Analysis of Video Game Systems
The consumer video game systems offer an exciting opportunity to discuss and analyze the design of technology based on the strategy of each of the players within the industry. We will focus our analysis on the next generation of video consoles: Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3).
First, we will analyze the targeted customer and the proposition designed by each company to attract them. In this part, there is a description of each market target and how each company has taken advantage of each unique position in the industry.
In the second part, we will describe the technology developed to support each strategy. As well as the cost of the components associated with each
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Target Customers and Industry Proposition.
Microsoft introduced the new console (Xbox 360) one year before Sony, the industry leader, unleashed the PS3. Microsoft with the first mover advantage built a large customer base and has the largest library of games. The PS3 console has the best raw power and blue-ray capabilities. Nintendo, although with the less advanced console (Nintendo Wii), has successfully distinguished itself from their competitors with an innovative controller whith motion-sensor capabilities.
Overall, the market response to these three consoles has been surprising. Nintendo Wii, has outsold its rivals and more surprisingly, Sony’s PS2 has outsold PS3. This has let Microsoft and Sony with the enormous challenge of competing with a rival possessing two key advantages: a lower cost console and a product with a sound response in the market.
Both Sony and Microsoft focused their efforts on hard-core gamers and offering processing power and cutting-edge features to attract them. On the other hand, Nintendo has been trying to attract new customers that traditionally are non-gamers. The
Despite the new competition, Nintendo still held strong. However, Sony and Microsoft had more resources to produce advanced devices. Nintendo released Gamecube in 2001, however, the Xbox and Playstation 2 offered popular franchises, such as Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo. At end of the year, The Gamecube just sold 7 million, and Playstation 2 sold 17 million. In 2006, Nintendo sold about 22 million Gamecubes, Microsoft sold about 25 million Xboxes, and Sony sold 150 million Playstation 2s.
Video games are played throughout the world by people of all ages to pass time and have fun at the same time. To play videogames a console is needed to run the games and this sparks the debate over which is best. There are two main consoles that compete for the title of the best video game console; Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft XBOX ONE. Both serve the same purpose but each do it in a different way but it is the Sony PlayStation 4 or PS4 that wins in almost every category: performance, affordability, and the completely new controller, and new online features to connect with friends.
Like I said before, Sony sells more. Plus more people have faith in Sony. Xbox used to constantly break down and you would have to get a whole new console. This is if you play the Xbox for a long period of time, Ps3s you could play all night and they would run perfectly the next day. Some people have been loyal to the Playstation family, some switched from Xbox to Playstation. You would never see anybody switch from Playstation to Xbox, it’s highly uncommon. If you want a system you won’t waste your money on, you should really buy a
The market that each console is popular with is not necessarily a result of each company’s efforts, but rather the reputation that each company has earned over the years. Nintendo does not have very many third party games on its systems, so most Nintendo games are made by Nintendo and have well-known characters such as Mario, Kirby, etc. However, a lot of gamers see these games as “kid-friendly.” While this is not entirely true, many gamers seek a more “mature” experience, and this is why a lot of gamers prefer Xbox. Xbox has many third party games, and many of these are violent, such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. The majority of gamers are drawn to these kinds of games, which makes Xbox very popular among the majority of gamers. This is not to say, however, that Nintendo consoles are unpopular. There is still a large number of gamers who favor Nintendo consoles, and another group who buys both consoles. This difference is part of what creates such strong competition between Xbox and
The above figures depict the industry’s’ standing one year ago, and are likely to have since changed, not working in Nintendo’s favour. At this time Nintendo had released its Wii U, launched almost a year before the PS4 and Xbox One, and should have been enjoying its success. However the console failed to gain momentum at the beginning, and ultimately botched, 2013 year ended with the Wii U selling only 2.8 million consoles. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4
The Sony Playstation 2 is the market leader with over 50% of the console market. Microsoft also faces competition from Nintendo and their GameCube. Microsoft’s goal is to become the market leader in the category by dethroning Sony.
