Worldwide Launch

[Titanio]

Most launch critics here will accept nothing less than perfect equilibrium where every 360 that is unloaded from the truck is immediately snatched up by a consumer. If demand exceeds supply - oh no! production problems! botched strategy! If supply exceeds demand - see! no one wants it! unsold units!

I think you'll find that this argument has roots in the suggestion that the 360 worldwide launch was some sort of exemplar that Sony should follow.

Sony will undoubtedly have problems with PS3's launch - no launch is ideal - but I think some would simply contest if launching worldwide would help.

 

[fireshot]

IMHO yes.
http://psp.ign.com/articles/589/589656p1.html
AFAIK this PSP defect was not reported for units shipped for the NA launch 3 months later.

That didn't stop reports of dead pixels surfacing. Oh that's right, things get blown up.

a) is not a problem, because you can detect the defect by adding additional steps in the post-manufacturing test process after initial defect reports, which I assume would be possible if MS hadn't planned the global launch.

As for b), it's what I could glean from news articles and internet forums across 3 regions, if you don't believe it just take all of this as a fictitious situation not related to a specific company only made up for the sake of discussion about a global launch of any product.

Anyway, my assumption is stochastically valid as you can do more things with more time, statistically speaking. Microsoft obviously took the risk knowingly expecting certain return.

You failed at understanding a)batch b)distribuiton.

 

[scooby_dooby]

The idea was to accelerate penetration more than the usual, the one region launch. They didn't. They didn't do it to simply smile down on a tiny fraction of european players who otherwise would have waited 4 or 5 months.

You totally ignore the fact that as production comes online, and supply begins to level out, MS will be selling systems in something like 30+ countries around the world. That will "accelerate penetration" much more than a staggered launch.

As for your friends who wanted a 360 wait till the March line-up hits....they'll want it again. And if they don't get one now, maybe they get one next xmas when they go through the exact same thing with the PS3.

I think MS has made some stumbles, they've also been completely blown out of proportion. With 1.5million sold in 5 weeks, with 3 launches within that timeframe and huge worldwide buzz that's a success, those ARE good numbers. They failiure rate is also below 3% if you believe MS, so again another issue blow completely out of proportion.

The advantages of a worldwide launch won't show up immediately when you're supply limited, but 3 or 4 months down the road as you begin to have units in stock in countries all around the world rather than just 1.

 

[fireshot]

I think you'll find that this argument has roots in the suggestion that the 360 worldwide launch was some sort of exemplar that Sony should follow.

Sony will undoubtedly have problems with PS3's launch - no launch is ideal - but I think some would simply contest if launching worldwide would help.

You would contest anything for Sony and against MS.

I don't quite get your attachment to a megalo-coporation?

 

[scooby_dooby]

Your counterpoints have no more basis than mine. You say the presence helps, or MS expects it to, I question that, in the long run - what makes your basis any further from "drivel" than mine?

sorry but dave's argument basically comes down to we have to wait and see. Yours is basically MS's worldwide launch failed miserably because a few of my buddies can't find one.

You refuse to recognize that that payoff in a worldwide launch is not initial sales, but sales after supply has caught up, and with that in mind, we can't judge until at least a year or two down the line.

 

[Titanio]

You totally ignore the fact that as production comes online, and supply begins to level out, MS will be selling systems in something like 30+ countries around the world. That will "accelerate penetration" much more than a staggered launch.

MS would certainly be in no worse of a position launching, say, in country Y a few months after country Z stockpiling between times.

And possibly better, but some may argue about the positive effects of any physical presence in the market.

As for your friends who wanted a 360 wait till the March line-up hits....they'll want it again. And if they don't get one now, maybe they get one next xmas when they go through the exact same thing with the PS3.

Perhaps indeed, but they're more demanding now than they were 6 months ago.

sorry but dave's argument basically comes down to we have to wait and see. Yours is basically MS's worldwide launch failed miserably because a few of my buddies can't find one.

