Good luck sony

[nitnit]

Yeah, I think that by Sony dying, we're talking about Sony's gaming division dying. If the xbox were in this position, Microsoft wouldn't die, but Microsoft Game Studios and whatever handles the hardware would  

[Haratio TaFotter]

Tron714

I dont think Sony as a whole will die... I mean they are pretty well invested into their electronic hardware. And remember, the PS3 isnt a video game console, its a "Entertainment System" lol.

hopefully people understand the joke...

Lol, this is a good point. They do have a lot of other stuff to fall back on when the Playstation finally fails.  

[Tron714]

Sony does have alot of confidence in there system and they still hold key game developers to keep the PS3 on life support. I mean they have Naughty Dog and i can say i miss them dearly. Even though they are just working on Drake's Uncharted franchise atm, id still like to see them make something multiplatform. But they cant due to Sony owning all rights to whatever they make. They also have ties with Square and a few teams under there own belt.

Also, the last thing keeping the PS3 alive is the hardcore gamers who do not want to pay 4 dollars a month to play online. I think these are the main keys keeping the PS3 on the market.  

[Georgia Gator]

I personally think the Activision guy is full of crap. He can talk all he wants about dropping PS3/PSP support because the other consoles bring in more revenue, but then he'd be alienating all the people that DO have a PS3/PSP.

He said they have to drop the price. They don't have to. They're trying to make as much return on the console as they can considering they're STILL losing money on it.

In my humble opinion, why does it matter what the console costs? Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. He just needs to cool off, because obviously, he's getting greedy. The PS3 may not ever be the console leader this generation, but it won't kill Sony.

 

[Solar IXI]

Tron714

Sony does have alot of confidence in there system and they still hold key game developers to keep the PS3 on life support. I mean they have Naughty Dog and i can say i miss them dearly. Even though they are just working on Drake's Uncharted franchise atm, id still like to see them make something multiplatform. But they cant due to Sony owning all rights to whatever they make. They also have ties with Square and a few teams under there own belt.

Also, the last thing keeping the PS3 alive is the hardcore gamers who do not want to pay 4 dollars a month to play online. I think these are the main keys keeping the PS3 on the market.

Incorrect. Sony contract with Square was broken and Square is now able to produce games for whatever console they want. Why do you think 360 is getting FF13?  

[Georgia Gator]

Solar IXI

Tron714

Sony does have alot of confidence in there system and they still hold key game developers to keep the PS3 on life support. I mean they have Naughty Dog and i can say i miss them dearly. Even though they are just working on Drake's Uncharted franchise atm, id still like to see them make something multiplatform. But they cant due to Sony owning all rights to whatever they make. They also have ties with Square and a few teams under there own belt.

Also, the last thing keeping the PS3 alive is the hardcore gamers who do not want to pay 4 dollars a month to play online. I think these are the main keys keeping the PS3 on the market.

Incorrect. Sony contract with Square was broken and Square is now able to produce games for whatever console they want. Why do you think 360 is getting FF13?

Note that Tron didn't say they had a contract, only that they had ties. Why do you think FF XIV is PS3 only? question And what about FF XIII Versus? question

 

[nitnit]

GA G8R

In my humble opinion, why does it matter what the console costs?

Because why would I buy a PS3 when a 360 has over 100 exclusive non PS3 games, most of the same games as the PS3, a better online service that I dont mind paying for, and is cheaper... (and imo, 360 controller > PS3 controller)

Also you say, why does the console cost matter? Take a look at game console sales, last I check nintendo has rougly 50 million Wiis sold. Xbox has around 30 million 360s sold. PS3 has about 20 million PS3s sold. Look at that, the cheapest system is far ahead, and the other two trail in order of their price.

Also keep in mind that on top of that, Sony lost money per PS3 sold, where as their competitors earned money per system sold. Sony either has to make a drastic change for the next generation, or call it quits.  

[Georgia Gator]

My question wasn't what does it matter to customers. That much is obvious. But why does it matter to the Activision guy who threatened to pull support?

He wants Sony to lower the price on something he has no control over. Even if he somehow managed to get his company to allow him to pull support, they'd still lose money on sales.

You say over 100 exclusive non-PS3 games on 360. That much can be appointed to the fact it was the first "next-gen" console released. Time is a factor in these things, especially to sales. But look at the fact PS3 was released an entire year after 360 and it's only 10 million units behind, while both trail the Wii? I'd say that's pretty good for a $400-$600 console. (depending on when you bought it)

Yes, I'm aware PS3 is dead last in console sales. I also am aware that coming out of E3, Sony has alot of good games coming out that are PS3 exclusive. Also, I know Sony keeps losing money on every PS3 sold, and yet, everyone keeps talking about a price drop and now Activision threatens to pull support. If that happens (price drop), and Sony doesn't somehow lower the cost to manufacture the console, they'll lose even MORE money. However, they said they're in this for the long run. I personally believe PS3 will be around for a very long time. Eventually, it'll become a profitable console, and more people will be able to afford it (after a few price drops and the economy gets better). By that time, Nintendo and Microsoft may have already released their next consoles (which I'm hearing will be 2011 or 2012).

 

[nitnit]

Well, if you read the Activision guy's comment, he said that the PS3 is expensive to develop for, and the profit potential is too low since not enough people are buying PS3 games. If the PS3 was cheaper, more people would buy it... simple as that.  

