Does Sony Really Understand Gaming Any Longer?

Don Reisinger:

Sony was once viewed as the world’s most successful gaming company. After it launched the original PlayStation, many wondered if it could take off until, well, it did. And as we all know, the PlayStation 2 was a gaming juggernaut.

But all of that changed with the PlayStation 3. The console launched at a price that was far too expensive for what customers were getting, and it lacked the uniqueness of Nintendo’s Wii, which caught on quickly. Microsoft’s Xbox 360, while not as popular as the Wii, benefited from a strong online-gaming component.

[Morrigan-Aensland]

Sony is the best gaming company. I don't say that because they make a handful of familiar games yearly or because they cater to only casuals or hardcore. I say it because they cater to all with high quality exclusive software and high quality hardware.

Some will disagree because of sales but one wouldn't have to ponder why they would think that except to cite their reasoning which is telling.

[Irishguy95]

Best gaming company....worst company at making money. But only this gen. Last gen they ****ing destroyed everyone.

[simonrope]

Every dog has its day. Move aside, sony.

[piroh]

i think Sony are swiming in money, only Sony-haters say otherwise

in the last 5 years they shut down Zipper...in the last 5 years they bought Evolution studios, Media Molecule, Gaikai, Novarama Technologies, Sucker Punch Productions...

Sony are making best games, best graphics, best racing simulator, best adventures, best AR games etc. it's logical someone is angry about this

[Irishguy95]

piroh, Sony start off this gen with 27 Billion in assets. They now have like 12 billion.

Unless I am mistaken.

[dcbronco]

Morrigan, the sales don't matter argument is amazing to me considering Sony is on the verge of bankruptcy. Most of those exclusives haven't sold and what proves that that matters is the fact that it is even a discussion. If they sold, that would have sold more consoles and there might not even be anything to debate about. Sony has other problems, but the days of knowing they could count on support from gaming might be over.

@Piroh

Look at the annual reports. Listen to the comments from Sony executives. No one is lying about Sony's money issues. They have huge money problems. In fact, it is illegal for them to lie about how much money they do or don't have. That's why they have to pull tricks like hiding vita sales by combining them with PSP sales. So that they can fool uninformed stock buyers into still buying and keeping people that already own their stock from selling. Unfortunately it's a poor decision because it makes it obvious that the numbers are bad if they have to be hidden.

And considering Vita was what Sony was counting on for the profits it was projecting, it makes the company look weaker than it already looked. The next six weeks will say a lot. But the third quarter will determine all. If Vita doesn't have a monster Holiday, it might be the end of Sony as we know it.

[Dante112]

@ bronco

What BS. Playstation exclusives do sell ( http://ps3.mmgn.com/Article... ) and despite what you think the PS Vita has been profitable since day one ( http://www.playstationlifes... ). I don't see how we are getting all of these doomed articles on Sony when every console sales decline, when it was the console who sold the most for it's quarterly report and is currently leading in WW numbers. Funny enough, we had zero doomed articles on the 360 when it lost $229 Million dollars for it Q3 report.

http://www.gamespot.com/new...

Xbox360 shipped only 1.1 million for the quarter (Lowest sales have been since 2006/2007)

http://www.i4u.com/2012/07/...

PS3 shipped 2.1 million (according to neogaf) for the quarter and had a lost of $45 million in their gaming division.

[Mustang300C2012]

Dante/Darkride
get your facts right. When the man from the company himself says it would take 3 years which was based on projection of sales as well which we know today those projections have been downgraded twice. It is being sold at a loss

Plus you keep trying to bring up MS every single time when you have already been told what that loss pertains to. Still don't see how you are comparing a company that has losses over 10 years to a company that is profitable over the same time frame.
http://translate.google.com...

Sony’s PlayStation Vita is making headlines worldwide due to the system’s visual prowess and impressive lineup of launch titles. Cramming so much horsepower into this little package was certainly a costly investment for Sony, but the company shocked the world when they revealed that the Vita will retail for $249.99 (Wifi only)/$299.99(3G/Wifi AT&T Service Contract Required) for North America. This cheap price will come at a cost for Sony, however.

In an interview with Reuters Japan, Sony’s Kaz Hirai stated that Sony aims to make a profit on the PlayStation Vita in three years. Sony often sells their hardware at a lost, so this isn’t anything new for the company as they sold the PlayStation 3 at a loss despite the $600 price tag. Out of the three home-console manufacturers, Nintendo is usually the only company to make a profit on hardware right away due to their conservative nature of building their hardware.

Originally, Sony slated the PS Vita would launch by the end of the year, however, that has since been clarified and it is currently only scheduled to release in Japan by year’s end, meanwhile North America/Europe may not see it until early 2012.

[Edward75]

sadly in the business word it is like Janet Jackson's song.... "What have you done for me Lately".
Nice products, and holding on to old business practices that worked when Walmart didn't really exist, DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE. As far as understanding gaming, they know how to make some hit games, BUT they are disconnected with the way they run the online component (free is a good thing, but it shows)
Why do i say disconnected???? People are willing to toss yearly fees to MS for its online service proving that it is what people want.

Lastly one of the big things.. other then A FEW hit titles, the amount of money Sony invests in MANY games never hits projected goals for the profits. This means they expect to sell a specific amount, but it never happens.

Gamers this gen WANT COD more then MAG, want HALO over Resistance, and choose 3rd party games for the competition many times because of a system made that is strong as hell in comparison, but hard as hell in comparision to make games for. This even shows a disconnect with the hardest of hardcore gamers... the ones who make them.

[Anon1974]

Another article that tries to rewrite history. The PS3, despite it's high price point was matching the PS2's sales for the first couple of years until the global recession hit. The PS2 never had to contend with a recession.

Meanwhile, sales of the PS3 still easily outpaced the 360 as it had ever since it launched worldwide selling over 6 million consoles more than the 360 during the same time frame - and yet here's another article that insists that the PS3 was somehow still far behind.

And that's what kills me about these articles. It's not like the information is secret. Anyone who bothers to look at the sales of each console can tell you the 360 has sold the fewest consoles in the past 5 years, yet article after article insists that the Playstation brand is on it's deathbed when in the current market it's the console that's proving to be the most resilient with the Wii dropping 55% year over year their last quarter and the 360 falling 43% in the first 6 months of 2012.

I'm not saying Sony isn't having huge issues. Quite the contrary, I've been warning of tough times for Sony for quite some time, but when looking at console sales, it's downright dishonest to paint Sony as some bleak, hopeless case that's lost it's way while ignoring the fact that console sales for it's competition have fallen off a cliff.

Edit: I just noticed RedHemi300c above making a fool of himself. I'm right here, buddy. I don't need duplicate accounts to make my point. I've been here for years. Then he goes on to argue a point that no one had made. Who exactly are you arguing with? Where did anyone say anything about Microsoft losses? And why on earth would anyone compare Sony and Microsoft as a whole? They aren't even remotely in the same business. Why don't you bring up Sony's credit downgrade again and explain how it spells the end that their credit rating went from "Good" to "Still Good"? At least Dante backs up everything he stated. Your link does nothing to disprove his claims. Did you even read it? Where does it say the Vita hardware isn't profitable? Obviously it takes time to recoup development costs.

[guitarded77]

Look... Sony is a diverse electronics company. You cannot take all of their assets and investments into account when comparing their relevance in the gaming market. SCE is turning profit.

[jadenkorri]

@ Dante112

this site is full of doomed article after doomed article of sony gonna fail. The xbots control this site, that's why.

[PLAYWATCH]

I agree with darkride66. why are people bringing up losses and comparing companies on the whole? why do I see so many here analyzing aspects of the companies that are important only to shareholders and stock analyst?

we should only be speaking about gaming related aspect of the companies. we should only be concerned about which company is producing games that we like and pushes the industry forward, not whether the company met its sales goal and how much assets it is holding.

[tokugawa]

sound the bugle, fanboys charge....

first up darkride, your an idiot! you're not analyst, you're just a self confessed sony leg humper with a blog site. you know nothing, go away.

anyway. sony as everyone knows as a whole is in big trouble. they knowingly sold 3D tvs worldwide in 2010 and 2011, at premium prices, that were never capable of displaying 3D correctly.

And when the consumers like me contacted sony about the problems, their response worlwide has been "corresponds with the specs".. incredible. the tech from sony even told me to buy "a more expensive set to improve the 3D" lol

I got my set changed after threatening the shop with consumer rights and selling tvs under false advertising. but that doesnt change the damage that sony did to themselves for two years just in the tv market.

their camcorders are way overpriced, and pretty much everything with "sony" wrote on it is overpriced. when something equal or if not better with samsung or lg wrote on it can be bought cheaper.

now the ps3. nearly everyone i know has xboxs. one or two have ps3s, but thats it. outside of sony fanboy land (n4g), the ps3 is not seen as the second coming, and the best exclusives in the history of the universe are not even considered, except for gt and a couple of others.

no matter how much bleating on n4g by sony sheep about exclusives that are nearly always a "technical marvel" to them lol, free on-line and consoles capable of time travel will change reality. i dont think one reason in particular has seen sony lose its iron grip on the console market.

but it is clear that sonys dominance, and the threat of a one console market are hisory....

[nukeitall]

Sony understood gaming with PS1 and PS2, but no longer does!

Even worse, Sony no longer understands how gaming business works as evident of recent business moves with PS Vita and PS3.

Heck, even the Gaikai purchase seems fruitless to me.

