In case you didn’t know, the world is in the economic equivalent of a monkey shit fight in a sewer after Steve takes a dump. That’s not a good position to be in, trust me on that. In my humble opinion, this is exactly where Sony is residing, in that sewer. I know this is a bold, dangerous statement that will bring the fanboys and hate out of the woodwork and all over Loot-Ninja. I simply ask you bear with me on this and read on before all sorts of crap starts flying.
Lets start off by cutting Sony’s big pitch competitive edge down to size with a bit of reality. Blu-ray is not a massive selling point for every PS3 owner. Yes, it is helpful to close the sale in some cases but let’s be honest, most tech-savvy consumers are not 100% honest, they will download what they want to watch. It’s out there, on the internets, and it’s free. Why buy Blu-ray when you get the HD sex for free. I am a cynic if I say no one will pay, so I point to the services like Sky and Netflix which stream HD quality over the ever growing broadband connection base. Almost 60% of households have broadband in the UK and distribution electronically is a bit cheaper than shipping thousands of units all over the world. It is the way forward, not cheap plastic disks.
The next pain point for the PS3 is one that has seen a bit of press lately, comments from various developers that are not exactly complimentary for the PS3 SDK. This isn’t exactly new for Sony as the PS2 wasn’t highly regarded by developers either, but this time around it seems to be a bit more painful. Part of the trouble is due to the fact that Sony has yet to sell 140 million units of the PS3 and take the lead in this generation of systems as the PS2 clearly has. I hate to point it out, but the PS3 is in last place for number of consoles sold, far far behind the Wii. In this economy you won’t have as many people shelling out hard to come by cash for the highest priced console.
It should also be noted that a difficult to use SDK will turn off publishers and developers who want a quick turn around, an easy port, or a low cost production. Quick turn around and low cost will be the way forward as more major players make cuts in search of profit and smaller firms or indies pop up. Wider target markets will make publishers happy, so the easy porting between Xbox and Windows platforms, thanks to ownership and architecture by Microsoft, provides a very broad audience.
Microsoft have also been very supportive to the little guy in this industry, allowing anyone to create and share or sell games with Kodu and XNA while Sony and Nintendo have not offered anything similar. With more start-up developers appearing from the ashes of many former studios, these cheap and cheerful creation methods will become more and more popular.
It’s coming out now that many publishers have struggled in 2008, with too many new IP’s failing to get traction and too many titles in the market at once. A flood that has overwhelmed the market and fatigued many gamers, financially and physically from too many hours playing. How does this hurt Sony? Publishers are going to aim for the titles the can launch on the Wii and Xbox to seek the security of a larger audience base and easier development. Personally, I figure Wii development will be a welcomed challenge by studios as it is cheaper to produce, not the cutting edge in tech, but allows for creativity and originality. The Wii is on the brink of being recognized as a true system by hardcore gamers, so the audience will be opening up to traditional gamers.
Enough of the doom and gloom for Sony, there are a few things keeping them in action still. Let me be clear, I am not saying the PS3 is a crap system in any way, shape, or form. This article is to identify some aspects that expose and protect Sony in the current economic downturn. Look at the numbers, courtesy of vgchartz.com, where total PS2 and PS3 sales for 2008 beat out the Xbox 360 by over 6 million.
| Console | Wii | PS3 | X360 | PS2 |
|
Total
|
24,555,924
|
10,373,660
|
11,104,995
|
7,511,523
|
There is definitely some brand loyalty and premium buyers out there are keeping hopes alive, which Sony is quick to fuel with their commitment to their product and customers. Sony is not shy about advertising their 10 year plan for the PS3 console or hyping their products. The amount of hype and rumors surrounding the PSP recently has been almost too much.
The other positive Sony has going for them is the fact that profitability should be reached on the PS3 this month, which may result in the price cut that analysts have been pressuring Sony to make. I can tell you this much, if they do make this rumored priced cut, they will have another swing of new customers, including yours truly.
Last but not least to mention is the biggest move Sony has made to mitigate the impact of this economic downturn; Sony has launched a massive reorganization to bring their products and goals in line, focusing on inter-operability between products. For example, making more use of the PSP via Home or the PS3, or maybe even accessing Home and your PSN account from your Sony Ericsson phone. Expect Sony to come out of this situation in a few years as a different company.
