Sony's PS4 Could Lose To The Next Xbox Before It's Even Released

BGR - I love all game consoles equally. My Xbox 360 is used equally as much as my PlayStation 3. The Wii — oh, I’ll just leave it at that. The current generation of consoles is all but over — 10-year life cycle be damned — and new consoles are rumored to be coming next fall. If not next fall, then in 2014.

[-Mezzo-]

It's amazing how everyone consider's 70+ Million Sales a failure.

Anyway, Cannot wait for the PS4, will Pre-Order the day i they start taking it.

[Walker]

PS2 sold over 155+m unit !

[youndamie]

Yea because the PS2 has the best catalog in the history of video games.

[thorstein]

I was hoping Google and this articles author would get together and tell us what stocks to buy over the next year so we will all be billionaires. Since they are such experts on market forces and predicting the inevitable FAILURE of (insert product or company here.)

[3GenGames]

(To PS2 comment) But it also has the most crap of any system, to. Release enough games and you'll get some Gems. The best catalog by ratio of good to crap is N64 (to me.), although some people can't stand any games on the 64, heh.

[darthv72]

could just as easily affect MS's next release as it did Sony. After all...this would be MS's 3rd console.

Nintendo is the only one to brave the 3rd console curse and bounce back with an even stronger 5th. Their 6th is the wii-u so there is still time to see how well it does against its previous systems.

Anyone who doesnt know, the 3rd console curse is an old wives tale about how a companies 3rd system (while superior) does not exceed the popularity of their 2nd. Atari, Sega, nintendo, sony have all felt that. MS is riding high on the popularity of their 2nd system.

It has nothing to do with the technical specs but more about the consumer acceptance and possible desire to switch to something else.

[Dasteru]

153m and that was over 11 years.

March 4th 2000 - March 31 2011.

Edit:

The 360 btw has only sold around 73m so far and everyone considers it a massive success, despite the fact that it took it a full extra year over the PS3 to get that number.

Its typical hypocritical fanboy BS.

- The PS3 launched a full year after the 360 (360 already had nearly 10m sales at the release of the PS3)
- Sold at a price point $200 higher than the 360.
- Supposedly had no games for the first couple years.
- Far lower fail rate, which contributed to a large chunck of extra sales for the 360.

And despite all that is currently only around 3m behind. I hardly consider that a fail.

[MikeMyers]

Quote from article:
"The PS3 screwed up too many times. At this point, the PS4 needs to be perfect out of the door."

The PS3 by all accounts outpaced the Xbox 360 for sales and they did it with a higher price tag for consumers and worse marketing. Yes they started off poorly but turned things around. Ask those who own the system and I'm sure they will tell you they are glad they bought it.

What is it with this mentality of winning and losing anyways? The media is doing a piss-poor job at treating gamers in a mature manner. No wonder we see such immaturity within the forums, it's fed to us daily in flamebait topic headers. This isn't a competition unless you work for these companies.

[Ezz2013]

@dasteru

ps3 is not behind
where did you get your info from ??!! don't tell me vgchartes lol

both are tie in 2nd place now and that's coming from sony and MS
http://www.computerandvideo...

ps3 by now already passed the xbox numbers

[dudeOplenty]

@3GenGames Pretty sure the most crap software goes to the Wii or the DS.

[Hatsune-Miku]

Ps4 hardware power, features, exclusive games and psn will make it the best next gen.

I'll just illustrate one thing which is psn or ps plus. With free psn and then ps plus giving away free games all the time will make it the best. I've accumulated over 30 games for free off of ps plus already and nothing from xbox live other than a helmet for having xbox live. I don't want to lose all my games so ps4 is guaranteed for me first day and a lot of people.

The attitude Sony displays with ps3 having a lot of exclusive games, the console being the most powerful, ps plus and features will make Sony dominate next gen and not wishful thinking that can't be backed up by history or logic. The systems out now is an indicator how the next iteration of them will be and looking at ps vita with its social features along with ps3 is an indicator on how ps4 will be.

Wii had a gimmick and now Wii u has a gimmick. Xbox 360 mainly focus on Kinect so next gen they'll have little exclusive titles but a lot of Kinect games. Ps3 has a lot if exclusive with free online so I expect it to happen on ps4 with a lot of free games on ps plus

[Kevin ButIer]

Good article overall but autor totally missed all the pros that Sony has to be a good contender for the Next Gen... I have strong faith in Gaikai and PSN services overall. Not to mention all the first party developers ready to launch their games into the next PS.

[darthv72]

"The 360 btw has only sold around 73m so far and everyone considers it a massive success, despite the fact that it took it a full extra year over the PS3 to get that number."

While you may think your point is valid, you are only partially right. Expectations of the 360 were nowhere near as high as that of the PS3. Take into consideration when looking at comparatives and put them into the right perspective.

That being said, competition of a console isnt black and white when it comes to one vs another. you also have to look at the popularity of a previous system. case in point. Ps2 outpaced the PS1 by a significant margin. Therefore it is safe to assume that the logic behind the success of the PS3 should be equally successful. unfortunately...that wasnt the case.

