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[Afro Republican]

Affordability more important than games or graphics for future PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X owners

An interesting survey carried out by one of the creators of Mortal Kombat has offered up a surprising result in regard to what the key factor is for gamers when considering the purchase of a next-gen console. It seems the majority of voters are concerned about how much the PlayStation 5 and Xbox...

www.notebookcheck.net

Noted game industry veteran Ed Boon has revealed the results of a survey he ran on Twitter. The question he asked his followers was “Next Gen consoles…What’s the most important thing for you?” A total of four options were given, which included “affordable price”, “better graphics”, “exclusive games”, and “plays last-gen games”. Over 50,000 people voted in the survey, offering up a result that should be noted by the manufacturers of the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

“Affordable price” garnered 37.5% of the vote, ahead of “plays last-gen games” on 30%, “better graphics” on 19.2%, and “exclusive games” on 13.2%. It might seem a surprise to many that “exclusive games” occupied last place, but it also shows that gamers are concerned about their bank balances when it comes to making a purchase of either the PS5 or Xbox Series X. The fact that “plays last-gen games” also amassed a high percentage appears to be further proof that belt-tightening is at the front of many minds.

With both Microsoft and Sony being somewhat cagey about the price tags of the Xbox Series X and PS5, respectively, it’s likely both companies will take as long as they can before revealing a final figure for their consoles. With a sample size of over 50,000, this particular survey seems like a good indicator of what gamers currently feel is the most important element in making a next-gen console purchase: Affordability.

Seems like whoever has the cheaper price will have a pretty good head start (at least outside of Asia). This may explain the reports that Sony is waiting for MS to make a move before announcing price, but MS is playing a game of chicken so who knows who'll stop first.

 

[AV]

Not sure why he's surprised, 13.2% for exclusives actually sounds pretty much spot on considering the attach rate of big PS4 exclusives to consoles sold.

 

[JaffeLion]

Wait. Didn’t GAF tell me that exclusive games are the single most important reason to get a particular console?

 

[Hostile_18]

Gamers are so tight it hurts

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Not sure why he's surprised, 13.2% for exclusives actually sounds pretty much spot on considering the attach rate of big PS4 exclusives to consoles sold.

Still a big reason as to why it's been selling so much.

Wait. Didn’t GAF tell me that exclusive games are the single most important reason to get a particular console?

Yes, because it's objectively the case, this is a random subjective poll for a dev of a multiplatform game that's surely full of Xbox One and PC players who have a silly anti-exclusive narrative.

 

[Vawn]

People don't know what they want or aren't honest. Yes, price is super important, but backwards compatibility is not. History has shown how little it's used comparatively and how little difference it makes in sales.

Exclusives sell consoles. Not the decent or good ones, but huge titles like Pokemon, Spider-Man, God of War, Mario, Halo, etc.

Price and games will always be the most important factors. Power next. BC is barely a factor. I don't care what this random survey says.

 

[AV]

Still a big reason as to why it's been selling so much.

Well yeah, ~13.2% of all sales ever is pretty big. That's a lot of money. I'm just saying I don't know why he thinks it would be significantly higher when the data says otherwise.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Well yeah, ~13.2% of all sales ever is pretty big. That's a lot of money. I'm just saying I don't know why he thinks it would be significantly higher when the data says otherwise.

I had more of an issue with your install base point, to me it actually makes sense but apparently we saw more eye to eye than I thought.

 

[GamerEDM]

Microsoft and Sony are you paying attention, $399.99 or bust

 

[Vawn]

Well yeah, ~13.2% of all sales ever is pretty big. That's a lot of money. I'm just saying I don't know why he thinks it would be significantly higher when the data says otherwise.

But if 13% of people buy a PS5 over an Xbox because of Spider-Man, another 10% might do it because of Horizon, Bloodborne 2 (wishful thinking), etc.

It isn't usually a single exclusive, but different "system sellers" bringing over different groups of people.

Look at how quickly Switch overtook Xbox One. Switch is way less powerful, it has no backwards compatibility and isn't cheaper than Xbox One (especially with the higher game prices, expensive controller sold separately, etc). It just has several games that different people consider system sellers.

 

[DeepEnigma]

But if 13% of people buy a PS5 over an Xbox because of Spider-Man, another 10% might do it because of Horizon, Bloodborne 2 (wishful thinking), etc.

It isn't usually a single exclusive, but different "system sellers" bringing over different groups of people.

Till this day I have not purchased Spider-Man, but I have other exclusives I was interested in. Variety of games, variety of gamers.

 

[AV]

But if 13% of people buy a PS5 over an Xbox because of Spider-Man, another 10% might do it because of Horizon, Bloodborne 2 (wishful thinking), etc.

It isn't usually a single exclusive, but different "system sellers" bringing over different groups of people.

