Many conversations about video games over the past year tend to stray into the territory of this generation’s console war. The fanboys will tell each other what is wrong with the other companies’ console and what is best about their own console. I am not a fanboy, I am a gamer. I have an inside track on what each console manufacturer needs to do if they want to win the console war.

Let’s start with Nintendo, who is lagging far behind the others. The Wii U is constantly dropping below projections in terms of numbers sold.Nintendo’s home console has sold over 6 million over a year-and-a-half. This number is not too far off of the 3DS poor initial year’s sales. In September of 2011, the 3DS hadn’t reached 7 million in sales over eight months. But that same year, sales had more than doubled. This was due to the release of many quality first party games in conjunction with an $80 price drop. I remember this turnaround, and I keep hoping that Nintendo can pull it off again on the Wii U.

Nintendo – The Wii U is lagging far behind the other consoles, even with a year-and-a-half head start. I think they will be fine if they just keep pumping out quality games. To win, Nintendo needs to get an influx of new and compelling first party games to come out on the Wii U. Nintendo might be able to do a turnaround on that system like they did with the 3DS.

I know many people look down on them for their lack of third party software support on the Wii U, but I have never longed for a third party game on it. If I was looking for third party Wii U games, I’d probably look for indies. I think quality indie games like Minecraft are the secret resource that the Wii U could tap in to.

If they put New Super Mario Bros U and Minecraft on Wii U bundled in for free, or get the console down to a $200-220 price point, you’d start seeing the consoles move off the shelves a bit faster. I think they could drop the gamepad from the box(like Microsoft did with Kinect) and get closer to a $220 price point. All they’d have to do is update the system software to make sure it would fully function without the gamepad.

 

Microsoft is currently riding a successful launch, but their new console’s sales are lagging behind Sony’s new console’s sales. Their console sits in the middle of the pack with over 5 million units shipped. I know that this is a lower number than the Wii U’s overall sales, but in terms of the speed of sales following launch, it is far and away trending better. What can Microsoft do to win the console war from where they sit? I have an idea.

Microsoft – The Xbox one had been making strides towards becoming a PlayStation 4 for an entire year. At the Microsoft E3 press conference in June, the Xbox One will be almost indistinguishable from its Sony counterpart in price and features list. This is probably a very good thing. The Xbox One is not doing too bad itself, the two consoles are the fastest selling home consoles. I feel that the price drop to $399 will help boost those sales even further.

I wonder though: is it going to be enough to catch up? Could Microsoft be playing around with us regarding the $399 price tag of the Kinect-less Xbox One? What would it mean to the games industry if the Xbox One was suddenly announced to retail at $349 or $300? Could the profit losses of each individual console sold be overcome by larger numbers in terms of games sold? This would be a costly investment by Microsoft in the future of the Xbox One. Maybe cutting out the headset and bundled controller could cover the loss of profits.

Another good idea, in my opinion, is to bring back the original online and digital vision that was laid out for the Xbox one with a caveat. Instead of forcing all Xbox One owners to adhere to the “Draconian DRM’ of the original Xbox One, offer it as an option for early adopters. The code has already been written, so it should not require a terribly large amount of work to release this option to us again. Call it a beta program. Call it: “The Digital Xbox One Experience(Beta)”. The key here is to offer it as an opt-in beta for the consumers to get onboard with and see if they enjoy the ability to own and play all their games digitally and with an online connection.  The major difference here is to preserve the choice for the consumer. This would likely be met with warmth from consumers, as many people welcomed the choice of a Kinect-less Xbox One Experience.

One last thing Microsoft, just toss the Kinects in the Alamogordo landfill. Nobody wants ’em. Nobody needs ’em.

The PlayStation 4 has been a huge success story. Will profits from the systems sales be able to right the sinking ship? Follow along with me to see what I prescribe for Sony’s upcoming strategy.

Sony – The PlayStation 4 has set the record for the fastest selling home console. More games. Whatever it takes, I need more games on the PlayStation 4. I would prefer that these games be first party exclusives. At the very least, someone at Sony needs to get a multi-platform game to be a timed exclusive. I believe that we are looking at Drive Club as the only big-budget exclusive for PlayStation 4. That is it. Someone needs to fix that somehow.

Right now, Sony is sitting on the top, so unfortunately there’s not really anywhere to go but down. I am speaking in terms of competition between Sony and Microsoft. That doesn’t mean that the Xbox One will start outselling the PlayStation 4 anytime soon, or ever. It just means that they are already on top and they must take measures to ensure they stay up there.

A good way to stay up there, and cut into any potential gains Microsoft might be getting this year, is to do a price cut on the PlayStation 4. The world would go bananas if Sony announced the new price for the PlayStation 4 was $349 at their E3 press conference. This would cut into the estimated profitability of the PlayStation 4, but the prices for computer components historically drop over time, and there is always room for improvement in manufacturing processes as new as the PlayStation’s. Over time, these savings will likely bleed into a lower overall price-point for consumers. Sony just needs to balance the need for per-unit-profit of the PlayStation 4 with the need to increase the console’s install base.

Finally, Sony needs to just put out as many big games as possible this year. It seems ridiculous that sales are this high without any major new games on the horizon. Everything that is coming out now through the end of 2014 has been announced at last year’s E3. We need to see fresh new ideas and experiences that cannot be had somewhere else.

To wrap it all up, these companies can each climb to the top, or at least prevent disaster going into the holiday season this year if they follow my poor advice. It’s not too late to implement these changes before E3. At least they could come out on stage and make these promises. If needed, I will do the presentation at E3 if any company is short on presenters.

 

 

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Dustin LaRoe is pretty awful at games. If you want proof of how bad he is, watch him stream on Twitch as Guy105. His Gamertag and Steam ID are Guy 105.