Blog FeedXBox 360, 2 SKUS and a Lot of Whining…
Way way way before anything was announced about XBox 360 pricing, or indeed before the system was unveiled, it was heavily rumoured that the XBox 360 wouldn’t ship with a hard drive so as to minimise the amount of money Microsoft would lose on every XBox they sell. Indeed, when it was unveiled the hard drive was shown as detachable, it led many people to predict two price points… $299 and $399 one with and one without.
Then, it was finally announced… and it seems like the gaming world started to bitch about it. What I don’t get, is why.
Hear me out on this one.
There are two major complaints. The first is that the $299 one isn’t worth even thinking about and the $399 is too expensive, and the second is that the price of the $399 one is fair, but that by offering a system without the hard drive, the hard drive becomes useless. That and, that the peripherals are stupidly expensive.
Well I’ve got some advice for you. Quit whining. Turn on your brains and try and remember as far back as 6 years ago.
Sony shipped the PS2 with what ‘capabilities’ out of the box? Capabilities, I’m ignoring the drastically different amount of power in the two consoles for the time being. The PS2 could play PS2 and PSone games, as well as DVDs, and came bundled with a single wired controller. The XBox 360? Well, it can play XBox 360 games, but not XBox games. It can play DVDs right out of the box. Comes bundled with a single wired controller. Also, it has an ethernet port, and out of the box gives you free access to an online community and 30 days of free online game playing to boot.
So, you lose backwards compatibility and gain neat internet enabled features. Seems fair to me right? The cost of both these consoles at launch? $299.
Hmmn. I can’t see where MS got the idea to sell a hard drive-less version of the XBox 360 for that price. Backwards compatibility and the hard drive are both red herring features. It sounds good on the box, but really… it’s not that hot. Anyone with a big library of PS-one games, most likely has a PS-one. How many copies of PS-one games were bought by people who bought a PS2 and didn’t have the first console? Some I’m sure, but not many, and not a make or break feature.
See, how many games really benefitted from that hard drive on the XBox? Blinx apparently did something no other console could, but then Prince of Persia came along on all platforms with much the same functionality as well as being a great game instead of a crap one. Some RPGs used it for the sake of persistancy (two I believe, Fable and Morrowind, but I could be wrong), and Forza used it so that tire streaks and paint scratches stay on the track and barriers.
Apart from that, games loaded faster thanks to caching on the hard drive… something which the XBox 360 will no doubt have been designed to compensate for. A faster drive, more memory, and just generally much better streaming technology these days than 6 years ago. Streaming is a big thing. The Unreal Engine 3.0 supports streaming natively, so just like a game that caches, you have a long load to start with and then nothing. Actually that’s better than a game that caches. Streaming is going to be more of a must have feature in the next gen, and load times, hated for dropping you out of the game, will no longer be a pain in the ass.
So, what is the hard drive good for? Custom soundtracks and downloadable content. Well, custom soundtracks are in without a hard drive. Plug just about any MP3 player into an XBox 360 and it’ll play the music in game right off of that thing. Have a PC at home with media center? Play music and videos right across the network.
Downloadable content… well, you’re going to want the hard drive for that. Playing games on Live isn’t going to be a wonderful experience without a hard drive, but that’s really the only feature that’s definately going to be worse without the hard drive.
Since only ten percent of people currently owning XBox’s play on live, you can start to see why this two tier pricing structure makes perfect sense. Not likely to be playing on Live? Get the core system.
Yeah you have to buy a memory card to be able to save anything, but that’s hardly a new gripe that Microsoft invented.
You see, the $299 model is going after the Playstation crowd. You can tell me that only early adopters buy consoles at launch prices, but you know what… that isn’t true at Christmas. What’s the other big desirable gift out this Christmas in Japan and America (I admit there will be competition between the PSP and XBox 360 in Europe)? Kids will want the 360 this Christmas, and just as the PS2 sold out it’s first shipment at Christmas (woefully failing to meet demand infact) the 360 has a great chance. Same price (if you consider inflation it’s cheaper), almost the same features (arguably better), and a much more powerful system.
What part of that is bad?
Also this fear that no one will support the hard drive because it doesn’t come as standard is frankly nonsense. X-Box Live see great support at only 10% of the XBox owners subscribing. HDTV and Dolby Digital support, are both great with the ’standard’ system not shipping with the AV packs that let an end user enjoy those high end features. There’s no precedent to back up the paranoia, and there’s almost no games on XBox that show the need for a hard drive as standard. Not everyone has broadband internet… I’m sure people without it will happily save themselves money to not get a feature that they’d not use.
Then, lets look at what you get for $399… a wireless controller instead of a wired one, a mini remote control, a detachable hard drive, high definition AV cables, a live headset and 30 days free Live gaming. That’s a good deal. Sure you’ll want to throw in a second controller and a few games, and ultimately you’ll be looking at spending nearer $600, but that’s about par for the course for a console launch. I spent about that when I picked up an XBox to get the HD pack and a live starter kit, and didn’t have a nice wireless controller.
Sometimes it feels like gamers expect everything for free. Not want, expect.
I’ve seen UK gamers complaining about the price of the XBox 360 deluxe pack.
Which is 20 pounds less than the X-Box launched at. Europe often gets screwed, but the 360 is launching closer to it’s American price than anything did last generation. The UK price includes sales tax… and the device is made in the States, so that means they have to ship it to Europe. Which, isn’t free either. So yes, it’s still more expensive than a US one, but it’s actually not that much more expensive.
Really, all that matters as to whether or not a console is ‘worth’ any given amount of money, is whether or not is has enough desireable games on it, for that person, for that price. HDTV support, DVD video playback, backwards compatibility, wireless controllers…
All fluff to the vast majority of the consumer base.
If an XBox 360 isn’t worth the price that’s on it to you, don’t whine about it. Don’t say it should be cheaper. Don’t say Microsoft should sell it at *more* of a loss than they are, or that they shouldn’t look to make up some of that money on peripherals. Wait until it comes down in price.
It will… espescially if it’s really been overpriced.
24th August | Reply
Glad to see someone with a similar opinion. I’d been thinking of writing a similar column but you beat me to the punch.
Another point you may not have thought of, that i’ve been mulling lately. Everyone assumes that the Hard drive won’t be supported because most other console peripherals haven’t been widely supported. Well for one thing this is going to be different than most of those because this one is going to drop with the full weight of Microsoft behind it. They really want you to purchase it. Which makes it far more analogous to the Playstation 2 Network adaptor, which was widely supported in Core gamers games, rather than like the PS2 HDD which was dropped so quietly you could hear a pin drop next to the hype on it.
Furthermore let’s go back to t he future folks, this isn’t 1985. A one Size fits all approach to Hardware, just doesn’t make sense anymore. Microsoft is eyeing getting their hardware in 100,000,000 homes as is Sony (maybe not so much Nintendo but they’d like to) but the console hardware model that we’ve seen since the collapse has been based on avoiding a set of problems we’ve prety much gotten over. A tiered system just makes more sense, do you really think their are 100 million homes in the world who play video games and need exactly the same piece of Hardware? The guy who buys a system to make sure he gets every version of Madden and a copy of GTA doesn’t need the same hardware that the people reading this want. He doesn’t need a Hard Drive even for what it’s good for. Furthermore what was the big complaint with the North American PSP? That Sony didn’t release a bare bones version in the States making it just out of the price range of a lot of people. Well Microsoft is releasing a bare bones version of the Xbox 360 and what are people doing, bitching that it’s not a deluxe model.
Lastly, for some reason people assume that developers won’t support the Hard Drive. This simply doesn’t make sense, where did we get the crazy idea that developers can only develop a game for 1 piece of hardware. Given that EA is likely to put out Madden on 11 platforms next year, even as a primarily console game this is a ridiculous point. Furthermore as you said it’s mostly about caching which you can program a game to do when a HDD is present and not do without a drive. In other words; you have 2 paths in games for how to do things in games so that it works without a hard drive and works better with a hard drive. Some developers may not, but the smart ones will realize that a lot of the people who’re gonna be buying games in bulk, espcially in the first two years are going to opt for the Deluxe model and support that.
What’s really pissing people off is simply that games are getting more expnsive to play. 250 USD for a handheld, 400 dollars for a console hitting in the same year along with an upcoming price hike inthe cost of games. I know i’m buying a 360 as soon as their is a game that I really feel i need to have one for. Maybe that’ll be Perfect Dark Zero, maybe that won’t be for a couple years, I don’t know.
25th August | Reply
Summed up nicely. The X360 is the first console I’ve been interested in this decade, but I still probably won’t be getting one. $100 US difference between the two is quite a lot of money, and I think it’s well porportioned to what you do or don’t get in either deal.
At the moment it appears that in Europe at least, the Premium version is the only one that anyone wants to know about. Of course all the people who are preordering one now are the fanboys who will demand the best of the best, so I don’t think it’s necessarily a trend that will stay with us. There’s definately a market for the Core version.
26th August | Reply
I was in West Wales recently and I decided to pop into the Game store in Haverfordwest. Now apart from the interesting debate I had with the sales clerk over which is better, the PSP or the DS, I also noticed the price point for the 360 and how it seemed cheaper than the previous generation. Plagiarise seems to have just confirmed this.
And with things like Inflation and increased power/abilities thrown in, I dont see why anyone can complain. I wont get a 360, but the price seems very reasonable to me.
I wonder how long it will be before they lower it though.
26th August | Reply
I am definitely one of the people you are talking about in your article, but I’ve since gotten over myself.
I think the initial reaction most people are having is sticker shock. Sure, this isn’t the first system to cost more than $299, but the 3DO and Atari Jaguar aren’t exactly household names…as consoles OR software developers. (ZING) It is just a bit of a shock to see one of the major console players to bring in a console at that price point.
