Sammy Samusu
Member
And what Dragon Quest game for Vita is going to sell 4 million copies?
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NPD Sales Results for June 2015 [Up2: Batman, Splatoon]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Whoever claims Sony must drop the PS4 price is dumb and has no business sense. They have a good lead, still selling more worldwide... and they are making more money selling each PS4. Perhaps with the new model they are even profitable. Absolutely no need to drop the price. Just in scope, take that estimated 80K difference between PS4 and XB1, multiply it by $50 (this of course is not the best way to go about this but just so you have an idea) and Sony generated $4,000,000 more than Microsoft. That may not sound to be a lot, and it doesn't mean its pure profit, but its money Sony is not burning to the ground and to a company in the situation of Sony that's quite, quite good.
I believe that Sony would benefit nicely from a price drop this year, but if there isn't one, they are in a good position considering that their biggest franchises release next year. They have arguably the best third party deals that should help them enough these holidays. They already went through a tough holiday last year and they recovered nicely. I'm sure they're confident enough to ride these holidays with no price drop and bounce back next year again. Admittedly, MS's line-up this winter is much stronger, but also are Sony's third party deals.
If Sony does't cut the price of the PS4 this year, and they give a good fight at the end of the year, they will be in an even better position next year when a price cut will definitely have a major impact for them.
Excellent read as always, Zhuge. Seriously, no one else can do this stuff nearly as well as you can on this forum. Anyway, like you said, the second half of the year will be very interesting to watch. Based on Amazon, the Batman AK bundle still seems to be going strong. It might just be enough to carry the PS4 all the way to September until it is replaced by the MGSV bundle (hopefully it does get announced).
And I actually think Sony has a good chance to win the holidays this time around. They got marketing deals for most of the third party games and have yet to drop the price. All they need is aggressive bundling and pricing the standalone PS4 at $299 and they may very well lead the holidays by a decent margin. Just my two cents.
MisterR
Member
Don't know that anyone said that it would, but if the next mainline DQ is on Vita along with PS4, I'm sure it will sell quiet a bit. No need to be so defensive.
I'm going to have to remember to quote this when Sony inevitably announces a price drop later this year.
It'd have totally changed the Japan landscape, which could have had a knock down effect worldwide thanks to increased support.
Yo-Kai Watch 3?
No The Order? Pretty sure that's fake.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Three years too late, unfortunately.
LOL, even the first sentence is meant to offend others. Look, think about it this way, the more PS4's they sell, the more PS+ subscribers they will be. Sure, they might lose revenue on hardware, but this will benefit them more in the long term. Also, price cuts are not only meant to beat the competition.
sörine;172156313 said:
That franchise will be going over to mobile soon.
I'm joking around bruh.
OrbitalBeard
Member
It's already on mobile. And there's no guarantee mainline entries will migrate there.
For someone claiming others are being defensive, you seem to be taking some of these responses a bit too personally. Edit - My apologies, you didn't actually say this.
Oh, hey they might. The new model is cheaper to produce, they can keep that competitive edge as well especially if Microsoft pushes them further, but if it was my company I wouldn't give in until maybe summer next year or until sales start dropping off a cliff.
When did I say someone was being too defensive?
It's already on mobile too? So are Monster Hunter and your 3rd best thing.
Of course. It would be a disaster if done sooner - gives the competition time to adjust and mount a strategy (whether successful or not). This holiday will definitely be fun. One of the best industries to follow....very simple.
I find interesting, not surprising but rather interesting how the XB1 has had months this year with Year-over-year growth riding almost exclusively on price and third-party support. For PC's sake, sure they have had some smaller exclusives but those don't light the hype, don't light marketing campaigns and certainly didn't light sales charts.
From that perspective, of exclusive content being so key to the survival of a competitor in second place (differentiation); price has helped them overwhelmingly well. Helps them coast a lot while being second in the market.
I wonder what the price elasticity of demand for the XB1 is - launch to date.
You could make the case for a market leader riding third party, not indefinitely of course, and get away with it once in a while (without losing steam) but a second place competitor doing it? while also gaining YOY growth? Not bad...it does change my view a little bit about how the industry is operating. I still think MS marketing department has had a lot to do with it....the media has "helped" in unison.
OrbitalBeard
Member
You didn't actually. It was someone else (MisterR). My apologies.
