With the release of two new consoles and the dawn of another generation on the horizon, I thought it'd be fun to take a step back and talk about past console launches. Launching a console is a pretty hefty undertaking for any electronics company, and most of us here have been around to at least witness a handful of them at the beginning of each new console generation. First there are years of R&D developing actual console, then the millions spent on marketing, focus group testing and looking at market data, wrangling third-party developers and exclusives, communicating a clear vision for the console to the public, supplying incentives like bundles and must-have launch titles, and finally manufacturing and shipping the final product to however many potential buyers your supply chain can satisfy.
Suffice to say, there are a lot of elements that need to be meticulously planned and executed in order for a console to have a successful launch and start building its brand. So I figured why not start a thread where we can give credit where it is due to those companies who were able to get it right. Maybe at the end of this, we'll be able to draw some sort of conclusions as to what are the most important aspects of a console release that every company should strive to nail down before launch day.
I'll start us off by throwing my vote in for the Sony Playstation 2 in the year 2000.
The PS2 brand is retrospectively viewed by many as being possibly the greatest of all time, up there with such legends as the NES and SNES. Granted, much of this reputation is the product of the PS2's sales dominance and consequently its immense, diverse game library. Arguably none of that may have come to be (at least to the same degree) if Sony hadn't done such a great job marketing and launching this console.
I think a bulleted list will best accomplish the task of highlighting the successes of the PS2's launch:
That's not to say that it had a perfect launch. Here are some of the failures of the PS2's release window:
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That'll start us off. Feel free to include handheld console launches as well when posting your submission, and please include at least a few words as to why you think your console of choice had the best launch.
Suffice to say, there are a lot of elements that need to be meticulously planned and executed in order for a console to have a successful launch and start building its brand. So I figured why not start a thread where we can give credit where it is due to those companies who were able to get it right. Maybe at the end of this, we'll be able to draw some sort of conclusions as to what are the most important aspects of a console release that every company should strive to nail down before launch day.
I'll start us off by throwing my vote in for the Sony Playstation 2 in the year 2000.
The PS2 brand is retrospectively viewed by many as being possibly the greatest of all time, up there with such legends as the NES and SNES. Granted, much of this reputation is the product of the PS2's sales dominance and consequently its immense, diverse game library. Arguably none of that may have come to be (at least to the same degree) if Sony hadn't done such a great job marketing and launching this console.
I think a bulleted list will best accomplish the task of highlighting the successes of the PS2's launch:
- Hype/Consumer Interest: First and foremost, I can't think of another console that had more hype leading up to its release. The PS2 was the first system that I can remember drawing humongous lines all around the country (and the world) of people waiting and hoping to be able to snag one before supply ran out. Thanks largely to the momentum that Sony built up with the PS1, the PS2 was primed to take complete advantage of the brand loyalty and consumer trust that they had earned in the previous five years. Since the PS2 launched alongside the rise in popularity with online commerce and sites like eBay, it was also the first system to be sold in excess of $1000 secondhand to people who weren't able to get one on launch day. This trend of buying consoles at launch and re-selling them online for several times their original value has persisted ever since.
- Marketing/Message: While much of the system's hype was a given due to the popularity of the PS1, Sony didn't rest on its laurels and rely on consumer loyalty. The commercials that aired in the US were arguably never bested by any of Sony's future initiatives. The futuristic "PS9" commercial is probably the most fondly remembered, as it painted the brand as sleek, forward-looking, and most importantly cool. Sony had always set out to be a more "mature" gaming brand than its competition from the 90's ever since the PS1, and they smartly stuck with that same approach when marketing the PS2. To go along with that vibe, the monolithic vertical press shots of the PS2 and the sleek black/blue stylings of both the system itself and the packaging brought it all together. It was a very consistent, successful marketing campaign from the TV commercials all the way down to the look and feel of the final product.
- Impact/Added Value: Anyone who was a SEGA fanatic during the turn of the 21st Century can certainly attest to the PS2's significant impact on the industry. While the PS2 didn't directly kill the Dreamcast, it certainly played a role in pushing out one of gaming's most prominent fixtures from the hardware race. The added value of built-in DVD playback was a huge boon for the PS2. I can't stress this enough. DVD was still a relatively new format that many people had yet to adopt in 2000 due to the price of DVD players, and the PS2 represented an enormous value by playing PS1 games, PS2 games, audio CDs, and video DVDs. In fact, the system cost about the same or even less than many leading standalone players at the time. Since Sony invented and owned the DVD format, it was a no-brainer for them to push it through their new, hotly anticipated console. It was like a perfect storm.
- Price: $299 was an incredibly fair asking price for the year 2000, especially considering that the price was the same as that of the PS1 at launch five years earlier. So it was the same price as before, only five years later and now boasting the much-touted DVD playback abilities and complete backwards compatibility with the PS1 library. That's just a great value, any way you slice it. It's a far cry from the infamous "599 US Dollars" announcement leading up to the PS3 launch.
That's not to say that it had a perfect launch. Here are some of the failures of the PS2's release window:
- Launch Game Selection: The PS2's successful launch demonstrates that a killer launch line-up is not always necessary to move a lot of systems. The only two games of note that released along with the system were SSX and Tekken Tag Tournament, which were great games but not exactly "system sellers" like Mario and Halo (a year later). Fortunately, the following year would go on to be one of the most generous in gaming history. 2001 would see releases such as: ICO, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid 2, Grand Theft Auto 3, Onimusha, Red Faction, Twisted Metal: Black, Final Fantasy X, Silent Hill 2, Tony Hawk 3, Gran Turismo 3, SSX Tricky, and Jak & Daxter. Phew, that was a long list.
- Availability: The PS2's supply was infamously dwarfed by its demand. It was still hard to get even up to six months after its launch, and it remained the hot item to get all throughout the holiday season as well. Although some could argue that this had the added side-effect of garnering more media attention and thusly more demand.
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That'll start us off. Feel free to include handheld console launches as well when posting your submission, and please include at least a few words as to why you think your console of choice had the best launch.
