Gates: Xenon will be a media hub

[Fox5]

I agree with that statement. I think MS ended up taking market percentage away from nintendo, and that's why Sony ended up with roughly the same percentage as last gen.

Well, n64 had more than just the young crowd and hardcore nintendo friends, it also had the multiplayer market, and a large percentage of the western market in general.(n64 held it's own in America, which I don't think can be said for any other territory)

Much of that multiplayer market and the western market(1st person shooters) went to microsoft this gen.

 

[Carl B]

Well, my own theory is that Nintendo lost market share to Sony and Microsoft simply by more or less dropping the ball at the end of N64's life, with Microsoft then taking additional share from Sony. I just don't see Nintendo and Microsoft fighting over the same pool of gamers whatsoever though in general. Maybe some former Nintendo gamers got old enough that they felt embarrased to be playing the 'kids system,' and thus went the uber-manly XBox route. I could see that playing out in many a school across the US; still I think as long as Nintendo IP remains strong, there is a bare minimum level under which Nintendo console sales will not fall. Whether we reached that in gamecube, or there is further to fall - who knows? I'm predicting a slight bounce back though with Revolution.

 

[blakjedi]

I would say assesing exclusive sales is the best indicator.

For example I own a GC and an Xbox but NOT a PS2. How many PS2 owners also own another console? Subtract those from the total numbe rof PS2 and you get the best indicator of the strength of the brand.

 

[Carl B]

I would say assesing exclusive sales is the best indicator.

For example I own a GC and an Xbox but NOT a PS2. How many PS2 owners also own another console? Subtract those from the total numbe rof PS2 and you get the best indicator of the strength of the brand.

I think that would be an interesting experiment, and I would love to know the breakdown myself, but I'm not sure it would indicate which brand is strongest - whatever the case I presently feel in terms of consoles, Sony's got a pretty damn strong brand.

 

[Phil]

I agree with that statement. I think MS ended up taking market percentage away from nintendo, and that's why Sony ended up with roughly the same percentage as last gen.

I disagree - subsequently agreeing with Kolgar - as I believe those people that got a N64 and not a GameCube would have jumped on the PS2 wagon if Xbox never came abouts.

N64 was quite a different scenario. It launched later than the PSone and was an overal good competitor for a very long time. Games like GoldenEye and Perfect Dark consequently held the perception that Nintendo was in fact following Sony's maturity content - which of course in the long run never really happened - but at least belief was strong which is why, coupled with the fact that Nintendo was the marketleader, they managed to stay competitive for a very long time.

After the disappointing outcome of the N64 and those fans would have probably moved on to the next best thing available: the new marketleader Sony. As a subsequent, Nintendo's userbase would have decreased either way, regardless of MSs entry.

It's quite evident that both Sony and Microsoft are offering similar content and as a result are targeting similar gamers. Actually, there's still one thing MS hasn't: Family games for the younger audience. I think Sony is carving out more than one could think.

 

[Carl B]

@Phil: Who is it you're disagreeing with?

 

[Phil]

xbdestroya: whoops, sorry. I was disagreeing with Quincy. I thought my post was just after his, which is why I left out his name/quote. I edited it above.

EDIT: just read your posts - subsequently, I'm also in agreement with your posts

 

[Fox5]

I disagree - subsequently agreeing with Kolgar - as I believe those people that got a N64 and not a GameCube would have jumped on the PS2 wagon if Xbox never came abouts.

N64 was quite a different scenario. It launched later than the PSone and was an overal good competitor for a very long time. Games like GoldenEye and Perfect Dark consequently held the perception that Nintendo was in fact following Sony's maturity content - which of course in the long run never really happened - but at least belief was strong which is why, coupled with the fact that Nintendo was the marketleader, they managed to stay competitive for a very long time.

After the disappointing outcome of the N64 and those fans would have probably moved on to the next best thing available: the new marketleader Sony. As a subsequent, Nintendo's userbase would have decreased either way, regardless of MSs entry.

It's quite evident that both Sony and Microsoft are offering similar content and as a result are targeting similar gamers. Actually, there's still one thing MS hasn't: Family games for the younger audience. I think Sony is carving out more than one could think.

Perfect Dark was at the end of the n64's life, and gamecube started off very strong, and if they had delivered with software like perfect dark early on maybe it would have stayed strong. Xbox 2 will be in a similar position to how gamecube started, but I don't think it will start off quite as strong.
Much of the n64's market was built off of games like goldeneye, perfect dark, and turok, and xbox with halo(And a flood of generic first person shooters) may have taken that market. I don't think brand loyalty is all that strong, people go where the games are percieved to be, and both goldeneye and halo were hideously hyped up first person shooters.(though halo still hasn't reached goldeneye's sales)

 

[Carl B]

Phil: Well I found myself agreeing with your post as well, which is why I wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy and that we weren't talking about completely different things.

 

[gurgi]

I don't know, do tell. Either it'll bear no relation to what I'm getting at and I'll have a right chortle, or it'll shut me down comprehensively and I'll disappear back into my hole.

Wasn't the foot-in-door argument used ad nauseum for the first Xbox, especially concerning the billions invested? That foots gotta hurt by now heh.

 

[blakjedi]

I would say assesing exclusive sales is the best indicator.

For example I own a GC and an Xbox but NOT a PS2. How many PS2 owners also own another console? Subtract those from the total numbe rof PS2 and you get the best indicator of the strength of the brand.

I think that would be an interesting experiment, and I would love to know the breakdown myself, but I'm not sure it would indicate which brand is strongest - whatever the case I presently feel in terms of consoles, Sony's got a pretty damn strong brand.

In my mind... the PS2 is trongest brand not cause it sold 100 million consoles but because at least 60 Million of those people own a PS2 and no other.

The thought experiment math is like this (over simplified)

20 Million Xbox
20 Million Gamecubes
100 PS2

If every person that owns an Xbox or a GC, also has a PS2 thats 20+20 - 100 million equals a minimum of 60 million "PS2 only" users. The size of PS2 only market is 50% larger than the combined market of the two other consoles.

Thats HUGE and thats only if every Xbox user and GC user also owns a PS2...