700°

PS4 Pre-Orders Easy, But Predecessors Near Impossible on Launch Day

TheHDRoom: "E3 2013 is nearly three weeks old and now a memory. Not a distant one, yet, but fading with each passing minute. With the big Microsoft and Sony media briefings came the first PS4 pre-orders and Xbox One pre-orders, and both are still available to lock into today with just a few simple key strokes on a computer.

It wasn't always this easy."

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thehdroom.com
Gamesgbkiller3945d ago

Unless Sony showed more launch games at Gamescom & TGS.

Jaqen_Hghar3945d ago

a writer is not saying there's less demand just that online shopping has made it easier and guaranteed launch day delivery keeps people from having to stand in line.

yeahokchief3945d ago (Edited 3944d ago )

thank the lord baby jesus for granting us the almighty amazon.com and its little baby $3 release day shipping and no sales tax. $407.97 This is one of the most inexpensive console launches ever. It's gonna be HOT.

I'm predicting they'll sellout and you can put it up onsale online for at least $600 for christmas. ima keep mine tho. screw it.

pretty sure this is going to be the biggest console launch in history and will trump the ps2.

irepbtown3944d ago

Demand is definitely there, the great thing is; now there's no need to wait in front of a store on a cold winters night. You could be making one click and have a PS4 guaranteed by Amazon for launch day delivery.

abzdine3945d ago (Edited 3945d ago )

did you even bother reading the article??

The writer compares old generations where it wasn't possible to pre-order a console online it was hard to be guaranteed to get a console day one and people were forced to camp for days in front the shops but now thanks to the internet things are much easier.

DeFFeR3944d ago

There will still be dorks camping... and at least one asshat who smashes them in the parking lot.

3945d ago Replies(1)
Xof3945d ago

Definitely at TGS.

So far, we've -ONLY- seen Western launch games. It's silly to think Japanese developers will sit this one out.

For example: every single Sony console thus far has had a Gundam game at launch. The big Gundam development studio and Bandai (the fine folks who brought us Senki) haven't released a game in something like 3 years. So odds are they're working on a PS4 launch game.

nnodley3944d ago (Edited 3944d ago )

Not trying to start anything, but I've read/heard from multiple sources that Sony still has 1 maybe 2 more launch games to announce and that will be at gamescom more than likely. And then TGS they will announce the Japan release date and some launch titles only for Japan since a lot of games made in Sony's first party japan studios release there first because they are focused for japan audience.

lilbrat233944d ago

Online might be the only way to preorder. My local Best Buy and gamestop no longer have preorders as of right now it might change later.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 3944d ago
Soldierone3945d ago

I still remember camping out for my PS3. Its the only reason I want one at GameStop instead of Amazon. I want to go stand in line and talk with people again.

We had to wait in line not only to buy it, but to pre-order it. GameStop said when pre-orders would start, and people were standing in line the day before to get one. Then on launch all those people were there a day or two ahead, and then 30+ more people even though GameStop said they only had 15 or 20. lol

pixelsword3945d ago

I had to camp out 3 or four times because they ran out. I was pissed because, if memory serves, I asked each one if they were going to have it and they each said yes.

Soldierone3945d ago

The funny thing is, I left GameStop then went to Bestbuy to get some sale thing (i think they had controllers on sale for launch) Walk in, and a shipment literally just came in. Walk down the PlayStation aisle and 3 PS3's were sitting there, the BestBuy guy goes "Do you want one since you were here first?" I go, "no already have one" while in my head going "why the eff do I not have an extra 600 dollars right now!!!!" lol

Within seconds a bum rush goes by me to get the last 3 and the employee goes "thats it, we wont have more till next week. Sorry"

It was like that for about a month. They said they had one, couldn't hold it for you for some reason, then you arrive and couldn't find it. I was trying to help my friend get one so we could play online.

madpuppy3945d ago

I remember standing in front of gamestop (it might have been EB at the time) on a cold november night around 11:00 hanging out talking and waiting till 12:00 to pick up my launch XB360.

Funny thing, not one person there was under 35, it was just a bunch of men and I think one guy was there with his wife.

that is why I laugh when people say games are corrupting kids, it looks more to me that adults are in the majority.

P.S. XB360 was the worst consumer experience I ever had with a piece of electronic hardware in my life. damn thing was like the Yugo of electronics.

