DAN SEITZ:
I don’t enjoy writing articles like this. I own a PS3 and I actually think Sony did a lot right this console generation once they got past their disastrous launch. I was deeply skeptical of the PS3 when it first launched and then Sony turned around and made a console that was easy to fix and had a lot of streaming apps.
On the other hand, sometimes you have to read the writing on the wall. The PS Vita has officially become an albatross around the company’s neck, with it and the PSP combined selling a whopping 1.4 million units worldwide last quarter. That alone was enough to drag the gaming unit to a $45 million loss this quarter.
This is just the start: Here’s why.
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Still a fair even bet they'll, since in every case they did more than simply try and sell a game console, they'll do so again. Though they're just as likely to at least break even this time around with the PS4, given that tech in general isn't high priced or at a breakout stage.
If it doesn't sell well in the holiday period, with a big title such as COD, then it is in trouble.
Also, if we see a PS3 remodel at GamesCom, I don't think PlayStation will have much to worry about for the next year.
When you look at the games coming out this holiday season for the VITA like Assassins Creed, Call of Duty, Playstation: All Stars, Madden NFL 13, FIFA 13, Little Big Planet, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and Street Fighter vs. Tekken, its a no brainer that this system is going to sell. I haven't really liked the last two CoD games, but I am definitely intrigued by CoD on PS VITA.
Lastly, with services like GAIKAI and PS HOME, and the fact that Sony owns the rights to a massive library of music (Sony BMG) and TV shows/Movies (Sony Pictures Entertainment), Sony has got to be one of the best positioned companies in the world to be able to take advantage of the digital age. Sony actually led a group of investors and just purchased British owned EMI Music for $2.2 Billion. Once Kaz finishes what he has started, Sony will be the company that everyone is excited about as opposed to Apple.
Gaming ecosystem has been changed drastically for the industry, so it's not constrained to Sony Playstation only.
Like it or not, we're in a transition from current traditional console gen to tablet gen. Just don't believe me now, but it'll be more obvious from 2013-2015 where 28nm multicore SoC GPUs coming up to finally reach Wii U/PS3/x360 graphic performances that leads to console/tablet hybrids (PS4,x720?)
From that point further, all "traditional" consoles/devices will be virtually R.I.P, cloud gaming and tablet wars will be the next big thing.
.02 cents
I hope you are wrong.
First because I like owning my physical copies which I can lend to friends, carry around, touch, smell and even sell if I no longer want 'em. And it requires online... Don't get me wrong, I buy stuff in the online services, I use online communits, play online, but I don't want to be required to be online all the time, signing a bunch of agreements to use every game... And I don't even think internet access is anywhere near what's needed yet, specially considering that many of us play for 3 to 4 hours a day and most internet services have a cap.
Secondly because I don't care all that much for portable gaming... In fact I believe we'll always want a home gaming solution despite portable devices eventually getting on the same performance level. I don't know if the console market model will work forever, maybe a more PC like (upgrades) solution take over in two or three generations... But tablets? I don't think they are even trying for the same market.
We already heard this nonsense 6 years ago.
He contradicts himself by saying that Blu-ray didn't sell the PS3, when in fact PS3 helped win the HD format war and "theater nerds" as he calls them, got a PS3 for movies.
[QUOTE]: "This isn’t just Sony’s problem: Microsoft’s got this one even worse"
Yet the flamebait title says otherwise.
Also, who cares if you sell at a loss, it's called loss leader, it's a business model that razorblades use as well as tons of other industries, the author Dan Shitz doesn't know shitz about business.
Also, the entire reason Sony and Microsoft are waiting 8 years to release another console is so people would definitely be sick of their old console and be dying for an upgrade. Seeing as how Danny has a short term memory, all previous console cycles were 5 years, not 7 or 8.
Who is to say the next generation Playstation won't have heavy emphasis on digital media or cloud gaming? Danny use your brain, the increase in digital media won't render the PS4 dead, we already have digital media - it's called the PSN and XBL, where you can buy and download games at your whim. If you're a person looking for this service it is already available!
Also, publishers aren't "drying up". Japanese devs will continue to make the same games that turn huge numbers, like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid and Devil May Cry, they aren't going to ditch that business model and stick to mobile, that's just crazy and stupid.
Voted Down!
No hit from me, just another crap article (practially an opinion blog) on N4G.
Next!
