Sony’s showing at Gamescom back in August inspired a lot of confidence in the company. The combination of new games and the PS3/Vita Cross-Buy promotion turned a lot of heads, but lately it seems Sony has been turning heads for all the wrong reasons. This holiday season will certainly see fierce competition between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, but while the latter two seem to be making some good moves, Sony seems to be shooting themselves in the foot. What is Sony doing wrong, and can they rebound in time for the holidays?
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"What exclsuives does Sony have coming out for the holiday season? Lemme think....................NONE. "
There are exclusives. For example, the ones I'm interested in and will purchase are Playstation All Stars, Ragnarok Odyssey, and Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation. It also has the Ezio trilogy that I'm getting, but that's just an exclusive compilation as all the games are on the 360 and PC.
You are completely wrong.
If youre willing to shell out 250$
you can play Assassins Creed 3, as a Girl on a 4 inch screen.
OR
you can play Black Ops2 with
Fewer Maps
Fewer players
Worse Graphics
also on a 4 inch screen
for lets say around 300$
This year sony's lineup of exclusives is the weakest but this year they could have 2 games sell a lot that wonder book and battle royal. Why because as much as those games are geared towards hardcore gamers they are also targeting casual market in a big way
And into 7th year when are we finally go stop comparing sales? Uncharted 3 sold really well why not one brings that up? Sony execs have said it them self they rather spend the money on games than advertisement so when a game does 2-3 million that's success how many games this gen have actually cross 5 million mark? Nguess what bioshock 1 didn't sell 5-10 million yet it's considered one of the best games of this gen if not ever.
If sales were everything than COD is the greatest game ever made and this year after that will be Medal of honor and AC3 both games which get yearly releases. In MOH case one year it's replaced by BF.
Stop hating on a company if you are a real gamer than you know this for a fact Sony has delivered more to core fans than gen than any one else and that's not an opinion that's a fact. Instead of going towards casual market like MS have done with kinect they sticking with what made them successful. Fable the journey anyone? N
Fable
Gears
Halo
Forza what else? Crackdown is a great IP but doesn't get the attention it deserves why? Because t doesn't sell well what about Alan wake selling so well in pc and not in xbox360 when heavy rain did well on ps3?
Why is it always halo vs Sony exclusives? Bwhy didn't forza sell as well as GT?
Instead of hating why don't some of y'all actually appreciate. If Sony are out of gaming business than we are left with MS and their media box more than gaming console and Nintendo who has a long long history of not getting 3rd party support
Everyone who has played beta for battle royal have said nice things about so I am hoping it does well and I think It will do quite well
Sony Sony doesn't have that many big games this fall maybe they will actually use some money on advertisement
Sony doom or ps4 will be failure articles need to stop stop hating. Be a gamer not a fanboy
TBH if you look back at this gen sony have not had many big games this time of year they tend to be the 1st quarter and there sales patterns this gen show this as the 360 tends to out sell it the last few months of the year as the have there big guns like Halo and Gears plus push COD.
But like I said next gen it will be doom and gloom for who ever is in last place next gen as each on is different but Sony will be around for a lot longer I think this will be the case for Microsoft and Nintendo too.
Some people easily forget what services Sony are also offering, maybe it's really the first year instead of focusing on a certain games Sony are focusing on the PS3 itself and the value it offers.
Personally PS+ would sway me over the 360 if I was a new buyer this Christmas, it's as a good a deal as any of the three companies are offering.
EVERYDAY. WHY IS THERE ONE OF THESE EVERY SINGLE DAY!?
All consoles are down so far in 2012. One is slightly down but holding it's own without a price cut, one console's sales were down nearly half for the first two quarters of 2012 and one's sales have completely fallen off a cliff. I'll let you all figure out which is which.
This guy claims Sony isn't making their products particularly appealing to consumers, and yet consumers have been speaking with their wallets. The PS3 is far ahead of the 360 this year and Wii sales are non-existent - all without a PS3 price cut.
