Sony must understand, “slow and steady doesn't win the race”

From what we have seen in the past, Sony is playing defensively rather than being on the offensive in terms of the hardware specs of its consoles.

[iNathan]

Ps3 started just like Vita and now its a pretty healthy system...

Just give them time, faster and well done... Only Bolt :D

[showtimefolks]

oh really than how come ps3 is on track to be the most selling system of this gen too? 3rd straight generation.

its not a race its a marathon. I still remember all the doom articles and how ps3 is a failure system to now its considered by many to have the best software support exclusives wise

launching a system at $599
starting a new online service
getting hacked
not having a lot of games early on

to now passing xbox360 even though it came a full year ahead of ps3, now i don't know about others but that makes a huge statement about how strong playstation brand still is

sony did a lot wrong early on and still did good, imagine ps4 with a lot of software support,a better psn store and better online features like cross game chat from day one with a much more consumer friendly price point.

slow and steady is the way to go, or be like MS release a lot of games for first 4 years than go all casual and better with kinect on us

slogan for sony's ps4 should be

WE HAVE A SYSTEM FOR CORE GAMERS, FOR THE BEST GAMING SOFTWARE IN THE BUSINESS

all the features aside what matters most are games and sony along with nintendo have proven track records of delivering top of the line exclusives each gen

[morganfell]

You can't teach them showtime because they are determined not to learn.

Besides, the experiences in the race, of which Sony has shown themselves to be the master, are more important than crossing the finish line. And Sony knows the finish line takes at least 10 years to cross.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

...
http://24.media.tumblr.com/...

That is all.

[nukeitall]

Slow and steady is a recipe for disaster, because of 3rd party support and only Sony could pull it off at the time.

Imagine if the Xbox 360 started out of the gate like that? It would essentially be the Wii U and support would drop even faster as they were the laughing stock during the original Xbox.

Sony rode on the strong Playstation brand name, and the adoption in Japan to get it where it is today.

That isn't something that everyone can do, but Sony did because nobody could believe the PS3 could perform so poorly by developers.

[Action GO FIGURE]

This author must understand, it's not 2007 anymore.

[Thatguy-310]

I think Sony is the only one console manufacture that could get away with charging 600$ at launch and still have a successful launch. Let's not forget how sony dominated the last two gens. This Gen they aren't far behind from the competition which deserves props. Next gen should be interesting.

[Edward75]

That is the problem dboy....they dominated the last 2 gens. They fell of from dominating... To being muddled in with the rest. It is a huge loss even though they sold well.

[Anon1974]

I find it interesting that people tend to look at the PS2 as if it stopped selling in 2007 and claim "Look at all the marketshare Sony lost! OMG!"

The truth is, since 2007 Sony's been selling not one, but two home consoles. While it wasn't the domination of the marketplace that we saw with the PS2 versus the Xbox/Gamecube, with 77 million PS3's sold and 35 million PS2's sold since '07, Sony clearly dominated the home console market by offering a high end/low end game console strategy.

Selling the majority of home consoles since this gen started is no small feat considering the competition these past few years. While it wasn't the absolute marketshare dominance we saw prior to 2007, certainly the fact they were able to maintain the top spot at all in the home console marketplace is something that shouldn't be overlooked if we're going to sit here and criticize Sony like this article's nameless author attempts to do.

And I still don't get the "sixaxis was in response to Nintendo!" argument. We know Sony was working on motion control long before Nintendo, and the PS3 a week before the Wii. It's not like the Wii launched, was huge and Sony said "Oh man! Rush out the Sixaxis!" Is it really that hard to do research before making ignorant claims like this? And to then base the rest of your comments on unfounded rumors? Come on! We don't even know if any of that is true.

But that's what I've come to expect from these types of faceless articles. In my opinion, if you can't be bothered to attach your real name to your work, you shouldn't be writing. I can understand you wanting to remain anonymous when you churn out unresearched, unverified crap like this without even giving the topic the 15 seconds of thought required to logically think through your claim to realize it doesn't hold water. Get an editor.

This blog get's a big ole thumbs down from me.

