Console perspectives from regions besides US/Europe/Japan

[Silkworm]

The situation in Malaysia and most of South East Asia is the same as what Hekmat describes for Saudi Arabia. Sony does market the PS2 and PSP along with some games through its own retail channels here, but they're mostly ignored in favour of the huge grey import market here.

Parallel imported consoles are cheaper, even after being mod-chipped. The original "localized" Asian region PS2 games are usually straight Japanese copies, but with the manual written in English or Chinese. Sometimes all you get is an instruction card in English and Chinese while the manual and the rest of the game are in Japanese. The few dedicated gamers who buy originals end up buying parallel imported US games. With the PSP, Sony seems to be getting things right: Asian region games are in English, launch around the same time as the othe regions and are fairly cheap at ~US$30-40 a piece.

The Xbox360 marks a surprising turning point in the gaming landscape here. In the months following the Japanese launch, there was a huge influx of Japanese region consoles into the country. It was remarkably affordable for a new console, at RM1400 or ~US$380 for a Premium pack 360, with a 220-110VAC stepdown transformer included. This was at the time when the US was having a shortage of Premium units and fetching up to US$600 on eBay.

The subsequent launch of the Asian region units in Singapore last March eliminated the need for the stepdown transformer. Official Asian region XB360 games from Singapore and Hong Kong are much cheaper than in the US, with the latest titles going for about RM170 or ~US$46 each. There was a blog post/report on Arstechnica recently that US gamers are starting to parallel import through internet import shops such as Lik Sang and Play-Asia, due to the significantly lower prices. The fact that most of the games are region free and originally English content also helps.

The Xbox Live! service is looking to be an effective deterrant against piracy and modding. Atm, there are close to 200 Malaysian gamers on Live, registered on Singapore accounts. For the first time, I'm actually hearing of people refusing to modify their consoles, or buying pre-modified consoles. This coupled with the relatively cheap games (to put it in contrast, my original copy of FFX from Japan cost me RM340 back in 2001, exactly double the price of a new 360 game today), marks a hopeful trek towards the straight path for console gaming in Malaysia. Now all MS have to do is launch the XB360 officially in this country so I don't have to feel bad about putting a fake Singaporean address on my Live profile.

For the upcoming consoles, PS3 and Wii, since being online will play a significant part in the consoles, one hopes that they will follow the same path being trail-blazed by the XB360. Actually, I'm not too hopeful as far as Wii is concerned: this region has always been on Nintendo's "ignore" list. Even Singapore, which usually the first if not the only country in the region to get support, got the cold treatment from Nintendo on the Gamecube. If Sony's PS3 strategy for the region follows what they've been doing with the PSP, then at least during the early adoption phase it'll get support from the dedicated original game buyers here, albeit on the grey market.

 

[ban25]

China is a very important emerging market that pretty much all publishers are watching very closely. The key is how to generate revenue in a region so rife with piracy. One solution is online pay-to-play/subscription systems (MMOs like WoW, for example), as well as transaction-based systems (horse armor, Xbox Live Arcade, etc.).

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Actually, I think that a look at other markets is a nice view into the success or failure of the Wii.

Because Nintendo is the only one selling their console at a profit. That means they can actually afford to service these markets that are high in piracy, because they aren't relying on software sales in order to compensate for hardware loses.

It makes sense for Sony and MS to ignore these markets until manufacturing costs drop. But not for Nintendo.

Now, obviously Nintendo will make more money elsewhere, but unless supply is actually a problem, they should be the ones who are dominating markets that aren't attractive to the other two because of the piracy issue.

So the question becomes.. why aren't they?

 

[-=P3tRaN=-]

my view of the games piracy thing:

just let it happen!! you cant win that fight anyway! even at best chance, you cannot do it in all markets!

proceed with creating a stellar online service (xbox live seems to have its waypoint towards that direction)
make it so great that everyone wants in, and go for the advertising profit.

of course fine balancing of all details is needed, like finding a way to make the people that produce the software happy, do not make advertising tiring for your customers, do not allow hacking that ruins the online game experience, etc,
but this is the main idea.
tv works that way. are they on the loosing?

 

[nondescript]

The Chinese, Taiwanese, South Korean, HK, Malaysian, Thai, Singaporian, Indonesian market is simply an extension of the Japanese market. As goes Japan, goes all of Asia.

The PC game world is a little different, with native MMORPGs from Japan, SK, Taiwan, China, but as far as consoles are concerned, it's the same as the Japanese market. Often they don't even bother to localize.

 

[pascal]

The Brazil main market is dominated by Sony PS2 at US$ 320.00 price point for the basic configuration.

XBox 360 is available at US$ 1,100.00 (basic configuration) with games from $40 to $100. Most people are not buying it.
You can buy here an AthlonX2 with 2Giga memory, HD, videocard, etc... for this money

 

[-=P3tRaN=-]

XBox 360 is available at US$ 1,100.00 (basic configuration) with games from $40 to $100. Most people are not buying it.

wow!! sounds like groundhog day based on the ebay frenzy launch day.
unbelieavable!
at least you got ronaldinio.

 

[pascal]

Game for XBox 360 in the US$ 100 to 120 range: http://www.submarino.com.br/homecac...age&ProdTypeId=12&CatId=49639&PrevCatId=49639

2.2 conversion rate.

 

[pascal]

Just one more thing. Probably Nintendo Wii (Revolution) will be in the same price range of PS/2 here, but it will have a much better hardware. My guess Revolution will have a wider acceptance here.

Looks like the console I would buy for my daughter.
edited: and maybe I could help her

 

[Powderkeg]

I have serious doubts that either China or to a lesser degree India will ever be a major market for consoles.

Fact is the vast majority of people there are dirt poor. Average income for a rural Chinese is under $1,000 per YEAR. Even in the cities most people make less than $2,000 per year. India is even worse off with the average person making only $700-$800 per year.

That means that only the elite can afford to buy a gaming system. And frankly I don't see any major changes to that in the near future.

 

[ban25]

I have serious doubts that either China or to a lesser degree India will ever be a major market for consoles.

Fact is the vast majority of people there are dirt poor. Average income for a rural Chinese is under $1,000 per YEAR. Even in the cities most people make less than $2,000 per year. India is even worse off with the average person making only $700-$800 per year.

That means that only the elite can afford to buy a gaming system. And frankly I don't see any major changes to that in the near future.

When you're talking about a combined population of over 2 billion people, it doesn't take a large percentage to create a viable market. This is especially true in India where there is an emerging technology sector. If you don't think game companies are very seriously looking at these markets, then clearly you've never been near one.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

When you're talking about a combined population of over 2 billion people, it doesn't take a large percentage to create a viable market. This is especially true in India where there is an emerging technology sector. If you don't think game companies are very seriously looking at these markets, then clearly you've never been near one.

It depends what percentage are in the affluent elite though. If it's 1 in a 1000 people, that's a market of 2 million total. Whereas if it's 1:100, that's 20 million. Which isn't to be sniffed at, but neither is it market that'll influence the world market much. It's certainly worth pointing out that in much of the world, a constant, reliable electricty supply is something of a rarity. I imagine (based on no real info!) that apart from within a few cities, much of those massive populations aren't able to contribute to the gaming market, and India+China are probably worth a few million (next-gen) consoles at best. Something like the DS would probably do far better, being cheaper, portable, not really need an HDTV to make the most of it, and not so taxing on the power supply when you get it.