Biggest failure of a console

[Rob2600]

The Dreamcast when it launched was already facing the 'Sega is going to screw you over' rumors. ... The PS2 then launched and though many of the DC games looked better than any of the launch PS2 games the buzz behind the PS2 was almost too big to overcome.

I worked at Electronics Boutique at the time. Most customers were ridiculously brainwashed by Sony's PS2 hype. I tried selling Dreamcasts to people, but they refused and would say things like, "Who cares if the Dreamcast is only $99, has built-in four player support, and has better sports games, fighting games, and first person shooters? The PS2 can launch missiles!"

It made no sense whatsoever, but that's how the hype machine works.


A few customers said, "I'll wait for the PS2 because it can play DVDs."

I'd reply, "True, but you can buy a Dreamcast and a real DVD player for less than the price of a PS2."

"But...it can launch missiles."

A year later, I quit retail.

[Arkhan]

I worked at Electronics Boutique at the time. Most customers were ridiculously brainwashed by Sony's PS2 hype. I tried selling Dreamcasts to people, but they refused and would say things like, "Who cares if the Dreamcast is only $99, has built-in four player support, and has better sports games, fighting games, and first person shooters? The PS2 can launch missiles!"

I was a proud owner of Dreamcast on day 1

and by day 1 I mean, my parents bought it on day one and "hid it" for xmas

Little did they know that when I got home from school I opened that fucker every day and played it, .

It made no sense whatsoever, but that's how the hype machine works.


A few customers said, "I'll wait for the PS2 because it can play DVDs."

I'd reply, "True, but you can buy a Dreamcast and a real DVD player for less than the price of a PS2."

"But...it can launch missiles."

A year later, I quit retail.

I worked at gamestop for a year. Thats all I could take.

What you describe is the standard annoying-gamer subculture made up of people who think they have to make weird, stupid, "nerdy" comments on purpose in order to be cool, or whatever.

they're also the ones complaining about poor programming, and hardware flaws, but don't actually know a damn thing about what they're talking about.

They are just quoting the guy in the magazine who also didn't know what he was talking about.

BUT ITS OK, BECAUSE THEY CAN LAUNCH MISSILES.

hehe


I tried selling PS3s to people all the time. They would come in asking what I preferred and I would tell them PS3 because:

--Bluray won
--The hardware looks and feels nicer
--The connectivity / HD upgrades rule
--I like the game selection, and the upcoming titles at the time were lookin good.

and then I would explain that the PSN store was pretty cool, and that you can set it up really easily to stream stuff from PC to PS3, etc. etc.......


the usual reply was "oh, ok, I'll take the 360".

to which I would reply with "Oh, how come?"

and they would go "Because its got *insert game that is also on PS3*"

or

"Because Sony is stupid"

*shrug*, their loss. lol

[danny_galaga]

Actually, Neo Geo also, because the price was so expensive it was a complete joke. My friends and I had yet another chuckle on that one.

I don't think the NEO GEO can be considered a failure. I believe it holds the record for longest production run of any console. It was expensive, but so are Ferraris, neither are intended to sell by the truck load...

[Gavica]

Neo Geo

noobs will be noobs

[Aswald]

Oh come on. If the device was actually capable of blinding people it would have never been sold. You might as well say that all video games should be taken off the market because they might induce epileptic seizures.

Can't say I've heard of that device before. Was it common?

Back before conventions were well-established a lot of word processors were pretty weird, no?

This does not differentiate the ADAM from the whackload of other computers coming out at the same time.

There was weird and truly weird. To the point of too weird. ADAM was just that.

And those went down, down, down, too. As failures.

[Jorpho]

Yeah. Pretty much all word processors up til Amiga were pretty weird. The Commodore had plenty of crap ones too, so did apple. Rose Tinted Glasses^TM

I was thinking PaperClip would be the answer, actually. What did the Amiga have?

[TheChristoph]

Hmm, how about the Gizmondo. What'd that sell, about 2000 units? :P (I remember seeing a sales number somewhere, but it was ridiculously low, less than 200K I think)

But yeah, awful system. Tiger can put that down with the R-Zone and Game.Com

Tiger Telematics (Gizmondo) and Tiger Electronics (R-Zone and Game.com) are different, unrelated companies.

I don't think the Gizmondo was supposed to succeed. Seemed like it was just a huge money sink to embezzle investment capital. I guess if it did succeed, they could have kept the scam going for awhile longer.

I wonder if we'd have the 360 today if the Xbox was put out by anyone but Microsoft. Say it was SNK's glorious return to consoles. Did it do well enough to continue the project?

[camarotuner]

Tiger Telematics (Gizmondo) and Tiger Electronics (R-Zone and Game.com) are different, unrelated companies.

I don't think the Gizmondo was supposed to succeed. Seemed like it was just a huge money sink to embezzle investment capital. I guess if it did succeed, they could have kept the scam going for awhile longer.

I wonder if we'd have the 360 today if the Xbox was put out by anyone but Microsoft. Say it was SNK's glorious return to consoles. Did it do well enough to continue the project?