[Death]

Selling 35 million additional PS2's means absolutely nothing. With 125-150 million PS2's sold, how many games made the top 10 list in sales? Almost none if memory serves. The hardware being sold was used for replacements and to feed the used game market. Had Sony not yanked backwards compatability it would have been a much different number. Sony needed to artificially extend the life of the PS2 to offset losses incurred by the PS3's lack of hardware and software sales. By focusing on two consoles it crippled their market share in the long run. All of this was a gamble to secure Blu-ray as the next gen disc based format. They won that battle only to lose out to digital streaming. This is the reason Ken lost his job at Sony.

The Playstation brand that carried Sony financially for two hardware cycles has struggled to make a profit in its division since launch. The PS4 is more a risk for Sony more than anything.

Sony releases their financials quarterly and are free to download. If you want to trully know how they feel, it's spelled out pretty clearly in black and white.

As for the above, the Sixaxis was both a qick scheme to jump on the Wii's motion based controls and also a failed alternative to replace vibration since there was a court order that prevented them from using it. Sony was last to settle the dispute and they did lose.

[nukeitall]

@darkride66:

"And I still don't get the "sixaxis was in response to Nintendo!" argument. We know Sony was working on motion control long before Nintendo, and the PS3 a week before the Wii. It's not like the Wii launched, was huge and Sony said "Oh man! Rush out the Sixaxis!""

Being first to research, but not supporting it until your competitor does?

Similar story with the PS Move. Doubt Sony would have released that without the Wii's success. What about PSN?

"Sony clearly dominated the home console market by offering a high end/low end game console strategy."

Nice spin there as usual from you. Nobody cares about the PS2, and nobody even bothers to compete with the PS2 really for a long time. A huge amount of those sales were actually sold to poor nations, because they can't afford a PS3.

Even if that, I wouldn't call that "dominating", not even close as the Wii sold over a 100 million units by itself, as one product.

@Death:

"Selling 35 million additional PS2's means absolutely nothing. With 125-150 million PS2's sold, how many games made the top 10 list in sales? Almost none if memory serves. The hardware being sold was used for replacements and to feed the used game market"

By almost every metric (other than fanboys), the PS3 was disaster. The holiday quarter brought Sony $6 million profit. That is the most important quarter, and their game division brings in that. Doesn't make up for their many, many, many huge losses which really illustrates the big issue.

Sony isn't really profiting, lost major marketshare and zealots has to use combined numbers to pad it and call it "domination".

I have personally seen the PS3 cheaper than the Xbox 360 (with the hard drive) in Europe. Sony's got this expensive machine, and in order to gain marketshare, they have had to push the prices below the Xbox 360. Over here, you can't even get the basic no frills version. It is either Kinect bundle or hard drive bundle.

"All of this was a gamble to secure Blu-ray as the next gen disc based format. They won that battle only to lose out to digital streaming. This is the reason Ken lost his job at Sony."

Ken lost the job due to being overly ambitious. The previous "accidental" success went to his head.

"The Playstation brand that carried Sony financially for two hardware cycles has struggled to make a profit in its division since launch."

I also wonder how they are going to continue being profitable? They are cannibalizing their own market by offering "free rental" (if you may) games on PSN Plus. They are already competing to sell more software with online games, but now they introduce a cheap way to get games.

Consumers will start to see loss in value of buying new games really quickly as you teach them that this content will be available later. This is likely to hurt the industry, and Sony as well in the long run for the short term gain.

[Anon1974]

@Death. "Selling 35 million additional PS2's means absolutely nothing. With 125-150 million PS2's sold, how many games made the top 10 list in sales?"

Are you kidding? PS2 games were showing up in the top 10 lists for years after the next gen started. In the US, you look at the npd numbers for 2006, 5 of the top 10 games were PS2 games for the year. 2007, 3 of the top 10 sellers for the year were PS2 titles and even into 2008, pick a month and you're likely to see PS2 titles still in the top 10 from month to month. Even into 2009 we were still seeing PS2 games in the top 20 list for the month for NPD until the NPD stopped reporting PS2 sales.

You and Nuke illustrate my point perfectly by choosing to ignore the obvious facts. People act like the PS2 ceased to exist when the 360 launched, but the truth is, the PS2 was still a force well into this gen as Sony's supported it this entire time. When you look at the home console space since this gen started, between the 2 consoles Sony was clearly the dominant force in the living room. The rest of your points are just noise and distraction that add nothing to the conversation. I have no idea how any of it was relevant to my point. You can dance around it all you want, it doesn't make it any less true.