The one thing Sony do have going are their game studios freedom. That is a big kudos to Sony regardless of it being accidental from poor management or just simple smarts.

[morganfell]

"Does Sony Really Understand Gaming Any Longer?"

Which of the big three companies did not abandon the core gamer in favor of the casual crowd?

Sony. Only Sony.

As a gamer I know that Sony understands what I want and at the end of the day that matters more.

I am thrilled Sony has purchased Gaikai because as usual they are forging ahead and leading the game industry in presenting the next format for gaming. While others are playing it safe Sony is taking risks.

It's amazing the gamers that say the love gaming, say they love innovation and then spent countless hours on this board not gaming but instead engaged in vain attempts to deny the value that Sony's Gaikai decision will have for gamers everywhere.

I would rather a company not have any business success if all they are going to do is pander to the casual crowd and shove the same tired 2 titles at me every year.

[mananimal]

Which is clearly a sign of "Failure by Design" & NOT BY chance.
Brilliant just a generation ago, yet absurdly miseralble the next? only a sheeple would not see through the conspiracy .......

[insomnium2]

Morgan said:

"I would rather a company not have any business success if all they are going to do is pander to the casual crowd and shove the same tired 2 titles at me every year."

I could not agree more.

The x360 crowd rejoices for the sales and success MS has due to Kinect and they can't see that they will in no way benefit from that success? Talk about blind. They will also come up with excuses like "MS is winding down their development due to next gen arriving shortly" and such. Since when would that be a good thing no matter IF it indeed were true?

I think MS is done as far as Exclusives go. You x360 folks better be ready to enjoy your timed exclusive DLC and such since that is all you will be getting from MS. This gen and the next one and if the next gen is succesfull to MS then they will keep doing the same thing next next gen too. Enjoy. You deserve it.

[pixelsword]

Another "[fill in the blank] is doomed" article I'm not going to read.

At any rate, Sony is the only $600 console to survive. The ONLY $600 console. Let that sink in for a moment. And while all others have failed, the PS3 has not only survived, but if the Wii U is any indicator, it could go two gens without changing and still be competitive.

@ greenpowerz below:

One thing you have to wonder about is if XBL is so wonderful, then why are there more PS3 people online than 360 people?

That's saying one of two things:

either XBL isn't worth it

or

there's not as many people playing because those sales came from repurchases and not actual new sales...?

In the end, I really don't care about sales, because if sales determined the quality of a console, people wouldn't be crying about the Dreamcast today; but when people use sales to represent the quality of a console, I kinda put my two cents in once in a while.

[nukeitall]

@morganfell:

"As a gamer I know that Sony understands what I want and at the end of the day that matters more."

I agree, but in addition I want the company to flourish so it can actually sustain it's trajectory. Only giving me what I want without consideration for the people that work for you isn't good for anyone in the long run.
'
"I am thrilled Sony has purchased Gaikai because as usual they are forging ahead and leading the game industry in presenting the next format for gaming. While others are playing it safe Sony is taking risks."

I disagree that was a good purchase for Sony, but time will tell. I think Gaikai technology is a "somewhat" solution to an old problem that no longer exist. We are reaching a point where hardware technology isn't holding back games, but actual human resources to create them.

Even today, there are very few games you can't do on current consoles. Imagine next generation, and imagine shortly thereafter the hardware will be obsolte.

This means we will be content with cheap hardware, because it is good enough similar to how PCs has been good enough for ages and is therefore shrinking in size.

"It's amazing the gamers that say the love gaming, say they love innovation and then spent countless hours on this board not gaming but instead engaged in vain attempts to deny the value that Sony's Gaikai decision will have for gamers everywhere."

It will be nice to actually explain why you think it was a good decision?

Also, you are also spending countless hours on this board not gaming, but instead talking positive about....

@insomnium2:

"The x360 crowd rejoices for the sales and success MS has due to Kinect and they can't see that they will in no way benefit from that success?"

I have benefit from Kinect and love it. I play a lot of the casual games, and love the hands free and voice control for my music listening and movie watching.

I think the opposite is also true, certain PS3 crowd hates success and only look for something to complain about. If people enjoy Kinect or Wii, let them!

Why do you care?

I'm not the type of person to hate on others for liking what they do. If people like Justin Bieber, I DON't CARE! It's their money, their time, why would I be a busybody!?

@pixelsword:

"One thing you have to wonder about is if XBL is so wonderful, then why are there more PS3 people online than 360 people?"

Have you considered a third option (or fourth, fifth for that matter)?

PSN accounts are free, so people have duplicate accounts and sometimes multiple different accounts for different regions!

I have a fat friend list of peoople that swapped or abandoned accounts. I'm also sick of joining up with people that cheat with little reprecussion, because they just create a new account.

"In the end, I really don't care about sales, because if sales determined the quality of a console, people wouldn't be crying about the Dreamcast today; but when people use sales to represent the quality of a console, I kinda put my two cents in once in a while."

Quality is somewhat opinionated so I don't think that is a good measure. I think you really should think of sales correlates to value. A Toyota might not be as good quality as say a Porsche, but it certainly provides more value and hence the more sales. While a GMC often times is significantly cheaper than a Toyota, it provides less value (because it isn't as reliable and has poor resale value) and so fewer consumers buy it.

[SuperLupe]

They do understand gaming ... just not all that smart business wise anymore.

[ConstipatedGorilla]

I don't disagree because of sales. I disagree because besides myself, I know one other person that owns a PS3. The rest of my family and friends all have 360s. Not trying to troll, but honestly, N4G is the only place I see this much support for the thing. It does make a nice blu ray player though.

[showtimefolks]

no OP sony doesn't get it anymore but MS sure do because they care about casual and kinect and selling systems on lease.

i hope sony turns it around as a long time sony fan its been a sad decline,they once were worth over 200 billion to now just around 20. But we also have to understand this Kaz just took over so its not gonna happen over night give it some time.

One thing sony really over estimated is Vita while its the best handheld in the market and they had the best launch software wise where are the games? mostly it gets ports of ps3 games why can't 6 of their 16 owned studios just work on ps:vita and why can't they hire some independent studios to work on cool projects just for Vita. At E3 sony barely spoke about Vita.

I am not trying to hate on sony or dissing them or anything just saying its time to wake up and make the changes that are needed to be successful now and later. I know they can't drop the price since they will loose money how about this make one Uncharted bundle with 16Gb memory card and the system for $249.

Economy is tough people want value. Why you think people are buying Vizio TV's instead of better brands?

but let's also not kid our self sony gets us the most while Nintendo and MS have kind of left its core fans high and dry sony has delivered and with many more games announced already they are still delivering for the foreseeable future.

and all this talk of how their games don't sell well if each game sells one million plus and some do 2 or 3-4 than it all evens out. while MS has halo and 2 other games off course they will sell. you are comparing 3 games to 30 plus?

[Disccordia]

The Japanese are falling behind in everything. If the board went along with Stringers plans years ago Sony might not be in this mess. But they didn't want to take risks. Its also why Harrison had to leave SCE because the Japanese didn't think online and social products would be important.

Hopefully Kaz can turn it around but they need to adopt new philosophies and quick.

[Orionsangel]

Disccordia is right. Japan has a lot to do with it, but hardcore fans of Anime and Japanese RPGs don't wanna hear that. They're in denial. Holding on to their late 90's early 2000 memories of when Anime and Japanese RPGs were awesome. So for them Japan can do no wrong.

[Orionsangel]

They're not a bad company, but they have a long way to go in terms of catching up to Microsoft's Xbox. Sony's online service is primitive at best. It's very dated both in look and features.

XBL is a beast in terms of features. It really knows how to connect players in a fun and simple manner. It's like a party is going on in XBL and on PSN they're having tea.

One of the biggest dated features on PSN is having to install demos and certain games you buy. That's just ridiculous in this day and age. When on XBL all you do is download and play.

[jessupj]

Please enlighten me with why the PSN is so primitive and please tell me all these extra features XBL that you mentioned?

Last time I checked, dedicated servers were vastly superior to P2P, and sony has a lot of those for their games.

I'll take a smooth lagless gaming experience over cross game chat any day of the week.

[insomnium2]

@jessup

Me too but you have to realize that most of the players on these consoles are kids around 10-23 yo. Being social is the most important thing to people who still hang out constantly with their friends. That's why MS is able to charge money from these suckers too. They make their console a shooter console and as online heavy as they can.

It's probably the best move for them to have those timed exclusive DLC for COD. It is a dirty trick and it exploits both the parents neglecting their children and the mentality of instant gratification but my god it really works.

I wish Sony would take the same route and go agressive with it. It's been clear that you can't be too honest and pure since all that gets you is red numbers in today's world. People really don't care about anything these days and Sony as a Japanese company is struggling cause they don't have the balls to fight dirty cause Japanese are taught to respect other people and not spit in their faces.

I want my exclusive games so Sony bailing out of gaming is not an option imo. Gaming would be ruined. Sony FIGHT DIRTY. It works for MS. Make online gaming cost to people. Learn from MS and beat them at their own game. Don't let them buy their way to success. You are the only one who can do something to prevent it and since people don't care how you do it please fight dirty. All I care about are the exclusive games that puts you over others for me in gaming ever since PS1.

[avengers1978]

Sony comes out with some pretty good games so, yeah the understand gaming... They did motion controls, but most there motion games are regular games u can also use move with. The Vita is an impressive handheld that can deliver quality games. Free online. There sales maybe down but everyones sales are down.

