Interview with MS's Peter Moore

[Qroach]

Not according to Sony... It wasn't that sony made up for the lack of women buyers, it's that they COULD have sold even more consoles then they have this generation. That's the whole point in why research like that is carried out. How can you do better...

 

[passerby]

it's that they COULD have sold even more consoles then they have this generation.

Agree with that, as Sony really did carry out such a study and announced this deduction. They have since wised-up and released more 'feminin' colours. According to a follow-up study, the Sakura-Pink PS2 is HOT property among Japanese women gamers.

However, it seems whatever 'colour studies' that were carried out by the MS team is quite lacking . They did not highlight an even more important point worse than the 'black colour issue' - big 'X's and vomit-green are even more loathsome to the eyes.

Having said that, it'll be interesting to see if they follow what they preach and release a pink XBox with a smaller 'X' in Japan.

Uh... maybe not.

if you already have the previous iteration of the console, BC is not as valuable and only saves you space under your TV.

That actually means a lot to me! Need to keep the multimedia-corner from overcrowding.

 

[marconelly!]

Not according to Sony... It wasn't that sony made up for the lack of women buyers, it's that they COULD have sold even more consoles then they have this generation.

Let me just remind you that what we are discussing here are the sales on PS2 to casual gamers, not just to females. Now, Sony has said that PS2 was selling less to female population than PS1 did. That's fine, but that's all they've said on that matter.

Sony (and all other sales data) also said that PS2 overall has been selling faster than PS1, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that it's casual gamers who are buying it. Who else is there that could be buying it in such amounts? It is the fastest selling console that ever existed - and unconviniently for Mr. Peter Moore, it's black...
It has obviously made up for it's lack of female marketability, by selling much better to other portions of casual gaming crowd, than PS1 did - so in retrospect, choosing that edgy design and black color, actually paid off, as that gave them a marketing focus to an even larger portion of casual crowd.

 

[Lazy8s]

marconelly!:

It has obviously made up for it's lack of female marketability, by selling much better to other portions of casual gaming crowd, than PS1 did - so in retrospect, choosing that edgy design and black color, actually paid off, as that gave them a marketing focus to an even larger portion of casual crowd.

That's just an assumption that its black color was responsible for it appealing to more of the overall casual gamer demographic. Hypothetically, it may be selling at a faster clip through some other draw(s) (like having had time to build more brand momentum, having bigger mainstream hit titles, having more marketing being spent on it, etc.) despite a less appealing color.

Just because a second-generation console sells at a better rate than its first generation, it doesn't automatically follow that every aspect of its design is more appealing - it only means that its net appeal is greater.

As for backward compatibility, studies have shown that many consider it a significant buying point yet few actually end up taking advantage of the feature. Thus, the issue really is one of marketing and not a critical dependency of play habit.

 

[Vince]

That's just an assumption that its black color was responsible for it appealing to more of the overall casual gamer demographic.

That doesn't matter at all, your point is a non-sequitor/tangentially related when you realize that Moore was talking about the color Black being a barrier to acceptance by the consumer (whom we know the largest percentage of which is "casual"). Marc's point is totally valid in stating that Moore's point about the color having a negative influence on system sales is fallicious in that Sony's PS2 is black and, also, the fastest selling console of all times.

Obviously, the sheer existence of the PS2 and it's sales demonstrates that Moore is incorrect in positing that the color black in in someway having a detrimental effect on acceptance and sales to the population in general. There is an obvious market of 70,000,000+ people who didn't find the color to be a barrier to purchase, and MS only touched only sa fraction of that. There are other causes, and they lie on Microsoft's end... and it's not the color.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Your wrong Vince. You don't have the data. Simple logic is all you need to apply. PS2 > PS1 does not mean Black > Grey. That's extremely simplistic of you. Besides, Xbox in black might be worse than PS2 in black, for product differentiation reasons. The point is that you can't draw conclusions the way you guys are simply because you don't like what Peter Moore said. That's pretty disingenious of you.

 

[Vince]

Your wrong Vince. You don't have the data. Simple logic is all you need to apply. PS2 > PS1 does not mean Black > Grey. That's extremely simplistic of you. Besides, Xbox in black might be worse than PS2 in black, for product differentiation reasons. The point is that you can't draw conclusions the way you guys are simply because you don't like what Peter Moore said. That's pretty disingenious of you.

Youre completely right, that would be - if that's what I was saying. I didn't touch on the Black vs. Grey argument, I wouldn't as I just stated that its a non-sequitor at worst, tangentially related at best to Moore's actual comment. My post reduces to the following statement:

Moore stated, "aking a black console was enough to deter casual gamers." Thus, he's claimed that the color black is intrinsically a barrier to commerical sales in a certain, majority, demographic.

The fact that PS2 alone has sold 70Million units and done it at the fastest rate of increase the marketplace has ever seen would show that the color black isnt a barrier to (read: doesn't deter) commerical sales. With the 70M shifted number we can infer that its reached the 'casual' market and sold well in that area.

 

[Lazy8s]

Vince:

Marc's point is totally valid in stating that Moore's point about the color having a negative influence on system sales is fallicious in that Sony's PS2 is black and, also, the fastest selling console of all times.

Except the point I quoted claimed that its blackness was actually responsible for its greater appeal to casuals overall... an assumption.

I'm hoping your "non sequitur" accusation was an example of satirical irony considering the context of your counterpoint!