150°

How Low Can Sony Go?

Criticism of Sony UK President Fergal Gara's interview with Eurogamer, and Sony's handling of the Vita and PS3.

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systemwarsmagazine.com
GalacticEmpire4217d ago

The problem with a website that doesn't take itself seriously at all is that it's harder for readers to take their opinions seriously.

I'm sure there's some good points in this article but I can't see them through the sarcasm.

blumatt4217d ago

Yeah. How low can all these Sony hate articles go? That's the real question. LoL

It's gonna be ridiculous when the PS4 comes out cause this site is gonna be filled with hate articles.

Xof4217d ago

And the sad thing is Sony's learned so little from past mistakes we already know what the hate will be, specifically.

"It's too expensive!"

"It doesn't have backwards compatibility!"

"It has no (re: too few) games!"

And the sad thing is, all of those complaints will be legitimate. The sadder thing? They'll gradually become less legitimate, just as was the case with the PS3, PSP and Vita, but we'll keep seeing 'em crop up until the PS5.

When it will start all over again.

garos824217d ago

as low as the media hell bent to paint a picture that the ps3 is the next virtual boy

Blaze9294217d ago

I don't really come to N4G as much as I used to but did something happen to Sony lately or something or what's with all the 06 doom3d articles I've been seeing lately?

Malice-Flare4217d ago (Edited 4217d ago )

well, the aesthetics of the new PS3 revision is polarising and the Vita 'still doesn't have games'. other than that, just fanboy and armchair analysts ranting to get hits...

seriously though, Sony needs a direction to go to and a leader willful enough to drag them there screaming...

El_Colombiano4217d ago

People just want to see the champ fall.

MacDonagh4217d ago

If you mean Nintendo, you'd be right.

SPAM-FRITTER-1234217d ago

@El_Colombiano....LOL

@MacDonagh....bubble for you.

4217d ago
Fierce Musashi4217d ago

To gamingGod123:

I don't know what "gamers" you are talking, but anyone who isn't oblivious isn't playing "casual bs" on their Wii console.

2pacalypsenow4217d ago

@MacDonagh lol Nintendo hasn't been a champ since 1995

MasterCornholio4217d ago

I agree that the Nintendo Wii was the most successful console out of the three but in my opinion it was a console designed for the casuals and not for the core. Plus add to the fact that due to its incredibly weak hardware many current gen games (like Borderlands 2 for example) couldn't be created on it.

Nintendo fans love praising games like Super Mario Galaxy which was fantastic. But how many people have a Wii and then a PS3 or a 360 for the games that don't come out on Nintendos console?

I honestly doubt that a serious gamer went through this generation with just a Wii.

I have to give it to Nintendo for making a great come back after the disaster of the GameCube and the N64.

MacDonagh4217d ago (Edited 4217d ago )

@gaminggrump123 Thank you for proving my point! Sales are what keeps companies alive and Sony haven't done nearly as well as Nintendo has in terms of selling hardware. You can bitch and whine about how the Wii isn't for the "hardcore" gamer or whatever you want, but Nintendo knew that the "hardcore" audience weren't interested in their console because of the negative preconception that it's for babies; so they broadened their demographic to include people that may have never previously played video games, introducing a previously untapped market that Sony and Microsoft were only too keen to take advantage of with their motion control peripherals with mixed results. It's also not true that there weren't any games for the "hardcore" player to appreciate either, but it's clear that some gamers have already made their mind up over Nintendo abandoning hardcore gamers. I'll also point out that Nintendo didn't abandon the hardcore; the hardcore abandoned Nintendo to merely satisfy their lust for cutting edge technology with a hefty price-tag. With the Wii U coming out, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo finish top again since they've locked down the handheld market and the Wii U will be a lot cheaper to make games for than your PS4s/Xbox720s.

@2pac Check the hardware units that have been shifted for both the Wii and the DS. That makes them the best-selling consoles of this generation. That makes them the champion or the leader of the video-game industry.

Skateboard4217d ago

WII is the champ of making soccer moms work out, what a champ.

ronin4life4217d ago

I have more real games for my Wii than my PS3. They are there if you bother to look. It's also telling that the Vita has 2 games taken from the Wii library... pretty good ones too.

In time, the Wii will be seen as the system it truly was. Just like the GC has.

stragomccloud4217d ago

I'd argue that gamers that played gamer games on the Wii(in addition to any other system, I personally play all of my consoles, the XBOX currently not getting as much love as my Wii/PS3) are the only real gamers. Because it's sickening how many amazing exclusive games the system had that were just completely ignored on the basis on band wagon Nintendo hate and an aversion to ED(Wii isn't actually SD, it's ED it has the same number of vertical pixels as SD but at least 20% more horizontal pixels because of the native 16:9).