[Jazz4108]

The next big topic for sony is why did bluray fail when sony has forced it on all its gamers and the very reason for mandatory installs and a very pricey launch console. Im not saying a larger capacity disc is bad for gaming but it just was a little ahead of its time to go main stream and proves ms was correct that it really was not needed other than a handfull of games. Sonys own exclusives could all fit on dvd9 if they were not trying to compensate for a slow bluray drive by repeating the same code over and over. I believe bluray has failed with only a 20percent share and most people getting there movies on demand putting blockbuster and soon to be netflix out of business if thet dont change there ways. Now for next gen MS got it right again by waiting on the tech to get faster so there next machine can have large storage whether it be bluray or a propritory storage without all the issues thd ps3 has suffered through which is why i prefer to game on my 360 more and why ms was able to stay very profitable this gen besides the 1 billion warranty extension. I also agree with the majority of the world thats not on n4g that live is heads and tails greater than psn and psn plus. Sony is the only one to blame for there issues as the competition in MS and Nintendo all are profitable in a struggling economy and sony as a company is a mess from the tv division to cameras to the entertainment division as they are even combining platforms now to try and make there sales look better but unfortunatly the stock holdera are not buying it and sonys value is sinking everyday from 200billion 5yrs ago to 12billion today. All i can say these articles will continue to be written for the above reasons and while sony is reorganizing or if they go bankrupt as either is possible but there will be alot of changes at sony including in the gaming division and i imagine less innovation and more replicating what the competition is doing right.

[nerdkiller]

why do ppl got to type so much you really think ppl here read all ur crap make a quick comment and move on

[avengers1978]

How exactly did blu-ray fail...

[EVILDEAD360]

This is crazy..173 comments..the first comment has 198 Agrees..and it's only 430 degrees total. Getting beat out by an article that has 24 comments on it? Lol..how does that make any sense?

It interesting to see some the the comments from certain individuals..but who cares..

No matter how you shake it no mstter what your feeling is about ANY of the companies' it would be laughable to claim Sony doesnt understand gaming.

It simply isn't true..

Sony understands gaming, but they like Microsoft and Nintendo they made some good moves and are learning from some of their mistakes.

Alot of people have strong opinions about what those mistakes are and many will miss the mark by a long shot.

The internet pumps a small sector of vocal gamers to bash other oonsoles with bullets that are simply a bunch of blanks in the real world. When those same blanks come their way...well you see the fire erupt.

In this case, as well as some of the blanks fired at Vita prematurely the strong reaction is warranted. Sony is and will for a longtime tyo come be a Super Power in the gaming world. This gen they just had to share a little of he spotlight with their competition.

But, it won't tarnish their great gaming legacy one bit..

Evil

[portal_2]

I read this earlier what a fail article.

[NastyLeftHook0]

yeah i know, remember...

like the website? NO

story? WTF.

[Old McGroin]

Yup, agreed. All current generation consoles have been on release for about half a decade now, sales will obviously start to slow because anyone who is interested in buying them probably already has one by now and on top of that new games/software cannot go any further because of hardware constraints. Sony, Microsoft and to a lesser extent Nintendo need to unleash the next generation soon as this generation began stagnating about a year ago.

Before I say this next part let me just say I have all 3 current generation consoles and I enjoy them all equally (well, the dust on my Wii is starting to develop dust at this stage!) but I honestly believe the only reason the 360 outsells the PS3 in some regions (mostly the US) is down to the Red Ring Of Death. I think parents in general are probably not clued in to the warranty offers for free replacements and so give in to their kids and buy a new one every time RROD strikes. Just a theory but one that makes sense to me. The reason the PS3 sales have slowed is because they're not breaking down. It's a common business tactic, make products that are designed to break after prolonged use so that the consumer has to buy another one generating multiple sales per person. Simple but effective.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Regardless there is like 5 weeks worth of sales difference between the 360 and PS3 LTD. He who really cares anymore is just showing how sad they are.

Sony understands gaming at the very least as much as Microsoft. Their sales performance vis-a-vis the more aggressive competitor is a testament to this. Sony has never left the core, even in its foray into motion gaming which it pioneered for Pete's.

[iamnsuperman]

I feel Sony have done a lot right with the PS3 and in some circumstances are actually the only ones taking risks with new ips. It started expensive with very little going for it but since then Sony have learn't and they have produced some of the best and innovative new franchises this generation (especially in a period where new franchises are few and far between)

The vita situation is interesting. I have longed thought that Sony should get out of this market because of the rise in mobile devices who are starting to produce some quality games or they start making their devices more than a gaming device. The problem with the vita is creating a system seller. Portable gaming is usually for a younger crowd and they need (people are going to hate me for saying this but if they want to shift massive amounts of units they are going to have to do it) casual puzzle/ brain training/ those types of games I am also surprised they do not try to get small mobile developers developing app games for the vita.

[extermin8or]

They have a few of those casual games coming, and the PS Mobile suite thing should help, also although I don't think it's needed just yet a price drop but sot hey are still taking some profit on each one sold would help; that said I think they are using a different business model for Vita; usually they use the sell at a loss make it up on software which takes a while but overall has now worked on ps3 thank god they didn't do this with vita or they'd be in even more shit than they are because atm it wouldn't have worked at all. However I love my Vita it's a shame alot of people seem to dismiss it without even properly playing one, just based of the support for PSP last gen and various prejudices.

[CommonSenseGamer]

I don't dislike the Vita but its simply to limited, I need a device that does more than gaming and no, Facebook and twitter support is not what I mean. I love having access to all sorts of apps like the imdb app, ebay, news, etc. I also love having a great web browser and being able to playback nearly every movie format without having to convert it first.

Will I ever get a Vita...maybe but not at the current price and not until something like Gran Turismo is released for it.

The day of dedicated devices are over for the masses. Just look at what smartphones have done to the portable music player and camera markets. Sure you can buy dedicated mp3 players and digital cameras but we're talking in the tens of dollars and not hundreds.

[extermin8or]

Tbf sony did say at launch they weren't targeting the mass market but the smaller market that want a dedicated device; I don't take vita with me unless I know I;m going to have time to play it and can keep it safe, I always have my mobile but rarely bother to play games on it (although i need a new one, mine has some issues so this may be why) however if I need to kill time and I want to play a video game; the dedicated device does it so much better than a phone or Ipad does. This is the difference I feel between Smartphones taking over the music player and digital camera market's to an extent. That said Ipod touches etc till sell fairly well because not everyone wants to fork out on the contract and price of a smartphone and the higher class of camera's for people that love taking photo's/do it fo a living still but the specialist camera's. A smartphone is very much a jack of all trades but master of none; excluding actually making phone calls :p

[Cocozero]

They are too concerned with gaining marketshare cutting price yearly and continuos redesigns it looking desperate now. They need to accept they will be 3rd and try to actually start making some money so they can survive next gen.

As for Vita I got a feeling even with those big holiday games it won't help it sell more, smarts phones are just more appealing and do so much more than just play games. If I were Sony I would drop Vita and focus on making the PS3/PS4 the best they can.

[MaxXAttaxX]

First it's too expensive. And now dropping the price is desperate?

You get a Vita to play games. I already have a phone and all I can do is play old games and crappy mobile games. Have fun NOT playing Vita and 3DS games.

[Mr-Dude]

Another one of this "PS3/Vita/Sony iz doomed article"? Serious?
Is it really so hard to find ANY other news?

You so called journalists should go stand in the corner and shame yourself... and then write an "professional" item..

[extermin8or]

Few less of these and they might do a bit better, there seems to be alot of hate towards sony this gen, some of it has been justified but I can't help but feel alot of it is just people wanting to hate something so going with last gen's most popular brand/company. (Seems a trend to hate popular/things that used to be popular- COD justified hate haha, EA not so much justified tbh and various others)

[mushroomwig]

This type of article was only to be expected after the number of other anti-Sony ones we've seen lately, it's like a virus.

[CommonSenseGamer]

This is eaxctly the same thing that happened with the 360 and RROD but MS turned that around. Thing is, MS at lead were seen to be doing something to address public opinion. Sony seem to be doing nothing except saying Vita sales are adequate.

[SuperLupe]

What is so "ANTI" Sony about wondering how the top dog for over ten years is now the one with the least success in the business this gen ?

So if Apple starts failing in the phone business, and we see articles on how on planet earth did that happen its an anti-Apple crusade ??

Its not because it hurts you people to see articles like this that it means its a conspiracy.

Since when is pointing out a giant failing, no matter the business, some kind of attack from some uknown soldier. It happens all the time, in every area of business.

Yes the truth hurts (for some people more than others, especially on N4G) but you have to deal with it. Sony goes from number one undisputed heavyweight champion to what it is today and you expect people to act like nothing happened ?

[tehpees3]

I thought they still understood gaming. I love my PS3 more than I loved my PS2.

[Bathyj]

Please, after 3 decades of gaming, Sony is the only reason I'm still doing it. None of the others care about me, they care about my Mum apparently.

[KMCROC54]

Where are you getting 3 decades from they have only been in the gaming industry for 18 years . now Nintendo has been around for almost 3 decades, Xbox has been around for 12 years .

[Bathyj]

I meant I had been gaming for over 3 decades.

[KMCROC54]

I GOT DISAGREE BY STATING HOW LONG EACH COMPANY HAS BEEN IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY, HOW DOES THE TRUTH MERIT DISAGREE. GUESS THE TRUTH IS TO MUCH FOR CHILDREN.

