Ben Cousins, who was an ex-EA employee, has mentioned that Sony went with a cheaper hardware for the PS4 due to fear of low install base.
This point of his can be dissected piece by piece due to how absurd it is, but here’s what he had to say.
“We kind of feel that particularly tablets are becoming, will become, a solution for that problem or for that need,” he told GI.Biz. “Soon it will be like actually, I’m getting everything I need here, do I really need to buy a console? These are the sort of guys who buy a console halfway through the cycle rather than right at the start.
“I think the problem with the console model and certainly with the previous generation was that it needed the ultra-hardcore, the kids, and those kind of mid-core or whatever you it call it, mainstream gamers, to a buy a console in order to make a profit because it just needed massive volume.”
He also revealed why he thought Sony went with a cheaper hardware this time around.
“It was interesting to see PS4 clearly go for what looks like cheaper hardware than last time around,” he said. So maybe that’s a kind of defensive move against their expectation that they’re not going to have the same install base, or maybe they just want to hit profitability quicker because of Sony’s less stable financial state at the moment.”
“Exactly, so that was interesting. That feels like they’re kind of acknowledging the threat and they’re kind of doing the best they can to kind of defend against it.
“But I do still feel like…and maybe it’s a selection bias, but most of the people I talk to and whose work I read are kind of in agreement…that this time around console install bases will be smaller. And probably will be focused more on that core audience. It’s certainly not going to be kids and casual gamers buying consoles any more I don’t think, they’re going to be all on mobile.”
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