The fact is, no successful console manufacturer (as in, one that has more than one generation behind them) has EVER gone out of business after one bad generation. Nintendo got spanked 2 gens in a row with N64 and Gamecube, and look what happened to them. Microsoft got beaten with it's own arm when it came to Xbox, and look where they're at.
This article is just grasping at straws.
A few mistakes this gen will mean a lot of ironing their plan out so it's smooth sailing for next gen.
The doom and gloom for Sony is based on the companies health. I wouldn't contribute it to the PS brand at this point since that is a healthier division. But as a company Sony is on the verge of bankruptcy. And it is getting little help from gaming which used to be a very good source of income. If Sony continues to have a bad year it will mostly go into bankruptcy.
I disagree with a lot of the article. Blu-ray hurt, but on price in the beginning and it may be the cause of all of Sony's problems. But the PS3 streams too. Most consoles are sold at a loss. In the past. I don't believe that will be the case this generation. APUs, SoCs and small die sizes will change that. I believe the next consoles will be sold well under cost. Apples not a factor as that is a different market. Publishers are dying but indie, small developers and the availability of Live and PSN, plus things like Kickstarter will open new doors for more people. And the man users will move on because besides the Wii, people bought consoles for games like Halo, Gears, Uncharted and CoD. They are the games that sell the majority of systems and new versions will only be available on the next generation(for the most part).
The author might ultimately be right. But he has the wrong reasons.
oh, and there are no doom and gloom articles for Microsoft because they have around 50 billion sitting in an office somewhere.
On the other hand, Sony has been reducing price on the PS3 to gain market share, but it's pretty much a standstill. Now their gaming division's situation is worsening due to slow PS Vita sales and major contraction on PS3 sales after a price cut.
Nintendo is also on a bad quarter, but theirs are due to future investment on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS not lagging sales. I'm pretty sure they too are making a profit on each Wii being sold and soon breaking even on 3DS.
Everyone conveniently forgets that PS3 has outsold 360 since it launched, and has been more expensive the whole time ... and 360 had a year head start.
PS3 also gave us free online gaming this gen, way better exclusive games (not even f'ing close now ... hell they even made our PS3's 3D F'ing Blu Ray players.
Sony is fine in the gaming dept. Still selling PS2s and PSPs for crying out loud.
Though all of Sony's problem started with that Blu-ray player you love so much. That barely sells any copies. It sells movies to the gamer crowd because of all the summer action movies. But it is not big in the mainstream and that is what it needs. DVD still owns that by a ton.
And while the 360 was winning sales last year Sony released 6 of those big exclusives. No effect what so ever. Sony should probably break off Sony Entertainment(movies, music, gaming) and give people stock in that and take the rest private of sell it off.
I don't want to be that guy but this "Microsoft is used to fighting Apple and you’ll notice they’re bracing for it with SmartGlass and the Surface. Sony, though, has no weapons and now that it owns Gaikai, making a dedicated gaming machine may be less compelling if you can just work your gaming into your TVs as a feature" is just plain dumb.
Sony are not going to implement their games in to their TVs as it would kill Sony's biggest division (Sony are not stupid). However Gaikai could be used in TVs to make a demand service similar to Netflixs that also can be introduced into their console. I am not sure what person buys a PS3 (or any console) just for its ability to download movies.
Priceless.
"Sony are not going to implement their games in to their TVs as it would kill Sony's biggest division (Sony are not stupid). However Gaikai could be used in TVs to make a demand service similar to Netflixs that also can be introduced into their console. I am not sure what person buys a PS3 (or any console) just for its ability to download movies."
Sony is not just only going with "just the Playstation" to sell Playstation Game's now!
That's what the transition they started in 2007 is all about. Look at the Mobile chipset's are capable of, do people not get that?
Those chips are going into TV's, we are talking chipset's that handle DirectX 11+ shader Model 4+, The Idea of the Game console is to sell software for the Living room right?
That's exactly what many companies other than just Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are going to be doing. At least all three and since we are talking about Sony , right now is being proactive in avoiding the fate like what happened to their dedicated PDA line of Handhelds that was Absorbed by SmartPhones, now dedicated PDA's are pretty much gone except in areas of store's for POS, shelf restocking, etc.
the main consumer went on to Smartphones, Look i doubt anyone really thinks deep down game consoles will completely go away, though what the game console in the future may not resemble what we would call a game console in the traditional sense.
in this 5 reason's he posted this:
"As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, there’s distinct financial pressure on Japanese publishers especially to abandon the console business to the West and just turn out mobile games. That pressure is just going to get more intense. If the Ouya or something like it takes off in Japan, that pressure will be overwhelming."
