Business Approach Comparison Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox

[Sonic]

Hasn't MS been getting rid of many of their game development studios these past few years or is that all in my head?

Sony's 1st parties make quality titles and do cover a broad range of genres. They remind me of SEGA's 1st parties way back when. Each team has a decent amount of autonomy and while might not always sell the greatest aren't too shabby in the gameplay department. They've had a bit of time to mature and will continue to make good games for PS4. Hopefully a few of them will be "system sellers" in the sense that one game can move a million units in console sales.

 

[DrJay24]

Generally speaking if a game is included in a bundle pack like the ps3 Uncharted bundle complete with customized box, then I'd say it's likely a system seller.

Or it is just a pack in, an older game or a franchise they want to push with low demand like Forza.

 

[BRiT]

Or it is just a pack in, an older game or a franchise they want to push with low demand like Forza.

Or Killzone, or Kinect Adventures or Fable.

 

[DrJay24]

Or Killzone, or Kinect Adventures or Fable.

KZ has never been heavily bundled. FM 3/4 were huge pack ins in NA.

 

[BRiT]

KZ has never been heavily bundled.

What do you consider to be 'heavily bundled'? It has it's own box art. I've seen a metric ton of KZ PS4 bundles advertised.

 

[-tkf-]

What do you consider to be 'heavily bundled'? It has it's own box art. I've seen a metric ton of KZ PS4 bundles advertised.

Sony is pushing KZ as is retailers, it's not the best selling or best known game of the bunch. Naturally with something as successful and in demand as the PS4 they like to package something less popular in the box. I would guess that with the PS3 it was more a question of pushing the console than the game.

Some of the retailers here sell the few PS4 that turn up in bundles that are priced similar to the PS3 at launch, and they sell out instantly. And you save nothing on the bundles, you actually pay more than the separates would cost you.

 

[djskribbles]

There is only an official KZ bundle in parts of Europe AFAIK. And all of the 'bundles' are sold at regular price.

I'm sure it's not representative of bundles sold vs standalone units, but judging by Amazon.co.uk's review counts for the PS4 and PS4 KZ bundle, the KZ bundle is less than 11% of the number of reviews between the KZ bundle + standalone PS4 (48 customer reviews out of 497).

It is certainly being pushed on consumers, but I wouldn't call it heavy bundling.

 

[BoardBonobo]

The KZ bundle at Amazon was called the Gamers Pack.

Looking at the sales figures though isn't Killzone the best selling nextgen exclusive without the extra sales through bundles and DD?

 

[BRiT]

The KZ bundle at Amazon was called the Gamers Pack.

Looking at the sales figures though isn't Killzone the best selling nextgen exclusive without the extra sales through bundles and DD?

Yes, that we know about; it's sell through would map to roughly 23% of the PS4 market (270K from 1.138 million). The reports does not include any Digital sales numbers.

This seemed extremely low sales numbers to me, which is how we got into the discussion of what people mean by system sellers and how much of an impact will digital download sales be this generation.

For the record, I don't think there exist any singular system seller software anymore. Nintendo would likely be the closest to having that with their IP, but as we can see with WiiU and Mario and Zelda it utterly fails to move units. I think system sellers are more of a collaborative effort and not a singular title.

 

[AlphaWolf]

The KZ bundle at Amazon was called the Gamers Pack.

Looking at the sales figures though isn't Killzone the best selling nextgen exclusive without the extra sales through bundles and DD?

Maybe. We have no digital figures. I'm sure publishers will drop some numbers whether through press release of quarterly reports.

December sales will also be more interesting as I'm sure many of those boxes are lingering under trees.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I guess a simple heuristic would be to look at the most pre-ordered game on any given platform to see what are potentially system sellers in the making. But trying to actually define a system seller is probably a hiding to nowhere; any given game at any given time might catch the tide of popular opinion and become a reason to buy a console.

 

[DrJay24]

What do you consider to be 'heavily bundled'? It has it's own box art. I've seen a metric ton of KZ PS4 bundles advertised.

I mean mostly last gen, this gen there is a small selection of KZ and Knack bundles, in the EU. The NA Amazon bundles were a very small amount and not Sony bundles. Last gen Sony had BF bundles which were sold out in a day. MS had holiday bundles which were in stock for months and accounted for a flood of bundled games which were dirt cheap second hand. My Elite had FM3 and Lego Batman if I recall.

 

[dagamer]

Yes, that we know about; it's sell through would map to roughly 23% of the PS4 market (270K from 1.138 million). The reports does not include any Digital sales numbers.

This seemed extremely low sales numbers to me, which is how we got into the discussion of what people mean by system sellers and how much of an impact will digital download sales be this generation.

For the record, I don't think there exist any singular system seller software anymore. Nintendo would likely be the closest to having that with their IP, but as we can see with WiiU and Mario and Zelda it utterly fails to move units. I think system sellers are more of a collaborative effort and not a singular title.

I'd say system sellers in the past have been Super Smash Bros. Melee, New Super Mario Bros. (both DS and Wii), and Mario Kart Wii. Uncharted on PS3 and Halo 3 on Xbox 360 also qualify.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Gears of War

 

[temesgen]

this is pretty cool:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/17/xbox-one-fios-live-tv-app/

 

[mrcorbo]

this is pretty cool:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/17/xbox-one-fios-live-tv-app/

That's where we're things are headed. Slowly and painfully, but inevitably.

 

[RudeCurve]

There's also Comcast's Xfinity app. You may see ATT Uverse too.

 

[dagamer]

There's also Comcast's Xfinity app. You may see ATT Uverse too.

Comcast is also working on a cloud DVR for the Xfinity X2 platform, and heck, they may actually make the Xbox One a full DVR if they weren't so hell bent on locking up revenue for themselves by price gouging customers on their current DVR boxes.

 

[Shortbread]

I wonder how many XB1's users have Kinect connected and how often are they using it? My brother-in-law isn't using his, and he is one of the biggest MS product supporters that I know of.

*hypothetical* If, XB1 current install base is 2.3 million, with 500K users using Kinect religiously, another 500k users using it mildly and the other 1.3 million users just don't give a damn... would MS consider dropping K2 for a Xb1 core sku?

 

[-tkf-]

I wonder how many XB1's users have Kinect connected and how often are they using it? My brother-in-law isn't using his, and he is one of the biggest MS product supporters that I know of.

*hypothetical* If, XB1 current install base is 2.3 million, with 500K users using Kinect religiously, another 500k users using it mildly and the other 1.3 million users just don't give a damn... would MS consider dropping K2 for a Xb1 core sku?

I don't think that would be a smart move nor would it help. They would need to be cheaper than the ps4 without the Kinect in order to compete. With the Kinect they at least have a different base to work from..