[Death]

In 2008 at the end of the year,there were zero games in the top 20 on the PS2. http://vgsales.wikia.com/wi...

In 2007 there was 1, Madden 08. http://vgsales.wikia.com/wi...

You are correct though, 2006 we seen many PS2 games consistently hit the top 20.

We did however see the Wii and Xbox 360 out sell the PS2 in software with a very small fraction of hardware sold in comparison. The PS2 ceased to be a "force" the following year which also was the first year all three next gen consoles were out. If by "years" you actually meant within weeks, I stand corrected and you are 100% right.

As for the rest of my post you could not understand, it's ok. I had a feeling you wouldn't get it.

[delboy]

I run a business myself, and believe me I don't want to be doing a good job like Sony, ever.
Business is about making money, and Sony only lost money with ps3.
And now when ps3 is finally being sold with profit, and they can make some money they decided to release ps4.
Just stupid business decision.

[DigitalSmoke]

Have fun playing on your business...

[Hicken]

So you started with a profit, never bought anything, and you're somehow making a profit with your business.

No, smart guy. You made losses with various acquisitions, even if it was just buying stationery. You lose on the front end, INVESTING in hopes for a profitable return. If your business was on the scale of something like Sony- or if you actually had any REAL business sense- you'd understand that you sometimes take a loss to make a profit.

And, again, when you're as big as Sony, and you've been around as long, you're sometimes willing to take a COMPLETE loss on one device if it'll help fund profits on something else. If you're not willing to risk your money, you're not gonna make much.

I can see why you're here instead of sitting on millions.

[Death]

Hicken,

I'm a business owner also. I buy paper by the case. It's an overhead expense that comes out of my businesses profit. Sony can sustain an initial loss as long as they can make enough of a profit over time to justify it. Selling the Playstation hardware at a loss isn't an issue since they can offset it with software sales. In this case it isn't so much a loss as an investment. The problem Sony is running into is they show a loss quarter after quarter, year after year. The PS3's only real success was cementing Blu-ray as the new standard. The rolyalties they receive for each disc sold is the best thing they have going, but the money is split among the entire BRG and is being erroded by digital distribution.

Take a look at Sony's stock over the last decade. It isn't a pretty picture.

[TheLyonKing]

Agreed they have done everything really well for a while now.

Besides slow and steady does win the race look at the wii it shot out the blocks but you can't sprint a marathon and nintendo suffered for it.

[user3915800]

Psst, they are still in third place 6 years later and we are about to start next gen. So, Wii won, ps3 and 360 even on hardware sales, while wiiu its a skunk now. Whats next? 720 and ps4 will rock, lets see who will control the market, obviously nintendo wiiu its out of trhe competition, they will compete with the jaguar and dreamcast, oops.

[user3915800]

Just caused I like the ps3 the most this gen, does not make me want to troll like 80% here. Grow the F-- u==. Only one who lost this gen was sony, nintendo and xbox won grounD sony lost ground, not to mention all the lies coming from their executive. PS3 its a super computer... Ridge racerrrrrrrr... OMG all the bs lies and the end result? Sony could not prove anything besides that both nintendo and ms have higher scores then ps3 fact. Now, now, I like my ps3 too, but seriously PS3 TROLLS are the worst here on N4G. gAMERS ROCK, TROLLS NEED REASURANCED.

[dangert12]

To be honest, i think sony have done quiet well for how things played out for them, least not forget not many people could afford the ps3 for quiet a while,the psn hack lost them alot too,plus selling console at a loss, and the fact the 3rd party games continue to be represented better on the 360 then the ps3 despite everyone knowing the ps3 can out do the xbox where many of the games have failed to shine on the ps3

[TheGamerDood]

psn hack lost them what exactly? show me factual proof instead of your BS hearsay.

[Jobesy]

Lol, the psn hack, which made Sony give everyone free psn+ and games actually helped psn+ become the success it is today. I remember reading articles that showed proof Sony didn't lose customers but actually gained more customers than usual.

Btw, with the psn hack Sony did lose some cockiness which is good. It humbled them a lot and I don't think they'll ever make those mistakes again.

[GribbleGrunger]

This writer must understand that if he wants to win a marathon he'll have to change his views.