Do you really think the Wii knocking off another $20 from their price or a Kinect bundle getting a price cut is going to change the consumers mind suddenly when they've been staying away from both consoles in droves? Nintendo actually has a chance to come away this holiday as a winner with the 3DS and Wii-U, but stick a fork in the Wii. As for the 360, they had their best calendar year ever, then sales nosedived 43% year over year in the first 6 months. Even recent data in the US shows sales are still down 40% even in their strongest region. What consoles has ever seen that sales pattern without a replacement on the market? You can talk about market share in the US until you're blue in the face but last time I checked, MS doesn't get paid by how far in front of the competition they are in the US, they get paid by selling consoles.
The 360 4GB is already $199 and can be found on sale for $150 frequently. Microsoft doesn't need price cuts, it needs to get another console out quickly while Sony, if we're listening to consumers buying trends, just needs to keep doing what they're doing. Just my two cents.
"I like to look at the data so far that year as it usually gives us a good indication going into the holidays what we can expect versus the last year."
Of course you do. That way, you can simply ignore what has been happening for the past few years, and spin the numbers to suit your views. Last year, when 360 handily outsold both Wii & PS3 even WITHOUT a price cut, 360 was behind PS3 going into the second half of the year (just like this year). The holidays are always the strongest sales period for the 360. By simply looking at what has happened so far this year, you conveniently ignore that important fact.
In the US (MS's strongest market), the 360 is down 40% YOY while the entire market is down 20%. So, the 360 is down 20% more than the market as a whole. In Japan (which PS3 dominates) the PS3 is down 18% YOY, while the entire Japanese market is up 2%. So, doing the math, PS3 is also down 20% more than the market as a whole.
Why is it when 360 is down 20% it spells doom, but when PS3 is down 20%, you don't seem to feel the same way?
"PS3 is far ahead of the 360 this year and Wii sales are non-existent - all without a PS3 price cut." PS3 is still just barely a year removed from it's most recent OFFICIAL price cut. So is Wii. The 360 did not have a price cut this year OR last year. If the PS3's sales this year, without another price cut, are impressive to you, then the 360's sales without a price cut in over two years are even more impressive.
You can disregard market share when it doesn't suit your views, but everyone else knows how important it is. When a console drops 40% in sales, but increases it's market share by 7%, that's a sign of strength, despite how much you simply don't WANT to believe it.
MS still has plenty of room for price cut's of it's own. The average selling price of the 360 is still $249, and that's in it's SEVENTH year. PS2 was already at $129 when PS3 was released. 360 is still twice as expensive as PS2 was when it was replaced. MS is just fine doing what it's doing, as history has proven.
Nintendo is the one who has a newer console coming out already, I don't know what M$ is doing recently but I'm sure a more loyal xbox fan could tell me. As for Sony they have a new ps3 model for whoever wants it, They have games coming out that people have been looking forward to this holiday as well, and there is the PS Vita which some are getting this holiday since they have the money now.
What else should Sony do, start making Ice Cream machine add-ons for the PS Vita?
You can't pick and choose information when it comes to a product. You have to look at the 'full' picture, and the FULL picture is Rosy.
edit: I've taken a second look and there is no mention at all that this represents only American numbers.
The picture is totally reversed in Europe and Japan where the 360 is losing ground going into the Christmas period, but it would be erroneous to write an article based on that fact. It's World wide figures or nothing, otherwise it's a biased article.
And why is it that an article about Sony gets so many 360 owners interested?
Speaking of this Christmas, they really are in a tight position, and that's what the article is about. Talking about everything else is irrelevant, it's like going into a Resident Evil 6 article and saying "But other Resident Evil games scored great". No need to get defensive about it.
Sony is definitely in a tight position this Christmas in between Nintendo's Wii U and 3DS strategies, and Microsoft's Kinect/price drop (which I'm sure we will see), and Halo 4 blockbuster.
