How to sell next-gen consoles, Marketing, Positioning, and Pricing [2020]

Silenti said:
Here I sit. All alone. 5 hours early. So be it. I turn 47 in a month and am sitting outside a Gamestop at 5am. Don't know what that says.
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It’s 900 here; arrived at 820. In first in line with one other guy. Hopefully PS5 stock has arrived and I can get both preorders in today
 
Lalaland said:
Huh that is interesting, has anyone been calling up Gamestops, etc to see what the launch allocation of each is? I was full expecting it to mirror the PS3 20/60, Xbox 360/Starter and PS5/DE situation with a smaller allocation of the lower cost unit selling out first. Of course as I type this I realise that in my examples the differentiator between the models is storage not perf and storage. I still expect series S to be a long term win for MS, maybe it will just be a slow burn unlike the barnstormer I was expecting
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I heard at least 10 of each. Lol.
 
Rangers said:
Where is your proof preorder demand doesn't correlate with demand?

I cant imagine a popular electronics product that doesn't preorder well. That would almost not make sense, since if there is demand to come there would be scalpers involved.

Good on MS for manufacturing more X though. It will be the primary console going forward. I do wonder if they knew that, or simply wanted to lose less $ on the S (rumor that they lose more per XSS unit) and actually expected it to sell better.
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Historically, the launch of the Sega Dreamcast comes to mind. A quick search and I couldn't find a link or story about it, but I worked at an EB games at the time and internal communications were that the Dreamcast was the most preordered item, and the launch was the single biggest sales day in EB history. That day was later dwarfed by the PS2 launch, of course, but the pre-release hype for Dreamcast was realized in actual day 1 sales that broke records, and it was a famously failed systems. In units sold, I think Saturn even beat Dreamcast.

I can't think of a console that launched since then that hasn't sold through it's initial shipment except maybe the WiiU, and I'm not even sure that didn't. The actual demand isn't really known until a few months later.
 
EB/GameStop rep just talked to us. They have been told their entire allotment from now to November launch. Once they sell that entire allotment out it is finished and OOS until post launch.

PS5 is going to be done in weird block. Perhaps only 1 more block coming. They were not happy with the way Sony handled it. Mall was kicking people out for crowding because they couldn’t maintain the rush here.

edit: got it.

Canadians can also go in person at The Source; but you must pay full price. Limited store allocations. No Series S, only X allocations. They only had 8000 PS5 units at the The Source for PS5 on the pre-order last week and that just went. They aren't sure when that second PS5 block is coming. All the employees telling me it was hell to operate that day. No one was prepared.
 
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It says the following to me: "Actuellement indisponible. Nous ne savons pas quand cet article sera de nouveau approvisionné ni s'il le sera." Whatever that means. ;)
 
Game UK is now open for All Access preorders:

Series X: £28.99/mo. for 24 months
Series S: £20.99/mo. for 24 months

Eurogamer covered the value of these packages earlier today and they actually work out as better value, than buying the console and going with the Game Pass (Ultimate?).

These look like great options.
 
ThePissartist said:
Game UK is now open for All Access preorders:

Series X: £28.99/mo. for 24 months
Series S: £20.99/mo. for 24 months

Eurogamer covered the value of these packages earlier today and they actually work out as better value, than buying the console and going with the Game Pass (Ultimate?).

These look great value to me.
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Not as good as buying 3x 12mth gold + 1x Ultimate conversion + console. Great way to buy a console though.
 
The Series X preorder was nerve racking because of how sporadic the Microsoft site was during the entire process. It also seemed a bit odd as I didn't see an immediate way to ensure it would use my $300 Credits towards the preorder.

Overall, not a big deal if I don't get in on the first day or week, just want to be sure I can use my $300 credit towards hardware before it expires in December.
 
cheapchips said:
Bit too soon to say. The S isn't aimed at people who log on at 8am and start hitting f5. :)
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I know, right! I was still buttering my toast! At least Sony had the good grace to leave pre-orders in the UK until 9am. Much more civilised. :yep2:
 
I don't think I'll have a PS5 in time for launch, lol. It's not going to happen lol. Going to have to wait for post launch for sure. Just judging by what MS is doing, and knowing already what Sony had allocated. I'm not sure there is much more coming, and it will be hella nuts to get in on that.
 
iroboto said:
PS5 is going to be done in weird block. Perhaps only 1 more block coming. They were not happy with the way Sony handled it. Mall was kicking people out for crowding because they couldn’t maintain the rush here.
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Sony have already said the PS5 will be stocked the same way as PS4, they'll allocate stock to individual retails only when they are certain stock can reach those retailers for day one launch. Many consoles will be in surface transport for weeks/months and those times can be variable. If there is a bad storm, cargo vessels may skirt around and be delayed. This is how surface cargo works. :yep2:

Retailers don't like it because they like to get the whole pre-order stuff over with. They want predictability. In 2020! The crazy unrealistic bastards! :runaway:
 
DSoup said:
Sony have already said the PS5 will be stocked the same way as PS4, they'll allocate stock to individual retails only when they are certain stock can reach those retailers for day one launch. Many consoles will be in surface transport for weeks/months and those times can be variable. If there is a bad storm, cargo vessels may skirt around and be delayed. This is how surface cargo works. :yep2:

Retailers don't like it because they like to get the whole pre-order stuff over with. They want predictability. In 2020! The crazy unrealistic bastards! :runaway:
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Yea. I'm curious to see how this pans out. Seems like MS went with a 1x, here is all your allocation till November, carve it up however you like. As opposed to going week to week/month to month.

There's not really a lot of time left to be honest, I'm not sure what allocations will be like.
 
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