His argument was a little more than that. I suggested that they risk alienating people who'd have willingly bought during a launch period, and they risk squandering the kind of goodwill a console enjoys around a launch. That they won't get a chance to do this again, and that they thus risk muting the impact of the launch. His was that it was probably MS's expectation that immediate presence in the market would have a positive effect in the long term. There's no more basis for that than what I said, they're both possible outcomes, or a mix of both even.

You refuse to recognize that that payoff in a worldwide launch is not initial sales, but sales after supply has caught up, and with that in mind, we can't judge until at least a year or two down the line.

After supply has caught up is likely to be Spring - when they could have launched in Europe, for example, with a lot more stock, and continuing constant supply. See my first point.

You would contest anything for Sony and against MS.

Ehh...This is about the wisdom of any company launching in 3 regions with just a million units.

 

[Dave Baumann]

http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2005/12/awe_have_the_be.php

Edge: After the challenges of the worldwide hardware launch, and the worry about stock shortages, do you still intend to continue that pattern for future 360 games, peripherals and services?

Allard: Absolutely. It’s the right thing to do for gamers and it’s the right thing to do for the industry. Publishers and developers are investing too much money and too much effort for them not to be able to target this worldwide market and get the most out of the energy they put in. And gamers deserve the respect of worldwide launches. It’s what gamers want – no one likes to be treated as a second-class citizen. And while we couldn’t do the exact same day in all the territories, we’re doing pretty darn good. And we’ll catch some flack in terms of allocations and stock shortages, but sometimes doing the right thing means doing the hard thing. And I’d rather get some negative PR around the fact that we’re sold out in some regions and maybe we should have waited, than having gamers call me up saying: “What they heck are you guys thinking, shipping this a year later? Why are you disrespecting me?†And having publishers call up and say: “I just sunk $15 million into this product and you’re telling me I can’t sell it into 16 countries in Europe?†Those are the calls I don’t want to take. We’ll get a little bit of heat but it was the right decision.

 

[Bobbler]

Kind of ironic that publisher(s) (mostly EA and analysts) are blaming X360's lack of supply for their crappy quarters. I'm sure Allard is getting calls from publishers, but not for them not being able to launch their game in 16 countries in Europe!

 

[one]

sorry but dave's argument basically comes down to we have to wait and see. Yours is basically MS's worldwide launch failed miserably because a few of my buddies can't find one.

Oh that's cool, from now on I'll tell all analyst friends "stfu just wait and see!" to encourage them to lose their job

Kind of ironic that publisher(s) (mostly EA and analysts) are blaming X360's lack of supply for their crappy quarters. I'm sure Allard is getting calls from publishers, but not for them not being able to launch their game in 16 countries in Europe!

How about the software sales for Xbox 1?

 

[fireshot]

Ehh...This is about the wisdom of any company launching in 3 regions with just a million units.

I know.

I just like to know what motivates your act? There has to be one good reason if not more for you to post exclusively the thumbs down for MS and two thumbs up for Sony at every opportunity across many boards?

I am starting to have a stinking suspicion that this "contesting the wisdom" is your pre-emptive spin when Sony announces PS3 launch details.

 

[Titanio]

I just like to know what motivates your act? There has to be one good reason if not more for you to post exclusively the thumbs down for MS and two thumbs up for Sony at every opportunity across many boards?

I knew it was a mistake to even reply to you. If you've a problem with my posting, PM me.

I am starting to have a stinking suspicion that this "contesting the wisdom" is your pre-emptive spin when Sony announces PS3 launch details.

As much as I'd personally like Sony to launch in Europe alongside everywhere else, I don't know how smart it'd be if they can't ship significantly more than 1m units.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Oh that's cool, from now on I'll tell all analyst friends "stfu just wait and see!" to encourage them to lose their job

No by all means, continue blowing every single mis-step out of proportion, and declaring MS's 'failures' at every chance you get despite it being far to early in the game to tell, I wouldn't expect anything else. :smile:

 

[Sethamin]

Consider this from a marketing angle instead of a manufacturing angle. Having a one-off launch event in Europe or Japan a few months down the road can easily be ignored by the mainstream public, simply because Xbox does not have a very strong brand in those territories (compared to PS, at least). However, if you put them all a week apart, then all of a sudden the NA launch is material (and hence newsworthy) to those other territories since their launch is imminent. When I'm trying to say here is that having a worldwide launnch gives you a critical mass of PR and media coverage that you wouldn't be able to achieve with a staggered launch. This, in turn, helps you get more mainstream exposure to your brand (the hardcore already knows about it anyway). Perhaps they don't (or can't) buy it yet, but the awareness is there, and as any marketing student can tell you, without at least awareness they'll never buy your product.