[DivineAssault]

when vita gets a price cut & some more games get released, itl start selling like crazy.. Its one of japans most wanted devices but im sure memory & the price is holding them back

[s8anicslayer]

Then how come no matter how fast someone in a horror flick runs the slow and steady homicidal maniac always gets his kill????

[NastyLeftHook0]

i agree its like a parent telling there child...

slow and steady does not win the race.

sell dope and have fun for 5 years then spend the rest of your life in prison...

dont go to college and get a education.

[NastyLeftHook0]

slow and steady?

is that why its been outselling the competition for years now?

if the ps3 numbers are slow and steady id like to see what they would call the competition.

[Karpetburnz]

Agree, Since the PS3 sold just as much If not more than the Xbox 360 In 1 year LESS time, I would describe the Xbox 360 as "even slower and less steady"

[Reborn]

Well, thankfully, Sony seems to not be looking at this as a "race".

Competition tends to breed innovation. If Sony can take an existing idea, and improve it for gamers/users, why not? PS Plus was a welcomed addition. As long as the focus improves the quality, and doesn't hamper it.

Sony aren't jumping straight in with rival tech, or concepts. It seems they're slowing planning their route to the end. Sure, it could backfire, but so far.. I'd say its doing pretty good for them.

[RuleofOne343]

That photo shop image looks like a suit waiting to happen.

[clintagious650]

Well the only reason why it started slow was because the LATE launch & High price of the ps3 & its not really fair if u compare wii sales to the ps3/360 especially since it was basically a much cheaper console then its competitors.

[TotalHitman]

Tell that to the tortoise that beat the hare.

[theWB27]

Let the companies fight the fight and we enjoy the games. This "mine is better than yours" amongst gamers proves absolutely nothing. I wonder how many posters on here actually own both consoles or buy actually buy EVERY exclusive Sony puts out.

[Prodigy-X]

And yet they are about to be the first ones to announce the first next gen console. SMH

[Clarence]

I knew one of these articles would show up. Slow and steady has won the race. The Playstation is the only console to sell 100m+ twice in a row. It looks like they wil do the same withe PS3. Slow and steady wins the race.

[creatchee]

Sony's problem isn't sales - it's market share. They went from far and away the best selling console last generation to (basically) a tie for second. That's quite a drop off, considering their past dominance.

The WiiU isn't selling at the extreme rate that the Wii did, but they will still have a considerable lead when Sony and Microsoft release their next consoles. Honestly though, I don't see any of the three pulling away significantly next gen either because of parity.

Minus each console's exclusives, there's not much difference between them - especially considering the popularity of multiplatform games. This was much difference last gen, where each console had a vast variety of well-selling exclusives (especially on the PS2 side of things).

The slight differences in power between consoles really haven't made much of a difference, to be honest. And next gen doesn't seem to be shaping up to be any different. I really don't see any next gen product selling way beyond the other ones because they are quite comparable, whereas in prior years, there were many definitive reasons to choose one over the competition.

[Thatguy-310]

Tie for second but both sony and the competition have sold 70+million consoles. Compare that to other gens when the competition didn't even make it to 40 million. Plus remember that a lot of consoles this Gen were purchase because of the introduction to casual gaming which was a demographic that wasn't in the previous gens. Sony hasn't lost a lot of market share like you make it seem.

[P_Bomb]

Article's angle is that Sony copies Nintendo and MS (eg SixAxis and motion cameras). What the article fails to acknowledge however are all the things Sony's done first on console like the EyeToy/CD/BluRay/Cloud and even things we take for granted now like free-to-play (Home), user created content and standard HDMI/DTS.

[QUOTE]"including better graphics won’t suffice because now people expect an all in one device that not only helps you to play games on better graphics but also, include all the voice enabled features, the internet applications and the media applications for a hefty sum of money that the companies nowadays charge their customers."[/QUOTE]

Hmm. Article also seems to think more apps and 'better with kinect' voice recognition gimmicks are how to win the race. Personally I'd rather have a slow and steady pace of good exclusive games over a breakneck sprint of apps like the now defunct Twitter and Facebook ones. Paying twice to use a Netflix app, isn't a consumer victory imo.

[RuperttheBear]

There were consoles that used cds before Sony.

[RuperttheBear]

Disagrees aye?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[miyamoto]

Defense is the best offense against a money monster like M$.
To survive the money onslaught is more than enough to win.

[evilhasitsway]

well it worked sony is beating ms in sales and they came a year late. so who really cares what this publisher says.

