The Guns of Navarro: The Curious Case of Sony Computer Entertainment
"With the announcement of the PlayStation 4 almost assuredly coming up in just over a week, Alex can't help but wonder if Sony's games division is actually ready for the next-gen." - Giant Bomb
(Industry, PS4, Sony)
Sony have closed studios but many of the employees of said studios have joined Sony's 1st party studios to not only cut costs but to pool talents together...you talk about Sony Liverpool of wipeout fame well they are now part of evolution studios working on a new game that should be revealed on the 20th
you talk about marketing..yes I agree Sonys marketing of some high profile games has been non existant and has hurt the developers but again Sony have cut ties with their previous crap agency and have now signed with the highly successful bartle Bogle hegarty
you talk about ps3 was powerful but that didn't help it reach a wider audience..firstly Sony is past 77million consoles sold which has outsold the competition on a yearly basis WORLDWIDE..and many gamers reasoning and rightfully so in choosing the 360 was not just because it was out the gates early but because it was easier to program for so multiplat games most of the time ran better on ms console..now the ps4 is PC like therefore that is one very big problem solved regarding third party games
your complaining at maybe a $400 price point..again that's a price I'm sure people are happy with its a hell of a lot better than the $600 launch price of the ps3..
its all well and fine writing doom and gloom but back it up with pros aswell as the cons
The pros is this, Sony have the goods to deliver. The con is can they make it happen in a way to convince consumers?
Nintendo has shown recently how not to launch a system and so have Sony to some degree. The PS3 did not have a great launch and neither did the Vita. The 3DS also didn't really snowball until they made a major move to drop the price and give early adopters free software. By comparison the Xbox 360 had a decent but not great launch either. Microsoft's problem didn't really come until later when the system kept breaking down. So that's what happens when you rush your product.
To make a short story, Sony 'MUST' and I emphasize must, come out of the gates with a great launch and keep that momentum going. The PS4 will be a make or break product for their games division. Sony is in serious financial trouble and they cannot afford to have another product come out to lukewarm reception. The PS3 was still a success story but after Sony lost millions of dollars on it. They basically had the PS2 carry the system. So yes, it did sell over 70 million so far but at what cost? Sony cannot afford to keep going with that philosophy of taking huge losses on hardware in hopes of software offsetting that. It took a long time for the PS3 to have a decent ratio of software to hardware. The Wii U is now going through that as well and Nintendo is said to be losing money on the hardware. That's why the whole business strategy has to change. These companies invest so much money into new hardware from R&D to manufacturing costs to marketing. A lot of investments are made each time they come out with new systems. And all of them are proprietary to their own. Meaning if you buy a Wii U game it only plays on a Wii U, same thing with a PS4 or next Xbox. This isn't like coming out with a Sony blu-ray player that can play any blu-ray movie. So right off the bat you limit your audience with the software.
Sony is well known for its great in-house games. The problem is those ip's can only be sold to Sony hardware. So when you have games costing in the 10's of millions of dollars you can see just how risky that is by limiting your userbase to just Sony hardware. That means if the PS4 also has a lukewarm reception the roller-coaster ride the Vita and Wii U currently faces will happen again. Developers will start to pull back if the system isn't meeting sales expectations.
Nintendo thought they were smart by spreading out the software. Trouble is they are already being called out for having a huge gap in game releases and not having much at launch. What big game do they have planned coming? They still don't have a set date for Pikmin 3 do they or Project 100?
This is why it's very very important Sony gets everything right with the PS4. The loyal consumer only carries you so far. They need to convince those on the fence and with more options now more than ever that makes it just that much harder.
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Sony have closed studios but many of the employees of said studios have joined Sony's 1st party studios to not only cut costs but to pool talents together...you talk about Sony Liverpool of wipeout fame well they are now part of evolution studios working on a new game that should be revealed on the 20th
you talk about marketing..yes I agree Sonys marketing of some high profile games has been non existant and has hurt the developers but again Sony have cut ties with their previous crap agency and have now signed with the highly successful bartle Bogle hegarty
you talk about ps3 was powerful but that didn't help it reach a wider audience..firstly Sony is past 77million consoles sold which has outsold the competition on a yearly basis WORLDWIDE..and many gamers reasoning and rightfully so in choosing the 360 was not just because it was out the gates early but because it was easier to program for so multiplat games most of the time ran better on ms console..now the ps4 is PC like therefore that is one very big problem solved regarding third party games
your complaining at maybe a $400 price point..again that's a price I'm sure people are happy with its a hell of a lot better than the $600 launch price of the ps3..
its all well and fine writing doom and gloom but back it up with pros aswell as the cons
Nintendo has shown recently how not to launch a system and so have Sony to some degree. The PS3 did not have a great launch and neither did the Vita. The 3DS also didn't really snowball until they made a major move to drop the price and give early adopters free software. By comparison the Xbox 360 had a decent but not great launch either. Microsoft's problem didn't really come until later when the system kept breaking down. So that's what happens when you rush your product.
To make a short story, Sony 'MUST' and I emphasize must, come out of the gates with a great launch and keep that momentum going. The PS4 will be a make or break product for their games division. Sony is in serious financial trouble and they cannot afford to have another product come out to lukewarm reception. The PS3 was still a success story but after Sony lost millions of dollars on it. They basically had the PS2 carry the system. So yes, it did sell over 70 million so far but at what cost? Sony cannot afford to keep going with that philosophy of taking huge losses on hardware in hopes of software offsetting that. It took a long time for the PS3 to have a decent ratio of software to hardware. The Wii U is now going through that as well and Nintendo is said to be losing money on the hardware. That's why the whole business strategy has to change. These companies invest so much money into new hardware from R&D to manufacturing costs to marketing. A lot of investments are made each time they come out with new systems. And all of them are proprietary to their own. Meaning if you buy a Wii U game it only plays on a Wii U, same thing with a PS4 or next Xbox. This isn't like coming out with a Sony blu-ray player that can play any blu-ray movie. So right off the bat you limit your audience with the software.
Sony is well known for its great in-house games. The problem is those ip's can only be sold to Sony hardware. So when you have games costing in the 10's of millions of dollars you can see just how risky that is by limiting your userbase to just Sony hardware. That means if the PS4 also has a lukewarm reception the roller-coaster ride the Vita and Wii U currently faces will happen again. Developers will start to pull back if the system isn't meeting sales expectations.
Nintendo thought they were smart by spreading out the software. Trouble is they are already being called out for having a huge gap in game releases and not having much at launch. What big game do they have planned coming? They still don't have a set date for Pikmin 3 do they or Project 100?
This is why it's very very important Sony gets everything right with the PS4. The loyal consumer only carries you so far. They need to convince those on the fence and with more options now more than ever that makes it just that much harder.