Lessons of 8th Generation console launches

[scotland]

We are well into the 8th generation now as the current generation. Since we now have at least one company talking about a 9th generation console (The Nintendo NX), it seems we've come far enough to talk about 8th generation launch. Now its the middle game for this generation.

Nintendo announced the Wii U in June of 2011, and it was released in November of 2012 in North America. Sony announced the PS4 in February of 2013, and it was released in November of 2014 in N.A. Microsoft had a rocky announcement two years ago now, finding themselves in a maelstrom of their own devising. This poll is evidence of some of that:
viewtopic.php?f=134797&t=10317 . The XboxOne also launched in N.A. in November of 2014.

Here are some February 2015 sales numbers for the current generation from VGChartz

Wii U: around 10 million units
Xbox One: around 12 million units
Playstation 4: around 20 million units

WIth the recent price drop of the XboxOne, those sales have picked up and may be outdoing current sales of the PS4. This is just console sales, not software or anything either.

Is there a lesson here? MS came out with an ambitious living room control center, has removed some policies that caused resentment, removed the irremoveable Kinect, lowered the price, and seems to be doing okay, if not stellar. Sony came out with a more limited by better spec'd game system, and has had a pretty smooth ride to date in sales and profits. Nintendo came first out of the gates to the tune of its own drummer perhaps, and seems to be disappointing in sales. What do you think of launch policies, launch problems, launch corrections, launch titles, launch marketing, launch pushback, etc.

[David]

Microsoft really screwed themselves at launch in a couple ways:

1. Their Xbox reveal was God awful - confusing, stupid policies, etc. that turned off a lot of their fan base and gave Sony every opportunity to take shots at them every time they flubbed something up.

2. They tethered the Kinect to the XB1, which drove up the price 100 dollars overs their competitor.

Now, not only are they losing overseas, they're losing in North America too. And Sony's breaking sales records all over the place and haven't had to drop the price at all, even though MS has had numerous bundles and dropped the price of the Xbox. That being said, MS has done a nice job of recovering from their mistakes, even if they never gain back the goodwill they lost.

Nintendo's launch issues are pretty well fleshed out. Poor naming, no third-party, a big tablet controller that doesn't have immediate appeal, underpowered - who knows how strong of an audience Nintendo even has right now. The core audience that isn't interested in Nintendo's franchises don't have much reason to buy the system, and Mario seems to be overshadowed by Minecraft and mobile with the younger crowd.

I think Sony by far had the easiest job at launch, which was don't screw things up à la the PS3. It's fairly powerful, relatively cheap, and has good third-party backing and Sony's strong first-party games. They pretty much pulled a Costanza and did the opposite of what they normally would've done.

[Sut]

Microsoft has thankfully righted it's wrongs and a decent console is emerging. They committed the cardinal sin of ignoring the core market and probably had a few focus groups too many ! Their launch was one of the worst ever.
Sony learned some humility after the PS3 launch in 2006 and knew exactly how to market the PS4 and to be fair did a great job.
Many said console gaming would die but both MS and Sony have showed console gaming is alive and very well indeed.

So lessons learned ? Don't really on gimmicks it may have worked with the Wii but every other successful console has focused on the main thing which is the games. Also a terrible launch can be turned around if you respond and act quick enough.

So well done Sony your great launch and game centric focus has given you a massive lead. But also well done to MS for not sticking their head in the sand and proactively turning the Xbone around with reversals of the idiotic policies which hampered the launch.

[Vexer6]

It sounds like Nintendo is starting to do the same thing as Sega with releasing a new console in such a short period of time.

[VideoGameCritic]

I have a few:
1. Online only games and DLC mainly benefit publishers and should not be encouraged. (XB1)
2. Motion controls are done (XboxOne)
3. Mandatory installs only benefit developers by sucking up the player's resources (XB1,PS4)
4. Touch controls suck (Wii U, Vita)
5. Make sure your console functions just as well offline as on (Xbox One)
6. If you're going to put an indicator light on your controller, put it where the player can actually see it (PS4)
7. Don't release a game until it's actually finished.
8. Packaging really does matter. So do manuals.

[scotland]

Microsoft has thankfully righted it's wrongs and a decent console is emerging... a terrible launch can be turned around if you respond and act quick enough.

If the theorem is that a solid console can overcome a poor launch, the corollary is that gamers dont hold a grudge if the product is solid and the price is reasonable. That MS and Sony gamers are buying a device, not a relationship. (Nintendo customers might argue they are buying a relationship) That might mean that the next console generation might try some of the anti consumer policies again (or that they just slowly evolve, like the slow death of physical media).

[Vexer6]

I don't think all DLC should be discouraged, it's nice that games like Borderlands the Pre-Sequel get new story content after launch so I definitely think that should be supported, although things like microtransactions in games like AC: Unity should be rejected, leave that nonsense in mobile games where it belongs.

Online only games I can do without, i'm also not fond of of games focusing more on multiplayer and completely ignoring single-player, that's one reason why I will most likely not buy the new Battlefront game, as it is stripping out many features that were included in previous Battlefront games(aside from not having a campaign, Galactic Conquest is also no more)

I think the touch controls on the VIta are pretty good.

Mandatory installs most certainly do not only benefit the developers are not "sucking up players resources", they are just plain necessary for games today because of how much more complex they are, if games didn't have mandatory installs they would not run properly, it's as simple as that, that's just how technology has evolved.

I personally don't think most people really care about manuals anymore, I find them unnecessary as the game itself usually has it's own manual within the menus. With the increasing popularity of people buying games digitally, packaging is becoming less of an issue.

I don't think anti-consumer policies are going to return next-generation.

[Tron]

Gamers were starving for this generation & I believe the sales have shown that. The actual games this generation appear to me to be rather dull & uninspired. What am I supposed to be excited about playing? I suppose if I wanted online 1st-person shooters I'd be happy.

Nintendo presented a system that was perceived to be graphically on par with the PS3 & 360. That alone was probably it's biggest downfall.

Microsoft tried to impose DRM. Consumers will accept that garbage as long as it's not formally announced for a system launch.

Sony was patient & learned what not to do. Winner by default.

[ptdebate]

Just to add to something Vexer said--

Mandatory installs save users a massive amount of time. Why?
The maximum data transfer rate of the BD drive in a PS4 is 27MB/s. The maximum data transfer rate of the internal SATA II interface is 300MB/s. That means loading games from the hard drive rather than the disc results in a potential tenfold increase in data throughput. Sure, there's no initial wait if you're playing a game directly from disk, but at least with installations you only have to wait for a long time once.

Why wasn't this true in the PS360 days? Because games comprised about 1/10th the amount of total data that current ones do. Compare 4-7GB for a standard 360 game to the new standard of 40-60GB.

[Vexer6]

I wouldn't call Sony the winner by default just yet, as Microsoft still has a couple of big exclusives lined up for the holiday season this year(plus there's also the feature allowing players to stream gameplay onto Windows 10, which will undoubtedly be a selling point) in Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider(Ok that's one's a timed exclusive, but a lot of people won't want to wait until it comes out on Sony consoles) which will undoubtedly increase sales, while Sony has no exclusives lined up for the holidays yet(due to Uncharted 4 being delayed until next year).