Three major game machine manufacturers battle

In recent years, there has been fierce competition in the console market.

The competition between the new generation of game consoles is not just new competition, but will evolve into a future battle for personal entertainment platforms.

This year's November is a time for carnival fans around the world. The next generation of Sony, Nintendo, no, accurately said that a new generation of game consoles should be listed one after another.

As early as November 10, on the night before the sale of PS3 Japan, the YA game shop in Osaka, Japan, had already gathered more than 1,200 people. In order to snap up only dozens of spot PS3s, the scene was confusing and the clerk had to dispatch all to maintain order; In the United States, on the 17th for the PS3’s official launch date, PS fans had been waiting in front of Best Buy supermarkets for the first time in ten days. They were only able to grab the “limited quantity, finished” market. Got one. When the Nintendo Wii was released two days later in New York's Times Square, though it was a little less cluttered with the PS3 panic buying, the first fan game player to buy was said to have been a team for more than a week. It's no wonder that when he took over the machine from Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo America, he said that the first thing he did after going back was not to play games, but to take a shower.

Although the loyalty and enthusiasm of die-hard users are enviable, the market competition that the three game console giants will face will be equally fierce. Sony, which has occupied 60% market share in the game console industry, has sold more than 100 million units in five years since the introduction of the PS2 in 2000. But this time, will its two rivals take down the industry and replace Sony?

There are good people who have established the site nexgenwars. Com, collecting sales data from various sales network channels around the world, updated from time to time. The technology news site Engadget specifically put Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Xbox 360 together to take pictures. The whole world is watching this gunpowder-flavored competition. The "Business Weekly" of the United States is followed by several articles. The analysis of the respective advantages and disadvantages of the three manufacturers seems to have failed to reach a conclusion.

At a venture enterprise briefing meeting in San Jose, USA, Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft's Xbox 360 business, and Ping Jing, head of the US PS business, agreed that the competition surrounding the next-generation game consoles will never compete in the 2006 Christmas war. The Chinese painting draws a full stop. Based on the different understanding of the new generation of game consoles, the three vendors have different product competition strategies.

Not only is the new generation of products that come out of the game console for a long time, it is not just a simple game console.

Technology is still the main competitive chip. Sony PS3 is still adhering to the technology-leading style. The new machine has repeatedly jumped on the stock market. It is reported that it is also for the normal use of Blu-ray drives and avoids technical defects. PS3 has high-tech content such as Blu-ray drive, high-speed Cell chip, high-speed Internet access, and many exciting features, such as exquisite images, sensitive motion-sensing controllers and good network connection functions. From the perspective of hard technical indicators, the PS3 is higher than Microsoft's Xbox 360, but since the chip used by the Xbox 360 and the Cell chip of the PS3 are the same as IBM's home, the player's real feeling is that there is almost no difference in performance between the two. Especially in the high-definition display effect, PS3 requires the supporting 1080P high-definition television is too high-end, but rather in the market dominated the 720P TV and Xbox 360 in the technical parameters to achieve the best combination of results.

These are not the most important. Today's game consoles have carried more expectations for both Sony and Microsoft. A game and Internet industry consultant working at Okasan Securities in Tokyo said: “Sony needs the PS3 to save the company. A lot of things are counting on this product.” This year's CES show, Sony CEO Howard S. Ginger also said: "The creation of a movie and music environment that can be enjoyed anywhere and anytime is the mission of Sony." It also demonstrated the PS3's process of enjoying videos stored on remote servers at any time via the Internet. The PS3's latest machines are equipped with large-capacity hard drives that store Internet-downloaded video content. For Sony, the ideal use of the PS3 is that in addition to playing games, players can add Sony HDTVs to the system and download exciting video and music content from companies such as Sony’s Sony-BMG, Sony Pictures, etc. through the PS3. And pass files to PS players. Sony is looking forward to the perfect combination of hardware and content, it may bring Apple's success.

For Microsoft, Xbox360 also plays a role in "making this console a digital entertainment center for the family." One year after the Xbox360 launch, Microsoft will launch the Xbox Live service on November 22, launching movie and TV program on demand services from companies such as Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. Users can also download CBS and MTV TV programs through the Xbox Live service. Although the price has not yet been announced, Microsoft claims that it will use the pay-per-view model. The download price for each movie is about $4 to $6, and the price for each episode of the TV show is about $2, which is the same price as iTunes. The Xbox360 is also the first game console that can provide "on demand" services for high-definition content. This is also considered by Richard Doherty, research director of the industry investigation company Envisioneering Group, as a new signal for Microsoft to enter the content industry.

According to DFC's forecast, by 2010, the number of game consoles connected to the Internet will be quadrupled. The launch of Internet access and entertainment services will undoubtedly expand the range of game users. Peter Morrell, vice president of entertainment and equipment at Microsoft, also said: "We hope to bring non-core players to the Xbox platform."

Everyone can play Nintendo, which is about to compete with Sony face-to-face. It is precisely this strategy that is used to make more people play games. The Nintendo console Wii's hardware performance metrics are lower than competitors Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox360 is no secret, but Nintendo's attention does not seem to be this. Nintendo founder Yoshihiko Yamauchi’s usual strategy is “If you can't make software that makes people feel good, even hardware with excellent performance will be worthless.” Obviously, Satoru Iwata, Yamauchi’s personally selected successor. This policy was inherited.

