Real Talk From The HipHopGamer

Microsoft Talks Sales, Accessory Pricing, and Responds to Pachter’s LIVE Prediction

Posted on 21. Oct, 2009 by hiphopgamer in Real Talk with the HipHopGamer

While Sony took the top console hardware honors in the latest NPD results, Microsoft still managed to pull its own coup with Halo 3: ODST, reeling in 1.52 million copies sold. And they’re quite happy to remind people of this fact.

“We’ve been beating the drum on this for a long time, that you have to look at more than just the number of consoles or games that are shipped,” Microsoft spokesperson David Dennis said during a sales call which followed the results. “If you look at the full ecosystem, we have $404 million consumer dollars spent. That’s over $100 million more than Sony and roughly $120 million more than Nintendo. It shows the high level of engagement of consumers on the platform.”

And while the NPD does not itemize game accessories sold, they did note that Microsoft held half of the top ten spots for $157 million in revenue for September.

“Our accessory attach rate is higher than anyone’s,” Dennis told those in attendance. “It’s 4.1 for us, 2.2 for PS3, and 3.4 for the Wii. That mirrors software too. We typically have a very high attach rate, which–getting back to total dollars spent–shows the high level of consumer engagement with the platform. They don’t just buy it once with the pack-in game, then sit around and not use it. They’re out actively spending, which is great for the industry.”

“Accessory pricing is certainly something we’ve heard a lot about from consumers,” Dennis said in regards to their higher prices. “That said, we go to great lengths to ensure the accessories we’re selling are high quality. A lot of the price comparisons you hear have to do with the hard drive, but your average off-the-shelf PC hard drive isn’t as exhaustively tested or run through the same quality and safety compliance checklists we employ.”

With that said, Dennis feels the results speak for themselves, thus justifying the pricing decisions: “The fact that people continue to purchase our accessories over a lot of third-party alternatives in many instances shows that people do gravitate toward the ones they know they can trust.”

Dennis was soon faced with a question regarding EEDAR Analyst Jesse Divnich’s recent statement that the Xbox 360 is “technologically…not at the same level as” Sony’s PS3, adding that “this puts the Xbox 360 into a tough position where it is outmatched in terms of hardware capabilities.”

“Of course I don’t agree with Jesse’s take,” Dennis responded. “I think we’ve been able to show that third-party developers and Microsoft Game Studios are able to extract tons of amazing, immersive experiences from the 360. It’s got all the bells and whistles, and in most head-to-head cases I’ve seen with multiplatform games, people generally think the Xbox 360 games look better.”

“The 360’s clearly a powerful piece of hardware that can hold its own against anyone,” he added.

Finally, Dennis tackled the recent prediction by Everyone’s Favorite Analyst, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan, that the price of Xbox LIVE subscriptions would effectively double in time.

Curiously, he responded by saying “I don’t foresee a scenario where we’re going to double the price of LIVE anytime in the next couple months.” Which is foreboding, as Pachter was speaking in terms of years, not months.

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