For over thirty years, Nintendo has created hardware that changes the way people play, whether it is through groundbreaking controls and innovative gameplay experiences. Since the release of the original Gameboy, the company has used the concept “Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology.” It refers to “using existing, cheap, well-established technology in new ways, thus allowing Nintendo to introduce new, innovative concepts at affordable prices” (Mathis 1). However, while this philosophy suited the gaming giant, third party developers became frustrated over old hardware limitations. So much in fact, that for a while it deteriorated Nintendo’s market share (apart from the Wii). Additionally, members of GamesSpot’s Nintendo Fan Club argue that
In conclusion, we can see that PS3 has more positive points that are better than XBOX 360’s. In that details of more positive points, PS3 can be selling much more than XBOX 360 because it’s clearly better than XBOX 360. One more thing that PS3 never has any technical problem about it’s product while XBOX 360 that was release in year 2005, used to have a problem once [Reference 6].
The stage was set. After nearly seven years, Sony and Microsoft unveiled the next generation of home video gaming consoles in 2013. Both gamers and developers buzzed with excitement. The two biggest companies in the gaming industry had finally decided to upgrade the consoles they offered to provide a more beautiful and enjoyable experience. And, just like every generation of video game consoles, there were fierce competition in the gaming console market. Sony unveiled the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One. Both of these consoles were going to be released at the end of the year. One of these two consoles had to make the best first impression to solidify itself as the go-to video game console for both gamers
Which system is better, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, or Sony PlayStation 2? Which system is the better buy? These are just some of the questions people ask themselves when it comes to purchasing one of these systems. In my opinion, I believe that the “best buy” is the PlayStation 2.
The Sony PS4 is known as a global leader, with competitors lacking in numbers of sales. PS4’s competitors have been left far behind struggling to keep up, while PS4 continues to climb the charts. The main competitor is Microsoft’s Xbox One, which has occasionally tops Sony. There is also Nintendo WII and Nintendo NX
2) Competitor Sony PlayStation appeared to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace when third party developers perceived them as profitable in the market.
The three dominant players have taken the early mover advantage to grow their businesses. High level of adoption and efficient production are essential in this industry because consoles are traditionally sold at a loss and revenues are made up by licensing games to developers. This makes it very a difficult industry for new entrants. New technology incurs high cost of capital in research and development (R&D) and low product differentiation requires advertising and marketing. Their brand establishment, together with their capabilities to make high investments in required fields have helped the three firms to gain industry specific expertise, fast paced technological capability, and strong brand loyalty which keep the threat of new entrants moderately low (Wingfield, 2013).
Nintendo strategy is made the use of game console simple, unlike Microsoft and Sony with their much complex game console feature. Nintendo also made the intuitive interaction between gamer and video game to overcome the key barrier to consumption. The success of Wii is dramatically broadening the market and impossible to be ignored by their competitors. Microsoft and Sony responded by replicating some of its key element, most notably the intuitive motion-sensing game controller. Sony and Microsoft launched Sony PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect respectively. As shown in figure below, the market share of Nintendo begins to decline since then.
From Nintendo, they offer several kinds of interactive entertainment for their customers, however, for the purpose of this essay, only the Nintendo DS would be the main focus. Based on this product, it could be considered as close competitors to SONY Playstation. Even though the mode of gaming is different, they are still considered under the same industry. They both provide entertainment to their consumers, in terms of electronic games in the form of different gaming consoles. However, Satoru Iwata (2006), Nintendo’s president insisted that their line of games and consoles, was not a ploy to compete and overthrow SONY, but were just games targeted at different groups of people. He was quoted saying, "We're not thinking about fighting SONY, but about how many people we can get to play. The thing we're thinking about most is not portable systems, consoles, and so forth, but that we want to get new people playing games.” For further elaboration on the products that has been implemented by Nintendo, please refer to Appendix A.