Comments on: Is Sony on the right track with its PS3 strategy?

Sony has said, once again, that it doesn't plan to drop the price of the PlayStation 3. But can another strategy help the company capture more market share?

[sandmanfvr]

Well the thing that Sony doesn't get is that making a system, with super powerful cpu's that are hard as heck to develop for will NEVER do well. I mean who cares how much power it has if you can't develop for it as easily of the competitors? Valve even came out and said this! Plus the price, to much. WHO CARES about Blu Ray? I mean yes it is good, but for gaming it is not needed. Plus the packages that are out there, you don't even get a headphone for only play! ALSO Sony keeps letting the PS2 limp along, WHY? KILL it , like Microsoft did the old Xbox and move on! Sony just doesn't see the issues because they think they are so right in the idiocy of their actions.

[Zoobie]

The PS2 was also very hard to develop for and it did VERY well. Gamecube did a reversal from N64 and became easier to develop for, and the XBox architecture was based on the PC components and Direct-X so it was the easiest for developers. So apparently, you opinion doesn't match the reality of what happened in the last generation.

And saying that Sony should kill the PS2 rather than let it limp along is stupid and shows zero business sense. If it's making money for them, why should they kill it? It still sells well in areas that have lower than average incomes, which is a lot of countries outside the US, Japan, and Western Europe.

[sandmanfvr]

Zoobie, if you run the PS2 along side the PS3, then you split your user base up. Many will stay with the PS2 (YES, I have seen them in Gamestop that will not go to the PS3 since the PS2 is still going). Plus if Sony would do backward compatibility RIGHT, then one product, and save even MORE money. Yeah, that is knowing some about business since slick.

The PS2 is doing well, but they did have a head start over everybody and now, Microsoft leads the pack. We can't keep going on about PS2's success forever.

[SteveW928]

@ sandmanfvr -

Why, exactly, is it hard to develop for?

[superdynamite]

PS3 will lead the industruy by Q3 2010

[sandmanfvr]

Well the thing that Sony doesn't get is that making a system, with super powerful cpu's that are hard as heck to develop for will NEVER do well. I mean who cares how much power it has if you can't develop for it as easily of the competitors? Valve even came out and said this! Plus the price, to much. WHO CARES about Blu Ray? I mean yes it is good, but for gaming it is not needed. Plus the packages that are out there, you don't even get a headphone for only play! ALSO Sony keeps letting the PS2 limp along, WHY? KILL it , like Microsoft did the old Xbox and move on! Sony just doesn't see the issues because they think they are so right in the idiocy of their actions.

[Ja-Nail]

Bluray is needed. i dont know what your thinking. Maybe if 360 had a bluray player we would all win because games would be longer. Microsoft did not use bluray or Hd player built in because they knew that all the content could not fit on a dvd-9 disc. They saw how much money could be made with Down loaded content. Because they are gready. Why do you think games are so short now. It's all about money.

[Tiamat378]

Sony needs to develop software emulation for PS2 games on the PS3. I bought a PS3 after Blu-Ray won the HD format battle, but the model that I bought doesn't play my old PS2 games. I still have the PS2 Slim, so I can play them, but it would be a great selling point for Sony if the PS3 offered downward compatibility. Especially if they offered it as a free download or included it in a firmware update. That's one of the things that has attributed to the success of the Wii: it plays GameCube games, which you can buy at any reseller for dirt cheap.

[ResinNation]

The original 60 GB model did have that ability and Sony decided to scrap it to keep PS2 sales up.
Pretty lame, yes.
Are they going to change back to backwards compatability?
Well, when I was on the phone with their tech support, they gave me an emphatic NO to that question as I tried to have my SECOND dead PS3 replaced.
Sony just plain sucks these days and does not care one iota about their loyal customers.

[Hyper_Dude]

Wii's BC had very little to do with its success. it was the novelty of motion-control, it's apparent accessability, and it's relatively low pricing, convincing casual and non-gamers to give it a try.

