Pachter's Podium: Natal Just $50, Will Outsell PlayStation Motion

Natal and Sony Motion Pricing

Music game peripherals (guitars, drum kits, dance mats, etc.) and the Wii Fit balance board have proven that some expensive peripherals/accesories can indeed be profitable. What price points do you see Microsoft and Sony setting for the Natal camera and PlayStation motion controller next year? Will the price of one ultimately impact the other?

Sony and Microsoft appear to me to be approaching the peripheral market differently. In my opinion (and it is only an opinion--I know nothing about their real motives), Sony is trying to create an answer to the success of the Wii, and is hopeful that by offering the EyeWand (no idea what it will be called), any remaining undecided console purchasers may be influenced by the new controller and may choose a PS3 over a Wii. To some extent, I think that this strategy will work.  Microsoft, on the other hand, appears to me to be focused upon expanding its reach within existing Xbox 360 households by introducing Natal.  Games for Natal could be relatively simple if offered on XBLA for $10, and many old arcade-style games could be retrofitted to work with Natal.  Most important to Microsoft is to convert non-gamers into users of the Xbox 360, whether that is through simpler games, access to Netflix, Facebook, Twitter or Last.fm, or some other non-gaming access.  Natal is structured much like the iPhone interface, but instead of physically touching the screen, a user makes a motion at the screen.  I think that this will be intuitive to many, and will expand Xbox 360 household usage beyond the core gamer and to others within the household.

As for pricing, each has to keep the consumer's cost relatively low in order to achieve broad penetration.  I think that Natal will cost $50, as it only really involves a camera (a three-lensed camera, but a camera nonetheless).  The EyeWand, on the other hand, involves a camera and two controllers, so it may be slightly more expensive.  I would be surprised if the EyeWand retails for more than $100.  Neither impacts the other, as neither is intended to compete with the other.