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WITHOUT BLU-RAY MGS$ AND KILLZINE@ WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO FIT AND WATERED DOWN. this iss just ignorant
have yyou even ever played a ps3. this article is filled with bias! This si xbox fanboyism at its most essential state. im out going to gtfo now.
Deep breath chad! I was just highlighting some of the factors that will impact Sony in the current economic climate. Take a look at the bottom port, specifically the last line. The PS3 will be around for a long time and Sony will be successful because of it and the products it is connected to.
alright i do zee some very reasonable pioints upon further inspection. it is still slightly bias but you have some decent points. saying blu-ray is not a big deal is like saying xbox live gold service sucks. it just isn't true
Blu-ray is an amazing technology and we have yet to see the best of it, but when you can stream or download whatever show/movie you want in 1080p why spend that much on a blu-ray player and the discs? Especially when money is tight.
If you give someone an option of pay or free, they are likely to take free. So for the niche market of tech savvy individuals that can DL whatever they want, they will have a hard time justifying the cost of the blu-ray player.
Now this wouldn't ring so true if it wasn't for the dire financial situation the world, and most individuals are in. I don't think much of the this article would be accurate if this was written a year or two ago, but it is the timing that is makes it relevant.
And now that you said that my Xbox Live has crashed on me 3 times tonight… so yes, Xbox Live Gold does suck, but just right now.
haha i remeber back last year around christmas when cod4 came out and live crashed. i was pissed. but yes, i download lots of HD content, what i mean is that the GAMES like mgs4 and killzone2 and many other are on BLU-RAY discs. unlike 360 which runs on standard discs
you could say my extreme fanboyism got the better of me in my first 2 posts though.lol
also the ps3 is behind the wii and 360 because it cam out a YEAR LATER. c'mon what do you expect man!
Actually, the PS3 came out 2 days before the Wii.
Um, lawl. And i also think the ps3 looks to dark.
the PS3 is a superior product compared to the other consoles. sales #s have nothing to do with quality, in fact, one can almost ALWAYS assume, if it sold more or the most, it is one of the most inferior or simply cheapest products on the market. Case and point: wal-mart products. people value a bargain over functional quality in this country, even if it means time wasted and experiences cheapened in the end.
As far as downloading blu-ray quality movies instead of buying them, unless you are seriously poor, it isn't worth the hassle. Torrents for these can take days and the quality is not guaranteed. It can often be a huge waste of time.
PS3 will continue to be bringing up the rear with its quality components and hefty price tag. That is exactly where it is supposed to be. The argument that it should be outselling the Wii is like arguing that Bentlys should be outselling Hyndais because they are superior cars. Never gonna happen. Sony knows the role of their multimedia console in the gaming world and it is right where it is supposed to be.
Good point with Sony being like Bently, but will that mentality and production quality continue with the recent re-org annoucement?
I think the streaming of netflix and legal crackdowns may limit the lifespan of torrents, streaming services will take the lead is my bet.
Keith - A confused article, no? I'm usually impressed with the stuff I read on here, but this is just a blatant attempts to score hits. Since the article did little but dampen my interest in Loot Ninja, I'll make the rebuts short and swift:
- Not enough people use streaming services
- People prefer physical mediums
- Downloading an HD movie takes hours, visiting a store takes minutes
- Pirating disproportionately affects the 360 more than PS3 (kind of an obvious one I thought…)
- The PS3 install base is too large for developers to ignore, especially in a recession when profit maximization is a particularly acute concern
Bones, I'm sorry you feel this is a blatant attempt to score hits, it really wasn't. I wrote this article to examine a firms situation in a specific market (video games) in the current economic climate. Especially in light of Sony's recent reorganziational announcement which is designed to lead Sony into the "digital, networked age". I think if you read the Sony re-org press release ( http://loot-ninja.com/2009/03/01/sony-reorganizin... ) and look at my final point, Sony will be coming out of this recession as a different company, most likely focuses on Networking Services, such as streaming.
Pending the reception of this piece I would follow up examining other companies, with my purpose to bring attention to the current environment and how it may impact the industry we all love so much.
In response to some of your points
-I agree not many people use streaming services at the moment, but this is an area of the market which you can expect to grow in the future and while Sony doesn't offer Netflix yet, they probably will soon. And streaming will replace full on downloading.
-I agree on physical mediums for the older generation but younger generations will be more accustomed to not having physical mediums.
-For Piracy I was referring to piracy of music and videos, not games.