Yeah, I imagine most of the people buying Sony first party AAA exclusives will often buy more than one, some will only buy one, etc. There's also people who buy exclusives that would have bought a PS4 anyway even if none of them existed.

It's impossible to get a realistic figure, but since the big exclusives seem to sell somewhere between 10 and 16 million, 13 is a pretty good guesstimate to land on. Like I said above, it's a big factor (13m copies of a game is a hell of a lot of money), but not as big as some people like to make out.

 

[pesaddict]

Ed bafoon more like

 

[DrDamn]

Poll is deceptive, it's not indicating what people think is important, but what is most important. So it's not just 13% of people responding that thought exclusives were important. It's at the very least.

 

[daninthemix]

13% corresponds exactly with the number of forum-dwellers who care about exclusives.

No one else does.

 

[bad guy]

Get your PSBox today for only $199*

*plus a weekly payment of $10 for a year

 

[BlackOlivesMatter]

Don't worry, Boon gonna be there next gen to sell ya the same shitty game 2 to 3x in the next cycle.

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

BC with all my PSX games from all regions on a single hardware is the key for a day one purchase. Sony could also work with other compagnies to put more classics on PS5, like Nintendo did with VC.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I think whoever maintains a presence at the lower end of the market ($100-200) with their old machine is the one that will skyrocket ahead of the others. The new console price will matter of course, but these companies need a branded box through which they can push their digital / streaming / subscription offerings.

 

[The Alien]

$400/$500 is an affordable console cost.

Above that, I can see concerns for affordability.

 

[Butz]

But if 13% of people buy a PS5 over an Xbox because of Spider-Man, another 10% might do it because of Horizon, Bloodborne 2 (wishful thinking), etc.

It isn't usually a single exclusive, but different "system sellers" bringing over different groups of people.

Look at how quickly Switch overtook Xbox One. Switch is way less powerful, it has no backwards compatibility and isn't cheaper than Xbox One (especially with the higher game prices, expensive controller sold separately, etc). It just has several games that different people consider system sellers.

Look at how badly the WiiU flopped despite all those great exclusives.

 

[GHG]

Wait. Didn’t GAF tell me that exclusive games are the single most important reason to get a particular console?

I'm beginning to think that you Meirl, Bandi and Heinrich are exactly the same person.

Either that or you're all bots.

 

[Sussoloc]

Wait. Didn’t GAF tell me that exclusive games are the single most important reason to get a particular console?

Yes and the reason for this is that GAF users are no casuals. Core gamers more likely own multiple platforms and the main reason to buy something besides a pc are exclusives. Unfortunately many of them take theirself too seriously and think that EVERYBODY must buy consoles for the exclusve games, just because they do.

But in reality casuals dominate the market and casuals don't care much about exclusive games.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

ugh. lame.

video games are luxury products. i'd rather them focus on being high performance machines.

seems like a bad trade tbh. prices aren't coming down. seems like a pipe dream

 

[GymWolf]

God i hate gamers...

 

[AV]

Look at how badly the WiiU flopped despite all those great exclusives.

The WiiU flopped because the exclusives were the only reason to own one, not despite it.

It's not a coincidence that the WiiU shipped basically the same amount of hardware that PS4 exclusives sell, which again, is in line with the number of people that chose exclusives in the above poll. It's not precise, but there's a reason the same rough figure keeps coming up again and again.

 

[Aidah]

Poll is kind of trash. There is a lot wrong with it.

 

[SuperLupeRap]

But if 13% of people buy a PS5 over an Xbox because of Spider-Man, another 10% might do it because of Horizon, Bloodborne 2 (wishful thinking), etc.

It isn't usually a single exclusive, but different "system sellers" bringing over different groups of people.

Look at how quickly Switch overtook Xbox One. Switch is way less powerful, it has no backwards compatibility and isn't cheaper than Xbox One (especially with the higher game prices, expensive controller sold separately, etc). It just has several games that different people consider system sellers.

Absolutely worst mathematics ever.

 

[Vawn]

Look at how badly the WiiU flopped despite all those great exclusives.

There are always other factors like the worst marketing campaign in the history of video games. Almost no one knew the Wii U was a console. Many people still believe it's a expensive peripheral for the Wii.

 

[SLB1904]

Wait. Didn’t GAF tell me that exclusive games are the single most important reason to get a particular console?

no one said that ever.

 

[SuperLupeRap]

The only info this poll provides is that people who follow him on twitter put price as number 1 factor and exclusives last. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Butz]

There are always other factors like the worst marketing campaign in the history of video games.

You mean like with the Xbox One?

 

[SLB1904]

also we havent see a single next gen only game. every generation is the same shit ''games cant look better than this'' then their fucking jwas drop as soon as they see a next gen game.

 

[Vawn]

Absolutely worst mathematics ever.

There's no math. A certain percentage of people were sold on a console because of Game X, another on Game Y, etc.

