Nov
29
When Quality Matters
Posted by: Brian Chan | November 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Keith Foong recently blogged about the value of quality, and how a product of good quality will sell. He used Blizzard and EA Games as examples, where Blizzard is known for the high quality of their games and EA is known for releasing many games of questionable quality.
Blizzard’s Starcraft 2 took 10 years to produce.
While from a consumer point of view, Blizzard is preferred to EA due to their high quality products (and games having similar prices), producing very high quality products does not ensure having a successful business. Quantitatively, although Blizzard may sell a higher number of each product they produce, EA’s total sales may be greater in the end due to their higher number of games. The cost of ensuring higher quality may also outweigh the revenue generated from it. In the gaming industry, however, I would agree with Keith that having higher quality games is better for a sustainable business, and that reputation is very important.
When taking a look at another industry like T-shirts where prices can greatly vary, the consumer’s value of quality versus quantity may change. For example, I myself would prefer buying 10 inexpensive shirts rather than 1 quality shirt. Although the quality shirt may last longer, I would place a higher value on variety.
In the end, each business needs to look at what balance of quality and quantity will allow them a sustainable business model in their specific industry.