Sure, you say, it is TWO price points. Let’s stop kidding ourselves about two-tiered pricing. The $399 version is the only version. Screw the hard-drive, the wireless controller is what everyone should be paying attention to. I would much rather get the wireless “smart” controller than the wired one, and would probably pay the extra hundred just for that.
In any case, the $399 version, as has already been pointed out, is a crazy-stupid deal. I’m sure “M$” is taking a beating on this one. You thought they were taking a hit on the XBox, if a HDD costs $100 alone, what kind of hit are they taking with all the stuff you are getting on the premium deal.
I’ve been back and forth on this issue and ultimately, I’ve decided Microsoft made the right decision. I would have prefered a “no-spin” version and just one SKU for $399 but I don’t always get what I want.
One final thought on the pricing of the 360. We all knew it was going to be more expensive to be a gamer this new generation than the present one. We also know that Sony has been preparing us for some silly price on the Playstation 3. Part of the anxiety of a $399 console from Microsoft is the implication that the Playstation 3 will be $499 or $599. Which, I’m sure, will sell like its going out of style anyway.
26th August | Reply
Great read =)
27th August | Reply
i’d argue that the $299 version is quite clearly aimed at the person who doesn’t game online 90% of the x-box community (though i’m sure that’ll be a smaller figure this time around), but certainly a memory card of any size would have left people less upset. even if it was a really small one that could only save about 2 or 3 games worth of data, at least then you could save out of the box, but as i said, that isn’t a new issue. i’m betting that the PS3 will be just the same, and there’s a good chance the revolution will also be the same.
but it’s still true that to get all that comes with the 360 for the x-box (at launch price) would have cost almost exactly the same, and that’s again overlooking all the new functionality and power the 360 has. not everyone wants a media centre extender, but for those of us that do, that’s a lot of bang for your $400. for those that don’t… wait till it comes down in price. it will… and there doesn’t look to be a shortage of great current gen games until march next year.
28th August | Reply
The problem is, The HD was the defining feature of the Xbox. Not every game took advantage of the HD, true, but it was used as extra RAM for many games. In fact, many of the older Xbox titles will no longer be playable on the 360 without an HD.
Secondly, Xbox’s greatest strength was on-line. The live service is great but Live launched AFTER Xbox hit the market. With Live in full swing now, many expected Live for 360 to be something even more awesome because the service would be up and running right along with the console during launch. Without an HD, that limits the potential of what 360 users can do with on-line. Sure, there are now larger memory cards and it will help in most cases, but it will simply push Xbox 360 closer to the PS3, which many predict will be so powerful and have so many expensive proprietary components that Sony is unlikey to pack-in a HD. So what happens to product differentiation? How does MS complete exactly with Sony? You compete by differentiating yourself and Microsoft just limited its ability to compete with the PS3.
“But there is the $400 HD bundle and many hard cores will buy it…” comes the retort. Yes, I would say, but anytime you do something like a 2 SKU strategy, you fragment your market and make the 3rd party’s job a lot harder when it comes to supporting additional features. Companies like EA will always support the lowest common denominator and while they will probably throw a bone to the HD owners, they certainly won’t go out of their way to cripple their non HD games to force peopl eto get an HD. It’s not in their best interest to do so. And here’s the thing. Microsoft is not Nintendo so 3rd party support is paramount. 2 SKUs confuse 3rd parties, increase their risks when they plan a game around the HD and many just won’t bother doing it. This again goes back the differentiation with PS3. Xbox 360 unfortunatelly just got screwed again.
Square-Enix recently revealed FF XI for the Xbox 360. Big deal right? That’s a three year old game on the PC and PS2. But here’s the thing. Square-Enix hasn’t been too happy with Sony for their half-assed HD support and Sony’s decision to remove the HD port from their new slimmed down PS2. I’m sure Square would have preferred a HD ready PS2 as it would help their FF XI installed base greatly. Microsoft had a golden opportunity to give Square exactly what Sony wasn’t willing to give Square… time of day. Back in 1997 when Sony bent over backwards to steal Square from Nintendo, Sony needed square. Now that Sony has a near console monopoly, Square-Enix has been relegated to only one of many big publishers for Sony. Microsoft could have stolen Sony’s thunder by cozying up to Square to land more exclusives even if they are unable to steal Square-Enix completely away from Sony. Just exclusives would have been a major major coup for Microsoft. But their 2 SKU decision probably hurt their partnership with Square-Enix. I’m not predicting Square to abandon Microsoft, but it weaknes Microsoft’s appeal to Square and if the 360 don’t fly in Japan, except a quick backdoor exit by Square-Enix as they switch attention to the Nintendo Revolution, which does offer something S-E wants, Wi-Fi and wireless support between the Revolution console, and the Nintendo DS which Square is keen to emphasize is the kind of cross platform on-line playability they are excited about.