[SkullBlade169]

U mad bro?

[ConstipatedGorilla]

Hasn't even been 2 decades yet.

[Hicken]

... you come in four hours AFTER he clarified himself for those that misunderstood.

FOUR HOURS.

[DigitalRaptor]

And people say that the media doesn't have in for Sony. How many "doomed " "on their way out " hate articles in two days is that now? Idiots trying to get you to believe that select PS3 exclusives have been cancelled. smh.

Of all the companies, Sony is the one most dedicated to actually, you know, making games - ones that appeal to a broad range of gamers. Also , keeping in communication with their fans, offering them the opportunity to express their ideas and requests through the blog (which spurs on feature implementation and game creation such as the most recent PS All-Stars), opening up more avenues of choice for the gamer through services like PS+, free to play models and partnerships with forward thinking companies with similar end user goals like Valve. They always have done well for creating diverse gaming experiences too which is why articles like this are so bemusing.

Wanna know what I think? I think that authors like this are so concerned with their own hit-based agenda with their website that their view on what makes gaming great is warped beyond belief.

[chrisarsenalsavart]

120 millions ps1
170 millions ps2
66 millions ps3
79 milljons psp.
i think sony understand gaming pretty well.
and your stupid articles are based on nothing but bias opinion and where the writer s from.

Ps3 worldwide sales will overlap xbox360 s pretty soon.
Considering that for nearly 4 years of it s lifecycle ps3 was so much more expensive than it s rivals, +the terrible launch,+ the network hack+all fcking internet bashing. . . playstation is still standing and still going strong.

[thehusbo]

Well said.

[Patrick]

And see thats the thing, the PS3 has sold well, but I think this generation for Sony was mostly price mistakes and assuming what the consumer would spend. As well as the PS3 did, think about how many would have sold if it had come out $100 cheaper. It probably would be on top right about now. I know a lot of people that dont have a PS3 and didnt buy one cause they refused to pay that high a price for it and didnt see the value it had and has. First impressions are important, and the first for a lot of people to the PS3 was "To expensive, I'll just buy a Wii or 360" and they did, and a lot of people only buy one console.
Take my first impression of the 360, first off, I dont care for MS as a company and I will admit that. I didnt like them when I bought the first Xbox and I love the xbox and still have it and still play it. So, not liking a company doesnt keep me from buying and enjoying their product. However, in the beginning I was reading stories all the time about the RROD and the failure rate and due to that I didnt trust the 360 and didnt buy one and still wont since this generation is almost over. I own a launch 60 PS3 and a Wii. First impressions are important and price is just as much part of that as quality.

[Patrick]

And just for some of you that love MS. I also dont hate them either, so dont get all bent out of shape about me saying I dont care for them or like them. I still buy their products whether I agree with them or not. I base my purchase on Quality and value and in the beginning the Quality just wasnt there and now its just to late. Maybe next time with them.

[ajax17]

Considering the Xbox 360 has had a year head start AND the PS3 had a slow launch with the initial price being that high... Yeah being a few million units under the 360 isn't bad at all considering those factors.

[ceballos77mx]

@Chris.
don't forget the earthquake and tsunami that messed up the Japanese economy.

[kent80082007]

Do gaming journalists know what journalism is anymore?

[RandomDude655]

Nah, they didn't graduate high school, so they actually don't know what it means.

[MoonConquistador]

Lol@bathyj that could be a cue for so many funny replies, but you are right in what you say.

If I was a shareholder, I'd rather be in MS or Nintendo's side, but seeing as I'm a gamer, give me free online play, optional PS+ and the best selection of exclusive games available.

Oh wait, they already have. Thanks again Sony

[Bathyj]

Yeah, I never said Sony were the best at making money.

Just games and game machines.

[SuperLupe]

Yeah but if you make games and game machines and dont make money, well you become like Sega. Good at making games (well, at least back in the days) and game machines but still end up in the gutter.

It's a business, not a charity program. They need money, not sympathy on the internet.

[joeorc]

If playstation is making money, but the TV part is not where do you think the cuts are going? The tune keeps playing but you and others are just not listening. Sony's playstation is at profit, so why in in gods green earth would Sony make cuts in playstation?

[MoonConquistador]

Lol, I was meaning the bit about caring more about your mother was the cue for funny replies

[NastyLeftHook0]

they understand gaming so much they have the highest rated hd console exclusive, and tons of exclusive game of the year games.

[AtomicGerbil]

Do journalists understand gaming any longer?

[RandomDude655]

Why would they....they no longer even play the games they review.

[BeAGamer]

^LMAO

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Do they even understand journalism?

[goldwyncq]

Why do I feel that every journalist right now is targeting Sony?

[dubt72]

Because they should; it's a sinking ship.

[AtomicGerbil]

A little harsh don't you think?

Love or hate them, Sony have a rich history when it comes to gaming, beating them with a wrecking ball when they're trying to pick themselves up is way out of order.

If Apple or Microsoft got the same grief, there'd be anger and lawsuits on an apocalyptic scale.

[ConstipatedGorilla]

I'm starting to wonder if there will even be a PS4. When you're losing as much money as Sony is, how can you market an entirely new and expensive console?

[hennessey86]

Sony has made some of the best games of this generation and the last, hell I prefer my xbox 360 but to say Sony doesn't understand gaming is like saying Ferrari don't understand cars

[SolidDuck]

No kidding its like everyone wants Sony to fail. Is it just cause they were on top for so long. I don't get it. I understand they made way more mistakes this Gen. But do these journalists and people who seem to hate Sony so much really think the industry would be better without Sony. If they bowed out like Sega did, and it was just Ms and Nintendo. Is that what these people really want.

[Adolph Fitler]

Every journalist has been targeting Sony since about 2005-06. It has been the biggest media beat up of a company since........forever.
So Goldwyncq, to hear you say you feel every journalist is targeting Sony now, is an understatement.

Sony knows gaming best of the bunch......The problem is, Sony don't know how to cater to the lowest comon denominator, as they make games that are for gamers. They get less of the Angry Birds crap, & more of the WipeoutHD, so even PSN is riddled with full on meaty games, over 10minute hit-athons.

The sad fact is that the gaming world is changing for the worse, & developers have the platforms now to give us less of a game, to allow them the charge for the rest later mentality.
And people are cheap....cheap, cheap, cheap....cheap by name, cheap by nature......so they will buy the cheapest console, the cheapest games & the cheapest peripherals. It's the way the majority think. Sony, may have just gotten too sophisticated for the masses.

[MrBeatdown]

You have got to be kidding me.

First of all, it claims Sony is "far behind" it's competitors. It's true for Nintendo, at least in the case of hardware sales, but the 360 is only a few million units ahead. And you can attribute that lead entirely to the fact that the 360 had a one year head start.

Secondly, the author brings up motion gaming, and wonders why it took so long for Sony to jump on board. That's understanding gaming? Wii, Move, and Kinect's games don't do much of anything to show why motion gaming is the direction to go in. Move is largely irrelevant, Kinect hasn't proven it's worth outside of games in which you dance or exercise, and the Wii is seeing the sharpest drop off in consumer interest and is more or less an afterthought to the core gamer at this point. Sony doesn't understand gaming because they got into motion gaming late? Nobody in the industry even cares about motion gaming at this point. Not one third-party publisher has a noteworthy motion-controlled title in the works. Even Nintendo is putting it aside in favor of touch controls. So, Sony should have jumped on the ship before it started sinking?

Then there's the comparisons to Live. PSN has improved dramatically over the years. They've added in everything from the in-game XMB to cross-game invites. It's even been said by Sony themselves that they are limited at this point by the PS3 hardware. They continue to improve on the services front though. The PS Store and PS+ keeps offering more and more. What more is this guy expecting? Being limited by and having to work within the constraints of choices made six or seven years ago doesn't mean they don't "understand gaming". It's also rather pointless to overhaul PSN on PS3 when the next generation is right around the corner.

The only place where this guy even gets close to having a point is the PS Vita. But it's kind of stupid to say Sony should get out of the handheld market when the system has only had a few launch months and the summer drought to prove itself. The two biggest games, and the biggest season for the gaming industry haven't even hit yet.

But what's most important is what the article completely ignores. Sony screwed up and launched a $600 machine with "no games", that was a pain in the ass to develop for, a year after their primary competitor, and the machine didn't even offer background downloading. Look at it today. Sony made huge strides in nearly every aspect of the PS3. They made some big mistakes, and the competition threw everything they had at them, but Sony bounced back and the PS3 is as good as anything out there, both in terms of it's ability to compete on the market, and in the eyes of gamers. An article like this probably could have made a decent point six years ago back when giant enemy crabs were all the rage, but not today. Not after the PS3's turnaround.

[DanielBryan]

The Slashgear office area,moments before this piece was written...

[Brettman2008]

MrBeatdown

Yes, Sony have made huge strides in nearly every aspect of the PS3. But I think that their earlier mistakes were catastrophic and have hugely contributed to the rise of the Xbox 360 as a successful and profitable gaming platform. Sony has lost a lot of market share from the previous generation, especially in the U.S, and arguably don't have a lot of momentum leading into the next generation. I also think that blu-ray inclusion was an error as it delayed the launch and was costly.

I believe that a PS3 launched in 2005 with DVD and conventional CPU/GPU (at a reasonable price point) would have carried on the momentum from PS2 and blown away the Xbox 360, and, maybe the Wii as well.