Sony's only exclusive is LBP Karting, a new IP. All Stars has a good chance, if Sony markets it right, but the PR Department is a mess for this game. I'm pretty curious to see how Sony does this year with their biggest title being a new IP, and them refusing to do a pricedrop, and instead upping the price with bundles and big HDD's. No one is ignoring their previous success, it's simply a look at THIS Christmas
That is because Sony has dropped their price every other year, while MS has held their price steady. Yet, MS sold about twice as many consoles as Sony during last years holiday. We are talking 6-8 million consoles here to put that into perspective.
MS is focusing on profit, while Sony *was* focusing on market share. I think that situation is potentially being reversed.
Also, I would love to know where you got your numbers from, as it seems like you are just getting them from thin air with no attribution.
I don't know what you see, but consumers clearly see an appealing value in the PS3 which make the whole article moot.
This isn't about numbers, strategy, or anything else like that. It's a "journalist" being biased against the PS3 trying to generate heat amongst the fanboys.
That article wasn't on yahoo, it was for the fanboy audience.
If this was truly meant for discussion it should have had the numbers backing its premise.
But, the numbers currently show PS3 selling more with an increasing difference.
Even by VGCHARTZ biased numbers, last week the PS3 was up 19% while the 360 was up 7%.
"When it comes to the PS3, I believe Sony is making two critical mistakes. Sony will not be dropping the price of older PS3 models, and they will not be releasing the 12GB SuperSlim model in the United States. These two problems go hand in hand, as they show Sony’s failure to appeal to gamers who are either on a budget or are only “casual” gamers."
So it does look like this is from the American media perspective which is why it's biased. I do agree Gribble, the PS3 has been doing fine as far as hardware sales go when we take into consideration worldwide figures. I think we can both agree the PS3 should be doing better in America than it currently is and the 12GB SuperSlim model may have helped a bit. Sony looks to be in a position to not be losing money on the hardware, which explains no price cuts at the moment. The system still offers great value IMO.
The reason Microsoft win at Christmas is because they always have huge price reductions... this year is obviously no exception. But during the rest of the year, Sony sell more than enough consoles to take the hit at Christmas and still claw away at that lead, hence 8 million becomes 1.8 million.
And on the matter of where I get those figures from, I note something very telling about the whole VGChartz fiasco. 5 years ago 360 owners loved the site and PS3 owners hated it. Now 360 owners hate the site and PS3 owners love it. Between the two hypocritical camps lies an undeniable truth
while, what you say is true, what this bullet point about Sony's ability to not have anything this fall season, and is losing ground heading into the holidays is not only wrong its only a talking point if you do not take into account each companies systems they offer for sale @ retail and what their ability is to move said Hardware. While Microsoft has a quality system and software to go along with their marketing arm. That still leaves one big giant gaping whole to their whole point of market share when it comes to Both Nintendo and Sony. what many like to point out and it seems you maybe agreeing with them which judgeing by your statement i think you are, i could be wrong, but anyway. what many still do not get is the fact unlike both Nintendo and Sony ; Microsoft still only has one product!
its still just the XBOX360! by itself while both Nintendo and Sony have more than a single platform on the shelf in the market to sell their platform's to the consumer. unlike Microsoft; Sony has.
the Playstation 2
the Playstation 3
the Playstation portable
the Playstation Vita
The Playstation Mobile platform
All on the shelf in Hardware form in one shape or another to sell that hardware to sell software to the consumer on.
The fact that the just with the Playstation Mobile alone has right now 26 playstation Mobile certified devices in the market that is just between only Sony and HTC. that is not even counting Asus, Sharp or fujitsu yet.
Microsoft has Smart Glass and Windows Phone which is pretty Good Option for Microsoft to Expand their Xbox platform, but smart glass is not released yet and windows phone is still not doing very well in the mobile market, it still has far and away a large hill to climb right now than what Sony has simple reason is Sony was already had an advantage due to Android OS being the Market leader OS in the Mobile market before Sony released the Playstation Mobile as a platform.
