It’s not often that you hear Sony badmouthing their competitors. They’re usually very picky at what they attack and, the majority of the time, just quiet. To hear them talk shit is kind of like hearing your grandmother utter words like “fuck you” or “bitch ass”… it just doesn’t seem right.
That’s why when Sony Computer Entertainment’s Kazuo Hirai spoke on the Xbox 360, it was just baffling. In a recent CVG article, Hirai speaks on the Xbox’s lifespan and how the PS3 will, eventually, overcome its current foothold and make its way to the top.
Last time I checked, they’ve never had a console that’s been on the market for more than four or five years and we’ve committed to a ten year life cycle, so you do the math.
And unless things go really bad, there’s no way that at the end of a life cycle our competition is going to have a higher install base.
Confident words from a confident man. Sony is definitely a console veteran and has held the crown the last two generations of gaming. To underestimate Microsoft’s console is definitely bold, though. Hirai needs to understand that Microsoft has yet to throw in the towel. Their exclusives are just as strong as Sony’s, their user base much larger. Hirai’s confidence makes me question what Sony has up their sleeve these coming years besides their ten year life cycle. Price drop? Bundles? A more unified online system? I want to know what it is that Sony is hiding that is making their chairman ever so confident.
Hirai goes on to brush-off Nintendo by stating,
It’s difficult to talk about Nintendo because we don’t look at their console as being competitors. They’re a different world and we operate in our world - that’s kind of the way I look at things.
Taking Nintendo seriously is not on Kaz Hirai’s agenda. It’s obvious that both Microsoft and Sony are making this fight between just the two by omitting Nintendo as a potential threat regardless of their enormous console sales and install base. Nintendo might not be a graphical powerhouse compare to the PS3 and the 360, but they are proving that graphics are not as important as gameplay and innovation. The gloves are off - the question is: Who’s getting knocked out first?
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Write a Comment»Some of the shit that came out of his mouth is just astounding. Saying they essentially make it hard to develop for on purpose? I understand you want to continue to get more and more out of the system, but come on.
Wow, dude was either drunk, or has balls the size of watermellons.
360 is outselling PS3 in just about every market.
Counting out Nintendo? They have a marketing team that can sell space heaters in hell. Ten years out of the PS3? I sincerely hope he’s right on that one, because with as little love as the PS3 is getting, I don’t see myself buying a PS4 any time soon.
Microsoft isn’t getting my business on another console if they don’t get their hardware act together either.
And Nintendo, make a console I wont get sick of in 6 months and I’ll buy it.
It’s not outlandish to expect the PS3 to sell extremely well once the price drop occurs. I expect the PS3 to remain at $399 to the end of Q1, and then drop $50 for Q2 and another $50 for Q3. They’ve already sold 20 million units at a higher price point than MS, so why wouldn’t they sell even more once they acheive price parity?
Guess the war of words is heating up.
My friends and I collectively own all 3 consoles (Xbox 360, Sony PS3, and Nintendo Wii). I would say that each has its own strengths and weaknesses. I wouldn’t dismiss Xbox 360 if I were Sony. It has come a very long way since the original Xbox and Microsoft put in a ton of work for the 360 version. I also recall somewhere I read that Xbox 360 outsold Sony over the 2008 holiday season.
On the note about having access to all 3 consoles, I recently picked up an Xbox 360 Pro (the 60GB version) along with Tom Clancy’s End War for around $270 total, which was awesome. (By the way, I got it at Dell through a deal listed at http://www.uberi.com).
I wonder at what point we will see more motion sensor based games and control similar to Wii on Xbox 360 and PS3. Surely that will significantly increase the appeal of Xbox 360 and PS3, and take away Wii’s advantages. Perhaps it’s patent related or something. It would also be nice to know the features and plans for the next generation of game consoles.
@ Colm
I agree. I believe the biggest problem preventing the PS3 from jumping in sales is their price-tag. Sony has had their console in the market going on three years this November; It’s time they drop console price for a boost in sales. But I am confident that Sony knows what they’re doing with regards to this. On one hand, they have a AAA game (Killzone 2) hitting next month with high anticipation - which might be a perk in increasing console sales until Q2. Once they lower price, I’m pretty sure we can expect a pretty big increase in sales.