And Yet out of the 3 companies who is selling the most Smartphones right now?
Nintendo does not make any, Microsoft has not done very well, but that may change with Windows phone 8, but Sony has been selling over 7.2 Million Xperia line smartphone's per sales Quarter, they now Have the Playstation Mobile software platform. that not just only works on their own produced Hardware but also other companies hardware.
Sony for the first time ever will be making in house 1st party development studio's making mobile Playstation Games for the Playstation Mobile software!
That means Sony 1st party Games running on 3RD party Hardware not even made by Sony!..do people not get that?
they are doing that for a reason! the PSVita will run the Playstation Mobile software, that also means it will not only run those games but its own software.
1 - Out of the big players who is doing the worst financially?
2 - Out of the big players who has lost the most out of their previous install base?
I personally don't see the Playstation division being toast. What i do see is a whole new restructuring process and the acquisition of Gaika is one area that will change their direction going forward. The days of creating a game console that is closed off and using exclusives to carry it is not where the growth is. These so called hardcore gamers who post on forums hating where things are heading are the minority now. That's why they are so vocal. What they fail to understand is both casuals and hardcore can co-exist. There shouldn't be these barriers where cloud gaming, social gaming, motion control gaming and so forth need to be categorized.
We've already seen console gaming adapt to things like adding Netflix, online multiplayer, online stores, indie titles and so on. So you either need to adapt to todays times or get left behind and the hardcore gamers are the hardest to convince that change is necessary.
i dont think you quite understood the article. The upcomming war is the fight for the living room, not for the core gamer. TV makers, Apple and MS are all vying for power by implementing the necessary technology. Sony are doing what theyve been doing the last decade, and tho i DO think it will work for them 1 more generation, i think theyll be hopelessly behind the generation after the next.
Casuals outweigh core gamers by ALOT. Software developers WILL follow them if a strong userbase is established by one of the aforementioned companies.
And even still most of these points have been debunked several times some of them years ago (physical media is dead oh noes) Ignore people.
Consoles are always sold at a loss hence the licensing fees added to a console games price, "Well said" my ass , otherwise consoles would cost the same as PC hardware at launch , thought that would be blindly obvious , but I suppose ignorance is infectious when your favourite toy is criticised.
The other side of that is what happened to Microsoft with the first Xbox. Neither Nvidia or Intel would give them a break on the price of parts so the original Xbox cost MS more than it could sell it for later in the generation. The 360 has to be making well over a $100 per Premium unit now after the die shrinks, combining of parts, shrinking parts and removing parts.
now its under $12
so not much loss in next gen
ok microsoft showed sony they could compete this gen after the spanking from last gen which was a huge lost for microsft over $4billy jeans this gen they lost over $3billion on xbox 360 but there always in the black but to sum it up microsoft adapted and turned those losses into investment which is what you see here today xbox 360
its now sony's turn to adapt and turns the losses to investment alot of losses were from r&d of the cell $4billi and the blu ray theve won a format war which everyone thought was gonna be beta all over again so thats good investment they get royalties for every blu ray sold now if they can do something with thw cell
Tablets, smart TVs and streaming is the future. Deal with it.
What's the last thing Jack Denton said at the end of e3?...Sony is always looking for different ways to bring you games and media""
A month later gaikai. Bye bye hardware hello cloud.
Anyways yeah Sony really is in bad shape but they can turn it all around I don't think the playstation brand is going anywhere at least not for one more gen and depending on how the PS4 does.
PS will evolve, and maybe go in directions we won't like, but as a brand it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
So you are telling me after Sony dominated with the PS1 and obliterated the competition with the PS2 then everyone of course it just made sense for the PS3 to just fail outright like that right.....
It's not like Sony themselves didn't think they were going to dominate again right they just thought it would be fun to launch a year later and at a $600 price point right.
Of course not anyone with a brain predicted it would sell like hot cakes again seeing the fan base it had and how popular the playstation brand was. But like I said you can't talk sense to fanboys.
Its funny how you try to mock ppl and say they're wrong when its quite the opposite. The PS2 era I must admit was dominant, but thats the exception. You obviously dont know gaming history. Oh how they quickly forget Xbots running amuck with claims of the DVD9 destroying Blu-ray. Yet, Blu-ray dvds, players, etc. are in high demand. Even rumors of Xbox720 using Blu-ray is hilarious to me.
