The Next XBox - Rumour Thread

marco_polo

gizmo wrote: »

I'm not really talking about digital distribution. I was referring to the argument that sales of new games will fall because the people who trade their games in to fund their purchases will no longer be able to do so. While this will probably be true, as I said above, I don't think the revenue drop will be larger than the amount lost due to the actual sale of those second hand titles.

Or, to be more precise, I think there would be a net increase in new sales should the second hand market be eliminated. So while retailers will obviously lose out, publishers/developers would benefit.

It would certainly make those day one reviews even more important than they are already, as people would become much more selective about what games they buy. I know that as I do most of my gaming on PC I am fairly picky about what I will spend my hard earned cash on for a day one release, because I am stuck with it for good.

To compensate for this retailers would probably have to try dangerous, radical new ideas like having sales on the console versions of games which are no longer brand new. At the moment because their margins are so large there is no way they would undercut their used titles shelves by dropping the price of (now old:p) new games.

How often do you go into Game or HMV to see the PC price slashed a few weeks post launch, but the console version could remain at or near its launch price for well over a year or more. I remember Sykrim had a second massive surge in PC sales just before christmas for this very reason.

Zeouterlimits

marco_polo wrote: »

I remember Sykrim had a second massive surge in PC sales just before christmas for this very reason.

Can you back this up?

Because in GAME they did a €10 off price cut for a week or two in late November/Early-December for ALL versions.

marco_polo

Zeouterlimits wrote: »

Can you back this up?

Because in GAME they did a €10 off price cut for a week or two in late November/Early-December for ALL versions.

Can hardly back it up if I was wrong now can I , I'd forgotten it was an across the board cut by Bethesda. I think in the vast majority of cases my point still stands mind, and anyways I was just speculating about what a world without second hand games might looks like, not whether or not it would be a good thing or not.

Andy!!

This thread would be infinitely better if it featured actual news about the X720 instead of nerds bickering and wildly speculating about which one of them is right about what format the consoles games is going to come on.

Why don't we leave it until there is an actual announcement by Microsoft, and give the feckin spreadsheets a rest.

ShadowHearth

Andy!! wrote: »

This thread would be infinitely better if it featured actual news about the X720 instead of nerds bickering and wildly speculating about which one of them is right about what format the consoles games is going to come on.

Why don't we leave it until there is an actual announcement by Microsoft, and give the feckin spreadsheets a rest.

Mayne that's why it's a forum, so people share they ideas, thoughts amd expectations on the upcoming product?

That useless part of the Internet

gizmo

marco_polo wrote: »

To compensate for this retailers would probably have to try dangerous, radical new ideas like having sales on the console versions of games which are no longer brand new. At the moment because their margins are so large there is no way they would undercut their used titles shelves by dropping the price of (now old:p) new games.

How often do you go into Game or HMV to see the PC price slashed a few weeks post launch, but the console version could remain at or near its launch price for well over a year or more. I remember Sykrim had a second massive surge in PC sales just before christmas for this very reason.

Every single time I go into a brick and mortar store I see new console titles slashed a few weeks after launch. I've also seen upteen instances where the new price is actually lower than the used price on some boxes. Generally speaking though the used price will be a couple of quid lower than the lower new price. The only notable exceptions are a couple of Activision titles such as the Call Of Duty series and Wolverine and Prototype. The latter two held their value far longer than any other console game game outside of CoD that I can remember.

Amazon, of course, have more severe price drops. I've used the Deus Ex example a few times but it happens with practically every other game released too.

Andy!!

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Mayne that's why it's a forum, so people share their wild, almost baseless speculations on the upcoming product?

That useless part of the Internet

Fixed it for you.

satchmo

In the US, three stores (Walmart, Best Buy & Gamestop) account for over 50% of all game sales. Driving pre-orders in these stores is also a huge part of the game marketing business (hence the 'pre-order exlusive' bonuses appearing in many big games). And more importantly, those stores also account for a large part of hardware sales. Microsoft and Sony just aren't going to alienate those retailers by going digital-only, there isn't even any debate.

Back on-topic, the manufacturing costs of making an SD card that matches or exceeds a Blu-Ray disc in terms of access speeds, seek time and capacity (the issues that matter for a game storage medium) is likely a lot more than pressing a BD disc. I call bullshot.

Helix

gizmo wrote: »

I think there would be a net increase in new sales should the second hand market be eliminated. So while retailers will obviously lose out, publishers/developers would benefit.

yeah id agree that

chrismon

Would hate for my account to get hacked :eek:
Wouldnt just lose my gamer points then!

Varik

satchmo wrote: »

In the US, three stores (Walmart, Best Buy & Gamestop) account for over 50% of all game sales. Driving pre-orders in these stores is also a huge part of the game marketing business (hence the 'pre-order exlusive' bonuses appearing in many big games). And more importantly, those stores also account for a large part of hardware sales. Microsoft and Sony just aren't going to alienate those retailers by going digital-only, there isn't even any debate.

A lot of different retailers sell games among other things, Gamestop just sell games. Sony/MS/Nintendo need them to sell more, but Gamestop need them to even exist.

Sony lived through a $200 loss on each PS3 at launch, but how long could Gamestop last without any new releases. A smaller developer could be forced into doing what they want but remember how little resulted in steamworks boycotts.

gizmo

chrismon wrote: »

Would hate for my account to get hacked :eek:
Wouldnt just lose my gamer points then!

You could only lose games if you could transfer the game off the account or couldn't get your account back. Neither of which are either likely or possible I'd say.

Zeouterlimits

Good, sensible article by Kuchera about why there won't be a disc-less '720' or a DD only console.

blatantrereg

They're just going round in circles in the new generations of xbox consoles

briany

Overheal wrote: »

also think ahead to two years from now. and look two years behind. Ireland enjoys internet speeds right now that you wouldn't have been able to imagine 5 years ago.

Sadly, my area's currently being overlooked by the lords of fibre UPC so those nice and relatively cheap speeds are unattainable for me. Funnily enough, had you told me five years ago that Eircom would "upgrade" us from 1 meg BB to 8 meg (really only 2 or 3 for most of us) with a paltry data cap, I'd have said it wouldn't happen for Eircom's apathy and the customer exodus it would surely invoke. It happened.

gizmo

On a related note, as expected Microsoft have confirmed the next Xbox will not be at E3 this year.

gizmo

And the rumour mill continues...

The next XBox will require an always on internet connection and come with two GPUs.

:pac:

ShadowHearth

gizmo wrote: »

And the rumour mill continues...

The next XBox will require an always on internet connection and come with two GPUs.

:pac:

1st april was yesterday m8! :pac:

gizmo

ShadowHearth wrote: »

1st april was yesterday m8! :pac:

Well since we've gone from a 6670 GPU to dual 7000-class GPUs I'd at least hope people would take these rumours with a slight pinch of salt.

ShadowHearth

gizmo wrote: »

Well since we've gone from a 6670 GPU to dual 7000-class GPUs I'd at least hope people would take these rumours with a slight pinch of salt.

Indeed. I kept reading and I was like.... Wtf? Let alone constant online connection needed is just a pure sign of rumor. They are not that stupid... Are they? Then again: it will be 4 or 6 core CPU... Might aswell stick in 10core CPU with hyper threading just to be sure.

Helix

might have a bit of info about this next month, depending on what i can weasel out of a few people off the record