Chris Morris over at CNN/Money explores availability, mass advertising, limited launch titles, and PS3 vs. Wii predictions as the two consoles prepare for launch next week in the US. While Sony's extremely limited number of PS3 launch units is known (400k), Nintendo's exact November 19 numbers are unknown. THQ president Brian Farrel predicts Ninty will have between 600,000 to 800,000 units available on launch day, "enough to keep the flow coming." The article expects Wii restocking to happen before Black Friday but has no idea when a PS3 restock will hit because Sony isn't sharing much information at the moment.
Regarding a lack of mass advertising, Morris and Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aime remind us that launches are all for hard-cores who don't need company sponsored promotions. "The advertising and marketing is for casual gamers. We want to get them excited when they can actually go out and get something, so we'll start next week," said Fils-Aime.
The column also touches on the question that "doesn't matter, but everyone likes to talk about:" Who's going to win? The prediction? No definitive manufacturer winner in terms of market share. Only gamers win as the playing field is expected to be a lot more even this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment