One of the highly debatable things about the next generation consoles is their selling prices. Reuters is reporting that Bobby Kotick from Activision has said that game consoles should be sold at around $199 (approx. Rs. 7900) to reach mass-market appeal.
Bobby Kotick is the chief executive officer of Activision and spoke at the Reuters Media Summit in New York. He explains, “The Wii at its price point is now setting a standard and an expectation, and people say, well, the Wii is less complex technically. I don’t think that really matters as much to the consumer. In the next 24 months they all will need to be at that $199 price point, and you can imagine Nintendo will be down to the $129 price point over the next few years.”
Activision has published a lot of high profile titles this year, Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero III being the best of the lot. Kotick gave the example of the Nintendo Wii citing that they have fewer titles but they capitalize on capabilities of the hardware. He is also backing Guitar Hero to give Activision a successful spell in Asia.
Gamers would surely agree with the Activision chief executive about the $199 console. But even if the gaming consoles are sold at that price, Indian gamers wouldn’t get a respite as the consoles are yet sold at a very high price thanks to the heavy taxes levied on them.