Thats exactly why Sony Made the Playstation Mobile platform to take advantage of that Market strength. In the Mobile market the Android OS is like what Microsoft has on Desktop OS with Windows on the PC as their the number one OS that consumer's use world wide. In the Mobile Market its Android. while Apple has a larger chunk of the Mobile OS and Hardware platform market share, it still has less than Android does and Sony has made sure they intend to make the Playstation Platfor grow into the Mobile market, and Choosing the largest Mobile OS in the market does not hurt their chances. you see its just not about the Xbox360+LIVE+SmartGlass+window s Phone vs' the Wii+WiiU and 3DS vs Just the Playstation 3 + PSVita as the only thing that determines your market strategy. for one PSN may not Have a outright subscription base design like Microsoft has with XBOX LIVE but while Microsoft has Xboxlive sony has Playstation Plus and Playstation Home. which is very profitable for Sony.
Sony has expanded the Playstation as a platform into not only Mobile in a very large way, we are talking over 30 Playstation Certified devices by the start of 2013. to top that Off Sony has out right decided to increase their playstation Platform to the cloud also and are setting to expand playstation past just Sony only hardware there also. thats both GaiKai and Playstation Mobile.
I think for many So quick to call Sony as Trailing back or Losing ground in the Gaming market are not taking into account the areas that Sony are concentrating growth of the Playstation Platform into the market as a whole.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
MSFT was #1 in 2011. In 2012 where the 360 has the only core exclusives and has lots of casual games plus a price drop will give the 360 a bigger lead than the one from last year, where the holiday pulled the 360 ahead regardless of fanboys using VGcharts all through the year(this year too)
Kinect and MSFT 1st and 3rd party games will be the only things close to being as appealing as Wii U compared to other current gen offerings.
Hell I know people buying a 360 for kinect and Internet explorer
Why are people buying 360's though? I don't get that...
Halo 4 is probably going to be a good game, but why purchase a console for it? That's a bit pricey.
the act of preferring
And let's not forget about 6 hour games like Heavenly Sword :)
I know we all have our preferences, but I don't understand buying a system for one game. I'm sure many people will be picking up several multi-plat titles this holiday season, too. The point still remains... Microsoft is getting away with murder. Sony releases exclusive after exclusive every year...and for all that try, they're just now getting close to surpassing the 360 in sales. MS can get away with one or two big releases a year. Sony can release twenty and the world would be none-the-wiser.
"I have better games for that." "Have" was the key word. I'm sure Halo 4 will be a good game, but let's not make this something it's not. It's not something that would pull myself or any of my friends away from Starhawk, Uncharted 3, or Little Big Planet Vita.
I guess what I'm trying to say is...I need variety.
And please don't include examples that SONY also does (cough) exclusive DLC.
I'd really like to see one valid point, if you can manage it.
That's not something they sing about in their adverts by the way.
The only problem is fifa13 and AC3 ps3 and vita versions are advertised together and doesn,t show to the consumer why they should pick up the vita version.
I thought they would at least advertise AC3 liberation properly.
Don,t get me wrong, it is nice to see playstation ads all th time on tv, but they really need to do a better job at it.
Sony has a lot to advertise right now It's interesting because they have Tv ads for the Super Slim over in Japan right now. I'm guessing there doing heavy advertisement in Japan?
With limited PR management and marketing, It'll be interesting to see how Sony will go about selling its hardware and games to the people in the U.S this upcoming holiday season.
"Our source says the drop is all versions of the 360, at least at GameStop. The 4GB 360 goes down to $150, the 250GB and 4GB w/Kinect down to $250 and the 250GB w/Kinect down to $350."
http://kotaku.com/5951552/t...
http://www.gamestop.com/bro...
@CGI-Quality
Its terrible that Sony is losing out compared to the other companies.
Didn't you know? Opinion pieces are regarded as "NEWS" or as some call it... "the truth" on N4G whenever it is negative toward Sony and anyone that DARES argue against said opinion piece-- err I mean "Da truth" is a delusional, in denial, blind Sony fanboy.
It's really unbelievable how someone people think on here..
