Microsoft's 360 day head start... how much did they get out of this advantage?

[infinity4]

from what i remember 360 was launched in US on 22nd nov and ps3 on 17th nov in US, which makes it 360 days of head start from my AS maths calculations

going to main topic, to what extent (how much) do you guys think microsoft took this advantage???

in my opinion it wasn't much productive work by ms on 360 (if you know what i mean), and i do sometimes feel it gave net negative effects like "3 rings of lights" bringing bad publicity to company, which i feel that the situation would have been improved if they delayed the launch by some months :smile:

p.s: if this is duplication then i apologise. also wii is not there because it seems to be in different market segment.

p.s: sorry for my bad english

 

[AntShaw]

It could be considered a success on one factor alone:

Software Deals/Development

Including already announced and in the pipeline works. Without that, they would of been doomed.

 

[assen]

Negative? Oh cmon, this is absurd. They would be nowhere now without that head start. And the PS3 probably still wouldn't have been released, Sony would have waited to what is now only the Euro release to polish and bring costs down.

Could they have taken better advantage? Probably, hindsight is 20/20.
Did they make a mistake by releasing one year before the competition, and before Xmas? Hell no.

I think you underestimate the developer mindshare they have right now. You go to a developer and they show you privately their big-name multiplatform title on the 360, because "the PS3 version is a mess" - and that is two months before release (true story). This wouldn't be the case if the 360 was released in 2006.

 

[DJ12]

They had a 6 million console head start.

Personally I do not think it will last as the Playstation brand is too big, but I do believe the margin of victory will be smaller by some degree than it was for the PS2 v xbox.

 

[Bobbler]

On the software side, I think they did a pretty good job.

They got a few good titles already out and a lot of the multiplatform titles have 360 as the lead platform for at least another year.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

They had a 6 million console head start.

Personally I do not think it will last as the Playstation brand is too big, but I do believe the margin of victory will be smaller by some degree than it was for the PS2 v xbox.

They may have had only 6 million on the PS3 launch day (though I'd add at least another million) - but now it's considerably bigger, as the PS3 has been consistently selling a lot worse than the Xbox360.

And think again - PS3 needs to sell about 170-190 thousand units more than the Xbox just to catch up to it in 4 years. And again, at the moment they keep selling less consoles, so that lead is actually increasing.

 

[infinity4]

by looking at european and japanese sales i feel they only did good job in north america.

 

[TheChefO]

They may have had only 6 million on the PS3 launch day (though I'd add at least another million) - but now it's considerably bigger, as the PS3 has been consistently selling a lot worse than the Xbox360.

And think again - PS3 needs to sell about 170-190 thousand units more than the Xbox just to catch up to it in 4 years. And again, at the moment they keep selling less consoles, so that lead is actually increasing.

QFT

I'm surprised by the lack of a real answer from Sony. It seems more and more evident their primary focus with PS3 was to establish the Bluray format.

Not only was it the right decision, it was the most important decision they made. 2nd in line would be good dev kit software. 3rd, pricing. 4th good HW.

 

[Crossbar]

And again, at the moment they keep selling less consoles, so that lead is actually increasing.

That may change when Sony releases the PS3 in the PAL-regions.

Anyway I think Microsoft made the right choice to skip the next-gen medias (HD-DVD/Blu-ray). They would have been in a much worse situation if they had waited for let say HD-DVD, they would have had a pretty shitty situation when the blue diodes production turned out to be so hard to ramp up. Sony could depend on their one manufacturing, and still under-estimated the difficulties. It wasn't really an alternative for Microsoft, it was probably quickly removed as an alternative after some rough risk analysis when they started planning the 360.

And then again why would they wait, the original Xbox was doing pretty badly, why keep subsidizing that hardware when those money could be put into a new platform? Better to put the gun in the back of the head of it and end that waste of money, better to release a new console before the competition and grab some market share.

Very well executed I'd say.