I don't think BC will do that much for PS3 sales. Frankly, anyone with PS2 games they think are worth playing own a PS2. Would they upgrade to a PS3 to play their PS2 games? Likely not. Hence BC is a luxury nice-to-have that won' t move too many units.

[blusky08]

Right. It's a nice thought, but the reality is that people would find out they really don't want to play less advanced games. It would be nice though if many of the older computer/console games were revamped to 1080p for the PS3 as 99% of new media (in all forms) has sunk to its lowest level.

[Grimm191]

I'm not sure why Sony keeps releasing the "Slim" version of all their systems, they always turn out to be a disappointment. Despite the high costs, the PS3 is still not bad in price, considering a standalone blue-ray player costs more than it. But people see the price and they freak out...

[John Elberling]

it is the BluRay player itself that is killing the PS3. Sony made it an integral component originally as its key tactic for the HD DVD war, and that worked - it won. but that was over 18 months ago (and exactly what good did that do for Sony?). on the other hand Sony was very late in getting its on-line download store up and running - but that is clearly the wave of the future already. now that it finally is on-line, Sony just has to offer a PS3 lite with no DVD player, relying completely on game downloads, with a big hard drive (they are so cheap now) and a price at least $100-$150 lower. or else the PS3 is just gonna die outside Japan. combined, the Wii and XBox are crushing it everywhere else.

Sony's business model of selling the technically best stuff at top prices worked for decades up until just a year or two ago. but it's over now. even the cheaper stuff now is technically so powerful consumers just don't need something more advanced to get great results. Now Sony has to learn to deliver value instead of hoping bells and whistles will get buyers to pay a premium for their products.

but i don't think they ever will. Sony's corporate culture is too stagnant and fragmented, and they don't know how. we're looking at the electronics equivalent of General Motors in the early stages of its collapse.

[Ja-Nail]

Hey, go check the number with your eyes open this time. The only place the 360 is crushing the ps3 is in america. When sony launched they were behind the 360 by like 8 miliion units, check now it's like 7 million. if your gonna compare it to cars, lets see. A Mercedes cost like 3x as much as a Ford. Mercedes isn't going anywhere neither is Sony. If I just wanted to get around I would by a Ford(360), but if I want quality and style I want a Mercedes(Ps3). The only reason the 360 survives is Microsoft is lining developers pocket.

[SteveW928]

Umm... a Blu-ray drive probably costs Sony like $30-40.... you can buy a replacement for $70. So, no, leaving out the Blu-ray drive isn't going to save Sony that much.

Also, it really doesn't matter how much crushing Wii or Xbox do.... what matters is if a) Sony is making a profit from it, and b) if it has enough active units to encourage development. Market-share is meaningless for everyone but marketing types and journalists (and idiots who would actually buy based on market-share).

[epross]

Since most people seem to focus on price almost to the exclusivity of other considerations, Don's argument makes a lot of sense. I personally own both a PS3 and Wii and hardly play the Wii at all (it's mostly for the kids.) I find the quality of the games for PS3 much better than Wii (although Wii is way better for family friendly games.) I probably will get an Xbox360 maybe at Christmas on sale, let's hope all the Sony and MS wrangling will lower prices of all consoles - better for all of us!

[nic.disassembly]

Sony should have, by now, just aimed the guns and attacked the pricing directly in their marketing. Especially now with the 2 game bundles @ $400.

A $250 Wii easily turns into a $400 purchase if you consider the extra controller (a family system you play alone?), rechargeable batteries, component cable, etc.

An Xbox is quite frankly ridiculous for the same exact thing except NO motion control, NO rechargeable battery, NOT wi-fi out the box, if you have an elite they comp you an HDMI cable wow thanks. And of course don't forget, as a movie player, it's bad so it basically screams "kids machine for the bedroom". Their 2 game bundles i think are the ONLY saving grace of that system as far as "value".