I guarantee the Wii has the most under appreciated games of this generation.

Fragile Dreams
Madworld
Sonic Colors
No More Heroes/No More Heroes 2
Red Steel 2
Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings
Zack and Wiki
Trauma Center

The great games may have been few and far between, but the games were extremely unique offerings with very different kinds of game play.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 4217d ago
TheTwelve4217d ago

Sony fired a bunch of PR guys last week and I believe there is a connection.

wastedcells4217d ago

Sites using N4G and headlines to get hits. Its almost out of control on this site now. Every nobody is writing these articles now.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4217d ago
paddystan4217d ago

N4G is doomed, also is the entire world on 21th december.

2pacalypsenow4217d ago

well can i have all your games and consoles since you think the world will end on the 21st cuz some Indians think so

ronin4life4217d ago

The Mayan calender does NOT predict the end of the world, but lists the end of a cycle. It is western theory that applies what most believe to be Christian end of world theory to the Mayan calender that created this whole "december 22nd apocalypse" thing.

BitbyDeath4217d ago

People forget back when the mayans were around we did not have leap years. Technically their end of world date has already passed.

TekoIie4217d ago

I still get to play AC3 so I'll find out how to survive before it happens

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4217d ago
Mounce4217d ago

How about, How low can 'Opinions' against a company go?

With Sony? Apparently it goes down to the grimy bits of someones shoes. There's not enough hate on Microsoft these days. I mean, where are the games? What was the last 'Great' game to come out on the 360? All game-related news I've been seeing is dominant in PS3 and PC and 2nd being Wii U due to it coming close(Even if a lot of them are 'Enhanced Ports'.

ronin4life4217d ago

Sony is in trouble financially and must take great strides to pull out, a situation MS is not in at this time.

Microsoft is facing its own crisis if it doesn't pick up the pace of actual game content however: irrelevancy. Which is incredibly dangerous for any company.

Anon19744217d ago

Actually, according to analysts Sony just has to wait for the FX markets to stabilize to return to profitability. There's no doubt that Sony could be more innovative, but S&P's is predicting a return to profit for Sony in FY13 and and increase in earnings per share of 2067% by FY14 based mainly on stabilizing currency markets. They don't think consumer spending is going to really go anywhere for the next few years. Same goes for all Japanese electronics makers. It's not exactly a secret. The impact of yen appreciation versus western currencies and it's effect on the Japanese electronics industry has been widely known and discussed for years now.

As for these doom articles that have cropped up over the last month, I just vote down the site so the quality filter might have a chance to weed out this nonsense and move on. I started to read them at first but you can usually tell with the first paragraph that 99% of these articles are baseless.

"People like to make fun of Sony saying their stupid or dumb."
Right off the bat it sounds like this guy's information source is chatter on his local 4th grade playground. And you don't need to read any further.

Also, as a rule, if an author posts anonymously, I just don't bother. If you don't have the grapes to put your name on the article you write, why should anyone take a word you say seriously?

Hicken4217d ago (Edited 4217d ago )

A large part of Sony's problem is the image it's been given in the public. An image articles like these aren't helping to improve.

Systemwars is a gaming site(apparently), as is N4G; yet instead of focusing on how good Sony is on the gaming front, the vast majority of coverage is negative.

Sony releases the most powerful, most versatile handheld ever with a large amount of games and at a reasonable price?
Negative articles come out.

Sony outdoes Microsoft and Nintendo at E3? Negative articles come out.

Sony starts giving away free games?
Negative articles come out.

Sony announces new IPs, including one fans have been wanting for years?
Negative articles come out.

Sony has more games on display for their handheld at TGS, while neither Microsoft nor Nintendo even show up?
Negative articles come out.

Sony releases a hardware revision for their console that comes as a bundle with a great game?
Negative articles come out.

Sony announces 10 years of support for their struggling but still awesome handheld?
Negative articles come out.

Seriously, no matter what Sony ACTUALLY does, people will look down on them. It doesn't even matter that they make efforts to rectify their financial problems. Doesn't matter that most of those corrections need to be done OUTSIDE of their gaming division.

According to "gamers" and the "journalists" that cover gaming, all that matters is that Sony is failing.

Edit: Rebuttals

You don't NOT lose just because it was a subjective category. More people thought Sony won than the others. Sony won. End of story.

Despite? How? Was Nintendo the one showing support, or was it third parties that also showed games for other systems? Since Nintendo wasn't there...

Why believe Sony? Oh, maybe because that's what they do to their hardware: support it for long periods of time. No shit, it hasn't been supported for two; it's not even a year old yet, so saying that was just stupid.