 

[mrcorbo]

I think they had to launch when they did. XBOX was a continual drain that was never going to make signifigant headway against PS2 and the 360 needed the headstart to compete with the Sony hype machine by delivering something tangible. MS haven't yet earned the reputation of either Sony or Nintendo. IMO, their launch timing wasn't really something they chose to do, it was something they had to do. And they did a good job pulling it off.

 

[Tap In]

-Many more developers on board than Xbox 1 launch and as the current market leader in number of units (thanks to the head start), they will remain a good bet for Publishers

-Primary sku for many games

-More refined software and features than the competition, currently (Robust online gaming features, DL HD movies, TV etc)

-Improved name brand recognition (they were the only Next Gen solution for 1 year)

-More refined dev tools

-Nice game library with budget tiles now available and head start on devs refining their titles for the hardware

-Poised for aggressive yet profitable price reductions

 

[Fu3lFr3nzy]

-Poised for aggressive yet profitable price reductions

*OT here* speaking on price reductions, I went to BestBuy today to pick up GoWII and I noticed that the X360 retail boxes were, err alot smaller than what they usually were. I've seen my nephews launch box, and im pretty sure the one I saw on store today was definately smaller.

Is retail packaging also part of their price reductions? j/k. My only question was if anyone else noticed my observation

*back to normal discussion*

 

[TheChefO]

*OT here* speaking on price reductions, I went to BestBuy today to pick up GoWII and I noticed that the X360 retail boxes were, err alot smaller than what they usually were. I've seen my nephews launch box, and im pretty sure the one I saw on store today was definately smaller.

Is retail packaging also part of their price reductions? j/k. My only question was if anyone else noticed my observation

*back to normal discussion*

Interesting. I have not noticed this but smaller retail packaging can be very beneficial as it allows stores to keep more units in a smaller space which in critical selling periods can make a difference.

 

[zed]

i voted yes it was worth it (though still to early to definitely say) esp it looks increasingly like the wii will be overtaking the xb360s 6 million headstart within a few months

 

[NERO]

I'm much too busy (I guess not so busy that I can't post ) to research this, but what have headstarts done historically for consoles? Do headstarts typically matter...etc.

IMO Microsoft has apparently done well because they haven't screwed up. Sometimes that's it. A good indication of the 360's success is the number of games that have gone from exclusive Sony to multiplatform versus the number of games that MS has lost (which I believe is 0).

 

[standing ovation]

The sheer complexity of X360 and its vertical integration practically guarantee that you won't be able to test and fix everything within a reasonable timeframe. So it's best just to get it out the door and worry about bugs and other problems consumers dig up later. By launching ahead of the competition, Microsoft has pit a more polished product/service against less polished ones.

But the REAL shocker is that they have shattered the notion of a 10-year console lifecycle.

 

[Archgamer]

MS did a good job, but not a great one.

Japanese market is underwhelming. PAL market is stale. They are obviously not making that much impact in those regions. And I can only see them improving in the US. The good news however is that they have done a better job at securing some exclusives. Halo 3 and GTAIV are heavyweights this fall.

 

[Ben-Nice]

I think they did well enough to lock up US and Europe for a while. The have a very nice library coming later this year which should only increase sales.

 

[Sis]

i voted yes it was worth it (though still to early to definitely say) esp it looks increasingly like the wii will be overtaking the xb360s 6 million headstart within a few months

Eh, MS is probably fine with that. The Wii fills a slightly different, though overlapping, purpose than the 360 (and PS3). MS is in this to win the living room, not to be another gaming system. The PS3 is Sony's offering of the same. Compared with that, there should be no doubt how well Microsoft's decision has been.

 

[Crayon]

Yes.

Didn't seem like such a big deal four months ago.

As someone who's spent some time with the PS3 OS, I think it's obviously unfinished. Not just a work in progress, but not even fully functional.

I think it's indicitive of Sony's hand being forced by Microsoft. Microsoft launching the 360 a bit beofre it was ready has translated to Sony releasing the PS3 quite a bit before it was ready.