High attach rate should be an issue of concern
We reported a couple of months ago that Microsoft has been enjoying a considerable increase in sales figures and software attach rates. Attach rates refer to the number of games/titles an owner of a console has. While this still rings true today, August’s 4.6 games per console rate rose to 5.2 this month. Wait, before we all start celebrating, research firm Susquehanna Financial Group is claiming that it is actually not a healthy sign for the company.
“We believe the unusually high attach rate on the 360 is a sign of an increasingly unhealthy console growth rate, and should be worrisome to publishers and investors,” explains analysts Jason Kraft and Chris Kwak. Accordingly, Kraft and Kwak argues that majority of the X360 owners are hardcore gamers and early adopters who typically buy more games.
Pushing their argument further, the analysts imply that one year after the release of the console, casual gamers are still not coming on board saying that “it doesn’t take effort to see that a console with an attach rate of 8 and an installed base of 50 million is superior to a console with an attach rate of 12 with an installed base of 20 million.” Aside from the ones already mentioned, a high attach rate could also mean hardware shortages and a limited installed base.
What ultimately worries the analysts is that these numbers are not just reflective of Microsoft’s performance but of the gaming industry as a whole. The PS3 and the Wii, X360’s competitors just got launched. It would take a while before we get statistics but it is a good thing that we got an early warning.
Via GameDaily
We reported a couple of months ago that Microsoft has been enjoying a considerable increase in sales figures and software attach rates. Attach rates refer to the number of games/titles an owner of a console has. While this still rings true today, August’s 4.6 games per console rate rose to 5.2 this month. Wait, before we all start celebrating, research firm Susquehanna Financial Group is claiming that it is actually not a healthy sign for the company.
“We believe the unusually high attach rate on the 360 is a sign of an increasingly unhealthy console growth rate, and should be worrisome to publishers and investors,” explains analysts Jason Kraft and Chris Kwak. Accordingly, Kraft and Kwak argues that majority of the X360 owners are hardcore gamers and early adopters who typically buy more games.
Pushing their argument further, the analysts imply that one year after the release of the console, casual gamers are still not coming on board saying that “it doesn’t take effort to see that a console with an attach rate of 8 and an installed base of 50 million is superior to a console with an attach rate of 12 with an installed base of 20 million.” Aside from the ones already mentioned, a high attach rate could also mean hardware shortages and a limited installed base.
What ultimately worries the analysts is that these numbers are not just reflective of Microsoft’s performance but of the gaming industry as a whole. The PS3 and the Wii, X360’s competitors just got launched. It would take a while before we get statistics but it is a good thing that we got an early warning.
Via GameDaily
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