160°

Microsoft VS Sony, 4 Years Later | STFUandPlay

Torrence Davis of STFUandPlay writes, "Just 4 years ago on January 20th, I posted a story at thebitbag.com in regards to Kaz Hirai and Aaron Greenberg having choice words to say about each others flagship consoles. Looking back at what was said, it’s quite comical on both fronts. At the time, Microsoft was well ahead of the Sony console worldwide. Kaz Hirai was confident that the Playstation 3 would not only catch up in sales with the Xbox 360, but would maintain the lead through the end of the generation."

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stfuandplay.com
Snookies124103d ago

I wish there didn't have to be a competition... Although that's just business I suppose. I think both companies have a lot to learn in quite a few departments, but overall Sony and Microsoft have done pretty well this generation. Microsoft kinda kicked things off for quite a while in the first few years of the generation, and Sony seems to be sending us off very well as we come upon the next-gen hardware. Either way, I can't wait to get a look at the next consoles, despite being more of a PC gamer personally.

showtimefolks4103d ago

you are 100% both did a lot right and some wrong and both should learn from this gen to make a their next gen console/online stores much better

competetion is good for consumers IMO.

sony came into this gen very arrogance and full of them self. when developers complained about ps3 being hard to develop for they said we are not here to make development easy. but they learned and had to come crashing down before getting up and learning from the bad experience

i think both ps4 and xbox720 will be great systems and again i think it will be a 2 horse race like this time around. Until Nintendo can get consistent 3rd party support i have my doubts.

TronEOL4103d ago

It's kind of funny because it's Sony's arrogance that hurt them in the beginning, and Microsoft's arrogance that hurt them in the end (not as bad as it hurt Sony, mind you).

But I have a feeling they both know where they're going with their next consoles. Maybe it's just me growing out of it, but I feel it'll be a more friendly go next generation. Like they'll both fight for gamers' attention, but they'll understand where they stand in regards to each other. Understand their strengths and not try to play their weaknesses.

FullEffectGaming4103d ago

I find it funny that every time this type of talk comes up everyone wants to dismiss Nintendo. Regardless of which console you prefer or support it was not a two pony race. I love how people are in denial about Nintendo trouncing on MS and Sony with lesser tech. At first it was Nintendo was going to fail and now when they came out on top with sales everyone wants to dismiss them like they didnt count. Regardless of how you game or how much you game gamers are gamers period, and consoles are consoles. There where three choices this generation for gamers to chose from lets not be in denial. Each had its positives and negatives while learning from both to better the next generation.

The type of games you make or their resolution don't determine who goes against who. Case in point it was three indie games in competition with so called AAA games for game of the year this year. Which many outlets chose those indie games over the AAA titles for game of the year. Point games are games consoles are consoles. Doesn't matter what what does or how it is achieved.

If you want to argue the facts Nintendo came out on top as far as sells go. But if your a real gamer then all of this who sold more who is better crap wont matter to you cause you have games to choose from and consoles to play them on. What should be talked and celebrated is the fact that you have many great choices to chose to play your video games on. Each console offers something different and unique. So who cares who sold more cause you didnt get that money.

Snookies124102d ago

@FullEffectGaming - Well, I didn't include Nintendo in my comment simply because this article was about Microsoft and Sony...

I very much enjoy Nintendo just as much as the other two. :]

Funky_Homosapien4102d ago

I completely disagree with you ...Competition is good for consumers that is the number one thing you learn in business class...competition is great for innovation and pricing. Shame on you.

dcbronco4102d ago (Edited 4102d ago )

Competition is good for consumers, not businesses. That's why there is no real competition. No quality brand really under-prices another. You may have certain situations like gaming where cost dictate. But the reality is that in our day to day lives there is little competition when it comes to product pricing. ADM is more the norm. Prices are fixed one way or another. Since the early 1900's.

It's great if it's real. But it is rarely real.

user39158004102d ago

Keeping a neutral mind its always a healthy method to all we do. Knowing facts are great and understanding the meaning its innovative, but failing to realised facts its just another way to fail, for history repeats itself. Wii was great for invetment, wii-u its a disaster, xbox 360 its the healthiest of all the consoles, but its entertainment division its holding them back, 360 has made the most money for us investors, but we hate the entertainment division cause it drains our bottom line stock. Sony did well to come out of the hole they were in and now has finally become profitable, problem is vita still drins the bottom line. PS3 and 360 comparing them its a situation of healthy stocks cause PS3 has better game support from first party, but failed to maintain healthy profits. Overall, if we look at this gen and ask who won, we have to say all 3 survive, although this gen is not over. Big N made the most improvement when it goes to share, but has droped inmensely today and I see it strong in the handheld department but consoles diminishing. On the other hand, Sony will do much better with PS4 and 720 will be their nemesis, the trend I see is whats been all alone, Sony ps4 not yet out will be strong and 720 will be similar while the wii-u will be a failure for investors.

otherZinc4102d ago

@Torrence Davis,

M$'s 360 has a 13+million console sales lead over the PS3 (according to the most credible organization of sales tracking; NPD).