On the third and fourth generation consoles, Nintendo was concentrating on the core players and overly emphasizing the game's policy, and gave up the ordinary player market to Sony. Nintendo CEO Shinichi Iwata believes that now the game industry has reached a crossroads: designing games for gamers only and ignoring non-gamer groups will undermine the industry's future growth. "We need to change the status quo drastically," Iwata said. Nintendo has implemented a strict budget plan with the goal of launching a game machine that everyone can afford.

It seems that Nintendo seems to be consciously avoiding direct competition with Microsoft and Sony, but from the details of Nintendo's release order of the new aircraft (first US, later Japan) and Sony's intentionally reversed exchange, Nintendo can't conceal it. Hegemonic ambition. Based on previous lessons, this Nintendo Wii console aims not only at the core players, but also hopes that more ordinary players, even those who do not play games, can join the ranks of Wii users. Nintendo's slogan is "Start a new life with the Wii." “We will strive for the approval of mothers who do not want to set up consoles in their living rooms, from young women to middle-aged and old women,” said Nintendo President Iwata. “It's a challenge, like selling cosmetics to women. ”

In order to make it easier for those who have not played games, in the new generation of game consoles, Nintendo did not focus on the progress of the image level, but instead changed the previous game using the handle control method, and introduced the name of the Wii. -Remote controller, trying to lead the revolution in game control. This small controller is completely different from the shape of the previous handle. It is more similar to a TV remote controller. It does not need to be connected to the host through a connection cable, but uses Bluetooth to connect directly to the host computer. Through the sensor placed on the display device, the player can use the Wii-Remote controller to achieve motion sensing and aiming functions, such as sword-shooting, shooting, and fishing. In addition, the Wii-Remote controller also has a vibration function and a speaker. When the player makes a sword, etc., they can feel power and hear the sound.

The law of the cost game console industry is that there will always be money-losing sales for new aircraft. Only when the number of sales increases to a certain number can the costs and prices be equal. In view of the current production system, it seems that it is difficult for Sony to achieve the original goal of shipping 6 million units worldwide at the end of fiscal year 2006. Before saving the company, PS3 had to first fill up the huge costs caused by R&D and marketing. In the financial report released on September 30, Sony’s game division’s losses in the second quarter reached 369 million U.S. dollars. Experts estimate that sales of the PS3 must reach at least 30 million to 50 million units before it is possible to achieve a balance between revenue and expenditure. Consulting and surveying company iSuppli recently released an investigation report, which provided the latest cost assessment for Sony's PS3 game consoles. The data shows that for every Sony PS3 sold, it will lose a $307 (20GB hard drive version) or $241 (60GB hard drive luxury version). "Although the gaming console market is losing money selling hardware has become a practice, the Sony's bet is also far beyond the normal level." Evaluation of iSuppli analysts said. This long waiting period for rising shipments will give competitors a chance to develop. The most crucial point is that since the PS3 was born, it was burdened with high costs and high pricing. Its pricing was almost twice that of its competitors and it lost its advantage in the price war.

In comparison, the Microsoft Xbox 360 has been sold for 6 years since the end of October, and the cost has already dropped to 323 US dollars, and the price will remain at 399 US dollars this year. The Microsoft games business still had a loss of $96 million in the first quarter of the fiscal year just ended, but that figure has almost doubled from the same period of last year. Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 business, said: “The Xbox 360 will have the opportunity to win in the price war just by surpassing 10 million units before the competitor’s product to reduce the cost of production.” Bach predicts that The offensive and defensive battle in the home console market will be intensified in the spring of 2007.

Wii's price is the lowest in three types of new-generation game consoles. Before the official announcement of the Wii price, many insiders speculated that Nintendo will occupy the market through low-price strategy in this generation of console games. Nikko Citi Group's report shows that due to the well-controlled CPU cost of the Wii, the price can be controlled between 19,800 yen and 25,000 yen. Many people including EA executive vice president David Gardner hinted that the Nintendo Wii console will be positioned at a price of 19,800 yen (approximately 170 US dollars). When Nintendo officially announced on September 14 that the Wii was priced at 25,000 yen (about 210 US dollars), many investment institutions and consumers have expressed disappointment, the day of Nintendo shares fell 3.31%. In fact, Nintendo has had a lesson in low-price strategy. GameCube, a previous-generation console, had cut prices to $99, but it still lacks interest. Iwata said that the game industry has become accustomed to using hardware sales as a competitive means, but this is harmful. Wii’s pricing strategy ensures that Nintendo will be able to profit from hardware sales from the very beginning. In addition, Nintendo's support of Wii's powerful game software product line may be a bright spot for the company to win. David Gibson, an analyst at research firm Macquarie Securities, said: "This is a competition in the software field. Nintendo's software operating margin is 35% to 40%." Nintendo Canada’s marketing director Pierre-Paul Trépanier said in an interview with the media that the Wii broke industry stereotypes on the first day of the issue and has already made a profit.

Who will win the favor of consumers in the future market competition? Who can more easily seize consumers? Let us wait and see!