Soldierone3945d ago

You are so lucky. The GameStop I went to was stupid and made us wait till the morning it opened to give it to us. I don't remember the excuse, but we couldn't get it until 6AM. I remember seeing the GameStop employees eating over at McDonalds, then taking their sweet time to open the store lol (I don't go to this GameStop anymore)

Then I go home and the news reports that it was one of the coldest nights the state had.

T23944d ago

Haha great stories , andthink this was to get the 649 (cdn) launch ps3 which supposedly sold poorly...
Imagine the rush to grab a 399 ps4 .... Sony will need millions for the first month alone

madpuppy3944d ago

It's funny, but, I live in central FL and that night back in November 2005 was freaking freezing out. I was thinking to myself I left New York so I wouldn't have to deal with this kind of weather.

Funny, now I appreciate the cooler weather here in FL.

Talamak3945d ago (Edited 3945d ago )

I remember getting the PS3 bundle with Motorstorm about a year after the initial launch...at least I believe that's how it went if memory serves me correct, it was an 80gb phatty w/ backwards compatibility...it was cool because I was in high school and just started working at Wal-mart, so I knew when they'd come in

mydyingparadiselost3945d ago

I was working at Wal Mart too when it came out, I didn't pick one up but I still remember there being a collection of people waiting for it overnight. They were even able to get a TV from electronics hooked up to play Mortal Kombat until the wait was over. Good times.

Darth Gamer3945d ago

Too funny. Memories of the PS2 launch came flooding back after reading that article. I waited in a huge line in a mall in Rochester NY to get a chance at coming home with a brand new PS2 for hours. It was funny though because the mall security wouldn't let us wait in the parking lot before midnight. There were tons of us there. So, everyone had to get back in their cars and hundreds of us headed across the street to the local supermarket parking lot and filled that up quickly. We all waited there until about 30 min to midnight and as soon as one car made off to the mall, we all gunned it to try to get a front spot in the line. It was chaos but I was able to snag one in the end.

As it turned out though, I brought it home with a buddy of mine, hooked it up and played till 5 in the morning on SSX. went to work the next day 2 hours later and after a full day, I went home to play more, EXCEPT, MY PS2 WOULDN'T TURN ON AGAIN!!!! I went back to the mall two minutes later and by a stroke of luck, they purposefully didn't sell two units in case there was a broken one. I snagged a second and loved it for many years.

abzdine3945d ago

i got my in Paris Champs Elysées in Virgin Megastore shop, it was black of people and PS2s were stacked in height!! it was crazy people went berserk to get one

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

Sitdown3945d ago

Picked up my 360 on a snowy night, good thing it was at a Gamestop in a mall. Despite being #7 on the Gamestop ps3 preorder list, I did not receive it until a week later in the 2nd wave. This go round got both preordered at Amazon and both as backup at best buy....socially I will miss the lines, but physically I won't.

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280°

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

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

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
ChasterMies13d ago

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

just_looken13d ago

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

Cacabunga13d ago

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

just_looken13d ago

@car

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

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

Redemption-6413d ago

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

Huey_My_D_Long13d ago

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

Einhander197213d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

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

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

FinalFantasyFanatic13d ago

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

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

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 13d ago
DivineHand12513d ago

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

Joe91313d ago

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

Obscure_Observer13d ago

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

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

S2Killinit13d ago (Edited 13d ago )

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

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

Joe91312d ago

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

S2Killinit12d ago

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

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 12d ago
Christopher13d ago

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

CrimsonWing6912d ago (Edited 12d ago )

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

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

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

S2Killinit12d ago

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

Abnor_Mal13d ago (Edited 13d ago )

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

Christopher13d ago

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

just_looken13d ago

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

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

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

Einhander197213d ago (Edited 13d ago )

Christopher

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

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

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

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

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

FinalFantasyFanatic13d ago

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

romulus2313d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218313d ago

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

S2Killinit12d ago (Edited 12d ago )

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

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder13d ago

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

crazyCoconuts13d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

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80°

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

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

blackblades19d ago

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

just_looken19d ago

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

blackblades19d ago

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

just_looken19d ago (Edited 19d ago )

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

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

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

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

Oh all the above last 12 months

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

Kaii19d ago

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

280°

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

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

Read Full Story >>
gamesindustry.biz
S2Killinit21d ago

Big victory for Sony. And a long time coming.

DarXyde21d ago (Edited 21d ago )

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

Make it Bloodborne 2, please and thank you.

21d ago
Profchaos21d ago

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

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

Pyrofire9521d ago

Patents suck. Most of them are complete garbage.

Knightofelemia21d ago

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

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