Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

for biggest tech flop......



Before they dump it they should at least come clean and rename it the "Rune"....

I remember first xbox was a flop too, one of biggest losses. Now it is above PS3s numbers and outnumbered by WII which is mainly competing on price.

Macworld declares Zune a flop. Well there's an impartial source for you. In an unrelated story, Ford declares Toyota cars are crap. News at 11.

Zune is dead. and that is coming from someone who has two of them. It's not a bad device (leap year problems aside!) but it never got any real traction in the marketplace. Too little too late.

I like my Zune (I especially like the fact that I only paid $85 for the 30GB), but it definitely lacks the "coolness factor" that iPods have, which IMO is 90% of what moves a product like this off the shelf.

RCC,
Lets not burry Zune, which I haven't even seen but have only read about. It is a first product for a company that has the pockets to invest in products for long term and capitalize them from other angles.

As far as Xbox is concerned, competition wise highly doubt Google/Apple will enter this space, they would likely aquire one, however the only 3 console makers are too much to bite off for G. Google doesn't have any game developers, nor games, nor does Apple to start from scratch.

If you look at the current Ps3/Xbox products they are becoming more then video game consoles, it is a media sharing, sales, communication, music, and more. This is where I think the long term goal lies for the console industry, and they are all happy with their market, but when the console brings MP3s, video rentals, etc, thats where MS stands on a stronger leg having stakes in NBC and other media I am sure helps.

Netflix streaming over Xbox Live simply rocks. For the price of a simple Netflix account + Xbox Live I'd have anyway (together ~ $12/mo) I have movies on demand without needing to upgrade to digital cable.

I have pretty good sources that tell me there will not be another Zune model.

As for PS3, Sony is getting killed in the market due to being overpriced


Eric Krangel | December 12, 2008 9:21 AM

Blu-ray players prices are close to $99. Why pay $400 for a console with no games?

If one of the three goes down I suspect with will be the Playstation. The PS3 is selling abyssmally, it's overpriced beacuse of the blueray player, there are't that many games for it and many of the cross-platform games come out later for the PS3, and Playstation@Home has been a flop so far.

Disclaimer: I work for MS, but not the games division.

Of the 3, the PS3 is clearly the flop. Sony loses a lot of money on each one sold (I recall about $200/unit loss, but it may be even more) which means they probably need to sell 10-15 games/unit to break even (currently it's about 6). I don't see that ever happening. The flagship title for the PS3 (Gran Turismo 5) is now over 2 years late and *might* make it by Christmas this year. GT5's release will drive a lot of PS3 sales, but it might be too little, too late. There are no "must have" titles for the PS3, the newest crop of Blu-Ray players are under $200 and more reliable/easier to use.

The 360 didn't lose nearly as much money per unit, and its flagship title (Halo 3) drove a lot of sales. XBL is very successful, as is the arcade and for-purchase DLC. The Halo, Call of Duty, and Forza franchises will all generate good revenue in the future.

The Wii, from what I've read, is profitable out the gate. It's also cheaper to publish Wii games, so the $50 Wii titles are more profitable than the $60 PS3 games. The only risk I see here is that the Wii doesn't have a lot of upside - the graphics are mediocre and there's only so much that can be done with the wiimotes.

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm with LHR - Sony is the least likely to stick with the consoles. The only advantage they have is that the PS3 is a half generation better than the 360 and makes for a pretty good "media center". They still need some form of revenue stream, and the games just aren't there.