If Sony can talk smack about Activision, damn, play the numbers and SMACK all these price snobs who cry $399 is to expensive, when they know they're damn well spending the same amount for any other system when full modded for multiple play whether local or online.

[smukarkar]

i say there both good consoles and each one is unique.

i am not a boyfan of any, i have a ps3 and xbox360.
and since when gamers like to talk about who sales better.

[eason_chan]

boring~~~ why every few months have to bring out this topic again and again?

[PrvtDick]

i think we are all wrong, do you need a blue ray player tie with a video game console...??? we all know the answer, that only part of the video game console it self cost with you can pay for a xbox 360, i can get a xbox 360 for the same price of only one part of the PS3, come on... the drive it self you can get it on newegg around 200.00 bucks and we all know what the xbo 360 price is, so at the end the true is Sony needs a price drop ASAP

[Batotahell]

I think Sony's problem is a bit more difficult to fix than with just a bundle and a price drop. Look at how they view the customers. They gave us the PS3 and then removed the backwards compatibility to all those great PS2 games. Plus they decided that whether we wanted one or not they would force a Blu-Ray drive on us if we wanted a PS3. What were they thinking? Later this year we are getting the new PSP GO and because it will not have a UMD drive where are the consumers who have bought UMD games for their old PSPs left if we want to upgrade? Sony has decided that whatever they put out we the public will buy simply because they are Sony. Microsoft is no better so please do not start with the fan boy stuff. Sony made a tactical error and instead of admitting it and moving forward they just keep on saying the company line, "We are Sony, resistance is futile."

[Gary_Frederick]

I have a 20gb ps3 we got the day they released. I upgraded to 120Gb and the Gb ethernet works well with the rest of my system so I do not miss wifi.

We do not play a lot of games - FFVII currently (a PS1 game) and LBP before that.

We use the media center a lot. It is connected to a media server on Windows and one on Linux. It's very easy to use and is getting better.

My daughter is learning Japanese and has used the free demos and Home from Japan to practice.

I really like the bluetooth controllers. They work very well and I do not have to think about where they are pointed. I have not noticed any lag.

Blu-ray is very shiny :-) We have 10 or so movies and are pleased.

Oh, and I have Ubuntu on it installed because I can ;-)

I really like our hardware PS2 backward compatibility. The games look great with upscaling and I have not had any problems.



I wish Sony would put PS2 BC back in. I have had two friends recently both say they would be more tempted if they could play their PS2 games.

and I wish the browser were more standards compliant - or at least played Hulu again ;-)

[SteveW928]

OK Don... here we go again...
Why does Sony have to, 'capture more market share'?
They need to a) make a profit, and b) have enough units in use to make game development desirable. They have now have both.

Why will the slim, "undoubtedly cost much less to develop"?
Look at the list of components that go in a PS3... a slimmer case (saving some plastic) isn't going to do much to their bottom line. Do you know what you're talking about Don... or just trying to run up the hits to your articles?

[ResinNation]

I am currently in the middle of a hot fire debate with Sony, them being the greedy bastards they are.

I was an original adopter (60 gb, the model that was over $700 at the time after taxes, etc...) and I am on my second PS3 console after my first failed (optical drive,) exactly one week after the warranty expired - which they charged me an additional $350 to replace with a refurbished unit. Now that unit over heats after less than 5 minutes of gameplay or video watching, etc, and they still won't stand behind their lump of crap that they sold.

Next Gen, as much as I HATE M$, it looks like I'll be going X-Box.

In the meantime, I hope every one will join me in giving Sony hell, because it's quite clear they don't care about their customers OR their developers.

If you have a similar tale, please respond to this so we can coordinate our efforts and make Sony realize the error of their ways.

