were that the Gamecube does not have the style of games MANY gamers want. Nothing about hte Xbox, nothing about all the gamers. Try bothering to read what you're quoting next time eh ?
If I'm so pro Sony then why am I saying that the X Box, if it does fail (remember that line where I said "IF IT IS TRUE" ?? Guess not 'cause you didn't read it)
needs to not fail ? Explain that one, I'm pro Sony and want X Box to succeed........
So before you go shouting "ignorance" at people, check your own postings eh ?
> BD, you're ignorance of facts is astounding me!
If you hadn't
> been so anti-MS and pro-Sony (and let's face it, having just read you say that
> "the Xbox and GC don't have games that people want" in another topic,
> I just can't take you seriously any more), then you may wake up and see the
> facts,
Okay sonic,my actual words were that the Gamecube does not have the style of games MANY gamers want. Nothing about hte Xbox, nothing about all the gamers. Try bothering to read what you're quoting next time eh ?
If I'm so pro Sony then why am I saying that the X Box, if it does fail (remember that line where I said "IF IT IS TRUE" ?? Guess not 'cause you didn't read it)
needs to not fail ? Explain that one, I'm pro Sony and want X Box to succeed........
So before you go shouting "ignorance" at people, check your own postings eh ?
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