[MrBeatdown]

That's what I mean. All those decisions contributed to their mess, but they were made in 2005 or 2006. Sony's still dealing with them today, but you can't use that as a basis for saying they don't understand gaming today. You have to look at what they've done since then. You have to look at how they've addressed their problems. In the case of PS3, they turned it around completely. It shows they are on the right track. They understood their problems, and did what they could to address those issues. That doesn't make me question whether or not Sony "really understands gaming".

[Brettman2008]

You make good points and they are now mostly on the right track. I do think that they don't really know what to do with the Move controller, and, I question their big push with first party games when Microsoft is selling about as many Xbox 360's with less first party games. The hard core gamers love the diverse range of first party games on PS3 but these games mostly sell less than the Xbox 360 exclusives, and, the hard core community seems to be diminishing as the number of casual gamers grow who wouldn't know an exclusive game from a third party game.

[ExCest]

If the PS3 released with a DVD drive, what would have happened? Then they would need to release two versions of their games. A blu ray and a dvd version to satisfy two groups of their consumers now. It would be dumb and costly to even think of such a direction.

blu ray was expensive but it became such a great reason to get a PS3

[Morpheuzpr]

I just wish the internets wouldn't have ruined gaming beyond repair...

[ChunkyLover53]

They more or less understand the hardcore gamer, the gamer that pays a premium for a console and likes hardcore games, what they don't really seem to understand right now, is that you need to attract more then hardcore gamer's to be successful. Casual's and families are both groups Sony had with the PS1/PS2, but they clearly lack those groups with the PS3. I know they tried to get the casual market with the Move, but they haven't really supported it. They are making a late push for families, but it might be a bit late for that.

Hopefully they release the PS4 at a competitive price, and hopefully they do a better job at having a machine that appeals to everyone right from the start.

[StraightedgeSES]

The PS4 needs to be marketed towards everyone like the ps1 and ps2.

[kent80082007]

Microsoft knows so much about gaming they invited usher to surprise gamers and bring their E3 presentation to a climax, they partnered with nike for a whole new gaming experience. Kinect is, of course, a triumph with a fine selection of well known hits. Recently they began to focus on tv service, music and movies because they know too much about gaming and they think they'll give the others time to catch up

[PLAYWATCH]

lol

[andron]

Oh yay, the Sony Doom articles return...

[Mkai28]

I think Sony is starting to understand saying, why did we buy up all these first parties? We have great exclusives but sales doesn't do good as expected. Maintaining all of theses first parties is getting expensive. We compete with ourselves with are own exclusives. We give the core gamers what they wan't, free online gaming. Yet are competitor makes millions off of they're own service.

We advertised that the PS3 is a Blu- ray player for the softcore and movie buyers. We made our console with the best hardware can buy in 2006. Our competitors have weaker hardware and have majority of the market. Yeah we understand gaming, it's not what the fans want anymore, it's what we want!!

[Brettman2008]

The Sony 'Doom' articles are returning because of Sony's financial situation. And, I think, because there is an element of disappointment that Sony has become just one of the competitors in gaming rather than the behemoth that dominated the market in the days of the PS1 and PS2. And when I say dominated I mean that they smashed the competition making mega profits and contributing to Sega pulling out of the hardware business.

[YodaCracker]

That's why I don't understand when people compare PS3 sales to 360 and act as if they have been about equally successful being only 3 million units apart. As though Sony and Microsoft started on equal footing this gen... They most certainly did not. The PlayStation brand name alone should have sold the PS3, and it did for the most part. But for the underdog in the gaming industry (Microsoft) to even come close to PS3 sales, let alone surpass them, is nothing short of a triumph. So when one is arguing that the PS3 is equally as successful as the 360 because of hardware sales, they must remember that the 360 has tripled Xbox sales, while the PS3 has cut PS2 sales in half. One company is just hitting their stride for a bright future, while the other seems to be on the way out the door.

[Xperia_ion]

More porridge *doom articles* please sir.

[Lucretia]

obviously they understand gaming. they are the only ones making new IP's. its been 4 years since MS made a new IP. and nintendo has their last 3 and only 3 new IP's this gen, xenoblade, pandora's tower, last story.

if sony was like MS or nintendo we would be playing kinect or wii motion type games, and playing the same games forever (Aka halo 50 and mario 2089

[Puddlejumper75]

Wii Sports is also new. I could name others but it's already been proven you are a senseless hater who will only respond with personal attacks and act like personal opinion is some how fact.

Truth is you only know of those games because you were crying about Nintendo not having any new IPS and people pointed out how wrong you were. There are more than that on the DS and 3DS but its a waste of time because you let your hate and ignorance guide you rather than pay any attention to actual facts.

Sony's problem is that they started out casual allowing anything on their console and then they got cocky and started listening to people like you about what the PS3 needed. Just like Nintendo did at one point and paid dearly for it..

Yes I'm sure you consider Barbie, Rugrats, Power Rangers to be hardcore titles but honestly they are casual games that kids enjoy and they forgot that with PS3 which is why its dead last now.

Now I'll await your amusing fact less and childish response that wont prove anything I said wrong because not a fact will be given and not a f*ck will be given by me about anything you have to say.

[Lucretia]

wuuuuuuu?????? wait so your psychic? :O holy EFF.

no moron, I have a wii, got it for 100 bucks when i worked at gamecrazy. fav game on it is muramasa Demon Blade and xenoblade.

dont be a douche. ur the one who was offended. Im not sure what side ur on, MS or Nintendo, but i just hope your enjoying your games. and hats off to you for pointing out im a child and love barbie and rugrats. so many things i never knew about myself.

the wii downstairs musta been my imagination lol.

fact is the wii had good games, just not alot of them, it had the same old mario, zelda, metroid. but for new IP's it wasnt many. I count about 20-25 good games on the wii, thats nothing compared to my ps3 library.

[jessupj]

Exactly.

I don't understand all this hate toward Sony when they're actually catering to the gamers and are the only ones bringing out new ips.

You would think gamers would be for the company that is arguably the only one for the hardcore gamers.

Crazy world we live in.

[PersonMan]

Here's the thing:

Sony makes games I actually want to play and their game library is very diverse.

Ratchet and Clank
Uncharted
Infamous
Killzone
Little Big Planet
Heavy Rain
Twisted Metal
The Last of Us
Beyond: Two Souls
The Last Guardian

They make games for gamers. Microsoft seems to make games for Kinect and Shooters.

[AO1JMM]

"Microsoft seems to make games for Kinect and Shooters."

Those are games for gamers as well LOL. Your BIAS attitude is showing...

While I agree with you about Sony being diverse I believe that being a gamer period you should be diverse and not limit yourself to one console manufacture. I personally play games on all 3 consoles as well as PC.

[PersonMan]

My point is... there's nothing that I want on XBox that I can't already get on PS3 or PC. Sorry. I'm just not at all interested in Kinect, Gears, Halo or Forza. None of that does anything for me. However, PlayStation is constantly coming up with new ideas and cool new games as well as having a rock solid line up of well loved games.

Xbox is winding down. It's old, it's slow and it's boring. I'd rather just get everything on PS3 or PC, because I'll have more games to choose from.

[JasonXS12]

I might be completely wrong on this but I think Sony caters to gamers. People who spend quite some time playing video games. Sony develops great games and great technology it is just that most consumers don't know the difference between technology specs and tend to go for items that are more advertised or cheap. Not many people enjoy scouring the internet for video game information about what's coming up next, most people just watch advertisements and Sony doesn't really advertise as much as Microsoft or Xbox does. I think a simple example of this is iPhones. Many people have iPhones because its simplistic and highly advertised thus its popularity, android on the other hand only gets recognition from large companies like samsung.
Sony understands gamers but not on the casual side, if they branch out to more gamers I would say that they would fare a lot better in conjunction to their competitors.

[ame22]

Yes yes, let's add fuel to the fire, more follow ups to the doom articles. Summer has been dry so let's go attack Sony that we all love to hate. Out of the three console manufacturers, Sony is the only company that currently understands gaming period.

[BlackSharinganX]

another one of these articles, really man, they have one almost every week lolll.

[RandomDude655]

More like every two hours....

[ginsunuva]

More than everyone else, at least.

[leemo19]

You don't get games like Lbp, Uc, Kz, Infamous, GOW, just to name a few and think Sony doesn't understand gaming. Those games alone show Sony still knows how to produce High Quality AAA games. Sony problem isn't the games, their the best when it comes to catering to all type of games for people, its advertising for those AAA games. Sony hasn't really advertise any of their top games like Ms does with theirs this gen. Sony needs to show people why this game is the best, why you must play this etc etc...

[BuffMordecai]

It is typically the weakest platform that sells the most for each gen unfortunately. Also this gen that proven that people don't mind paying for standard features, buying shovelware instead of actual exclusives, being raped by excessive dlc and in some cases on disk locked dlc, etc. I wonder how bad it will become next generation. If sony wants to do great next gen, I believe they should be the first out of the gate, lauch a great advertising campaign (having Kevin Butler back would do wonders), and keep on pumping out those exlusives.

[OldSnakePS3]

Sonys actually the ONLY company that understands hardcore gaming IMO

playstation and pc are the last hardcore platforms left
which is sad in this gen dominated by casual gimmicks and call o duty mappacks

[Braid]

If Sony does not understand gaming, could you please tell me who does? It's almost the end of the generation and Sony still has a killer line-up with The Last of Us, Beyond, GOW: Ascension and (possibly) The Last Guardian. With those titles coming up, you know you're in for a good treat.

