There were already many remarks in this thread stating "It's not the price."
There are (in my theory) four valid discriminators, which can make you buy either a PS4 or a XB1 (i.e. discriminators, which rate the 'value' of the consoles):
Subjective
-> Exclusives (past,present,future)
-> General Preference of the MS or Sony ecosystem (controller, Live-PSN, etc.)
Objective:
-> Price
-> Performance
Currently neither console has a real edge on the subjective discriminators. Being subjective they are valued on a person by person scale.
Price would be the same after the pricecut (with Kinect i.e.), so there is objective parity.
Performance will always be in favor of the PS4, no cloud can change that.
So to answer your question:
A: You will get negative remarks about the XB1's pricing from people as long as they value the number of exclusives + the performance disparity + ecosystem higher than the price difference. The subjective value of the Sony and MS ecosystems will rise, the longer they use it (fanboyism on both sides).
B: Bringing out exclusives also on the PC devalues them on XB1, because they are less exclusive.
C: Well, currently there might be a strategic shift in Microsoft - new CEO and all. If they consider the XB1 failed and let it die asap, they might reconsider the PC platform as their main platform and start pushing Windows > 8 to combat the rise of steam, which will over a long time period make people less dependent on Windows.
Not bad although I think there's a fifth vital differentiator currently which is:
- which console has the better version of multi-platform games
A key advantage the 360 had that I feel is often overlooked is that for around 18 months or more the general perception was that the 360 had better versions of big multi-platform games (and it did of course). This really helped the console alongside price consideration (it also contributes in a tangible way to the average consumer's view on which console is better/more powerful). Even when most games achieved parity and the big exclusives on PS3 showed it was at least as powerful all it took was for the occasional big game - RDR or Skyrim say - to run a bit better on 360 to re-enforce this idea to general public.
This gen so far that advantage has squarely been with PS4 this time around. Three big franchises - CoD, AC and BF - all launched with what were perceived by most to be superior versions. I doubt the average joe knows why (i.e. is it resolution or what) they just pick up from media and comments the PS4 versions are "better". Only Ryse has arguably looked on a level with Sony exclusives and that had frame rate issues and is now not even exclusive to the XB1.
That factor is key IMHO as given the market knows most games are going to be on PS4 or XB1 (because lets face it exclusives make up the minority of Playstation/Xbox library) the obvious easy differentiator is what console people think will have the better versions of games.
The exclusives are subjective as you note and they will draw key fans but if you're not swayed by either Halo or Uncharted then the obvious differentiator from a games perspective is better versions.
This perception is pretty entrenched already and will continue to devalue Xbox (relative to price) more than PS4 (relative to price).
After all even the biggest exclusives actually only appeal to a minority of the hoped for install base.
To my surprise Sony seems to have picked up on the key market trends better than MS this time around:
- better version of multi-platform games
- competitive price point
- solid exclusives in a number of genres
- solid online / chat
I do feel it wasn't so much that certain people at MS didn't understand this (going by 360 they clearly did) as that miss-reading Kinect interest and compromising hardware design for media/TV muddied the waters during the conception of XB1.
The net net is that in Europe you have a market that (outside UK) already had a preference for Playstation brand vs Xbox (clearly shown with PS3/360) that is now being offered two new models from each - and the preferred brand started with a price advantage and a "place for better versions of big multi-platform games" advantage.
It's little wonder the subjective preference elements like exclusives matter so little right now when they're only a fraction of the value proposition for each console. Ryse, Killzone, Dead Rising 3, Knack, inFamous and TitanFall really don't matter much in terms of broad demand when you boil it down. They need to be there but unless one represented a huge Wii Sports like "must have" (and let's be honest none of them including TitanFall are remotely close to that kind of draw) then the exclusives look like a wash (with MS further weakened as part of its exclusive library is only console exclusive reducing chances of the still fairly active PC market in Europe choosing Xbox over PS4 as a complimentary console to their PCs) leaving it all down to brand preference, price point and the better version/more powerful differentiators (all of which favoured PS4 from the start in Europe).
It's little wonder PS4 is racing ahead in Europe and it's also little wonder MS is struggling to change the trend as they have few levers to use quickly - bar price which of course may not be that compelling a lever anyway unless they really cut deep (because bundle sales and others make me feel the Xbox One really isn't that price elastic in Europe right now).
for some time now, creeping towards 3490:- since yesterday.
