Michael
Vafeas
|
by Michael Vafeas |
| It has finally happened. The bomb has dropped. The die is cast. The PlayStation now sits on the retail shelves with a price tag of $149, fifty dollars less than just a day earlier. Furthermore, after calmly stating that a price drop was unnecessary, Nintendo went and announced a similar cut, less than a week after Sony. What are the implications of such a move, and what is happening in the videogame industry? While some are quick to believe that this is a drastic, ground-breaking move, in reality, it's just another part of the cycle. Is a price drop going to revolutionize the industry? Certainly not, but it might be interesting to analyze the situation that brought about these changes and to surmise the potential effects of such an action. First, it must be assumed that the PlayStation's position must be in jeopardy to warrant such an action. A lower cost of goods? Desire to hit the mass market? Bull. Sony, like everyone else in the market, is not existing to make good games or good products, there are there for one reason: To make money. They will charge as much as people will pay for their product, and will only lower price --- especially on hardware, on which they already make no profit --- in the face of lowered sales or expectations that haven't been met. Thus, after Nintendo 64 stole the holiday season, Sony decided to ride out the storm until March, and then make some thunder of their own...which is good news. No doubt, this price drop will increase sales of PlayStation hardware and software, and will regain some of Sony's lost marketshare for 1997. This price drop also comes at a time in which little is offered in terms of great software. The PlayStation's three potentially biggest games for 1997 --- Resident Evil 2, Tomb Raider 2, and Final Fantasy 4 --- won't be shipping until September at the earliest, which makes for an eight month period of so-so games and seemingly eternal waiting. Those who have yet to buy a next-gen system could look at PSX with the aforementioned games being released in September, or might consider the Nintendo 64, which has a few good games shipping as early as May. You will have had to decide between the $149 PlayStation with an established library and with the best games coming late in the year, or a $199 Nintendo 64 with a game being released every month. Hmm...logic never evades us does it? Well, not even a business week later, Nintendo decides that a price drop of the American Nintendo 64 would be, after all, a good idea. Nintendo seems to be uncharacteristically aggressive of their marketshare (which has risen significantly since the holiday season). Nintendo will not sit by and allow Sony to turn the tables on them and try to compete on a price level, at least as far as hardware is concerned. But what about those of us who already bought PlayStations and Nintendo 64s at $199 or $299? While price cuts are fine and dandy for those who have yet to purchase the systems, price cuts do nothing for us who are still waiting for those great games which seem to be shipping either very late in the year or never (anyone remember what happened to X-Men or Marvel Super Heroes?). Besides, the supposed Sony software price cuts apply to games that have been out for quite some time, which we in all likelihood already paid $60 a pop for. The Nintendo 64's games still hold heavy price tag of $60 to $90 dollars, and are unlikely to decrease due to the unprecedented demand of these exorbitantly priced games. In all, it seems that this price slashing will benefit only one specific group of individuals: Those who are buying the systems. All of us who already bought the system at full price still have to go around waiting for new games, and paying full price for them as well. These actions will undoubtedly ripple throughout the industry, and some unexpected events might take place. For one thing, Nintendo, a company usually associated with conservatism and known for seeming aloof and unconcerned with the cries of gamers, has shown a different side after all. After only five months and unprecedented hardware sales, Nintendo is announcing a dramatic price drop in order to keep up with the competition, but this has another angle to it as well. What will be the fate of the veteran Super NES, who still perches on the retail shelves at $99, just $50 less than a system with four times the power? Do I see another price drop in the near future? And then Game Boy Pocket, which would remain only marginally less expensive than a 16-bit Super NES following a potential price drop, might have to go through a price slash as well. ...Which leaves Sega behind after all the merciless price slashing. Just how many games will Sega pack in to steal back some of the limelight in an industry which they used to be able to call their own? Perhaps a Virtua Fighter 3 conversion bundled with a little rumored add-on could make the Saturn the system to get. In any case, they'll have to work long and hard to get those dollars, which is another good thing. Soooo, I guess that this whole price drop, promotion, deal, thing --- whatever you wanna call it --- is just another part of the cycle. This has been going on for years in the videogame and computer industries and probably won't stop until we simply lose interest in videogames altogether. I am not particularly fond of price drops for several reasons. First of all, we are largely unaffected by a drop in price of a product that we already paid for. Secondly, competitive pricing is usually viewed as a last resort, customarily accompanied by the lack of anything of substantial quality in the software area. I would rather see another software war such as the fantastic Crash vs. Mario vs. Nights battle that took place last fall. Instead of going through a mad slashing streak, concentrate on developing software that will make me want to buy the system, even at a higher price. A $60 Jaguar is simply unimpressive due to the sheer lack of any software worth playing. A $200 Nintendo 64 with $80 games is much more impressive, at least superficially. In any event, the hardware price wars have commenced again, let the games begin, and let's kick back and watch the rest of the industry try their best to please us. If they only knew how impossible a task they take on. |
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