Ten - Thanks for the article on the Sony Emotion and the large die concerns.
However, I don't rule out success for this machine.
The point that should be remembered is that a great game machine will sell TONS of Software.
And to "coin" a phrase, "It's the Software, Stupid !"
Sony can afford to give away $100 ir $150 initially with each machine. The Japanese industry is quite adept at cost-reducing a product over time - and shrinking the die sizes from 0.25 to 0.18 to 0.13 micron feature size will, in time, bring the cost of machine production into a break-even, or profit, situation.
But - SOFTWARE IS KING !
And great Software running on an excellent machine will produce ENORMOUS PROFITS - via licensing.
The software - once developed - is ULTAR CHEAP to produce - especially if Sony stays with their CD-ROM - or DVD - format. The disks cost much less than $1 to mass produce and the games will sell from $29 up to $59 for new releases of "got-to-have" new games.
A Case in point.
We just had a week-end birthday party for my son - who invited 7 of his friends over.
As they arrived, they emptied out their "back packs" and before I knew it, there were 60 or 70 Nintendo 64 game cartridges floating around my living room - representing about $2800 of sales !
And I'm sure this was only a "partial" selection from each of the kids.
The software is like a "drug addiction" - kids (usually, the kid's parents !) buy the latest and greatest games and play the heck out of the new games and when they get bored a brand new game or games comes on the market and the "purchase" cycle starts all over again.
The GAME INDUSTRY operates like a legalized DRUG PUSHING industry.
These games - and the ROYALTY STREAMS - generate the PROFIT for the industry.
ANd selling the game machines cheaply - $129 to $199 - almost makes the "hardware" incidental purchases these days when a car costs $22,000 and a home costs $450,000 on up !
Paul |
