You sure you're not using the term "price cuts" in place of "demand generation"?
Yes? No? Maybe? lol
Seems like bundles and price cuts are just methods for generating demand, and the former typically precedes the latter. You launch your product, and after you run through the initial demand, you do some bundling to generate more. Once that demand is met, you do some price cuts to generate more. After that, you're back to bundling again, and so on. Granted, if you're burning through demand too quickly, you might skip steps bundling from day one, maintaining bundles in spite of price drops, etc. but as a general rule, demand-generation/-maintenance will follow the bundle-cut-bundle-cut cycle.
Therefore, I'd say bundles indicate we're a step
closer to cuts rather than a step further away.
I agree with your point on positive impact for the market leader with a decisive advantage in share, but why do you say "and their customers"? What customer benefits are you thinking of?
Most obviously, more exclusive software which as a general rule can be produced at higher quality and lower cost. So no only do you get better games, you get more of them. This, on top of the multi-platform games, of course. Plus, more money to invest back in to the platform means more subtle benefits like #BetterPSN, more OS features, and better games on the IGC, to name a few.
Reinvestment also means more 1st-party development, which has all the benefits of exclusive software with the added bonus of technically not needing to even turn a profit. The primary goal of first party development is to attract interest in the platform, from developers and users alike. If a 1st-party game breaks even, it's effectively free advertising for the platform, and way better than a simple commercial which
doesn't generate revenue directly. If the game turns out to be a huge hit, bonus.
By market share you hopefully mean "global market share" not an individual market.
Yeah, but remember global share is built one market at a time. While the size of the US market is large enough that Microsoft's competitiveness there means they also have a fairly significant chunk of the global market, it also leaves MS in a somewhat vulnerable position. If Sony were able to significantly shift the balance of sales in that single market for an extended period of time, that would leave MS with precious few sales throughout the rest of the world. Plus, even regional dominance can have benefits, whether Sony achieve global dominance or not.
I would say though that the US, whilst an important market, is not the be all and end all of the console market.
Not for Sony, no, but it sorta is for MS. Basically, MS are lingering on the strength of their success there, and a large chunk of said success was the direct result of being significantly cheaper than PS4 last Christmas. If Sony do drop to $300, then it becomes very difficult for MS to be "significantly cheaper," and MS are currently being outsold there while being "somewhat cheaper." So if somewhat cheaper is the best MS can manage through the holidays, one would expect Sony to continue to come out ahead in sales. Add in pent up demand at the $300 price point, and Sony could have a significant sales win this year.
Given that win would be even more decisive outside the US, to a large extent, Sony's fate is very much in their own hands here. It seems like they're in a position to really put the screws to MS, if they choose to.
You seriously think that is their main concern? And you think 3rd parties wouldn't support them even if they were more behind? I honestly doubt that very much. Especially since the XB1 is basically just a W10 PC now - porting has never been easier in the history of consoles.
The new "Everything is Windows" may mean easy ports, but if everything is written for W10 and then magically bulit for phones, tablets, and XBoxen too, that would put XBox development on a Windows schedule, which doesn't always match up with the console schedule. Sometimes it does, but often indies come to Windows first, and sometimes AA games come a few months later. It varies, but it seems now that XBox is just another extension of Windows, like the phones and tablets.
MS number 1 concern is to make money, in the long run. They're likely taking a financial hit (not sure how much) to sell their consoles at a loss, but the idea behind that is to bring you into their ecosystem. Especially as a digital customer.
I think the ecosystem they're primarily focused on these days is Windows itself.
None of this games are big japanese titles for west, with the exception of DQ XI (maybe).
Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dark Souls... this franchises that has good market outside of Asia are and will be present on Xbox One in the most part.
And no, DOA Xtreme 3 is not a heavy hitter, it's a small launch even in Japan.
What qualifies a game as "big"? Making it to the Bone? That seems a bit arbitrary, and rather convenient.
Who is discounting games?
You and others, when you say the Bone will continue to get the games which are "big," "significant," and "meaningful." This discounts the other games as being none of those things. Again, pretty convenient that the only games not on XBox are collectively meaningless.
To be clear, I've since reconsidered that remark and retract it. I should have instead said that MS's main concern is to have XB1 remain relevant among consumers since PS4 is just as viable an option as the XB1 for a majority of consumers and for a niche of consumers, PS4 is the only option.
A shorter way of saying that would be, "PS4 is the better choice." Most people have
some sort of niche tastes, and whatever it is that tickles your fancy, it's likely to have better representation on PlayStation, plus better versions of all the "big, significant, and meaningful" that can be had on the other platform.
Some may be fans a specific franchise and/or platform and that passion will outweigh all other considerations, but I'd argue those are the real outliers with little overall effect on the market. Every franchise has its fans, but large libraries appeal to everyone.