To give an anecdotal example (these seem popular now), I saw segments on the NA 360 launch on BBC World News, broadcast all around the world. Would that have happened with a staggered launch? Maybe yes, maybe no. But the worldwide launch certainly made it more likely. Building a brand seems to be more important to MS than trying to move as many units as possible for the lowest cost. Sony will likely stick to a staggered launch because their brand is already so strong - there's no advantage for them to do so. For MS it's a different story.

 

[PiNkY]

Kind of ironic that publisher(s) (mostly EA and analysts) are blaming X360's lack of supply for their crappy quarters. I'm sure Allard is getting calls from publishers, but not for them not being able to launch their game in 16 countries in Europe!

Hmm, if EA's numbers are legit, xbox360 titles contributed contributed 30% and 24% of total revenues in the NA and European markets during their last quarter. This seems to be quite a lot to me considering we are talking about christmas season and the small 360 userbase.

link (german)

 

[Mr. Hanky]

it could launch with the crappiest of titles and people will eat it up

could?

 

[hey69]

i know i will

 

[Sis]

It seems to me that debating whether MS should have released in NA and EUR simultaneously is like arguing whether they should have launched in California and New York simulataneously. In terms of a world wide launch, the Japan launch seems to be a mistake. I would suggest that this is due to the differences in gaming cultural as being too signficant to just repackage or localize content from one region and deploy it in Japan. But the differences between the EUR and NA markets seems small enough that content can be shared.

The fact that both NA and EUR have seen sell-outs would suggest that this is a successful strategy, or at a minimum early results point to a good launch. I fail to see how one can argue that it was a poor decision because it may make potential buyers angry.

 

[overclocked]

No, absolutely, I do not like the hype that these things generate since they end up in 90% of the discussions in this forum being pointless. If we were talking about an interesting in 3Dtech then that would be great, but for the most part we're not, we're talking about fan-boy arguments.

Hype can be good for those with their feets on the ground if you relate to the tech cause i think no human is immune to it neither and it has it positive side-effects.
Im not really talking about any special forum or about fan-boy arguments and even worse hidden fan-boy arguments.

From a point as a regular dude dont you enjoy the suprises with PS3 now when X360 is already out before ALL the info wrapps up? So lastly as a sane question do you look forward to getting one and can you relate to what i said about bringing the child out from you in a moment? The last one is probably the most enjoyable and i would think its healthy aswell, just my thoughts..

 

[dubyateeeff]

http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2005/12/awe_have_the_be.php

Publishers and developers are investing too much money and too much effort for them not to be able to target this worldwide market and get the most out of the energy they put in.
<snip>
And having publishers call up and say: “I just sunk $15 million into this product and you’re telling me I can’t sell it into 16 countries in Europe?†Those are the calls I don’t want to take. We’ll get a little bit of heat but it was the right decision.

I dont think publishers prioritise shipping a product worldwide as much as they prioritise selling many units. Selling 1 million units in NA would "equal" 1 million units spread out through out the world. And eventually they would get their worldwide launch anyway, so initially they should be worried about shipping a game to a console who has sold a lot, not a console which is sold in many countries.

I think Allard by giving the example above ignored the counter example off: “I just sunk $15 million into this product and you’re telling you made a worldwide launch in 200 countries with 5000 units in each country so I need market it in all those countries and localise it? Screw you, I'm going home! (^>_^)>"

 

[zed]

worldwide launch!
so i take it i can go and buy a xb360 here in australasia
ie how can it be a worldwide launch when its available to less than 20% of the worlds population