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Gloomy Outlook For Console Sales
Thanks to CNET News for their article indicating sales of consoles are predicted to slump until a new crop of machines is introduced. The article references a new survey from iSuppli which "expects [console] sales to be flat for the year and down as much as 10 percent in 2005", and points out that pressure will start to build to introduce next-gen hardware, quoting an analyst as saying "I don't think (that), when the companies developed this generation of consoles, they were prepared for it to be so short."
If they cut the prices down for the Xmas buying season, they should get a surge of sales followed by a bigger slump after January. But the increased number of consoles sold will increase the number of games being bought. Gamecube has never been a major factor. They shipped 80,000 units this quarter. 80,000? The other two are projecting 20-24 million for the year, Nintendo will be lucky to get 3 million out the door. Hmm, "temporarily stopped production to clear excess inventory". Sound familiar Dreamcast fans?
Any person who reads about videogame sales will know that console sales will be down. Sony has finally started selling less PS2 consoles since their debut. That number will only get smaller and smaller. And since the PS2 is the largest selling of the consoles, sales will be down. But that's not to say that the people who already have PS2s aren't saving money for an Xbox or a Gamecube.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
I have one relative that I know is getting a PS2 for his Christmas present. I don't really care about Sales as such. I remember in the NES and SNES days I played one or two different games a week. Did I buy them? NO! I went to Blockbuster. (Though they are alot more expensive these days.) I had lots and lots of different types of games to choose from. That is why Nintendo is still around because of the sales of all those games. I actually bought a few N64 Games. I'm not really happy with that though because of the about of real RPGS released on the system... 0 in my mind. I got really mad at Nintendo for allowing Square to release FF for playstation. That was my main reason for buying a PS2 to play all the FF stuff for PS1!
If I ever get a game cube it will be because of my kids. They are getting to the point were they like to play video games. I might not like the themes of Nintedo stuff in general, but hey its is stuff that I grew up on and I don't mind my kids playing on that platform. I'll most likely stick with Sony for my stuff though.
Well, duh, consoles don't often need to be rebought; of course sales can't be maintained at high levels. But I think there might be a bigger picture.
How long was it after these systems came out that people were already wondering about the PS3? It seems like we're always getting ready for the next big thing. The problem I have is that it seems like we're not using our current stuff to it's full potential. The cycle seems to move too fast.
I personally would be in favor of the big three just skipping the next generation and doing their best to work on the generation after that. Wait until we're running out of new ground to break on the GCN/PS2/XBox before we start rolling out new stuff.
As a side benefit, maybe toward the end of the cycle we'll see more better games come out instead of unfun flashy graphics, as by then we won't be as awed by the graphics that the system is capable of. And we also get to save money on that system we won't have to buy.
Unfortunately, the nature of the market means that the next gen systems will come as soon as possible to beat the other guys. Too bad the big three all can't agree to not release systems before some future release date. The could make some big media event of it: Fifth-gen release day! Geeks everywhere salivate in anticipation!
Really, I think the best thing would be for companies agree to such a date privately, and then not talk about next generation systems whatsoever, so that we keep demanding support of the current systems as long as possible instead of anticipating the next big thing. (That would probably be some kind of anti-trust collusion thing, though.) There were some great late era NES and Super NES games, but nobody was paying attention anymore when they came out.
I know many won't agree with me. Please reply.
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