As already stated many times the PS3 outsells the 360 quite comfortably, and has a 1st and 3rd party exclusive line up and back-catalog that puts MS' utterly to shame. Not to mention the fact that the PS3 continues to be supported as a gamers console, while the Xbox has been abandoned to a gimmick.
Who's missing out again?
On N4G, if you like ps3 or wiiu, you re the enemy. Why?
Why saying nintendo is doomed when the console has not even launched yet?
Why saying sony should leave the hardware race when they actually outsell the competition week in, week out?
Because websites such as N4G are run by M$ .
Just look how they pocketed gamespot and IGN and you ,ll understand that if you want unbiased views on gaming you need to check european websites for that.
Headline: PC is the best gaming platform - N4G reaction: But you can't play teh PS3 exclusives on teh PC like teh Uncharted 2!!!
Headline: Wii U innovative - N4G reaction: Teh PS3 and Vita can do all thingz alreadyz!!!
Headline: Microsoft bringing IE and Halo 4 to Xbox 360 this holiday season - N4G reaction: Teh ps3z already has teh internet and teh many many egglusives better than gaylo!!
Headline: SONY patent tongue controller. - ZOMG SONY you are teh bestest ever! So breathtaking and considerate thinking about the handicapped! Please let me have your babies!!!
Or at least that's how I see it.
I guess you really loved this site in 2006-2008. To play the ignorance-card after that is laughable. Sony camp hates everything that isn't Sony? Yeah right... Hypocrite much?
Thanks for the laugh Catapus and christianart
I'm acually quite happy secure in the knowledge that my console of choice hasn't sold out it's userbase, and continues to pump out the best games this generation.
How are you feeling though? Enjoying your truly incredible Kinect titles no doubt. Have fun with that. *laughs*
What's terrible is so-called gamers who care more about what company "x" sells vs the games they get to play.
I'm not sure Sony knows what it's doing to be fair
Oh well...its not like the world is going to end.
For shame, just because the titles are niche doesn't mean they should be forgotten. Some people like diversity.
Must I remind you that there is still LBPK and PSASBR left to be released this year too.
Article makes mention of the Kevin Butler/ Wii lawsuit as a negative saying it "doesn't seem to hold any water"...but that line is also a hotlink which leads to another article on the *same site* that specifically mentions how the lawsuit HAS merit. Gengame.net just discredited a point in their own article by linking to another of their own articles.
The hotlink "doesn't hold any water" links to:
"...they might actually have a case here. And it’s actually the gaming community’s fault that this is the case. Had Mr. Lambert’s presence in the commercial gone unnoticed, it would have been unremarkable. But the fact that it was specifically said that “Kevin Butler appears in a Wii commercial” associates the commercial with Sony’s fictional character, whether that association was intentional or not. That’s what’s at the heart of the Lanham Act’s protection against trademark dilution."
http://gengame.net/2012/10/...
Cheers to Alex Plant who actually did his homework, Jeers to Ben Lamoreux who didn't read his own source before linking it as "proof".
@Aquamela
Depends what you like. I bought and enjoyed Twisted Metal, Starhawk and Journey. Platinumed Sorcery, will be getting PS All Stars (a genre I usually have no interest in), and LBP Karting as well. On the 360 side I got Trials Evolution, Deadlight, and will be getting Forza Horizons next week and probably Mark of the Ninja after that. I'm not disappointed.
for Sony. They focused on Casual(which they've never been successful at) but they're not advertising it. Where are the Wonderbook commercials. They're gonna wait till a week before it comes out to advertise, not smart.
Then they neglected/or didn't finish developing any big Hardcore games.
Here's what they should do, launch one game for Gaikai on PS3= Planetside 2.
The ps3 had a horrible year with nothing released except for a couple of average exclusives. The momentum is all on the 360's side heading toward the big holiday sales.
Unless you can prove otherwise STREETSOFRAGAAAGE.
If 360 was selling more than ps3 on a yearly basis, and with 8 millions units ahead prior to ps3 launch, they should be well ahead by now.
don,t you think.