The US consumes 2/3rds of the entire video game market!

The rest of the world being only 1/3rd of the video game market; how and when can 1/3rd ever be greater than 2/3rds.

People need to stop reading sites with ZERO Business Knowledge, Period.

I'll say this again:
When SONY Announces they are the World Sales Leader for the year with their PS3 Console to its "Shareholders", then & only then is it believable.

SONY is so ashamed of its sales numbers, they wont even respond to the Industry Leader & Standard "NPD Group"!

Mikeyy4102d ago

You are trying to use U.S. only sales data to make a false argument.

World wide they are neck and neck.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4102d ago
GribbleGrunger4103d ago (Edited 4103d ago )

'If Kaz were to see his quote now, what would he say?'

He'd say I told you that's how it would be. PS products have 10 year lifecycles. When he talks about the end of a console generation, that is what he's talking about. Why is it so difficult to understand when we've seen more proof than we need and Sony say it every generation. How many consoles will Sony have to keep on the market for ten years or more for people to suddenly realise they mean it? Ps1 10 years, PS2 12 years, PSP 8 years (and still selling). I'm sure when the PSP hits 10 years and the PS3 goes on to sell for 12 years, people will STILL not quite get it.

If Sony telling people in no uncertain terms that they have ten year lifecycles isn't clear enough, surely saying 'it's a marathon not a sprint' would give people a clue. It's just incredible that the confusion persists. It's almost like the industry don't want it to be true. Sorry, but it is and at the end of the PS3 generation, Kaz will have been right. For something that doesn't matter, it's certainly getting a lot of mileage.

Urusernamesucks4102d ago

He would say what you want him say? Not suprising.

RogueStatus284103d ago (Edited 4103d ago )

I don't really like Kaz Hirai. Maybe I'm to used to guys such as Miyamoto, Aonuma, Iwata, and Tezuka Aka the god fathers of gaming.

HiddenMission4102d ago

@Rogue
You do realize that Kaz has been with Sony about as long as gaming has been around. You do realize he has been a gamer his whole life and that he unlike Miyamoto had to work his way into the gaming sector from the outside to where he is now.

Kaz is great oh yeah Ridge Racer!

SignifiedSix4103d ago (Edited 4103d ago )

Starting to get sick of these articles. Both are great innovative companies with great consoles, hardware and software.

Cant we all just get over this crap and be glad we have these great companies competing with each other?

They all make the world go round for us and i sure as hell am happy about it.

If SONY or MSFT didn't exist, we wouldn't have our uncharted's, halos, grand turismo's or forza's. All great games we enjoy. Lets just cut the crap now and be happy with the greatness we get!

fourOeightshark4102d ago

If there was only one console to choose from we would still have great games that innovate because publishers would still compete with eachother.

black9114103d ago

Someone Do a Article about what 360 sales would be without the RROD fiasco.

Karpetburnz4103d ago

Also I would like to see an article about software sales between the two consoles.

Many people still believe Xbox 360 software sales are higher than PS3.

vishant1014103d ago

software sales totally depend on what game it is for example cod sells much more on xbox then ps3 due to xbox leading in USA but ps3 sells much more of titles that appeal to rpg/story fans also games that have had a japanese cult following sell alot more ps3 i.e DMC overall in the end the list would be skewed due to the fact that bundled games also count towards software figures but digital ones do not

juandren4103d ago

A comment I made earlier (with heavily inflated numbers for the 360):

Let's say, for arguments sake, that Xbox 360 is currently at 80 million sold and PlayStation 3 is at 70 (which we all know not to be true). 30% of those 80 million are somewhere in a huge pile of trash. So that leaves 56 million. A maximum of 5% of Sony's 70 million is in the trash. That leaves 66.5 million fully operational.

BanBrother4103d ago

Meh. The inflated RROD sales thing got old years ago. Why not factor in the amount of peoole who got an RROD and bought a PS3 because of it? Or those that were just plain turned off the 360 altogether because of the RROD. Or the fact that most of them were repaired for free, so no further purchase was needed. Also, lets factor in PS3 YLOD and Blu-ray reading errors.