I haven't seen Sony trying the Trojan horse tactic like Microsoft did with XBL. Each console sold != new PSN sub, but I do see your point. Still, in the process of evaluation I believe you will realize that yes, sales will spike the first month or even two months in, but will eventually normalize again. I do believe the sweet-spot is around $300, but keeping the price up at $399 is a hand that Sony can keep close and that will keep Microsoft wary in the competitive sense. I doubt they want to burn more money to the ground than they have so far.
Just my .02.
We cool dawg.
womfalcs3
Banned
It all depends on the expected demand elasticity with respect to price. That ~4 million dollars in initial lost revenue could be made up over the time of ownership of new buyers depending on how demand responds to price. It would be worthwhile for somebody to provide a monthly data set for sales for all consoles... Price series can be easily obtained. Then we can estimate price elasticity for them.
Great sales month for PS4. The Batman Bunduru was beastly.
SW Battlefront will be bundled with a widely available custom PS4 (like Destiny) for Christmas which will annihilate everything in its path.
At this point I don't see any reason for Sony to drop the price until next year and just keep squeezing those margins as much as possible.
A price cut would be smart in preserving a high US sales lead, but I think Sony is enjoying PS4 sales Rotw and any cut will always have to be a global one.
Bundles and promotions will see them ride out 2015.
SW Battlefront will be bundled with a widely available custom PS4 (like Destiny) for Christmas which will annihilate everything in its path.
At this point I don't see any reason for Sony to drop the price until next year and just keep squeezing those margins as much as possible.
A price cut would be smart in preserving a high US sales lead, but I think Sony is enjoying PS4 sales Rotw and any cut will always have to be a global one.
Bundles and promotions will see them ride out 2015.
I think it is, it goes against the claim that ESO didn't sell well on PS4 (well better that XBOXone) b/c of FFXIV expansion.
The Last One
Member
I don't think that a expansion of a MMO would make into a multiplataform top 10.
Yeah! And Zhuge is just 20 years old. Imagine him with 40 years on his back. Endless possibilities
Amentallica
Unconfirmed Member
I also think that by refusing to drop the price for as long as possible creates a situation in which future products can maintain an even longer lifespan, where individuals would recount history about the PS4, for example, and say that it took nearly two or over two years for a price drop, therefore they might as well get the [PS5] upon release since it'll be the same price for a long time.
I was referencing this graph:
FFXIV expansion should have hit there if it has a good use base, b/c like most MMO expansions it would have been all digital upgrades.
A Realm Reborn did although that was more like a redo than an expansion.
One thing's for sure. He'll be way better than Patcher! ;P
Papacheeks
Banned
I don't think Microsoft is going to make big cut's this year. They did last year, and the drop off hurt them after Holiday that and the low profit margin gained.
Wouldn't be surprised if 349.99 with what's been announced like Gears Ultimate, halo 5 and tomb raider are what we see this holiday.
299.99 and below I'm not holding my breath.
I don't think Sony will wait again for a beating in pricing and deals and potentially risk losing major chucks of market-share and momentum. Sure they have the nice co-marketing deals but MS has been able to navigate around those. The one that hurt them bad was Destiny. All things considered both have quality content to market this holiday.
Sony will drop price. It's just a matter of how much ($50 or a $100) and how the promotion is handled.
CosmicQueso
Member
The Chartz of the digital world.
Sammy Samusu
Member
MisterR
Member
It's a possibility with some of the recent moves on SE's part. I'm thinking PS3/PS4/Vita, or PS4/Vita.
Horii said it's for home consoles.
It's PS4/PS3 like DQH most likely.
I feel this has some quoting potential for later this year ;P
I slightly agree but any price cut made would be a global one right?
Why would Sony risk losing their margins around the world where PS4 sales are so good with almost little competition.
I know this is strictly a US NPD thread but just wanted to bring that up.
Sorry, missed this. Hopefully you saw my other updates on the last couple of pages.
What I've done is created a chart which shows how the PlayStation 4 is performing against all home consoles in the USA that have sold more than 40 million units to date. The PlayStation 2 still remains the cumulative sales leader in the USA with approximately 46.4 million consoles sold.
What this shows is that the PlayStation 4 got off to a great start with high opening sales due to the pent up demand from a long gen 7. Early adopters and core gamers were keen to get their hands on the latest PlayStation console and stores were sold out even into early 2014. However, we are now at a point where Sony have got the supply chain exactly how they want it and are producing as many consoles as they need with ease in order to satisfy demand.