[Hyper_Dude]

The PS3 is simply ahead of its time. rather than being next Gen, it's next-next Gen. Consider that it pretty much has everything it needs to survive on the market for another decade: Blu-ray capacity, bluetooth connectivity, wireless, graphics for which we're just now seeing pushed. With no significant tech needed to upgrade to next-gen, the PS3 is just at the beginning of its life-cycle.

Contrast that to the 360 or the Wii. We'll take the Wii first since it's easy: Yes it sells well, yes it's novel, but frankly, there are so many garbage titles out there that even good games get lost in the muck. We're probably only a few years away from the Wii HD, which of course will cost more.

For the 360, the graphics are being pushed to the limits by today's games. While what we see now is impressive, it won' t be a few years from now. Games will only get larger and larger. Take FFXIII for example. How many discs will that come on for the 360? Or more importantly, what content was left out because of capacity issues? They'll need a new machine within the next few years that has a blu-ray drive. What will that machine be competing with? The PS3 that's been on the market for 5+ years with a massive install base.

[blusky08]

IMO, the CURRENT PS3 is not so future-proof as claimed. Within one or two years it's going to be outdated because 1) Many other DVD/Blu-ray players will be streaming wirelessly for 1/4th the price; 2) Download services are increasingly being supported by HDTVs themselves and other players are including Netflix, Amazon and other download services while Sony continues to cripple the PS3; 3) There is a new HDMI standard 1.4 that includes a *new connector* and is designed to handle Internet and 3D content.

[Ja-Nail]

@ Don Key I have my Ps3 hooked up to a Samsung 1080i tv and a 1080p tv. I have a Ps3 hooked up to both I have Lbp and believe me it puts out 1080i buddy. The only problem the Ps3 has is downscaling. It doesn't you literally have to turn off the main power source and turn it back on while holding the power button on the front. You obviously cant read the bullsh** info your getting, because your wrong. Who wants a VGA hook up. I prefer HDMI. Wich we had since launch. Like I said before when 360 first lauched the games were not true hi-def. I remember cause I had A 360 at the time. The Ps3 fanboys heckled at 360 owners because of it. Do your research. I have all 3 systems. I got the360 at launch. I like it, I just prefer the Ps3.

[Don Key]

@Ja-Nail

There is no argument here, it's a very well known fact that most PS3 games cannot display in 1080i. Again, Little Big Planet is a perfect example. If you have an HDTV from 4-5 years ago, odds are it didn't have 720p and what the PS3 does is downscale games to 480p and not upscale them to 1080i. If you have a 1080i TV that you say plays just fine, then that TV also supports 720p. Again, this isn't something to argue over since it's a fact since the day the PS3 launched.

You should read this since obviously you are uniformed about this situation:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/746/746282p1.html

[Inconnux]

Sony loses $40 on each PS3 made, the system is difficult to program for and has the smallest market share. Sony cant afford to lose more money on the PS3 so they can't drop the price. Activision is just stating what every developer thinks about the PS3, so its no surprise that Activision is considering dropping support. Remember the Sega Dreamcast? Developers dropped support from that system as well. Sony is going down the same path.

[SteveW928]

Can you explain why it is hard to develop for? (hint... it is a bunch of b.s., learn to do some critical thinking).

Also, from what I've read, they are now actually making a profit on each console (finally).

[Inconnux]

What I read was a statement from their CEO that the PS3 is made at a 10% loss (last financial statement) which is $40 per unit.

Why do I state that it is hard to develop for? Valve has come out and said this as have several other developers. The Xbox uses DirectX as its development platform which is mature and easy (relatively) to develop cross platform for. Even Sony has come out and stated that it is more difficult to code for.

[SteveW928]

@ Inconnux -

Critical thinking skills..... who is saying it is hard to develop for? Oh yea, big development houses who would like to port their games as quickly as possible from their M$ code. I'm 'sure' they are being objective [dripping with sarcasm].