You went searching for something fallacious in my comment and found... nothing. Try again.

ronin4life4217d ago (Edited 4217d ago )

@Darkride
Yes. But what people don't seem to grasp is "return to profitability" doesn't mean "return to form". Sony will be fine financially, but not without consequence. It would be impossible to take such steps and be unaffected in capability, even if only for a few years.

And to head this off: no, this is nothing like what Nintendo went through. They had one yearly loss in 30 years, which they recovered from as quickly as they suffered under it.(yes, even the GC was profitable for them in its entirety) What Sony has is years of losses and a games division that only recently started carrying the company.

@hicken
oh dear God... I can't care to pick apart every fallacious statement you made, but. let me just point out:
E3 Victor ownership is pretty subjective, seeing as how no one really gave any new news.

Nintendo hasn't attended TGS in years, if ever. DESPITE this, the 3ds still had more support than the Vita or any other console.

And why should anyone believe Sony claiming a 10 year cycle when they have hardly provided for 2?

The extremity of criticism and "hate" is annoying, but lets not ignore facts or start spewing crap of our own.

RubyToTheMax4217d ago

What people don't understand is that, we are talking about SONY. A multi-billion dollar company who knows better than us, and has been in the game longer than all of us.

All of these gaming websites and bloggers negatively pointing their finger at Sony without reason are just nobodies. That's why they make less than 30K a year writing and blogging about how much their life sucks.

ronin4life4217d ago

Sony has lost nearly 90% of their company in 10 years.

They definitely seem to know what they are doing...@.@

lodossrage4217d ago

Lost 90% of their company?

To who? Who did they sell 90% of their company to?

Show all comments (38)
280°

Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
ChasterMies14d ago

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

just_looken14d ago

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

Cacabunga14d ago

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

just_looken14d ago

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

Redemption-6414d ago

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

Huey_My_D_Long14d ago

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

Einhander197214d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

FinalFantasyFanatic14d ago

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 14d ago
DivineHand12514d ago

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

Joe91314d ago

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

Obscure_Observer14d ago

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

S2Killinit14d ago (Edited 14d ago )

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

Joe91313d ago

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

S2Killinit13d ago

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 13d ago
Christopher14d ago

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

CrimsonWing6913d ago (Edited 13d ago )

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

S2Killinit13d ago

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

Abnor_Mal14d ago (Edited 14d ago )

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

Christopher14d ago

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

just_looken14d ago

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

Einhander197214d ago (Edited 14d ago )

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

FinalFantasyFanatic14d ago

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

romulus2314d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218314d ago

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

S2Killinit13d ago (Edited 13d ago )

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder14d ago

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

crazyCoconuts14d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

Show all comments (43)
80°

Sony May Soon Let You Decide How Much NPCs Talk In Games

Sony has patented to add multiple dialogue modes to let players switch between how many conversations with NPCs they want in the game.

blackblades20d ago

Sony is like the only ones outta the 3 that has atuff like like this pop up changing thing in ways.

just_looken20d ago

Sony in the past has always been first at bat with new ideas/tech but in the end never fully use it or just toss it away.

blackblades20d ago

I think they did use some but yeah most usually never happened but at least they thought about it. Sony seeks things like this and other, Nintendo seek different ways of playing going by there different controler designs and console designs.

just_looken20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

some of the other stuff sony want's/owns never used
https://gamerant.com/sony-p...
https://gamerant.com/sony-p...
https://www.eurogamer.net/s...
https://metro.co.uk/2023/03...
https://decrypt.co/114754/s...

monitor/adjust game difficultly as you play
https://www.techradar.com/g...

Sony nfts
https://www.theblock.co/pos...

Pay ai to play the game for you
https://thebusinessofesport...

Oh all the above last 12 months

I just imagine a evil scientist with test subjects when it comes down to sony recent patent reports.

Kaii20d ago

Will we get dialogue options that won't spoil puzzles in a matter of seconds? :p

280°

Judge rules in PlayStation's favour in $500m patent infringement lawsuit

Genuine Enabling Technology was seeking damages, claiming the tech allowing PlayStation consoles and controllers to communicate infringes its rights.

Read Full Story >>
gamesindustry.biz
S2Killinit22d ago

Big victory for Sony. And a long time coming.

DarXyde22d ago (Edited 22d ago )

Crazy to think the savings from this lawsuit allows them to develop one AAA game.

Make it Bloodborne 2, please and thank you.

22d ago
Profchaos22d ago

Sounds like patent trolling they tried the same thing against Nintendo with the same pattern.

Motion and control input traversing over higher and lower frequencies seperate from each other allowing the controller to do both

Pyrofire9522d ago

Patents suck. Most of them are complete garbage.

Knightofelemia22d ago

So to recoup the money Genuine is going to take on Nintendo or Microsoft next. I hate patent lawyers they are some of the worst bottom feeders out there.

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