[ZeV]

Does Microsofr Really Understand Gaming Any Longer

[TheGamingArt]

Sony is the only of the big 3 that actually "understand gaming". What a waste of an article. They obviously don't understand "business" but they by far get "gaming".

[sarshelyam]

Articles like these irritate me. They simply miss the mark on so many levels, often citing a bunch of numbers they think they understand to support an argument that has no legs in the first place.

Success is, far too often, measured by the monetary gains of a corporation. Nevermind the fact that the company has taken great steps to build a piece of hardware with their consumers in mind, often tailoring updates to the demands of that same fanbase, and supports the hardware with class-leading exclusives.

The bottom line is what the company is doing with this business model. While certainly not as aggressive as they were with the PS2, it seems Sony is solidifying their future by building relationships with both their partners and their fanbase, acquiring forward-looking tech and software offerings, such as Gaikai, and ensuring the stability of the future.

It's foolish to call a competitor a loser when there are only three participants in this console race. The Olympics would call that a Bronze!

[Bowzabub]

Do journalist understand foreign exchange? The U.S. dollar is so weak and the Japanese Yen is so strong. If it wasn't for the Euro being so strong and PS sales doing pretty well there, I think Sony would just pull out of the U.S. until the dollar regains it's relative strength. When you turn Euros into Yen you're all set.. When you turn the floundering U.S. dollar into Yen, you lose a lot of Yen. It doesn't take a brainiac to figure it out. Common sense. You do the math "journalists".

[StreetsofRage]

They have lost a lot of their fire with their ps3. Being a dual console owner, I rarely ever fire up my ps3. I own a few sweet exclusives on my ps3, but I own tons more sweet exclusives and multiplats on my 360. Microsoft has been beating Sony in almost every way this gen.

Sony came in too arrogant this gen. They'll be better prepared next gen.

[Mr-Dude]

What TONS of exclusives may i ask?

HALO, Gears, Fable,forza, rinse and repeat?

[AO1JMM]

This is an obvious Sony fan-boy thread if you look at the number of agrees vs disagrees.

On topic: Every video-game developing company "understands gaming"!

Why must we have a article like this every 5 minutes on this site?

[Someonerandom]

Because N4G's moderators have a biscuit for a brain and they approve these kind of articles.

[Someonerandom]

I'm getting rather sick of all these doom articles N4G posts.
Yeah, we don't care what you personally think about Sony.
So stop wasting space for actual gaming news!

[chrispen9]

PlayStation have given me the best experiences in gaming this generation.

Uncharted 2 (adventure)
Journey (indie)
Tales of Graces f (RPG) (not made by Sony but is an exclusive)
LittleBigPlanet (platformer)
inFAMOUS 2 (action)
Killzone 3 (shooter)
Heavy Rain (unique story based game)

They understand gaming just as much as other companies. What have I got to look forward to?

Final Fantasy Versus XIII
The Last Guardian
Agent
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Beyond: Two Souls

I love Sony because they are directing towards all demographics and they are giving me many console exclusives which have a great polish to them. They aren't making crappy Kinect "flailing your arms" games or completely relying on old and tired franchises. Many Sony developers make a new franchise per console. Naughty Dog moved on from Jak and Daxter to Uncharted. Sucker Punch moved on from Sly Cooper to inFAMOUS. They are a good thing for the industry because this is where innovation lies.

Long Live Play!

[Godmars290]

How come this is never asked of MS?

[b_one]

if Sony ends i will end my journey with games...
no sht, i wont jump in to some casual games etc.

[ZILLA]

THE LAST OF US!!

[smashcrashbash]

So just because they are having a hard time this gen that means they don't understand gaming anymore? So when Nintendo and Microsoft where being schooled by the PlayStation consoles that means they didn't understand gaming anymore? Because Sega's systems failed did that mean they didn't understand gaming anymore? The Dreamcast had great games but was a disaster. Did that mean that Sega didn't understand gaming anymore?

Microsoft made money off Kinect but most of the games are a bunch of crap. Does that mean they understand gaming or that people are a bunch of suckers? Nintendo makes the same game over and over again some of them getting more lazy and tedious every time (Mario Party 9, New Mario Bros 2, Mario Kart 9, Skyward Sword) Does that mean they understand gaming better or that people cling to these franchises relentlessly? .Is that understanding gaming or understanding how gullible your fanbase are?

[PS4OUR]

I love Sony, I really do. Its mostly because i owned a PS1 and PS2 so i grew to love the games.
Sony need to go back to its roots. They need great first party titles and streamline the PS business

4 things they need to get back on top:
An amazing online system.
A cheap affordable launch price (PS4)
Great first party titles
Advertise, advertise, advertise.

[mochachino]

With free online, the most power and multi-media features (for consoles, relax PC gamers), all the multiplats and a number of quality exclusives, I'd say Sony understands gaming more than any other console maker.

Playstation has been outselling all other home consoles world wide for a while, so yeah, Sony gets it.

What Sony doesn't get is TVs, phones, computers, tablets, home audio, etc.

[Neko_Mega]

Yet they are the only one will alot of titles coming out this year that aren't Halo.

[sugadaddy]

Last I checked they're the only one of the big three I'm still buying content from so...I guess they still know a thing or two. These articles are getting really old at this point.

[PhoenixRising37]

Words cannot describe how unbelievably tired i am of coming on this website and seeing 3 out of the top 5 articles being called something along the lines of "Does Sony suck ass?"

[gdguide]

Sony is still sticking to their hardcore roots, and it's co$ting them. But it sure isn't something I regret. It'll be really sad state of gaming if Sony falls out of the race because they didn't embrace cut down controls on smartphones and cut down experiences on something like Kinect.

iPhone gaming is a HUGE cash cow right now, but please don't tell me that touch screen virtual buttons are better than say than the PSP Vita control scheme. Apple understands better than anyone how to hype something and sell it to the masses while totally downgrading controls and other aspects of gaming. Microsoft did it with Kinect, and Apple have done it with iOS games and a touchscreen.

[Puddlejumper75]

LOL hardcore roots... Someone else who thinks Blues clues and rugrats are hardcore games... For ANY core title you can name for PS1,PS2 I can name 10 casual titles.. Seems the only people forgetting Sonys roots are the fanboys.

If Sony just announces a game it is instantly hailed as an instant AAA must own and any new game announced by MS or Nintendo is instantly garbage.

Sony fans are always good about bragging about unreleased games as "halo killers" or "Zelda killers"
then the games come out and fail to live up to the hype and forgotten about.

What happened to Lair?3D dot heroes or whatever?LBP was going to kill Mario and had to be cut to 29.99 or bundled just to reach 3 million. NSMB was over 20 million last time I looked.

If Sony is so awesome how come not a single exclusive can touch a game like SMG made on last gen hardware in review scores AND sales? Its still the highest rated exclusive this gen.
It's like a Ferrari just got beat in a race by a Ford Pinto and yet the Ferrari guys are still talking smack about how they won. It's honestly sad and really pathetic tbqh.

But we have these unreleased games that must be great cause they carry the Sony name..If a MS or Nintendo person called every unreleased game AAA must own they'd be laughed at.

That's one of the biggest signs on how bad Sony is doing. You cant pull up many real games that are out now just hopes and dreams.

[gdguide]

My point being I'd rather have Sony release a game like the Last of Us and sell 10 copies of the game and me play it than Sony focus more on releasing the next Angry Birds and selling 20 million units. I'm talking me as a gamer. Sony for me as a gamer has strayed the least out of Apple, MS and Nintendo in terms of games I want to play. As a GAMER, I don't care about sales numbers, I care about gaming experiences. While MS has thrown away partnerships and studios of games I give a crap about, Sony have stayed more on course. And it might cost them. Sony that is.

[unworthyBOZO]

Another lets rag on sony article, if only I had a nickel.

[IQUITN4G]

PS3 fantastic machine and Sony themselves actually but it's what Sony represents to me, a more ignorant type of gamer- those that were originally not likely to be into games in the traditional sense of what that was at the time. The Sony era is essentially like what apple is now while being obviously quite different at the same time. Nothing wrong with that as such but it tends to breed even more people ignorant on the subject for which they think they know a thing or two

The truth is gamers for the most were still not the smartest bunch anyway like anything in fact, but Sony broadened the audience so that it was so exceptionally bloated with even more idiots. Shouldn't makes any real difference to anyone but a lot of people look down their nose at Sony themselves for the very same reason people do of Apple now. A percentage of this Sony audience will have moved on simply because it was never really their thing to begin with

That time of Sony being hip just isn't their any more. The success PS3 has is largely built off a percentage of this previous audience obviously but I think it's starting to show that people are caring less- obviously not on boards like this. Sony always had this image thing over the competition but it's not something they can use now and better marketing etc is making all the difference MS side. I'm not sure how Sony can come back in a spectacular fashion

[phoenixdown]

So how come the PS3 keeps getting dozens of Exclusives every year unlike the Nintendo wii and Microsoft Xbox 360? Sony and Non Sony exclusives alike.

[IQUITN4G]

Xbox does have several exclusives though don't forget outside of disc release that do very well. How long can Sony continue to pump out exclusives if the return just isn't that great anyway compared to Sony's real gems. People right now champion so many exclusives but Sony and devs in particular wont be happy with sales as too the majority of that PS3 audience isn't either. Even harder next gen too

People kid themselves if they think Sony owners get giddy at each and every exclusive, with sales proving this anyhow

[Soldierone]

Just look at one thing here. How horrible was Nintendo last generation? Their gamecube was literally sucking at sales, it had no main stream interest, and hardly any (if any at all) new generation gamers have ever even played a Gamecube.

Now go to this generation and not a single company can touch Nintendo.....

All these Sony doom and gloom articles are stupid. the PS3 and Vita are selling okay, they are not bombing. Sony just needs to learn how to spend more money on marketing. Skip introducing a new disc format next generation, make the architecture a little more simpler to use, and find a way to keep costs down, then they will spend more money in marketing and be doing fine.

[Picnic]

Nintendo wasn't horrible last generation. The public were. The Gamecube was being sold brand new for peanuts only a couple of years in to its life. This was despite a very nice relationship with Capcom
allowing Resident Evil 4 and Viewtiful Joe to be released first on the Cube (and the Resident Evil remake remained exclusive). Not having Rare hurt a little but Starfox Adventures suggested that the Cube wasn't for them as much as the N64 was anyway.
Personally I found Super Mario Sunshine and The Wind Waker to be a little bit shallow but Metroid Prime and Paper Mario : The Thousand Year Door redeem the Cube and some nice little perfectly formed games like 1080 Avalanche, Eternal Darkness and Luigi's Mansion give the console its character.

[Soldierone]

I'm not saying it didn't have fans, but it wasn't selling like it was supposed to at all. Nintendo was rather dominate, and got killed by Sony and could barely keep up with Microsoft. The exact situation Sony is in now.....

An example of it http://news.cnet.com/2100-1...

Those same doom-and-gloom articles were there for Nintendo that are here today for Sony. IF Sony "fails" next generation, then yeah they most likely will take a step back, but its not as horrible as these articles make it out to be. Sony knows what they are doing and what needs to be fixed, just like Nintendo did last generation. If MS doesn't have their turn of industry dominance, then I expect it to be a battle between Sony and Nintendo.

[Omeganex9999]

I just don't understand haters these days. Sony is just investing in studios and new technology (Gaikai) and giving us a lot of new IPs... what about Microsoft's exclusive games? What about Nintendo's new IPs? I'm not a fanboy, I own all the consoles on the market and I use to play a lot with my Xbox 360, but I would just hate a world without Sony Computer Entertainment.

[StrawberryDiesel420]

Considering they had the foresight to publish a game like Demon's Souls in 2009 and M$ never published anything remotely close, I'd say they understand gaming a hell of a lot better than M$ or Nintendo even. SONY has released nothing but a huge slew of exclusives this gen that cater to all audiences, no one can logically disagree with that.

[PirateThom]

Sony understands gamers, but maybe not gaming as it currently stands.

They understand that gamers want games and supply them, but they are also failing to hit that mainstream gamer with theit titles.

Their games sell, but they don't really hit that CoD audience and, honestly, I don't care if that's the case or not. Sony make games for me, be it Uncharted, Gran Turismo or inFamous and, I'm selfish, so I don't care about other people.

[OldSnakePS3]

im consider myself a hardcore gamer (i play games from all
genres) sony is the only company that makes new ips (more than ninty and ms combined)
has diversity, quality hardware, and dosnt rip off the consumer (and the hd standard format)

some people dont care about the above things so to each his own i guess

[Yurtigo]

Yay another retarded article

[jjb1981]

Sony is awesome!

[Acquiesc3]

These Sony is no longer good/doomed articles are getting old. Yawn.

[MYSTERIO360]

I have no doubts that Sony will improve their game next gen, Sony buying Gaikai was a huge step forward for then in trying to gain ground in the Online arena.

Yes sony had some problems in the first 2 years of their launch but they have adjusted very well. Sony incorporating blu ray within the PS3 was always going to be hard task for any company to sell with a high price point. Hell MS tried selling HD-DVD with 360 bundles which sold miserably even before HD-DVD's failed.

Since blu ray is slowly growing around the globe due to the help of the PS3 (blu ray players are now cheap) it will help sony launch the PS4 at a more affordable price. Then and only then will we see how really understands gaming.

[Tsukuyomi]

Im sorry but is this Sony bash month? i mean everyday there is Sony gaming issues, money deficit, sales loss from PS3 etc, Vita is declared articles i mean cmon people loosen the fuck up your going to have ups and downs in business thats reality but not tryn to flamebait but you dont see nothing PUBLICLY wrong with MS who knows what their true problems are but journalists seem they must attack Sony and Nintendo time to time but really?

[Xenomorph]

What's with all these trashy anti-sony pieces? They are poorly written flame baits so N4G can get those sweet, sweet views for their smut.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

I am buying ps4..

[capcock]

Sony has amazing studios who makes amazing game, but sony sucks at advertising. 9 times out of 10 something by sony been released I don't even know. I don't like call of duty yet I know that black ops 2 will be released in november.

[Pintheshadows]

My temporal displacement device (tdd) worked!

I have successfully travelled back to the year 2008.

[chukamachine]

Strange really greenpowerz.

You have been on this site under so many names it's hard to keep track.

What did microsoft bring to the table with the 360.

1) Worst hardware evermade. rrod,disc scratching.
2) Pay for playing online the games you just bought.

I'm guessing you were a previous xbox 1 owner and hate sony for destroying it with the PS2.

Microsoft spent millions on both advertising and rrod replacements, all 6 million of them.

I'm mainly a PC guy.

But the amount of hatred poured at SONY amazes me.

All they have done is bring out great hardware, and great software.

of yeah green.

Most newer titles run and look better on the PS3. Multiplats.

Exclusives on 360 do not come close to PS3 graphics, you know this to be true.

But please green, let me know the multiplats that are better graphically then PS3 exclusives.

Infamous 2 kicks the hell out of all 360 games and it's openworld. lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Another killzone3, has the best lighting fx, best water fx the list goes on.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Uncharted 2/3

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Think i've proved my point.

Best games with the best graphics.

[Menchi]

I wouldn't dream questioning Sony's know how of gaming, they're MORE than adept at showing us they know how to make some excellent games, and they're one of the biggest supporters of fresh, new IPs this gen.

However, what they aren't good at, is marketing, or understanding consumers attitudes and they seem vastly out of touch with what gamers want in terms of features.

[IQUITN4G]

Not all Sony exclusives are exceptional games though which is clearly evidenced by the fact that they're not bought as much as the real gems like Uncharted. Infamous and Killzone series are certainly far from crap but they're also not the best games either. Many of Sony exclusives aren't in fact with multi games proving often better. Sony will abandon the idea of so many exclusives translating to better sales of their machine if things don't start to change

I think the thing to also remember here thinking back to last gen was that a good percentage of folk back thought that PS2 had better graphics. The difference beteween the tech was considerable compared to what we have now and frankly people don't notice a difference between the two. Personally Gears 3 has moments of total gorgeousness that i remain very happy to have this supposedly hugely inferior machine

[refocusedman]

Why does everyone think that Sony has lost touch with gaming? I think that's a ridiculous question. Did anyone ask this question when nintendo completely abandoned all of their long time fans with shovelware on the wii. Or did MS show that they have the pulse of gamers when they introduced kinect or gave u the option to watch things like espn or netflix on your paid xbla account as long as you are currently a "paying" member of the same service. All three companies have their pros and cons, and if sony doesnt understand gaming anymore can anyone definatively state that MS or nintendo does?

[IQUITN4G]

There just wont be any real difference next gen either making the argument even more pointless. Fact is people outside of places like just don't notice or care about stuff like this

[CLOUD1983]

"It’s a similar story on the mobile side where Sony’s PlayStation Portable appealed to some gamers, but eventually couldn’t quite match Nintendo’s DS."

WTF! this dude say here? "appealed to some gamers" ~.~
hei retard PSP sold 71.4 million (as of September 14, 2011) Worldwide, is he sane when he suggest SONY to exit handheld market? PS VITA might not sell very good for now but the same thing happen with PS3 and now it's just 2-3 million units behind xbox and in JPN & EU continue to outsell xbox month after month, and no1 can disagree that VITA is the most strong & beautiful handheld that the gaming world have ever see, it just needs a few really strong exclusives games & a price cut after that the sales will skyrocket I'm sure.

I also believe that SONY didn't handle VITA very well, just think there isn't even 1 JRPG on it yet, so how they expect to sell it on their own country? imo there is some game franchises we haven't see yet on VITA & they can make the difference & draw some attention like:

Gran Turismo (GT is always a MUST for every PS)
TEKKEN/SoulCalibur/Dead or Alive/Virtua Fighter (good 3D beat m up)
Monster Hunter
a good exclusive surviving horror game Resident Evil/Silent Hill/Dead Space or some other..
GoW
GTA
Killzone
a new exclusive Demon's Souls/Dark Souls
InFamous
& last but the most important for me personal a lot & lot & lot of good old traditional JRPGs (turn based ofc) JRPGs was the reason a lot of ppl start playing on PSP & still use it just for that purpose alone for old school triple-A JRPGs because we all know how dry was PS3 on those kind of games...

Anyway let's w8 & see better to discuss this in 5-6 months from now.

[TheLastGuardian]

Sony understands what gamers like me want more than any other company. I have eighteen PlayStation exclusive games currently pre-ordered and only 3 multiplatform games. Sony publishes more games these days than most if not all other publishers and a vast majority of these are high quality games. Sony is the greatest console manufacturer as well as the greatest video game publisher of the past three generations.

