Gaming Magazine
Microsoft Faces Real Problem If PS4 Drops to $349, Needs To Decouple Kinect From Xbox One: Pachter
Posted on the 27 April 2014 by Sameo452005 @iSamKuliiGamingBolt recently spoke to Managing Director of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities Michael Pachter about how Microsoft wobble be able to bounce back considering the weak first party content it had near the end of the Xbox 360′s run and the widened gap between it and the PS4.
Pachter stated that, “Well, I mean, it’s funny when you say they have the weakest first party, because Uncharted, and inFamous, and The Last of Us, I would bet you if you took a single version of those three games, they don’t add up to Halo. And I would say if you take the next three games made by Sony’s first party studios, they won’t add up to Gears of War. So, I agree with you in the sense that the number of titles Sony has is more, but I think in terms of sales, it’s much closer, and might actually tilt in Microsoft’s favor.
“So, I don’t think you should make too much of an argument about how weak Microsoft’s first party content is, because most of Sony’s first party games that are successful are not gigantic sellers. I think that ultimately, for the Xbox One to be successful, the Kinect has to be decoupled from it, and I think that might be hard, because there’s a lot of stuff going on with the hardware where it’s all integrated, and it might not work.
“But I think that you will probably get in 2015 a redesigned Xbox One that has no Kinect, and I think what will accelerate that process is if Sony cuts the PS4’s price: if there is a $349 PS4 on the market, Microsoft has a real problem. They’re gonna have to do something, and they’ll have to do it really quickly. I think that in 2015, you might see a $349 PS4, and an uncoupled Xbox One, and if you see both of those for $349, the consumer wins, and they will both sell very well. Microsoft is not looking to lose this cycle.”