One of the reasons I don't really like consoles is the high cost of games in the first place, and the inability to run older games. Maybe 5-7 years seems like an eternity to a teenager (key market demographic) but I regularly play games older than that. So I pay more for a PC (though I'm going to have one of those anyway so I'm really just paying for the graphics card upgrades), but I don't have to pay console subscription fees, I can wait for prices to go down on the games themselves, I can play my older games, etc.
If they made the consoles free then I would get one just to put linux on it, and hack the locks that prevent this if necessary. Or customers would just use the "It plays previous gen games as well!" feature. But if you buy a new $500 game the first thing most customers do it also buy a full priced $60 game (that gets played for a month until they beg mom to buy a new one).
Although I could see a smartphone style model. Pay $50 a month and you get the console free and play all the games you want without additional charge (and if it works the price would quickly ramp up to $100/month and people would cut the cord). Or you pay $500 for a console in a pre-paid plan where the subscription is cheaper and can be canceled before the 2 year limit. Or... just get a PC and play DRM-free games.
Subsidize razor to profit off blades (Score:3, Insightful)
Consoles are loss-leaders. It's commissions on game sales they really want.
Re: (Score:3)
Consoles are loss-leaders. It's commissions on game sales they really want.
Exactly. I'm not sure how the concept of a loss-leader is so foreign here. Grocery stores have done this for decades to get you in the door.
IMHO, the price isn't low enough. Provide the console for free. Charge for the games. You'll probably get more customers that way.
Re:Subsidize razor to profit off blades (Score:2)
One of the reasons I don't really like consoles is the high cost of games in the first place, and the inability to run older games. Maybe 5-7 years seems like an eternity to a teenager (key market demographic) but I regularly play games older than that. So I pay more for a PC (though I'm going to have one of those anyway so I'm really just paying for the graphics card upgrades), but I don't have to pay console subscription fees, I can wait for prices to go down on the games themselves, I can play my older games, etc.
If they made the consoles free then I would get one just to put linux on it, and hack the locks that prevent this if necessary. Or customers would just use the "It plays previous gen games as well!" feature. But if you buy a new $500 game the first thing most customers do it also buy a full priced $60 game (that gets played for a month until they beg mom to buy a new one).
Although I could see a smartphone style model. Pay $50 a month and you get the console free and play all the games you want without additional charge (and if it works the price would quickly ramp up to $100/month and people would cut the cord). Or you pay $500 for a console in a pre-paid plan where the subscription is cheaper and can be canceled before the 2 year limit. Or... just get a PC and play DRM-free games.