DVD-Enabled Consoles Do Better?

Thanks to GameMarketWatch.com for their article discussing a survey linking console DVD use and game purchases. Some manufacturers don't see the point of a bundled DVD player: "'Why would we ever include DVD playback in our videogame system?' was the question posed in a recent Business 2.0 article by George Harrison, Nintendo's VP of Marketing. 'If someone buys a DVD and watches it on the Nintendo GameCube, we wouldn't receive any revenue from that. We'd rather have them play our games.'" But the survey shows a possible advantage to DVD playback for hardware manufacturers: "The Centris poll results... suggest that DVD capability has the potential to drive game software activity, since respondents that used their game consoles to watch DVD movies were also the heaviest purchasers and renters of games."

Comments

cause and effect

[muirhead]

Centris poll results... suggest that DVD capability has the potential to drive game software activity...

I sense some confuddled thinking.
Doesn't the surveys just imply that the folk that send the most time infront of their TVs, also watch more DVDs and play more games?

Re:cause and effect

[UnknownSoldier]

> Is this showing that gamers buy their console because they have DVD functionality, or that they just use the DVD playback because it's there?

One of the main reasons I bought the PS2, was because it could play DVDs. I was able then to look around at what DVD player I wanted, and buy a "real" one (Panasonic RP-91) The PS2 worked great as a player.

> And still everyone talks about the GC like it's a dead console and has lost the console war.
It's lost mind share of the publishers (and developers.)

If most publishers aren't interested in shipping games on it, it doesn't matter how well it sold.

IAAGD. (I am a Game Developer)

Re:cause and effect

[SmallFurryCreature]

But what you seem to forget that both Sony and Microsoft are different type of companies. They can afford to loose a console race. Can nintendo? It wouldn't be the first time a game company goes bust because it lost out in the console wars. History has generally shown you don't get a second chance.

As for anti-nintendo articles well cry me a river. This article made an observation and one that is not entirely unvalid.

Do people really buy a console based on if it can play dvd's or indeed do anything except play games? Hard to say but the fact that Nintendo left it out while everyone else included it says something. It tells you that nintendo likes to go its own way, like sticking to cartridges when CD's are so much cheaper to produce. Like censorship in games when the other allow any type of game.

Do these strategys work? Well not according to sales figures. You can compare it all you like to the X-box but the fact is that X-box is a loser as well. The one to beat is the PS2 and that one is miles ahead.

The one area they do well is in the handheld area. Now sony is moving in on this as well. A lot of people seem to think sony will botch this up. After all it is unthinkable that sony can beat nintendo on doing a game console :)

The profits nintendo shows are indeed not bad. But a substantial part of this is the handheld area, if they face the same kind of competiotion as they faced with the PS1 and PS2 then they are done for. They may hold out a long time but have we ever seen a game company come back from a lost war?

Free console - No surprise...

[Ratso Baggins]

I have a perfectly good N64 with plenty of games. I had no need for a new console. I wanted a DVD player. The price difference between a DVD player and a console that plays DVDs is small (ok not so small when you make the PS2 play DVDs - but I won't buy an Xbox for religious reasons ;), so I esentially got a PS2 console for free. But the thing is I've baught a few games for it and a Steering wheel, all of which I didn't really need (I already have much the same except for the wheel). Without the DVD player feature I would have just passed.

Here's a tip for electronics makers. A phone that dosn't suck, plays stereo mp3+Ogg+FM radio, uses CF not SD, bluetooth and java games I can write/manage myself - I'm in again...

OK DVD player but noisy

[GreatDrok]

I have a PS2 and GameCube. I have used the PS2 as a secondary DVD player but have had to put it into a hifi cabinet to stop the noise of the fan being a constant irritation. While it has played all the DVDs I have wanted to and is also region free thanks to region X I don't think I could stand it as the only DVD player we had. The remote is terrible and the noise irritating. Picture is OK on a small screen (28" widescreen) but I wouldn't use it for films on my projection system.

To be honest, I'm with Nintendo on this, the GameCube is smaller, quieter and starts games quicker so as a games machine it is better than the PS2 as it sticks to what it does best. Sadly, the games are released too late so we tend to get the PS2 version when they appear. If the PS2 and GC versions arrived at the same time I would buy the GC version in a heartbeat. Sadly this delay rather than lack of DVD support is what we mean the GC will be runner up to the PS2. Xbox is even further behind despite being able to play DVDs of course.

Re:OK DVD player but noisy

[Pendersempai]

Creating a properietry format disk like Nintendo, rather than just using cheap DVDs is stupid. The cost of throwing a DVD player into the mix has to be tiny compared with the additional sales you will get.

Perhaps, but one must make a couple considerations that work against your thesis:

• Copyright infringement HUGELY burdens profits of worldwide console revenue. Scrapping the proprietary format almost single-handedly incurs these costs, yet enabling DVD playback requires it.
• DVD playback capability is not only a question of technological capability (and the costs associated with it) but of licensing fees and restrictions. Manufacturers individually negotiate the terms with the giant, fascist cartels we all love to hate, and agreements typically involve not only a massive fixed cost but also a substantial per-unit royalty. When console manufactuerers already break even or even lead a loss on every console sale and engage in brutal price wars with their competitors, an additional $30-70 per console inflicts tremendous disadvantage, particularly when the boxes otherwise retail for $180-300 to begin with.

Missed the Window of opportunity...

[Whatchamacallit]

Sony did it right, they shipped a DVD player with the PS2. It was really quite smart because at the time DVD players were still expensive and the cheapest ones were complete crap.

Most US kids who get a Playstation from Mom & Dad already have their own TV in their room, at the time they didn't have a DVD player. (maybe a VCR but no DVD). So the ability to rent one's own movies and view them in one's bedroom along with games was what helped sell the PS2!

The real buyers of the PS2 were the 18-30 somethings who could afford the expense of the PS2. This crowd already had DVD because they had jobs that paid real money! But they only had ONE DVD player on the main TV in the house. The 20-30 portion of this crowd may actually be married and have children. This means they don't have time to play games that often and they may just fight with the wife over watching Lifetime channel shows. So they retreat to another TV with their PS2 and play games as well as watching guy movies the wife won't watch.

Nintendo blew it! First they targeted the younger crowd and second, they neglected to put a DVD player in their inexpensive console. Do you have any idea how many Disney movies on DVD the average kid has?!?! It's incredible, I think my sister's 5 year old has just about every damn movie and she's watched them 8 million times! Parent's simply don't want to watch them again and again! Had Nintendo simply included a DVD player the parents would have freaking loved it! Just get the kid a small cheap TV and let the kid play in their room the next time you rent an adult movie! They can play games and/or watch their movies.

It's too late now for DVD to make a difference in anyone's buying decision until games start getting shipped on DVD and using the added space. DVD players are very very inexpensive, you can get one at Walmart for under $50! So that's why Ninetendo blew it! They also didn't ship fast enough nor could they compete with Sony or Microsoft on the hardware. They missed the Window!

Re:Email Nintendo!

[Boglin]

extra features that everyone wants == more sales of said console

I'm going to have to disagree with your equation. Simply remember the Nintendo64. Granted, this was a poor selling system compared to the Playstation, but it beat the crap out of the Sega Saturn, 3DO, and CDi. Yet these three consoles could all play music CDs, which the N64 could not. Also, the 3DO could play Kodak PictureCDs and VCDs. Yet Nintendo's console stayed long after these others were lost. The net conclusion is that features alone do not sell a console. Another common theme has been that it's such a small price difference between buying a DVD player and buying a console. Take a trip out to Walmart; you can pick up a DVD player for one-third of the price of a PS2 or XBox. Yes, this DVD player is garbage, but the average consumer won't notice; he's too busy trying to figure out why widescreen DVDs aren't using his whole screen. Most of the parents I've know who have bought PS2s or XBoxen for their kids didn't even figure the DVD player into the equation, as they weren't aware that it would do it. If the family is getting a DVD player, the PS2 or XBox doesn't cross the parent's mind; those are just "video games". Now, as you will also point out, this doesn't really hold for the 20-30 crowd of gamers. Here, you are correct; we are likely to know the diference and try and save some money by buying a game console and selling our DVD player. The problem is that there's a much larger market than 20-30 year old males. Nintendo is not, nor was it ever, trying to market solely at kids. Nintendo wants to cross all the markets. So, while the DVD player may impress college age guys, it won't do a thing for the forty year old housewives that love Super Monkey Ball.

Do people think Nintendo ignored these options?

[mhlandrydotnet]

As this add seems to scratch the surface of another "What's wrong with Nintendo" thread, I'll bite.

From the looks of it, it appears that most people think that Nintendo flat out ignored the push to make a console that doubled as a home entertainment system. Has anyone considered that Nintendo may have made a concious decision, after weighing the pros and cons, to keep the GameCube purely a game console?

Isn't it concievable that Nintendo weighed the cheaper/easier-to-make pros versus the lose-market-share cons and simply decided to leave the entertainment system out of the console?

Was this really the worst business decision they could make? With Sony holding a good bit of the market share and Microsoft coming out with a new game console, perhaps Nintendo simply thought they could not afford to make a console that sold at a loss?

It's okay for now.

[BigDork1001]

Sure the DVD playback was a big thing for this generation of gaming systems but I don't think it'll be as big of a deal with the next generation of systems. When this gen was coming out there weren't many people with DVD players. Now a lot of people have either an actual DVD player of a PS2/X-box and so when the next gen comes out it won't be as much of a selling point. I think Nintendo did the right thing and I sure hope that they don't add one to their next system. It'll just increase the price for the GC2 or whatever it'll be called and I won't use it because I already have a DVD player.