[Georgia Gator]

It's expensive to develop for because Sony made what it believes to be the best console for this generation. It's just that, with a console that costs as much as it does, you'd expect development costs to be higher than normal. But like I said in an earlier post, you have to spend money to make money. It's that simple.

He just wants his games to make more money for his company, hence he threatened support if Sony didn't drop the price, which would HOPEFULLY get more people to buy it and more games.

Even if Sony did lower the price, there's no guarantee that millions of people would buy millions of Activion's games.

 

[nitnit]

Ok, look, im really sorry but your playstation 3 fanboyism cant change how business works. As of right now, Sony has an annual income of -200 billion yen. That's rougly -2 billion dollars. ActivisionBlizzard, who happens to be the richest game publisher/developer, barring nintendo, sees it as a sinking ship. Why invest in something that's giving a negative return? Developing for a system is similar to an investment.

You say, you have to spend money to earn money - well, Activision did spend its money on the PS3, and it apparently didn't earn much money, or any at all, otherwise they wouldn't be saying these things. Trust me, people may think that EA is the big corproration of the game developer/publisher world, but recently it has become Activision.

Also, Sony themselves are saying that they're probably going to be lowering the price of the PS3 this fall... which was also stated in this thread, lol.


EDIT: on that note, since this is related, EA is actually reporting a net income of -1billion itself, right now ActivisionBlizzard and Nintendo really are the big players in terms of Wall Street. (barring microsoft since their real fame is from Windows)  

[Bayou Bulldog]

I get where both sides are coming from, and I agree that Sony is in trouble, but you have to look at the problems from all sides!

Microsoft has been in this generations battle for longer, and also has a powerhouse machine (made all the more powerful after the Jasper chips were inserted, let us not forget that the launch Xbox's had a terrible case of the Gremlins) It is a well built machine that can handle just about anything (somthing no fanboy...even myself...could possibly dispute)

However I do not believe that Sony is completely down and out of the gaming wars, afterall it has quite a few exclusive titles on hand that are popular, it has a good online support IMO just as good as XBL and also free, and lets not forget the fact that it plays Blu-rays (though as time wears on and cheaper blu-ray players become available this will be not as big as an asset) Finally it seems to be getting a better flow of popular third party titles in! This dosesn't spell the death of the console, infact the PS3 could see a dramatic comeback (though if the Wii were to ever come out in HD, it would cripple both consoles permenantly) thoughy I doubt that Sony will overtake Microsoft any time soon, or at all, in sales.  

[Georgia Gator]

I'm just really impressed with the machine, is all. I don't believe Sony will die (yet). They're an entertainment company, so I'm sure they'll figure out a way to fix it or whatever. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. I know I'll enjoy the console as long as it lasts, just like anyone else would enjoy there 360 or Wii.
EDIT: (added) I didn't know I was acting like a fanboy. I was just standing by the console I laid my cash down for. Defending it, if you will. Or trying to, at least. Don't tell me none of you would do the same. I know Sony's made mistakes, like making the console as much as it did and not having a seamless online service from the start, but that's what happens.

@Kakashi: Agreed. Microsoft has been in the battle longer than the rest, and yet both trail the Wii, because its a more casual experience, not to mention it's the cheapest console available. And to boot, I've heard that Nintendo will eventually release an HD Wii in the future.

And I think the PS3 comeback you mention may happen, but within the next year to year and a half. You have to look at what all is coming out to make people want to buy the console. Uncharted 2 is coming out this year and not to mention God of War 3 next March. And let's not forget Sony's Wand Motion Controller that was shown at E3.

 

[Bayou Bulldog]

GA G8R

I'm just really impressed with the machine, is all. I don't believe Sony will die (yet). They're an entertainment company, so I'm sure they'll figure out a way to fix it or whatever. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. I know I'll enjoy the console as long as it lasts, just like anyone else would enjoy there 360 or Wii.
EDIT: (added) I didn't know I was acting like a fanboy. I was just standing by the console I laid my cash down for. Defending it, if you will. Or trying to, at least. Don't tell me none of you would do the same. I know Sony's made mistakes, like making the console as much as it did and not having a seamless online service from the start, but that's what happens.

@Kakashi: Agreed. Microsoft has been in the battle longer than the rest, and yet both trail the Wii, because its a more casual experience, not to mention it's the cheapest console available. And to boot, I've heard that Nintendo will eventually release an HD Wii in the future.

And I think the PS3 comeback you mention may happen, but within the next year to year and a half. You have to look at what all is coming out to make people want to buy the console. Uncharted 2 is coming out this year and not to mention God of War 3 next March. And let's not forget Sony's Wand Motion Controller that was shown at E3.

Indeed  

[Tron714]

Riddle me this batman, what happens to the PS3 after God of War 3 comes out? It will probably help boost sails for a little, but MGS4 was supposed to be the PS3's comeback when the sales were getting closer. Sony's big market is Japan and that is Microsoft's worse market. Microsoft specifically has developer Mistwalker to make JRPG titles to boost sales in that area and they have selling thousands of 360s and copies of Blue dragon and Lost Oddysey.

The PS3 has exclusives that i would love to play, mainly being Infamous and Drakes Uncharted. Other than that, they do not have much. And when it comes to 3rd party games, it shows that 360 versions doubles or triples the sales of a PS3 version.

Sony is trying to mimick a few tricks that Microsoft has, such as Achivements. No matter how many times you cut the price of the system. It doesnt change the fact of how much it costs a developer to make a game for that system. The PS3 to me is a very nice cheap blu-ray player.