IDG (International Development Group) is one of the bigger analytical firms on the market and now that they get a say in the battle for the next generation video game consoles it’s Xbox 360 that will dominate the console sales. Jason Anderson, director of research, claimed that Xbox 360 will be the most frequently occuring among the three in American households, with PS3 as a secure second and Wii as a trailing third. PS3 is expected to reclaim the position from Xbox 360 during 2009 while Wii continues to trail.
One of the things he has based this analysis on is the excellent quality of the games Xbox 360 has and this is solely based on figures published at GameRankings.com where Xbox 360 has an exceptionally high average (~80%) compared to the three earlier consoles; PS2, Xbox and GameCube. All three averages at about 70%.
This high average can be discussed in many ways, but at least two comes to mind quickly:
There aren’t many games available compared to the huge amount the other three have and Microsoft is most likely very careful that the games released sustains a high standard to be able to establish a good foundation for Xbox 360 as one of the biggest weaknesses with the console is often claimed to be the games.
Second, producing a game for Xbox 360 costs a lot more which probably means that the work is more thorough, better checked and evaluated and in that way ensures a better quality than before.
So there seems to be a positive side high production costs. The games sustain a higher quality. If this will conist, as we suspect that the variation will suffer, and if Xbox 360 really will be the most common console up to 2009 we wil let the future decide.
