Why Lenovo’s eedoo iSec Costs Way Too Much, is Screwed

via CNBeta

It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a skeptic when it comes to Lenovo’s eedoo iSec gaming console. Even so, I did a double-take last week when I read that the company is planning to charge 3000 RMB ($470) for the console, and release it in December. Really? Let’s count the ways that is crazy:

1. The price is way too high.

Western gamers may recall that people in the US went nuts a few years ago when the Playstation 3 was launched, because they felt at $499, it was too expensive, even for a super-advanced “next gen” system. But that was years ago. Now, Lenovo is launching a console with questionable tech to an even more questionable market at a price point that infuriated consumers in countries with per capita GDPs several times higher than China’s. China may have a growing middle class market, but I’m not convinced anyone is going to want to spend $470 on this thing, especially when you can easily buy Xboxes and PS3s for cheaper.

2. It only does motion gaming.

Yeah, supposedly, it will support games with controllers too, but no one has ever seen one of them, and the console’s official site lists only motion control games. But Chinese consumers already have access to the Nintendo Wii, a motion-control game console with tons of games that only costs $150. If the console remains a de-facto motion-control-only system, then consumers will be faced with a choice in December: should I buy the cheap, proven system with literally thousands of games to choose from? Or should I buy an untested, super-expensive system with 19 games to choose from? I think it’s a pretty obvious choice. Of course, all new consoles launch with a short list of titles, but the iSec’s problem isn’t just quantity…

3. None of the games look good.

Looking through the official videos on eedoo’s Youku site, it’s possible to get a sense for some of the games the console will launch with. I could make crueler choices, but even looking at what appears to be the console’s flagship launch title, DanceWall, it’s hard not to wonder what they were thinking. Admittedly, this demo is old by now so the game may have changed somewhat, but let’s compare it to Xbox Kinect’s flagship dance game, Dance Central. Here’s DanceWall:

And here’s Dance Central:

So, uh, yeah. Even if the eedoo iSec was the same price, which of these games would you buy?

4. No one is interested in it.

Jacking up a console price is one thing when you’ve whipped up a media frenzy. Even with the complaints about the price, people stood in line overnight when the Playstation 3 launched because they were excited about the system. But that excitement doesn’t seem to exist in China, especially not for the eedoo iSec. Look at the play counts on these official iSec preview videos. I’ve said it before, but that was three months ago and the counts have barely gone up since then. Their best video barely cracks 3,000 plays; most are much less. For a game console that’s launching in just a few months (never mind that it was supposed to launch last month), that’s pathetic. And while video plays aren’t the only way to gauge market interest, if Lenovo can’t even get people interested in watching free videos about their console, how the hell are they going to get people interested in shelling out $470 to pay for it?