210°

Does Sony have a valid reason to blame the consumer?

A recent quote by Dave Karakker, Sony America's Director of Corporate Communications, brings up an interesting argument. He asserts that the Playstation 3's failure is a result of the internet, media, and fickle consumers. Does he have a real claim, or is he just creating a consumer scapegoat? Could Sony have acted better? Read Myarcadeplanet.com's discussion over the issue.

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myarcadeplanet.com
DrWan6183d ago

he wasn't blaming consumers, 99% of the ppl who bash the PS3 do not own or plan to buy one. How is this a "consumer scapecoat" calling. Negative press was accelerated by a minor vocal...go ask any normal ps2 fans who doesn't trout this board they dont even know what BluRay was..as i was talking to my brother the other day. What's bluRay? he was assuming PS3 still using same dvd format..

Trust me, alot of ppl have no idea. Minority definately has a bigger voice than they should on the internet, and does not represent the mass's opinions.

cain1416183d ago

America is a consumer nation, but in fact everyone is a consumer by the very definition of it: “One that consumes, especially one that acquires goods or services for direct use or ownership rather than for resale or use in production and manufacturing.” (American Heritage Dictionary) Just because a consumer says “this product is not worth my money,” that in no way takes away from the consumer status.

DrWan6183d ago (Edited 6183d ago )

what is your target audience? what is your target consumers? try to convince a normal man to wear tampons. a Fanboy, a Sony hater, whatever you call it, have such narrow mind track and such extreme attitude, they do not qualify for ur target audience and thus these are not potential customers to Sony. These are the very people who has the loudest noise on mesg board, extremists. Normal players do not come here and express our feelings and look at previews and news all day. This includes you and me, we are not normal, we do not represent Sony's intended target audience. Sony's main target are PS2 players who are looking for upgrades in the near future.

cain1416183d ago

Sony has been described as looking for the more “hardcore gamer” giving things the Wii cannot. I’ve also heard it called a [insert premium, expensive sports car name] to the Wii’s affordable mass production status. By that standard, the Playstation is trying to appeal to the more informed gamer. The very fact that they boast the most in hardware specifications defends that argument. They talk about how their hardware specs blow the Xbox 360 and Wii out of the water. To the uninformed gamer, this means nothing. So in turn it just shows they are again missing their target audience if we go by your description of there audience.

DrWan6183d ago (Edited 6183d ago )

I wouldn't say I got "owned" or not, before i open my mouth on this issue i know there will be ppl who will disagreed with me, by all means, discuss. A controversial topic indeed.

But by labeling the topic of the article, "Does Sony have a valid reason to blame the consumer?" is a little misleading. I am trying to justify the fact that Sony didn't blame consumers, they didn't say that any where in the interview. Because like the person after me said, "well everyone is a consumer", no kidding, everyone with buying power is consumer, but who is consuming the PS3s? Did Dave say "consumers" are putting Sony down, no, he just said a vocal minority did, and he wants to get the point acorss that a vocal minority does not represent the mass audience. I certainly believe only the hardest of the hardcore comes to this kind of new sites everyday to see waht is going on with gaming communities. Softcore gamers may visit once every few weeks/months for a game review before they buy it after they see it in store (bc they don't really know what is coming out when). Now if only the hardest of the hardcore is saying "PS3 sucks blah blah blah", does that represent all the softcore as well? Of course not, it is not even a random sampling of the PS3 audience or future consumers.

That's all Dave is saying, and to argue on the basis that i got owned on the idea of consumerism is overlooking the big picture of the article and argument.

However, I must tell Dave and everyone in Sony the success and failure of the PS3 will not be change permanent by a few bad press, once the games are out exclusively for the PS3, and price has dropped. People will pick up the box, you really cannot ignore the fact this is the SONY PS3, can't ignore the fact that deep inside ppl's heart they really do want to get a PS3 because they have owned a PS2 and PS1 before it. If you disagreed with me and you own a PS2, i would like to hear why, because most PS2 gamers i have talked to would like to continue their gaming experience on the PS3 because the hardware is reliable (some PS2 issues they say, but mine is at launch and still running, PS1 is with modded chipped and still running when i check a fe w months ago).

EDIT: Deepliest - what sup with ALL the "lame attempt" posts throughout the thread on almost everyone's reply and posts? Excellent example of a fanboy, saids nothing about the topic, just posts one line negative posts about a system you don't care about all over the place. I forgive you for ur inability to have a discussion though bc I don't really care about one line comments that doens't make a point

deeplies6183d ago

lame attempt, just go away dude leave the keyboard alone.

kewlkat0076183d ago (Edited 6183d ago )

I like him...Bubble for you.

Fanboys aside, Now thats a "Consumer", and he knows what he is talking about, for which I totally Agree. I couldn't put it any better...so there.

Obviously SONY did not have its "Target Audience" in mind when creating this console. I have had most consoles and even I can see where they F#$ked up, only a true loyalist care to disagree and try to spin/twist Sony's image squeaky clean.

DrWan I see where you are "defending" and it's all good(better than stupid Xbox sucks and MS can die, and Sony rules rant) but "stick a fork in it "Your Done"

6183d ago
deeplies46183d ago (Edited 6183d ago )

old ken is that you or are you related to him in anyway shape or form. Because you know I want to learn some discipline.