I remember similar situation with PS1. Nintendo laughed at the idea of disc based games. Questioning if it was cost effective, and making outrageous claims. BTW, who uses cartridges still? Exactly. PS has been the underdog quite a few times. I see these comments and I can see these trolls salavating out the mouth at the idea of Sony ending forever. Two words. Never Happening. Nintendo , PS, and now Xbox are not going anywhere. Each console has its pros and cons. N4G has always been a breeding ground for pompous trolls who make up so-called facts to help their argument. If ppl say Sony's through, I'll be here to post at the launch of PS5, Xbox1440,and Wii Them saying I told you so.
Seriously, he uses the word "Albatross" at least 6 times.
Nothing is more important than stopping Apple.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
O.o
Cause as far as "toast" as in "doomed" goes, so not true.
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no credible sources = didnt happen and no credibility.
Another garbage article written by 'some one' about 'some thing'
You cant even buy Cds in stores anymore. If you listen to anything besides mainstream, like metal, you have to order them online now. Now that is pretty crazy. Walk into a best buy or target and see what I mean, because you cant walk into record stores anymore... because they don't exist now . And all the Indie stores that are still around will eventually be gone entirely.
Now take a look at all the gaming stores and gaming sections in big box stores. Gaming is doing fine. They just need to introduce a new console to get people excited.
With shareholders expecting more and more profit Sony is going to have to sell each system at profit to be successful.(Thank Apple for this problem...)
It would be great for the next PlayStation to be high tech and powerful but it also needs to be easy to work with.
(And cheap to make.)
As long as Sony has a mountain of fans the PlayStation will sell.
As for Apple, I think its not possible to stop them because they keep making profits and have already eaten as well as degraded gaming as a whole.
Anyway... the PS3 is fine. Nothing wrong with it. It still has the best games.
Enough to buy thats fun IMO although Sony needs to get the games into higher gear and bring more exclusive content one wants to buy a PSVita for.
I can't understand how it hurts your hands to play it though, it feels really good, much better than the original PSP and close to a controller, except for the fact that obviously its not as ergonomically shaped as console controllers.
On the article though, Gaikai in combination with Sony TV's might be a way to escape the console cycles and have losses on it.
Microsoft doesn't have to, they have a better revenuemodel than Sony with XBL and are better in keeping costs down on 360 production. Plus 360 is profitable since a long time already. They got no own TV label to put some streaming service in.
PS4 most likely will get out there in 2013/2014. It might be the last real console for Sony though.
I also played Rayman Origins and while that was fun, it hurt my hands extremely because I almost always had to have a trigger pushed down to run and it cramped my hands after only a few minutes of play.
I also played Gravity Rush, but it didn't float my boat. Sorry to disappoint you with my opinion, but the Vita just isn't the right system for me. PS3 is 10x better and I don't really need gaming on the go.
The hand hurting thing the same, if you experience it, that sucks and is too bad. I have yet to experience my hands really hurting though. Although portable systems never has been as comfortable as home console controllers to me.
I do question myself if you make a good comparison though. You compare a PS3, out since 2006 with those hundreds of games to a handheld thats just out a few months. IMO one should wait a bit more to have the games come out. Maybe the system is nothing for you ATM, but will overtime. I mean... Things could change. Well not the hand hurting ofcourse, if that stays lol there is no use for PSVita for you.
Agreed on the swiping stuff in Uncharted and other games, this is always what one sees with launch games that use new functions of a device, its Sony that wanted it in there to show what all the touch could be used for too bad.
Honestly, I respect Sony for giving all the PS3 users free services.
I can assure you that Sony are making a lot of money from PS Plus that is needed for the stability of their company.
PS Plus costs the same as Xbox Live, i got mine for a year which was about £40. The only difference is that PS Plus is not compulsory.
A significant percentage of PSN users probably have PSN by now. Its a good service.
They NEED to charge for online soon.
They NEED to start being realistic with sales goals
THEY NEED TO MAKE MONEY....
This company is broke dick right now.
always amazes me how dumb people are throwing away money.
haha suckas
If we are unlucky, it will release in 2015. There is still quite a bit of power in these machines that can be squeezed out
So we are suckers for waiting on the ps4, anyone that watched sony's e3 conference and isn't a complete retard. Would easily see that the games are still looking better and the lineup isn't drying up anytime soon, so where does the gotcha part come in.