The PlayStation 2 launched after the huge success of the original PlayStation, early adopters and gamers got their hands on the system early on which faced production and supply issues for quite some time. As it was the only next generation system on the market at the time there was little to no competition and the price was the same as the PS1 launch price. Sony drove PlayStation 2 sales through excellent software and through great deals and price cuts during this period. Ultimately the momentum that PS4 and PS2 have had has been fairly similar however the PS2 did have better holiday sales due to no competition in year one (where as PS4 had the Xbox One cheaper) and the reason the PS2 starts to pull away at month 20 is because of the $100 price cut.
The Nintendo Wii was a product that resonated both with early adopters/core gamers but also with the casual market as well. Whilst the PS2 saw more casuals adopt later in the life cycle the Wii saw them all at the front door from day 1. In fact Nintendo couldn't make enough Wii's to keep up with demand so that line could be a lot steeper. The PS4 has not yet got to a point where it will see mass casual adoption and so in the first 36 months I do not see the PS4 getting anywhere near that Wii line. Of course the Wii does have a drop in sales later in the gen where the PS4 can pull back a bit.
The Xbox 360 started off slow.... in fact the console actually sold a bit worse compared to the original Xbox for a bit. The PS2 was the main competitor and there weren't any real reasons to buy a 360 on day 1 over a PS2 unless you were an early adopter or had the original Xbox. Ultimately the 360 benefited from the year headstart over the PS3, the lower price point and exclusive software which caused it to pick up some steam later in the gen (+Kinect) but early on it was overshadowed by the Wii and the Xbox brand wasn't at a point where people would buy it day 1 just yet.
Ultimately the PS4 is at a comfortable position and will continue quite easily on its current trajectory. Give it a price cut this year and whilst I don't think it'll get back up to the PS2 line (at the 36 month point) I do believe it can get close. One issue at the moment is competition from the Xbox brand as to how well it sells during the holiday or throughout 2016 as Microsoft have been very aggressive on pricing and marketing in order to drive sales of their own system and a lot of 360 owners will obviously consider the Xbox One as their next console when they look to buy. There has been a measurable effect shown where some consumers have purchased an Xbox One over a PS4 due to price and marketing. In the PS2 era Sony overcame this by being aggressive on pricing and marketing in order to create a large lead in the US at the expense of margin but make back the money through software sales. This gen the US is still important, but not as important so Sony are choosing to play safe by creating high margin on both hardware and software and the strategy, whilst different, is paying off as Sony remain the cumulative sales leader in the US but also the worldwide market by a good margin which is the ultimate goal for Sony.
The PS4 is set to be the leader this gen but what will really matter is the extension tools used by Sony later in this gen to keep the PS4 selling and whether it actually can defy standard trends like the 360 did or make in roads into the next gen market like the PS2 did.
hodayathink
Member
Black Ops: Declassified, Assassin's Creed: Liberation, Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Killzone Mercenary is Sony's best shot. Two of the, if not the 2 highest profile third party franchises out there plus two of the highest first party franchises. People need to accept that.
CosmicQueso
Member
Okay then, I'll ask. What more could possibly have been done? Most big name franchises had releases that didn't sell enough to turn a profit and the system itself failed to generate a significant installed base.
Unless you just think that Sony should have just kept dumping millions into throwing things at the wall in the hopes that something would stick?
First they tried dedicated games, then they tried to open it up as a small game/indie platform, then they tried to expand it to a remote play device. Nothing helped. They bundled it, they sold it at discount, still the mass market stayed away. It didn't work.
The Last One
Member
I was referencing this graph:
FFXIV expansion should have hit there if it has a good use base, b/c like most MMO expansions it would have been all digital upgrades.
Isn't this graph about digital earnings? FF XIV: Heavensward is just $40.
Yeah it's going to be global. Shuhei alluded as such in an interview not long ago - even tho. he's not from the business side. Probably one of the reasons that went into the decision to not drop last year.
I have no idea the state of sales growth or decline for Europe overall. Would be great to have the numbers so that we could provide an educated guess.
If we could have something like what we have for Japan (Media Create, Famitsu) and the UK for Germany, I think we could use both the UK and Germany as an overall picture of Europe.
Europe is growing and becoming an important market for Sony.
The PlayStation 4 is growing at a fast rate there compared to previous PlayStation consoles.
Then you have emerging markets which are also becoming more important. Sony have done an excellent job at making the PlayStation brand synonymous with gaming in these markets.
Don't forget that the more PS4s they sell then the more games, PS+ subscriptions, accessories etc. they sell as well. It's a give and take.
And a good price drop would move a lot of PS4s.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
So you are not forward thinking at all.
Aye. I love how they're pushing into China so hard. Neither Microsoft or Nintendo are making the effort Sony is in breaking and expanding into new markets.