The PS3 uses Cg, which is a gaming oriented version of C, as well as a gaming optimized and simplified version of OpenGL. You can't get much more standard than that unless you've got your head up M$'s you know what. It is all B.S., as I said.... and they have all been putting on quite a publicity campaign over it.

Basically, they want to push a button in their M$ dev studio app and pop out a cheap port. Because they can't do this for PS3, they get pissy. Notice the awesome games from smaller studios coming out on the PS3. I wonder how those guys do it?

The other challenge for the PS3 (the only real legitimate one) is all the cell processor cores. You need to be a bit better coder to properly distribute your tasks than you do on a basic 1 or 2 processor PC. The Xbox is basically just a PC (kind of like the later model Apple G5 based computers). Lazy developers (or stupid ones) don't want that extra work to make games run their best on the PS3.

http://www.destructoid.com/ps3-easier-to-develop-for-claim-killzone-2-devs-127270.phtml

[Don Key]

@SteveW928

Uh, the link you provided saying the PS3 isn't hard to develop for is coming from a developer that is 100% owned by Sony themselves. What did you think they were going to say?

What's next, you going to post a link to a GM exec saying that Chevy's are the best cars on the road?

[SteveW928]

@ Don Key -
I agree... as long as we admit BOTH are biased. What do you think developers using M$ Visual Studio who want to do a quick and dirty port are going to say? They don't care about the game quality, just how easy it is to get that port out. The kiddies are only going to play those games for a week anyway before they end up on the shelf or traded in.

So, devs who favor Sony say the PS3 is easier... devs who favor M$ say the Xbox is easier. Imagine that! The question is, who is right? I suppose in a way they both are. If you are familiar with a particular system/language, then that one is going to be easier for you and the other harder.

But... this shouldn't allow this kind of attack or propaganda. These stories and developers are trying to make it sound like the the PS3 is somehow unusually hard to develop for. If they were just honest and said... we're too lazy to also learn the PS3... or we only want to develop M$ stuff... then fine. But don't act like the PS3 is some kind of odd thing that just isn't worth the effort. There are PLENTY of developers writing AWESOME titles for the PS3 that seem to be having no problem.

I could care less if most of these developers write their stuff for the PS3. Just about all these ports I've ever downloaded are hardly worth the bandwidth, let alone actually buying. I just don't want this lying propaganda to tarnish the excellence of the PS3. Some new developer with good ideas might be tricked into actually believing it and fail to look into developing for the PS3.

[guest86]

Wow! A lot of PS2 fans are compliant on PS3 because don't have PS2 backward compatibility. What the loser! Really painful things. Sad for PS3.

I never buy Sony and Microsoft consoles & games are very bad company due to problems and high price. I understand Sony and Microsoft have big problems.I stick with Nintendo, because one world's good company making on it. I refuse sell my Nintendo products because have longest life cycle than Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo 64 (N64), GameCube (GC), Nintendo Wii (NWii), GameBoy Color / Advance / SP, and First Gen - Nintendo DS. (Not DS Lite or 3rd Gen - DSi) Nintendo DS Lite and DSi are horrific and bad products like easy to broke up and cracks. I must avoid buy from them, because due to bad products. I still fear about ugly or lousy products and people will know what consoles and hand portable system have bad problems cause. I just have very few games for Wii. But due price is one problem start with 49.99 is very stupid must be 39.99 like Nintendo 64 did. What a waste money! Shame on whole companies!

Any console which come without disc(CD or DVD) will stay forever up to about 20 to 50 years. Why now have disc, easy broke, crack disc, scratch disc, that are shame! Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony will become worst in the future. Please making millions of old Nintendo consoles, PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles without buy new consoles to play old games again, again many times in the future to save our money and make people more happier. Companies need grow up!

[roachbrain]

Umbrae said "I would rather have a well support machine that breaks than one that is unsupported."

Wow, this is so good I?m going to post again. Xbox fanboys at there masochistic best.