My point being, both sold what they sold because they earned it. You can't pick and choose who benefitted more or less from many factors.

The *insert console here* sold more in this region due to inflation, and possible extreme climate fluctuations hurr durr. Disagree all you want, just proves who is more one-sided than the other :-)

juandren4103d ago

Uhm... If people bought a PS3 because of RROD then that is more sales for the PS3 - increasing the PS3 install base. You know you're actually just helping my statement right?

Karpetburnz4103d ago

PS3 YLOD was nowhere near as common as the RROD.

Game Informer did a survey on console failiure rates and the results were appauling, Xbox 360 had a failiure rate of 54.2%, and 41.2% of Xbox 360 owners consoles failed twice. PS3 has always remained at 10% which is an acceptable level.

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

BanBrother4102d ago

@juandren and Karpetburnz

Wow. I know damn well tne 360 has a higher failure rate. I'm just pointingmout the fact that people always only consider the factors that favour their possibly fanboy opinion.

I own every console, but to think the RROD helped sales 'immensely' is naive. It would'not have failed so badly in Japan as well, as they have strict quality standards.

Again, I'm not picking sides, but clearly you two and quite a few others are. Now disagree with your nerd rage all you want, just proving my point. Also, if the PS3 has such a large install base, wouldn't that seem even stranger that a lot of games sell better on the 360? This is logic speaking, not blind fanboyism.

HiddenMission4102d ago

@Ban and rest above

It's been documented that in the 1st two years 70% + of 360's died. That is the time frame that had the 360 ahead by 8 million units. Since then Sony closed and passed the gap plus keep in mind that it took around 4 years into the 360's life cycle before the failure rate went to acceptable levels.

With those things in mind the 360 has been behind the PS3 since about 3 years in...many 360 consumers just don't understand basic math.

If I have 10 rocks sell you 5 and those 5 break. I then take back my 5 broken rocks and make 5 more rocks that I this time give to you. This would equal 10 good rocks not 15.

It's simple math a replacement is not a new sale...like I said above the 1st couple of years if your 360 RROD you would have to buy a new one because MS was too crooked to give you a replacement. It's these resales that MS counted as new...but 360 loyalists ignore this simple math.

Getting to the main topic Torrance David the writers OP has been partial to 360 for a long time now. At the end of the day MS only really brought competition in the online space with XBLG.

Next gen cross game chat will be on every console. With the media services being more commonly used...if PS3 is any indicator of this trend next gen media services will still continue to lead on a Sony platform.

As for the gaming side Sony has more 1st party developers than any of the big 3. With the hardware rumored to be more off the shelf PC parts and dev friendly 3rd party support will start to swing more evenly than this gen.

Finally we come down to the hinge which is who will own the online distribution of gaming...with the purchase of Gaikai it's become pretty clear that Sony will be leveraging the integrated services to give them once again a competitive edge in the gaming space.

Now some like IGN might say that it's about doing more than just being a gaming devices...and in a way that's true but at the end of the day games are what sell consoles not all the extra features. It's those extras that help you to stand out from the pack.

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210°

Microsoft Seemingly Closes Bethesda France

As part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people

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insider-gaming.com
Hereandthere6h ago

Microsoft should have left them stay 3rd party

GamerRN3h ago

If they are let go, they can be whatever they want. They ARE 3rd party now... 🤦

Barlos1h ago

Yeah, they're also jobless.

PassNextquestion6h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much

Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region

blacktiger3h ago

that's a shame for you to say that, i'm sure Elite loves hearing what you just said.

Profchaos5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.

I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games

Tacoboto5h ago

It's France too, there's a high likelihood only 1-2 people on the team even had an Xbox.

Profchaos5h ago

Possibly guven all the leaks we know the Xbox brand is really struggling in the region.

Yi-Long2h ago

Well, if your consoles and games are barely found in any stores any more, of course you're gonna struggle finding consumers ...

XiNatsuDragnel4h ago

Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo

Profchaos2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

I think it would have been better for all parties really especially gamers

TheColbertinator3h ago

The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.

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110°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg7h ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos6h ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola2h ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

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280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple10111d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref10d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde10d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander197210d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville10d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff218310d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos10d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 10d ago
isarai11d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref10d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan10d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis0079d ago (Edited 9d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander197211d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

11d ago Replies(3)
Einhander197211d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

11d ago
11d ago
Zeref10d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde10d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander197210d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander197210d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier10d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto10d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff218310d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto10d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 10d ago
Hofstaderman10d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts10d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts9d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic10d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

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