360 are still ahead on lifetime sales but by just 1.7 millions but for how long?
Sony the king of comebacks.
We are not in the gaming industry. We are just a bunch of people on the Internet who knows next to nothing about what's going on at Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Just because these people have a website, they immediately think they fucking know everything going on in the industry. Just play your goddamn games, for crying out loud. If you want Sony to go bankrupt and die out, that's fine by me. But when it's just Microsoft and Nintendo going all out, and you miss the games Sony used to make, that's your own problem too. Also, I hope you get fired and become homeless due to it too, as millions of people will lose their jobs due to your own retardation and your "knowledge" of everything.
they didn't even try. Meanwhile I still paid for Live, and had/have to wait for November to get my moneys worth.
http://gamer.blorge.com/201...
cheers :P
You are bashing Sony's exclusives as the cause for your so called horrible year. That makes no sense because up until... Uh, Tuesday, I believe, the first great exclusive for 360 comes out in Forza and then they go out with a bang with Halo 4. Average exclusives would have hurt the 360 as well.
Anyways, it sure is bound to be interesting for the sale trolls.
On the software side, momentum might be on MS side but don't forget Halo 4 is battling Black Ops 2 (which will outsell it easily). From the hardware side, MS's 7 year old (!) Xbox is competing with a brand new Nintendo console.
This holiday will be Nintendo vs Microsoft, with Sony watching them fight it out from the sidelines. But with their console redesign & new holiday bundles, I wouldn't count them out this holiday.
http://www.geekwire.com/201...
Oh, and it said 66 Mil for Xbox 360, 62 Mil for PS3... There goes the wife's credibility.
Whoa that last part I didn't know about. Could Sony be possibly slowly abandoning there once dominated market the U.S? MS nearly pulled out in Japan because the Xbox is a complete flop over there.
Not saying the PS3 is a flop in U.S but I do find it particularly suspicious that the Super Slim is getting major hype over in Japan, promotions have already started in Europe. But what about U.S? I see nothing just Xbox promos.
It's either A) Sony's primary country's have change or B) they're slowly pulling out of the U.S. and are gonna start focusing on countries, that buy there system. Similar to what MS has done in Japan.
Playstation, on the other hand, has been very popular, sold extremely well, and even became just as much a household name as Nintendo, in every country where Playstation is sold. Just because they made a mistake this gen, doesn't mean they'll pull out from America. That's just a stupid fanboy's demented dream. GameCube and Xbox sold EXTREMELY POORLY compared to the PS2, but we didn't see Nintendo or Microsoft pull out from the US, now did we?
This games winning 2012 holidays and WiiU coming!
(BO2 multi true,but 360 version sell more.Look MW2-MW3)
Ps3 exklusive not match CoD and Halo.
Sony not risk,delayed AAA games 2013.The Last of Us and God of War.
It's better to do GREAT across the map rather than AMAZING in 1 spec of it!
NOPE. Only the Kinect and holiday bundles received price cuts. The cheapest Xbox 360 is still $199.(the 4gig with no Kinect).
About Sony placing in 3rd for the holidays, they always have, its nothing new.
@ yeah0kchief
PSASBR ain't gonna do jack ****.
other than halo 4 what is there?
Dust 514, which is a PC / PS3 crossover title and not a Sony game.
and yeah, that is it. Maybe Starhawk (could be a successor to Warhawk though). But it sold so poorly, there won't be a Starhawk 2, you can count on that.
Why do you think new IPs are better for gamers than established ones? I would be pissed if 343 starts to focus on a new franchise instead of continuing Halo.
Sony creates new IPs with a trial and error method. Starhawk - failed. Next one.
Twisted Metal - failed. Next one.
MAG - failed. Next one.
Uncharted - success. Milking. 4 games in 5 years.
If you like one of those games that failed, you won't see a part 2. I don't think that is good for gamers. As long as the quality is on top, publishers should feel free to milk a franchise (Halo, Uncharted, Gears, God of War).