If the 360 was made by Nintendo, the company would now be bankrupt and purchased by Larry Flynt so it could make mario/peach porn. It's lost a reported 4+ Billion dollars. Very very few companies in the world can eat that kind of loss and keep running with it. MS however, can.

[Jorpho]

It's lost a reported 4+ Billion dollars.

Yeah, you're going to need a citation for that.

[camarotuner]

http://www.joystiq.com/2005/09/26/fo...-and-counting/

That is actually a rather old article citing forbes magazine on the loss of revenue caused by the original xbox, not the 360.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/05/msf...5techmsft.html

1 billion in lost revenue in 2007 regarding 360 warranty issues. These were supposed to be "greatly improved" by the upcoming revisions to the hardware.

Current estimates range anywhere from 20-50% failure rate on 360's. Let's be nice and call that 25% under warranty. That puts it on par with the 2007 levels. That's 3 more years (and counting) of 25% defective rate 360's. That's a lot of friggin money. Given the original xbox lost them 4 billion and was a rather solidly built piece of machinery with a much lower defective rate, yep.

Oh and NATAL

http://www.maxconsole.net/content.ph...ould-do-an-IBM

isn't winning over the investors who see it as a bad idea. Time will tell on that one.

[Jorpho]

1 billion in lost revenue in 2007 regarding 360 warranty issues. These were supposed to be "greatly improved" by the upcoming revisions to the hardware.

Current estimates range anywhere from 20-50% failure rate on 360's. Let's be nice and call that 25% under warranty. That puts it on par with the 2007 levels. That's 3 more years (and counting) of 25% defective rate 360's. That's a lot of friggin money. Given the original xbox lost them 4 billion and was a rather solidly built piece of machinery with a much lower defective rate, yep.

Considering we have no idea how that 1 billion dollar figure was calculated, multiplying it by four to obtain a projection is highly specious. Nor does the article suggest how the original Xbox lost 4 billion.

Seriously, if MS sold 400 million XBox 360s (a gross exaggeration), that would mean that each one cost Microsoft $1,000 apiece - and even more if you factor in the retail cost paid by the consumer!

[SEgamer]

The worst of all time in my book has to be the Memorex VIS. It did have a few (literally) titles that were actually video games, so it's not entirely an "edutainment" system.

[Arkhan]

I was thinking PaperClip would be the answer, actually. What did the Amiga have?

bunch of stuff!

Word Perfect, Amiga Writer, and Shakespeare are the ones I have disks for..

there was a ton of other ones, including ones that had integrated stuff like pen pal, and even had LaTeX support. and VIM!


Amiga was the first truly productive computer for the masses I think. The PC had the industrial/business setting by the balls... but in the home man, Amiga had all kinds of nice shit to work with. Too bad it all fell apart.

[MachineGex]

The 360 failure rate has cost MS money, but how much has the 360 earned the company? If they lose 4 billion on repairs/hardware failure but make 20 billion on sales, that isn't an overall lose. I would like to see how much they have really made and loss....including everything from sales to licensing/etc. NO way I beleive MS is in the RED on the 360, if they are, someone is cookin' the books.

[ConsoleAddict]

The Xbox 360 will never be considered a failure, regardless of the numbers. All the teenage boys whose entire social lives revolve around it get enough abuse already.

[Jorpho]

The 360 failure rate has cost MS money, but how much has the 360 earned the company? If they lose 4 billion on repairs/hardware failure but make 20 billion on sales, that isn't an overall lose. I would like to see how much they have really made and loss....including everything from sales to licensing/etc. NO way I beleive MS is in the RED on the 360, if they are, someone is cookin' the books.

But of course. I was interpreting "lost revenue" as "net loss", and that wouldn't be right at all.

[Arkhan]

The 360 failure rate has cost MS money, but how much has the 360 earned the company? If they lose 4 billion on repairs/hardware failure but make 20 billion on sales, that isn't an overall lose. I would like to see how much they have really made and loss....including everything from sales to licensing/etc. NO way I beleive MS is in the RED on the 360, if they are, someone is cookin' the books.

Wasn't it proven that they lose money on every 360 they sell, but make up for it in game sales?

[camarotuner]

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/articl..._strong_profit

165 million dollar profit margin for 1st quarter. But that includes the entire entertainment division and unfortionately doesn't break it down any further.

MS could have beat the ps3 and killed blu-ray with the 360 if they hadn't of screwed it all up. It would have put them in a position of dominance in the industry. Instead they will finish 3rd and be left scratching their heads wondering how the whole thing slipped away. To me that's a bigger failure than the rest of them because it could have legitimately been the king of the hill and instead will finish last.

[j_factor]

Wasn't it proven that they lose money on every 360 they sell, but make up for it in game sales?

I don't think that's true anymore.

[Arkhan]

I don't think that's true anymore.

you sure?

I'd figure with all the RROD fixes/replacements, and the fact that the system is cheaper now....




i didnt like the 360. I got it, got a few games, beat them, got bored and sold the thing for 300$ + some D&D books. PS3 was then purchased. Much better experience with that beast.


everyone rags on the ps3, but I dont see what the problem is