There are a lot of factors in play, but history has proven the two biggest factors are price and games. The strongest console rarely wins the generation.

 

[Vawn]

You mean like with the Xbox One?

The Xbox One launch was a disaster, but Microsoft kept with marketing and even casuals understood what it is.

Nintendo didn't do that nearly well enough. There was always confusion about what the Wii U even was.

Microsoft made people mad. Nintendo made people confused and disinterested. Microsoft's marketing rebounded (mostly), Nintendo's marketing blew the whole generation.

 

[Sussoloc]

I just remember there was a similar poll a few years ago. Even with 3 allowed selections exclusives weren't that important:

PlayStation 4: Les exclus ne sont pas le 1er facteur pour acheter une console! - N-Gamz.com

Nos collègues de Gamingbolt se sont récemment entretenus avec Lewis Ward, Directeur de Recherche Gaming et VR chez IDC, au sujet de la position dominante de Sony sur le marché de la Next-Gen, que beaucoup de joueurs attribuent au nombre conséquent de titres exclusifs sur sa machine, et la...

n-gamz.com

 

[ethomaz]

Games will always be first and main feature for a game machine...

The pool is a joke and pretty niche based in 50k people that mostly follow him... or in others terms active hardcore warriors on Twitter.

 

[mitch1971]

No. Give me a 500 pound console that is worth every penny, rather than a price point that has to cut corners to achieve it.

 

[gunslikewhoa]

Poll is deceptive, it's not indicating what people think is important, but what is most important. So it's not just 13% of people responding that thought exclusives were important. It's at the very least.

At least somebody gets it.

 

[DrDamn]

The only info this poll provides is that people who follow him on twitter put price as number 1 factor and exclusives last. Nothing more, nothing less.

Of the four options more people would say price is the most important factor (but not necessarily the only factor). 13% think that exclusives is the most important factor. But the poll doesn't say that people think better graphics or backward compatibility is more important than exclusives. You need to allow people to rank the importance of the factors to gain useful insight.

Taking it to an extreme theoretically everyone who didn't pick it as number one could rank exclusives as the second most important factor, but this would be hidden by this poll.

 

[SuperLupeRap]

There's no math. A certain percentage of people were sold on a console because of Game X, another on Game Y, etc.

There are a lot of factors in play, but history has proven the two biggest factors are price and games. The strongest console rarely wins the generation.

What happens when the same client has Horizon, Spiderman AND GOW like a lot of people out there? High chance that's the case if AAA single-player experiences are your jam. Totally flawed logic but yeah whatever.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Which people did they ask? Of course Joe COD and Dave FIFA are wsnting cheaper consoles. What about people who game as a hobby? I doubt they would say "nahh I want cheap over good"


Go ask a golfer if he wants an affordable average club or an expensive world class one. Or a guitarist or an artist or a graphic designer...

 

[DaMonsta]

The poll results pretty much reflect what we know about hardware and software sales.

Console warriors fight over power and exclusives.

The rest of the world has different priorities.

 

[sendit]

Yes and the reason for this is that GAF users are no casuals. Core gamers more likely own multiple platforms and the main reason to buy something besides a pc are exclusives. Unfortunately many of them take theirself too seriously and think that EVERYBODY must buy consoles for the exclusve games, just because they do.

But in reality casuals dominate the market and casuals don't care much about exclusive games.

Agreed. Which is why the affordable Xbox One with backwards compatibility is crushing the PS4 in sales.

 

[JAMMA]

Gamers are so tight it hurts

Are they also hot, young, single and female?

 

[DonF]

Sony charging $600 for a console on 2006, truly courageous move .

 

[Virex]

Wait. Didn’t GAF tell me that exclusive games are the single most important reason to get a particular console?

 

[Sussoloc]

Agreed. Which is why the affordable Xbox One with backwards compatibility is crushing the PS4 in sales.

1. Launch: Price>>>>>>>>>>>>all
2.Later: What do my friends have?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>all

1. Gives you the advantage and 2. never lets you lose it.

 

[Ellery]

Which people did they ask? Of course Joe COD and Dave FIFA are wsnting cheaper consoles. What about people who game as a hobby? I doubt they would say "nahh I want cheap over good"


Go ask a golfer if he wants an affordable average club or an expensive world class one. Or a guitarist or an artist or a graphic designer...

Yes only Joe COD and Dave FIFA were allowed to vote in this public social media poll. Frank FORUMOPINION, Thomas THIRSTFORTERAFLOPS and Henry HARDCOREGAMERZ votes were swept under the rug.

 

[sendit]

Seriosly? You don't get it? I make it simpler for you:

1. Launch: Price>>>>>>>>>>>>all
2.Later: What do my friends have?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>all

1. Gives you the advantage and 2. never lets you lose it.

Goal post moving. I love it.