PS3 may have sold to great numbers of 70mil but put that up against its siblings that both did triple digits and you will understand why sony themselves feel it is failing when it should be the runaway hit like traditions had shown.

Many reasons why that is. Most would say the obvious is price but they have countered that with a very competitive price point now. another reason is simply...lack of interest in their 3rd system. Surprisingly, there are many who still feel comfortable with the PS2 or had moved onto something else like the Wii because it offered a different style of gameplay. or even the 360 because of the massive marketing that MS put lost of $$$ into.

Whatever the cause, sony knows they will not match the sales of the ps2 let alone the ps1. Unless everything else on the market just stops selling and they are the only choice left.

Now looking at the 360, just compare it to the xbox and see that yeah...it exceeded all sales expectations of the previous system.

@hatsune: "I've accumulated over 30 games for free off of ps plus already and nothing from xbox live other than a helmet for having xbox live."

Really? you never got the free games of undertow, ageis wing, happy wars or even ones like dorito's crash course (an addictive wipeout type of game) or totemball, carcassonne...and a few more?

I wont say PS+ is a bad thing but the games i listed are free and by free that includes even silver members were able to get them and no membership required to play. the free PS+ games require you to be a paid PS+ member to play them otherwise they dont work.

the often confusing comparison between live and + is that live you are paying to play online. Something many arent interested in so therefore they arent live members. with PS+ you are paying for those free games so in essence you are paying to play...period.

To really be a free PSN user would be to actually buy all those "free" games. then you could play them anytime you want with no worry of expired membership and loss of play.

No matter how you try and spin it both services are after the same thing. Paid subscribers that get hooked and cant just easily walk away from what that paid membership offers.

[Rhythmattic]

darth...

Just take PS+ out of the equation and the fact still remains, no matter how you spin it (your words) that on the 360, you have to pay to play inline.

FFS....

[aCasualGamer]

Wow, the Playstation hate usually starts when the console is released, but these articles about PS4 being doomed failure come out a year before the console release. Damn, that's a new record or something.

I know for a fact that a bunch of exclusive titles are in the last steps of production.

How do i know this? By logic of course.

Infamous devs are silent, so are Motorstorm devs, so is the seperate Santa Monica team (only a part of the devteam is working on God of war ascension), so are LittleBigplanet devs (littlebigkarting is basically a Littlebigplanet update), so are Killzone devs, so are Journey devs. I mean i could go on for ever. Uncharted devs already confirmed there are two seperate teams, one working for Last of us and the other on another project. I really doubt FFVersus will be a PS3 title.

So many things point out that Sony will have a great exclusive lineup. And that makes all the difference when choosing a new console. WE know that they won't be too different techwise. Although i'm guessing Microsoft will go the casual route more than Sony, well because of Windows 8 and Kinect. It's no surprise they are going for the casual market, they wanna tap the great market that Apple gave birth to. Sony also wants this, but from what i can tell Microsoft more so.

[andibandit]

Sony is already one foot in the grave. With 7 divisions providing loses and only the gaming division producing a profit the organization as a whole has to cut costs. And they sure as hell cant wait 4 years for the console to produce profit. Fuethermore they seem to have few studios working on next gen titles, and we all know what that means......a repeat of the ps3 launch lineup(insert tumbleweed rolling across the desert)

[LethalToxins]

@darth
"That being said, competition of a console isnt black and white when it comes to one vs another. you also have to look at the popularity of a previous system. case in point. Ps2 outpaced the PS1 by a significant margin. Therefore it is safe to assume that the logic behind the success of the PS3 should be equally successful. unfortunately...that wasnt the case."

Not sure if you meant it this way, but from what you said, the measure of success for a console is its proportional sales compared to its predecessor (Mentioning the 'logic of success' right after the PS2's outpacing of the PS1). So by that logic the PS3 would have had to have sold 225 million consoles to be considered a success... I would speculate it would be impossible given the current economic state and the increased competition from handhelds, smartphones, etc.

Other than that, I'd say MS was the biggest winner this gen (sure I'll get agrees) because whether or not they outsold Sony or Nintendo, the blew away expectations. They're a household name and have made a strong foothold in the market. And they have gained something that maybe worth more than just sales themselves: Respect. They are no longer the joke in the gaming industry. Sony and Nintendo have to respect MS now. Which is good news for all of us because competition benefits the gamer!

Lastly, I can't wait to see what Valve's console is like. <3 can't wait for what the new competition will bring to the table.

[americanGTA]

the ps2 is the 1/3 of the price of a ps3

[nukeitall]

@dasteru:

You can't just look at plain numbers without considering context. Imagine if Windows commanding over 90% market share, suddenly gets less than a third tying with Linux on desktop computers?

MS and Nintendo gained 3-5 the user base, will Sony lost half while dominating which means the Playstation brand weakened while Nintendo and Xbox significantly increased.

The exact reason doesn't matter, because I could have easily said the PS3 offers far more value for a fraction of the real cost of an Xbox 360.

Point being, now there is a third strong competitor and not the laughing stock MS was with the original Xbox.