"Everyone will know discipline" -Old Ken

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 6183d ago
Odion6183d ago

lol i like how he said what i thought no one would say

They shouldn't have hyped Killzone 2 like it was Halo 3,Killzone was a medioce shooter at best.

Tonberry6183d ago (Edited 6183d ago )

You have to much bubbles

Below:
You have to much bubbles

deeplies26183d ago

please let me help you on that.

BubblesDAVERAGE6183d ago

THEY NEVA SAID ANYThING ABOUT HALO 3..they even said the halo series was a good game...its Xbox fans who compare it to halo...Never did sony say anything about halo and killzone....LEARN THAT ALL

cain1416183d ago

That article did not assert they compared it to Halo 3, it asserted they hyped it like it was Halo 3. The difference is Halo and Halo 2 are consider some of the best in FPS gaming. Killzone has never reached that status; however, it has been hyped as if it was of the upper echelon of games.

mboojigga6183d ago

They did thats why the developers are telling Sony and anyone else to shut the Fu*k up because of the comparisons. Killzone 2 is not going to generate the hype Halo 2 had when it launched and the hype Halo 3 will have this September. We will see a game simply released and thats it. You won't see a New York release of Killzone shown on Fox News and so forth.

Also, Sony caused this problem on their own. No remember this system is targeted for a consumber higher then the regular customer(Anyone remember Crazy Ken's comments) Bottom line is, the PS3 is too high priced and has no exclusive games that are worth getting yet. I have not bought a PS3 becuase what the hell for? I am getting my game fix with the 360 for all it offers. The games I want to play are all getting delayed again to 08 for the PS3. Why would I want to buy a system today that won't get any play besides downloading trailers and trying to access Beta's. The games that are multi platform are either not on par with the 360 or just continue to get delayed. I am looking for the exclusive games to play that continue to get delayed.

rusgreim6183d ago (Edited 6183d ago )

... its fast, its awesome, you can brag to your friends, but you can't use it anywhere.

I may be willing to concede that the PS3 is more powerful than the 360. I might be willing to concede that Blu-Ray will win the format wars. The only things that those concessions prove is that the PS3 is a monster machine.

IT HAS NO GAMES! The games that it does have, and the games that are coming out DO NOT appeal to a broad base of consumers, and when paired with the ginormous price tag of the PS3, you can see that it has insurmountable odds to overcome.

It is possible to lose the war with better equipement, as Sony did previously in the VHS / Betamax battle.

achira6183d ago (Edited 6183d ago )

you know nothing. it has no game, you are a moron! it has better games the xbox360 had one year before. it needs time to build up a library, you cant expect all AAAA games to be out on day one, can you ? only morons do that ? and what games does the xbox360 have, that a lot of ppl will play ? medicore ego-shooters ? lol.

edit: jahcure: yeah, thats the normal route! ms pays more money to make up and spread FUD about the internet than for anything else. thats really obvious.

whengeeksgobad6183d ago

I'm no Ps3 fanboy, in fact if anything I'm a bit of a hater but I do disagree with you saying you can't use it anywhere. It's still capable of playing ps2 games, and after the firmware update, it will even be upscaling them. That (to me anyway) is pretty impressive and I still love my ps2, so being able to play them upscaled is a great use to me. The games will come out, the ps3 hasn't been out that long and I thought the 360's lineup pretty much sucked until last thanksgiving or so.

Saint Sony6183d ago

You have to blame someone when something turns out to be a failure, but it is a rarity who blame themselves.

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100°

Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell Of Ar Ciel Retro Review – Love Conquers All

Gary Green said: You’ll be forgiven if you haven’t heard of the Ar Tonelico trilogy. The previous two games arrived so late in the PS2’s life-cycle that they simply went unnoticed. While most were tinkering with their shiny new PS3s, Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia and Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica were being ‘returned to sender’ by your local Game stores. Luckily, you won’t need to have played them to understand and appreciate this third and final chapter, Qoga (pronounced k-yoga) tells the story of a racial war between humans and Reyvateils, a breed of biologically produced female cyborgs capable of reproduction, while still having a digital mind.

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pslegends.com
Giga_Gaia3h ago

Oh my god. I kinda wish this would get a remaster on PS5, it would be awesome. One of my favorite games on PS3.

That and 3D Dot Game Heroes. It's a shame that some stuff is stuck on PS3.

Knightofelemia2h ago

Ar Tonelico 3 is good I still prefer the first AT game. The music is solid in all the games and Akiko Shikata is a very talented singer bringing life to the game. Only annoying part is well I find is Saki I always choose Finnel or Tyria. KOEI so needs to HD remaster the franchise along with Ar Nosurge and Ciel Nosurge since it never came to North America. I would day one the Ar Toneliceo games and Ar Nosurge if they were remastered.

TheColbertinator1h ago

I still have the limited edition of Qoga unopened. Unfortunately it never went up in value like I had hoped all these years.

280°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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theverge.com
darthv721d 7h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle18h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188115h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio15h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning7710h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga17h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

darthv724h ago

to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.

shinoff218317h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga15h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan11h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

S2Killinit4h ago

MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.

romulus2310h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv7210h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

TheEroica4h ago(Edited 4h ago)

Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.

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purple10120h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos20h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-9h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac19h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10118h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos18h ago(Edited 18h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic17h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead10h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein1d 5h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno1d 2h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k41d ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson1d ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu1d 1h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson1d ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -