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The new SKU effect

August 29, 2008 in News comments 4

One thing unique to this generation of gaming is the fairly regular stream of new SKUs (models) of consoles. Sony has seven different versions of the PlayStation 3 (some are variations of variations), while the Xbox 360 has four, if I'm not mistaken (the Wii has a whopping one configuration).

Capcom and Gamecock think this is "just peachy", but Codemasters chief executive officer Rod Cousens says it's potentially confusing and excessive. What are your thoughts?

Capcom marketing boss Michael Pattison said: “Apple has made several tweaks to their iPod system since its launch in 2001 driven by technological development, market forces and the needs of our consumers, and gaming first parties are no different.”

Gamecock MD Graeme Struthers added: “Changes in hardware offerings are pretty common in all other consumer manufacturing industries as each company seeks to gain a competitive advantage.

Both seem very good at getting their message out to the consumer and each of them are driving hardware sales. As a software publisher I think that’s just peachy.”

However, Codemasters chief executive officer Rod Cousens accused Microsoft and Nintendo of ‘one-upmanship’.

He said: “It is ongoing one-upmanship between competitive hardware vendors and while it can be argued that it is the consumer who wins, this is at risk of creating confusion with too many SKUs and price points.”
chautemoc via mcvuk.com »
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  • 0
    Shattered Aug 30, 08
    LMAO "Gamecock"? Wow, the names people can come up with these days...
    • 0
      Fury Aug 31, 08
      Actually, there's a college sports team called the South Carolina Gamecocks that have been around since before the 1900's.
  • 1
    Shadow of Death Aug 30, 08
    GOOD changes, that don't occur every 6 months, are all well and good (improvements go with the development of new and improved technology and manufacturing methods), but they went backwards in the case of the PS3. They went from a 60GB and 20GB Backwards compatable set of SKUs, to a 80GB model that sacrificed some of it's backwards compatability (reduced costs, and had some advantages as far as scaling the games, I think they said), then to a 40GB SKU that couldn't play PS2 games at all (supposed to play most PS1 games I heard).....

    I could understand replacing the 60GB with the 80GB model (sacrificing some BC for practical reasons), but they're cutting out features just because they feel people would buy more PS3 games if they knew they couldn't play older games (PS2 ones anyhow).....Logical, in a sense, but dumb in another sense.
    • 0
      chautemoc Aug 30, 08
      Well it makes me less eager to buy a PS3 that's for sure. I guess the marketers say different, but all I really want my PS3 to do is play PS1/2/3 games and be decently priced. Not a good situation for me.

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