Yeerks?
A Hypothetical Question to Xbox 360 owners about the Next Generation
- Thread starter cbarcus
- Start date
Yeerks?
But you would be in the minority. The populace at large pays over the oddsa for brand regardless of features. Some compnaies are nothing but brand. Prada, Gucci, etc. only cost a lot because they cost a lot, creating a premium brand image, and people will pay just for the badge. People will pay £15 for a T-shirt with a particular franchise on it where said same shirt with a random print would be worth all of a fiver.
The origins of brands was in names you could trust, and the concept is sound. You'd buy Cadbury's chocolate because you new it was real chocolate instead of whatever floor-sweepings the local confectioner cared to squeeze into their own 'exotic' recipe. You'd buy a Sony tape-deck in the 80's instead of some unheard-of brand because you new it was a solid, quality product.
Let's look at another part of branding - software. Why are we on Final Fantasy XIII and XIV? Why isn't every new game completely retitled? Because the name helps to sell the product. It is human to associate with known identities (better the devil you know than the devil you don't) and naturally people will tend towards something already known. This is the purpose of advertising, to establish a name in the consumer mindset increasing the likelihood of consumers picking your brand over everyone elses. This is also why adverts don't just tell people the features and leave them to make an informed choice. Why does Sony sponsor European football so heavily? Just to establish the name.
I may be repeating myself, but where brand isn't the be-all-and-end-all, it's an essential part of the whole effective marketing package. You'll have a hard time palming off a turd as a chocolate bar if you put Cadbury's on the label, but if you swapped Cadbury's choloate with cheap store-own-brand chocolate, people would still pick the purple wrapper over the bland white one without ever trying the own-brand chocolate to see if they prefer it because they don't trust it, and they won't tend to try it unless the prefered brand lets them down. Which makes sense. There's too much damned choice in the world, and we can't try every flippin' option that presents itself!
I agree that brand loyalty matters (sometimes a lot, like some of the non-game related examples Shifty mentioned). But I think the discussion is revolving too much about whether brand matters or not, while the more interesting discussion (in my humble opinion!) is what kind of loyalty and for which market.
Example: Asus is a great motherboard brand, many people will chose it over any others despite price/features and yet very few people will purchase an Asus sound card over a Creative Labs one. Apple completely dominates the PMP business but is a server admin that loves his iPod really going to recommend that brand for the new server hw upgrade?
On the topic at hand, as an hypothesis, if the XBOX 720 decides to follow the Wii, what do you think many of the XBOX loyalists will do, and does the XBOX brand instill confidence in the casual/family oriented market the Wii primarily targets?
There's also different kinds of loyalty, or perhaps different thresholds. PS1/2 gamers who bought an XBOX 360 instead of a PS3 may simply be waiting for a price drop to get their favourite console they've been secretly wanting.
Example: Asus is a great motherboard brand, many people will chose it over any others despite price/features and yet very few people will purchase an Asus sound card over a Creative Labs one. Apple completely dominates the PMP business but is a server admin that loves his iPod really going to recommend that brand for the new server hw upgrade?
On the topic at hand, as an hypothesis, if the XBOX 720 decides to follow the Wii, what do you think many of the XBOX loyalists will do, and does the XBOX brand instill confidence in the casual/family oriented market the Wii primarily targets?
There's also different kinds of loyalty, or perhaps different thresholds. PS1/2 gamers who bought an XBOX 360 instead of a PS3 may simply be waiting for a price drop to get their favourite console they've been secretly wanting.
Say hello to... Halo 4, Gears of War 4, Fable IV, and... Mass Effect 4?
(I believe in Xbox 420: "Friendly" slogan : D )Microsoft/Rare certainly are trying... not with much success thus far. Tough to say how it will pan out with Natal though. :s
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
What makes you think the next consoles will launch at $300? As was noted, the PS3 sold millions at $500. Both consoles have just now, as in the past few weeks, reached $299 and how many tens of millions of them are on the market? (Remember: cores were barely selling at their $299 launch price and we all know they only existed to hit that $199 price point.)
Did you see the NPD chart that shows market share for PS360 compared to Wii? There's more HD $300+ consoles on the market than there are Wii's, at least in North America.
Sure the PS3 was priced too high, in addition to launching late not having much to offer over a lower priced competitor and doing all of this in a horrible global economy.
But the 360 sales figures have been certainly not been unsuccessful and certainly haven't demonstrated a need to reduce the launch price of the next generation of consoles.
Did you see the NPD chart that shows market share for PS360 compared to Wii? There's more HD $300+ consoles on the market than there are Wii's, at least in North America.
Sure the PS3 was priced too high, in addition to launching late not having much to offer over a lower priced competitor and doing all of this in a horrible global economy.
But the 360 sales figures have been certainly not been unsuccessful and certainly haven't demonstrated a need to reduce the launch price of the next generation of consoles.
That's too hypothetical, because between now and then we'll have Natal, and that'll show how well the XB360 market will take to Wiiness. If Natal bombs, that answers your question, and if it is a roaring success, likewise.
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