[Xer0_SiN]

slow and steady doesnt win the race? who the spoon fed you that bullshit? out of the three systems that was launched around the same time frame (ps3, 360, wii). which systems is dead? wii. which system is on its very last breath with no forseeable support coming anytime soon. 360. which system is still running strong with a very strong lineup to be released with several others in the works. ps3. and lets not even get started with sales. ps3 sales is STILL surging, while the others have stopped completely or declining quickly. gtfo with that non sense.

[dee-ecks]

Well said dude, well f**cing said.

[TheSauce]

360 is dead? The holiday sales numbers would disagree with you.

[smashcrashbash]

Hey maybe you people writing these articles should go and run Sony's company for them.I mean since you are so smart and all and you do know better why don't you just go in there and start inventing original ideas and lowering prices and making the perfect console etc. I mean just go do it.Ignore all the consequences and the orders from the top and the budgets, protocols, plans and goals.Just spend a ton of money and do what everyone else is doing. Just pretend that Microsoft succeeds in everything that they do and that Nintendo and them never had failed consoles and times when they struggled too.

In fact go ahead Mr know it all tell me an original idea Sony can have for their new console that isn't a dumb idea or a gimmick. Go ahead, I am listening.And added to it I really think people should stop telling Sony to make their console a multimedia device. Hello, Sony is the one that started doing that and was looked down for doing it and now that Microsoft and Nintendo are doing it you are telling Sony to do what they were trying to do all the time. Remember 'Sony is only interested in adding pointless things and should concentrate on games only like Microsoft. No one wants that stuff' If you want to talk about copying so much isn't them making their consoles into multimedia devices Sony's idea.If they are so innovative why are they doing it too?

[3GenGames]

To make the most money for R&D costs, they should just make their games work with kinect. It's been hacked wide open. How many games would be sold to Kinect+PS3 owners if they released a GOOD game that works with it? They can always update it to work with their version of kinect later, but still...I'd love to see that tried. It's crazy enough to bomb, but it'd be great for the people who own a kinect AND PS3. IMO, it'd be the best innovation all generation. Supporting the enemies devices.

[VR-4nic]

Your right thats why SONY has sold more PS3′s in less time then M$ did with the 360 that had a full year longer on the market. So in the end your right the 360 has sold slow and steady over a longer time and will end up in 3rd place where as the PS3 has moved more console faster in less time.

I also do believe that SONY had a camera the (eye toy) on a console why before M$ or Nintendo ever did and SONY offered the first dual analog controller which is now industry standard.

[dee-ecks]

And you need to understand that it does indeed win the race as they've proven with the PS3.

[CommonSenseGamer]

That's only true if you can use the same strategy in 2013 for a console and portable device. Like it or not it would appear the Vita is fighting for the same dollar as mobile phones and tablets. Thing is, over the next 5 years mobile phones and tablets will be a heck of a lot more advanced and even more versatile. Do you really think a Vita will be selling in the numbers needed 2 years from now? Do you really think Apple and Samsung would sit on the same basic model for 5 years?

[strigoi814]

and some people should understand to that being aggressive to much might result to lack of support and hardware failures.

All of us are next gen gamers, aren't wii? You??

[dmonee]

despite Sonys mishaps over the last ten years, they also have aloy going for them. they may play catch up when dealing with innovative control gimmicks, but that's because they are gimmicks! the only reason playstation whipped up the move was to bring on some bored casual gamers that wanted something better than wii. even though it takes them awhile to get it sometimes, at least they listen to their audience. look at the success of the Ps2, the psp, the ps3, and I have no doubt in my mind they will find a way to make the Vita a success as well. If the rumors prove true and next week the PS4 is revealed, then To me, it is a sign that Sony is getting it. you can say all you want that they operate slow and steady, but this may be their most aggressive move to date.

[DigitalSmoke]

Why are are these aricles talking about how bad Sony is doing, specilally since i feel treated so right by them.
I mean, isn't ther any good Xbox news for these biased muppets to write about ?

[breakpad]

Sony must understand one and only thing when you let YOUR Games go multiplatform and also you get mostly the inferior ports of these games you CANT win....letting an inferior system lead the way binds you to the same rythm as it goes(X360)...pS3 had/has huge potential but enforced (by sony's mistakes) to follow the X360)/Wii