How to sell next-gen consoles, Marketing, Positioning, and Pricing [2020]
- Thread starter steveOrino
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And the games, maybe.
I don't think the games will be a problem.
borntosoul
Regular
It’s more how the first games turn out, will they show something remarkable, something of a big improvement over next gen? If they do then the price will show accordingly,
If it’s a mild improvement then price will be mild to.
If it’s a mild improvement then price will be mild to.
D
Deleted member 11852
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There is definitely a winner/loser perception factor and marketing, but if you look at PS3 and Xbox One sales, they both spurred multiple times when the console dropped in price. People are price sensitive and fundamentally more people can afford something at a lower price than a higher price. I think lots of people, particularly gamers, tend to dismiss "oh it's only $50/$100" not realising that this is a lot of money to a lot of people and those people are often the mass market. 95% of console owners are not buying 5+ games a year and often the reason for this is cost
We all like to treat ourselves but if you can't afford it, you just can't afford it.It will be interesting to see if Sony can use their (potential) advantage of having true next gen exclusives to show something significantly (enough) different/better on PS5. Looking back Killzone and InFamous SS did look really nice but XSX will have at least as good looking games so it needs to be something that stands out vs the ‘held back’ XSX...something that shows what SSD brings to the table over loading speed maybe?
That really hasn't played out any other generation. Launch games have been pretty naff a lot of the time but people have bought them.
Agreed. If I remember correctly, Killzone on PS4 was pretty impressive and definitely something that the PS3 would never have been able to handle, but it didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
I also remember that even on PS4, it took a little while to get some games worth playing, Infamous came out in February/March (I think?) Which is when I actually got the PS4.
Before that, there really wasn’t much of a reason to buy it for most people.
They better do that before MS unleashes their beast
Hasn't that been the case with just about every other console released? I remember the PS2 launch lineup, in special the japanese one, being rather lacklustre, gaming sites noted it everywhere i remember. But we know what happened later on. Most of PSX's greats came pretty late in it's lifetime too. OG xbox had the first Halo at launch but that was about it. PS3/360 did somewhat better? Never had a console that gen, but i think most of the big aaa on those released through their lifetime too.
Don't think it will be much different this time around either, most big exclusives probably see their light on the consoles through their lifetime.
They don't have to be brilliant games but have to do something that wows or clearly looks head and shoulders above current gen in my opinion.
I strongly believe in momentum so starting strong is very important especially with the influence that the toilet that is social media seems to have on the masses.
I know a lot of people will be like why waste money on a big first party title for launch because it can only sell so much but I believe it pays off in the long run.
They better do that before MS unleashes their beast
Hasn't that been the case with just about every other console released? I remember the PS2 launch lineup, in special the japanese one, being rather lacklustre, gaming sites noted it everywhere i remember. But we know what happened later on. Most of PSX's greats came pretty late in it's lifetime too. OG xbox had the first Halo at launch but that was about it. PS3/360 did somewhat better? Never had a console that gen, but i think most of the big aaa on those released through their lifetime too.
Don't think it will be much different this time around either, most big exclusives probably see their light on the consoles through their lifetime.
Don’t know, but I think I played Tekken Tag on PS2 for hundreds of hours. Loved that game and it was probably the only game I played on it for months
D
Deleted member 11852
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Yup. And Motorstorm was fantastic. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion launched very soon after PS3 launched as well - at least here in the EU.
borntosoul
Regular
People will always buy crap games. I’m talking about moving from great looking games on PS4 to what the new consoles will do. I know I’m generalising but the marketing department will look at what experience is available and then decide what they can get away with as far as asking price is concerned. This is how marketing works.
By 'them' I meant the consoles. Previous generations didn't show the best advancements on their predecessors but that didn't stop people buying the new machines en masse. I don't think any console company looks at the launch titles and thinks, "these are a bit shit; we'd better price lower than we'd like." I think platform price is completely independent of launch library, even moreso for established and successful brands that will sell on promise alone.
Don’t know, but I think I played Tekken Tag on PS2 for hundreds of hours. Loved that game and it was probably the only game I played on it for months
Got hooked on the first SSX (oct 2000), still play it time to time. It wasnt a stellar launch but things started to get exciting in 2001 with gt3, mgs2 and gta3. Now that where defining games.
The biggest change is that the os, tools, base engine, asset generation and pipeline will all be the the same from one generation to the next.
Its not a new start even though it's a new generation, it's not even a rolling start, its a a start that's already at speed.
It's starting almost equivalently to being a couple years in.
Not saying that pipelines and engines won't change and improve, but not starting from scratch porting things etc.
Its not a new start even though it's a new generation, it's not even a rolling start, its a a start that's already at speed.
It's starting almost equivalently to being a couple years in.
Not saying that pipelines and engines won't change and improve, but not starting from scratch porting things etc.
That could be a mixed blessing. A desire to get products out there might see a lack of investment in new features and ways of doing things, with legacy approaches slowing things down. how many devs will shoe-horn raytracing into their current engines and pipelines instead of starting with an optimised hybrid renderer from scratch?
That can definitely be a mid to long term concern.
But the short term, will be hitting the ground running.
I think that the big studios will use the time to rethink their engines though. But it's rare for any engine to be scrapped and started from fresh anyway
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
Yup. There will always be day 1 nextgen console adopters - although there may be a few less this gen because of COVID-19.
borntosoul
Regular
You’re missing the point, when the companies set a price off course they’re going to look at their product as a whole (software and hardware) before they set a price, why? because they know exactly what they have at launch or close to it ( not 6 months in advance) ...it would be completely stupid not to do this.
examples.
1) 6 killer titles ready to ship at launch. Graphics are out of this world etc....machine comes together well and there is positive feedback. Hype is high.
2) 3 delayed games, 3 launch titles ready to ship at launch. Graphics are good but nothing mind blowing.hype is so so....
There are many more scenarios.
A business will always price what they think they can get away with.
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