[swat_teem]

-_- i am tired of these articles

[ziggurcat]

another anti-sony article on N4G... surprise, surprise, surprise....

[Clarence]

Another bull$h!t article. Being that Sony is showing up for gamecon and M$ isn't, I think Sony still knows gaming. The PS3 has sold faster than the 360. Had the PS3 released at the same time as the 360, it would be well ahead. If you want to talk about handheld M$ doesn't even have one.

Also the PS3 has been outselling both the Wii and 360 this year.
Trust Sony knows gaming, casual and hardcore.

[NeoTribe]

All I know is if sony fails like dreamcast the gaming world is gonna take a shit. All you will have is xbox rehashed exclusives, as few as they are, and nintendos new underpowered gimmick machine. Ofcourse there's always pc I suppose. Nontheless innovation would be shat out the window and you would prolly see nothin new.

[urwifeminder]

Alot of people just have the attachment to sony cause they were teenagers when it was on top, i remember when cds came in i was gutterd thinking that it was the death of vinyl but it still is around in some compacity so dont get to sad times change things get left behind..

[TheSaint]

Have people forgotten about the early XBoX's? It's like no one remembers the 80% failure rate, the only reason they have sold more consoles is because people had to buy three each.

Sony are in last place but one quarter or even one generation of bad financials does not a crappy company make. Remember the utter domination of the PS1 and PS2? Nintendo struggled when those were out but they survived and even thrived this gen.

Lets wait until PS4 and the 720 are released until we decry the end of one or the other company.

I own both consoles BTW and I honestly believe they are as good as each other but in different ways.

[Omnislash]

As far as gaming goes, yes.
Sony is the only one out of the 3 that is doing the best service to gamers.
Nintendo hasnt released any new IP's since Pikmin I believe.
Microsoft is keeping it safe with their same IP's from last gen and moved on to the casual crap with Kinect, not to mention that they charge 60 dollars every year for all of their customers.
Sony is the company that is moving gaming forward by exploring new IP's that will continue on with the next gen.

[olLANDSHARKlo]

Something that is noticed, is how the $ony fanboys in every article have to compare them to MS, or nintendo. $ony has exclusive that are boring and too much cutscenes and not enough gameplay, and the online feels broken. Xbox live feels like a community. Christ Halo sells more copies than all $ony exclusives. Writing is on the wall $ony, good riddance. would like to see apple replace them in the console arena.

[OooHJohnny]

Yeah... buying the same overpriced product every year and paying to get Youtube on your console... yeah... dumb sheep...

[BaconBlitz]

Far too expensive for what customers were getting.... what? Bluray players at the time were around 1000 bucks. You were getting a pretty good deal.

[TotalSynthesisX]

I'm not a PlayStation fan, but I'm seriously getting sick of these articles. I can only imagine how annoyed you PS fans are at this point.

[ikral]

I dont care for Sony, but they produce great games!

[Adolph Fitler]

The fact is, everyone has & is entitled to there opinion on game taste & such......it's there money to spend on the games, so ultimately they make the choice....

But just remember this with your BS crap about Sony not understanding the business.
This is how the masses think for example, on PS2 & Xbox 180, Fitty Cent Bulletproof sold in masses, whereas Okami sold so poor the developers were dropped like a hot rock by Capcom, numerous Fifa sequels were sold, while Ico sold like crap, Madden 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, ALL sold like crazy, often to consumers who had the same 3 or 4 games with different year no's behind, while BG&E suffered absolutely dismal sales.

So, does this mean Clover Studios, Team Ico, Cambridge Studios, Zipper Interactive, Sony'sLondon Studios, Double Fine, Free Radical, Oddworld Inhabants, & every other unbelievably good development studio that has either totally gone under, nearly have, or have suffered embarrassingly low sales on brilliant games, thanks to the casual mindset, does this mean they too do not know there a$$ from there elbow when it comes to games & gaming?

These so called experts, game journalists & Sony hating fanboys love nothing more than hoping for, & preying for doom & gloom for all things Sony, you'd think Sony Corp had hired assassins to murder each & every ones family members (which would be a Godsend, as these morons would be cut off, so the human race could better evolve, due to there deaths disabling there ability to pro-create).

The simple fact is that before Sony came along, the biggest console was the SNES (a great machine by the way), by biggest I mean 60 million big, as in 60 million install base.......impressive numbers without doubt, especially with pre-concieved notions that consoles were played by 250 pound, bi-focal wearing, zit-faced pre-teens that were forced to re-locate there bedrooms in granny's basement out of embarassment to the family name. Console just gave off that stigma, they were for kids, & not for adults, unless said adult was not the full quid, or weird.
When Sony entered the fray with PSone though, it shattered that stigma & playing consoles became far more mainstream & acceptable, as evidenced by the fact that Sony went up against the former 2 dominating forces in the market, & blew both out of the water in a devastating fashion with 120 million+ PSone's sold. Double that of the former sales champ SNES.

Now Nintendo got obliterated by Sony back then (& they deserved it for the whole CD add on fiasco & how they screwed Sony bigtime, & messed Panasonic around too), So Nintendo were in trouble far worse than Sony as far as there slippage from SNES to N64, & the only reason they survived was thanks to the Gameboy.
So, Sony have a good chance of bouncing back & seem to have learned from there mistakes with PS3, as they have openly stated they are using/used developers advice & help for PS4's design, to make it more developer friendly.

[Adolph Fitler]

Sony are my favorite out of all three for a reason, & that reason is the awesome games. From GOW, Killzone, Resistance (another great, but underselling franchise), Ratchet, Wipeout, Motorstorm, Twisted Metal, Unchartered to MLB, they just have EVERY genre I enjoy covered with if not THE best, equally best titles.

Sony revolutionized gaming when they arrived on the scene, no matter what opposing fanboys say. They single handedly brought in the 3D gaming era (when Nintendo still wanted to stick with catridges & games with a palette of 3 colors, like Mario64), they made a machine that played CD's, as well as your games, had software akin to pc titles in Music creators, & the machine was made to throw as many polygons around as was feasable at the time.
They offered a machine that also had unparalleled 3rd party support, as well as 1st party high quality titles in abundance, to the point that my best description of PSone was basically a SNES & a MD/Genesis rolled into one. Which meant PSone offered all the usual bog standard 3rd party titles in varying heights of quality ranging from MGS AAAA+ quality, to Fantastic 4 ZZZZZ- sh1te quality, as well as the 1st party highest quality stuff like Wipeout (which is akin to that Nintendo F-zero/Mariokart quality) & the Crash Bandicoot (Sega Sonic/Nintendo Mario-esque quality), & down the rungs of the quality ladder (which as far as Sony 1st party games, didn't go down that many rungs on the quality ladder).
And because of this Sony juggernaut business model, they dominated for 2 gens straight with 2 of histories best consoles ever, in fact I like many, consider PS2 THE BEST console ever made, & it's 150million+ sales are testament to it's greatness. (I must say though, & I will no doubt get grief from fanboys over this opinion, I also consider PSone as THE BEST console ever, as I see PS1 & 2 as kind of one......I probably hold PS1 in the higher regard, as it was solely responsible for not only my best EVER gaming experiences in RE2, Tomb Raider, Abe's Oddysee, Rollcage, Wipeout2097, Burning Road, Motorhead, Syphon Filter, GT, MGS, Jet Moto 2, Crash Bandicoot, Bushido Blade, Tekken 2, Soul Edge (the true innovator of weapons based fighting, that was unfairly awarded to it's DC sequel), MotoRacer, Tobal 2, Twisted Metal, Driver, Heart Of Darkness, FF7, Fear Effect, Medievil, & the list just goes on of legendary, or forgotten gems that the 1st Sony console was responsible for donning.

[Adolph Fitler]

PS2 had it's absolute classics as well, but PS1 just gave me my 1st taste of true next gen (for the time), 3D gaming, that made the need for arcade visits redundant, given the fact we finally had a machine that offered the full, proper & sometimes superior, arcade experience on your home television. Being in my low 20's & being more easily impressed & such helped PS1 be held on such a high pedastool. It was just right place at the right time, given I'd being playing catridges with sprite based, sidescrollers, on NES, SNES & MD/Genesis (as well as more obscure Intellivision & my beloved, awesome, & underated MB Vectrex), for 10 or 12 years, & all of a sudden I'm introduced to this new polygonal based 3D era, & some of the most iconic games ever made thanks to this new innovative, revolution & evolution in game architecture, visuals, audio, video & FMV story innovations. It was a major game changer & the neccessary way forward in gaming, & sony were at the forefront of it.

So PS1 introduced me & others of my, or a similar era, to all these new major REVOLUTIONARY game related feats, as well as being a CD player with visual companionship in the way of polygonal based visual effects that were impressive & offered something different & new in a home console, in that it felt like you were getting more bang for your buck & getting something useful & never before seen.
Then PS2 came along & upped the ante with DVD & CD playback, so now DVD's got the real shot in the arm they desperately needed & we got a home console that had the best 3rd party support, as well as the already huge & awesome, but still growing, 1st party game range Sony had in the stable, & also we now had a DVD player in the house (previously unaffordable tech for most, myself included), as well as CD playback once again, & not only that, an unheard of & still not replicated FULL back catalogue of games, due to the fact PS2 had the parts inside to make EVERY PS1 game work on it without hiccup, fault or other emulation associated problems (& this is why most probably regard PS2 as THE greatest console of all time, as it was a PS1 & PS2 built into 1, thus ensuring that it launched with literally thousands of games ready to play).