Pachter’s Next Gen Predictions: Microsoft Wins, Sony Thrives, Nintendo Struggles
Michael Pachter is at it again. The well-known video game analyst is keeping quite busy at this year’s SXWS Interactive. First he gave his hardware sales predictions for the next generation consoles, then revealed that he predicts a $70 price tag for next generation software, and now he’s announced his winners and losers. Where does Pachter see Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft in the next generation? Hit the jump to see his breakdown.
Pachter: PlayStation 4, Durango Games Will Likely Cost $70
Following up on his next generation hardware predictions, video game industry analyst Michael Pachter has a software prediction as well: PlayStation 4 and next gen Xbox games will cost $70 a piece. Does Pachter have some inside information on the issue, or is he taking a shot in the dark? My money’s on the latter. Hit the jump to see why.
Report: Sony Exec Thinks His Company Could Eventually Buy Out Apple, Samsung
Sony is pushing hard to turn things around financially. The company may be best known for the PlayStation brand now, but there was a time when Sony was a giant in many fields, and the company’s executives are aiming for a return to those glory days. Kunimasa Suzuki, head of Sony’s mobile division, recently declared that the company’s goal for the fiscal year is to move into third place (behind Apple and Samsung) in the mobile market by offering cheaper smartphones to emerging, previously untapped markets.
A big part of this plan involves aggressively targeting countries where smartphones are not yet commonplace, offering cheaper options than the competition. Suzuki believes this strategy will see the mobile division return to profitability by the end of the year, but another Sony executive is reportedly aiming for a much loftier (and likely unrealistic) goal.
Ubisoft Bringing Recent Major Reveals to PAX East
PAX East is arguably one of the strongest and most important technological showcase events in North America. Studios and publishers from around the world come to this event and often bring interesting discussion topics and often unreleased or brand new footage of upcoming games, such as God of War: Ascension at last year’s event. This year Ubisoft is bringing in some of their biggest upcoming games, including one that was revealed only a few days ago.
Read on to find out what games Ubisoft plans to bring, as well as when fans can expect to either attend the convention or hear news from it…
President of GameStop Says Vita Price Cut Should Happen and “Makes Sense”
Though still not doing well, the PlayStation Vita is seeing much brighter results now than the previous months. This could partly be due to the price cut of the system in Japan, but the United States is seeing no such price cut anytime soon. With the announcement of the PlayStation 4, gamers and influential players in the game industry feel it is only a matter of time before the Vita receives a price cut in the North America area.
Read on to find out who believes this is inevitable, and the rationale for this thought process…
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Releases Patch 1.9 In Beta For Steam Owners
There is no questioning the amount of content available in the Elder Scrolls universe, and Skyrim is arguably the biggest provider of such content. To fans of all role playing games there comes a point in the game where there is no longer the opportunity to level up the character further, also known as a level cap. Bethesda is releasing a rather large patch that will take an unprecedented turn in the series.
Find out what the patch will allow players to do, and what the possibilities are for console gamers in the future…
PlayStation Plus Perks Announced for March
The best benefit of being a PlayStation Plus subscriber is the free monthly games released every month to add to your instant game collection. March brings several games, which make the PlayStation subscription service worth investing in. Remember, as long as you have the games in your downloading queue you still have access to them, even if they are removed from the PS Plus service.
Check out the list by clicking below.
Weekly News Roundup: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Revealed, Wii U Struggles With Third Parties
This past week was relatively quiet… aside from the unveiling of that one Assassin’s Creed game. We also stumbled across some interesting perspectives on third parties and Wii U, and PS Vita finally saw its long-speculated price cut.
Find out more about what happened in the past week in gaming news by clicking below.
PS Vita Sales Have Quadrupled in Japan Since the Price Drop
PS Vita just took a hefty 20% price cut in Japan, and it looks like it’s worked out favorably for the little struggling platform. Sony Computer Entertainment Japan head Hiroshi Kawano declared today that Vita sales have increased by about four times compared to the previous two weeks due to the price cut. Projections based on that statement would put sales at a little over 40,000 units, compared to the roughly 10k unit sales of the two weeks before.
The initial response seems pretty favorable, but will it be sustained? After all, PS Vita pre-orders may have sold out in Japan, but that didn’t lead to sustained sales throughout its first year on sale – it saw some pretty intense lows.
Source: Game Jouhou via Gematsu
Sony Hosting an ‘Overview of PS4 for Developers’ Presentation at GDC
Sony will present PlayStation 4 from a developer and design standpoint at this year’s GDC in an effort to attract more development to the fledgling platform following its reveal late last month. It’s likely that we’ll learn a bit more about the console’s capabilities and strengths outside of raw specs.
“Prominent Role” for PlayStation Plus on PS4
PlayStation Plus, Sony’s paid online service on the PlayStation Network that allows you to try games before you buy them, download a few free games each month, and, as with Xbox Live, allows you to buy things for your avatar and offers discounted games, wasn’t mentioned at the PS4 announcement last month. Many fans have been wondering if anything would be said about the service, and the answer is yes.
Will Killzone: Shadow Fall Hurt Sales for Killzone: Mercenary and the Vita?
Potential Vita adapters who are still on the fence about buying the system are generally waiting for one of two things: more games or a price cut. Sony has recently confirmed that no price cut is planned for the system outside of Japan, but there are some potential sales-sparking games in the works.
One of these games is Killzone Mercenary, slated for a September 17 release. In what seems to be a bad choice of timing, we recently found out that Killzone: Shadow Fall will be releasing around the same time as a launch title for the PlayStation 4. With two Killzone titles likely releasing within just a few months of each other, can Sony keep one from making the other irrelevant?