I guess i could make a dumbass statement calling nintendo fans or ms fans suckas for waiting till holiday 2012 and holiday 2013 for their respective consoles.
But you seem to have already proven how worthless such a statement like that is.
or they are just ignoring the very change in this part of the Industry.
Remember when 3RD party Developer's only made their main game development for just the PC and Game console's only?
Well that's no longer going to be the Case!
Look the Game console market is not going to go away anytime soon, but the underlying problem is it's no longer like it was. The change is happening right now and Many companies are not going to ignore it.
you may not want to hear it but it's true.
when every company that makes TV, and Smartphones and Tablet's has Game engines from 3rd party development publisher's that were only mainly going to make their games only for PC's and Game console's are now making those very same Game Engines for Smart chipset's that are going into consumer electronic's that 10 years ago could never run a game so advanced! , what do you think is going to Happen?
the consumer will buy a smart TV soon which will have a game controller, that has chipset's in the YV that support Advanced APi's for Hardware that can run in every day TV's that produce result's that 10 year's ago could not have been done very cheaply, Now it can.
SMART TV's
SmartPhones
Tablet's
over 90% all are running the ARM Cortex chipset's
it's now developing into a platform all it's own for game development and distribution. You do not think DEVELOPER'S that make games are not going to flock to that?
Than you should not be shocked when you see every TV
http://blogs.arm.com/multim...
take a close look at this PIC a very close look
http://forums.arm.com/index...
who's now supporting Linux
http://www.escapistmagazine...
I think as the parts get smaller, the consoles will too. I think the generation after the PS4 and 720 will be in tablet form. I think Surface is a test platform. To see what is viable in that form. Putting a i7 in a tablet will help them understand the heat demands, battery life and introduce MS as a tablet maker. There is no real reason to have a tablet if you're MS really. It's not like OEMs have been moving away from Windows and they need to push the OS.
Taking the leaked documents and different things they have been working on into account leads me to believe that is the direction they are going. They bought Skype, they design their own APUs, they hired writers for original content and are looking for an exec to run the department, they are working on VR goggles, they are working on cloud gaming and they added IPTV to Live. Add an HMDI out and your 1420 goes everywhere.
I think the Xbox 720 will
2011 actually saw the Xbox 360 as the number one world wide selling console, the Wii was number one a lot of the time world wide before that. The best looking games thing really is your opinion, though I think Uncharted 2 probably is the best looking game this generation.
Highest rated by whom? Nintendo actually has some really highly rated games this generation, Mario Galaxy is higher rated than Uncharted, so its really more opinion then anything else.
These types of articles are a little redundant though, we haven't even heard anything about any of the next gen consoles aside from Nintendo's Wii U.
If it were a myth, almost all the developers wouldn't be saying it. Sony intentionally made the PS3 more difficult to develop for so that at the end of its cycle, there could be more power squeezed out. The Xbox 360 is simple to program for, its using the same basic method as PC's use. Which is why its almost always the lead console.
If you've ever looked at the dev kit instructions for the Xbox 360, they are a hefty sized booklet, but the PS3 dev kit books take up a whole drawer. Its like saying the Sega Saturn wasn't difficult to program for, it was unknown to developers at the time.
Why would developers make a totally separate game for the PS3 version? It sounds like your saying its not Sony's fault for going with a more difficult piece of hardware to program for? Had Microsoft went with difficult hardware and the Xbox 360 fans complained as much as PS3 fans do, people would blame Microsoft.
The Cell was one of Sony's mistakes this generation, you cant expect third party developers to make a totally separate game for the PS3 versions of their games, especially when its so easy for them to make Xbox 360/PC versions.
Its the console makers responsibility to make a piece of hardware that is accessible. I don't know how else to say it, but the proof is in the pudding, the PS1 and PS2 were great consoles and lead consoles on 90% of games, because they were easier to program for.
Hopefully Sony learns from its past and makes the PS4 easy to program for. Then, there wont be a reason to complain about it.
I don't know about Sony, but journalism is dead.
PS3 and PS Vita are still $249+, it's my opinion that most of the sales will be made at under $200.
The price point at launch deterred those types of gamer's as well. Hopefully Sony learned from this generation and can apply that to the next generation. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft all need to be in the console business, people don't understand that what happens to one, will affect the others.
No matter how much you say you like one brand or hate another, you have to be intelligent enough to realize that we need all the console makers that are around right now.
The VITA is supposed to bring down Playstation.
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