So yes, PS3 is technically a massive failure for Sony compared to the previous generation.

[hot4play]

I called it yesterday. It wouldnt take long before these kinds of articles to pop up.

Typical MS fanboy desperation.

[Kur0]

over 12 years vs PS3 6 years

[Information Minister]

@ Walker007: What is your point exactly? Are you saying that the PS3's success should be measured by the success of its predecessor, while simultaneously implying that it's acceptable to ignore the PS2's much longer market availability?

And should we expect Spain to win the Euro and World cups in football for the foreseeable future? I mean, considering they are the current champions and all...

I don't care how people spin it, to consider roughly 70 million Xbox 360 units sold in 7 years a massive success, and roughly 70 million PS3 units sold in 6 years a miserable failure is just completely ridiculous.

[knowyourstuff]

LOL the garbage logic used in this article almost made me piss myself.
Besides, the reason this console cycle hasn't resulted in PS2 sales, is because the PS2 fanbase has been divided, with one half buying 360's and the other buying PS3's. In October the 360 just hit 70 million, around the same time the PS3 hit the same mark. Microsoft did an unbelievable job dividing the market and spending billions on marketing and exclusive rights in order to do it.

[AsimLeonheart]

Not every console sells 155+ million and neither every one of them can. By that definition all other consoles released in history are failures. The second thing is that the person on top (Sony) can only come down while the person on the bottom (XBOX) can only go up. That is why the roles reversed this generation. No company can continue to increase sales infinitely. It is impossible and unrealistic to expect such a thing. Finally what the hell is this!? PS4 hasn't even been announced yet and it is already DOOMED based on Google search results for unfinalized names!? This is an absurd and pure flamebait article just to get hits! Vote this site and article down guys!

[Mounce]

Everyone knows why PS2 was so successful, it's not rocket science.

PS2 was the leading-end console. It was like the Wii in sales-success, yet PS2 'HAD' the god damn games, it HAD the library, it had the exclusives, it had the third-party support that weren't going to other consoles unlike this gen.

PS2 was the North American version of what is now the 360(NA simply speaking) Since everyone is like YO LET PLAY WITH MY FRIENDS . . . .They likely have a 360 over PS3... While last gen it was like, everyone knew that 'Everyone'(so to speak) had a PS2 in their home. It was the default console....

This gen? It's sorta, Scattered.... Everyone has 1 of them, 2 of them, or 3 of them, each of them have their Pros and cons and that's not including hardware differences but simply game-differences.

70+ Million is Good.

PSP's worldwide sales are Good.

Vita and PS4 just need to do similar, if it keeps getting lesser and lesser with each Gen, then a problem may be noticed. There is no clear indication at the time that anything BAD as a trend is happening with Sony, not enough information.(And no, Vitas' current sales are still not enough information since it's too early to judge it)

[blackbeld]

"Sony's PS4 Could Lose To The Next Xbox Before It's Even Released"

Could this and that..... One thing is sure. Once you own a PS3 there is no need for a xbox.

But if you own a 360 then you are so jealous at ps3.

I will not buy another xbox cause I can not play online for free!

[Blackdeath_663]

ps2 is the best console ever made, on a completely different league to ps3 and xbox

[kopicha]

It is funny that until today. Fanboy still deny that 360 is actually only popular in US. With that in mind, it comes back to the usual thing. Americans again always assume the whole world evolves around them. Majority of the 70mil units of 360s are sold in US than any other part of the world. I am not going say who is the winner. Only fanboy will do such a dumb and childish thing. We gamers just play the games on where we like as long as the actual game appeal us and end of story. But still I need to point out one thing. Not sure where most people or even certain articles attempt to pull those numbers. Ever since Sept 2012, the worldwide figure of both 360 and PS3 are already at 70mil sales. Let alone it is Dec now closing into 2013. And people still think that PS3 numbers are behind 360? Maybe just for US case yes. But as said US is not only the country that matters. Every part of the world is what that matters as a whole. Also seriously I feel that although this does not apply to everyone. But some people in the US actually aint very appreciative. It is obvious Sony have done a lot for them in terms of deliveries and services. But yet they bash it like a pile of dog poo. Imagine some other part of the world that actually gotten less privilege. And we complain less than the Americans. Sigh....

[DiGiTaL]

Don't remember PS2 costing 599 US DOLLARS either ...

[Anarki]

This has all been said before about the PS3. It's always doom and gloom when it comes to anything Sony related these days...

[ChronoJoe]

Bearing in mind that the PS2 only sold around 100m units at the start of the next generation, though.

The latter 55m or so were sold after the 360 / PS3 released. What I'm saying is the PS3 will probably finish on over 100m units sold also. The PS3 will continue to sell well into next gen.

[nintendoland]

ds sold more ;)

[insomnium2]

@chronojoe

Common sense doesn't work here. Just play along. PS3 and Vita and PS4 are all DOOOMEDZZ!!!

[Stevo91]

I will be buying both like I did this gen and the last gen. They both have there own pro's this war between them both is getting old and boring now.