Who is Sony's main threat/competitor today?

[KBG29]

potato_hamster said:

KBG29 said:

I don't think either one of us is ever going to budge on our opinions on this matter. All I can say is Google is absolutely coming for the gaming market, and Android has basically wiped out Bravia and Xperia, and cost Sony more losses than anything else in the history of the company. Sony failed to keep up with the industry in the mobile space with PlayStation and it is the worst decision the company has ever made. As I see it, if they fail to keep up with the rest of the industry in the home space, people will leave just as fast.

If they fail with the PlayStation ecosystem, they have no where to turn. People are not going to buy a Console from them that runs Android or Windows. I do not believe for a second that a single PS5 console will compete against PC, TV, Set Top Box, Tablet, Smartphone, and Handheld offerings from the rest of the market, when people can get Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Grand Theft Auto, Fifa, NBA 2K, and everything else 3rd party and Microsoft on every other device. PlayStation will by far offer the worst value for 3rd party titles, while requiring a Proprietary device that exists outside of everything else in peoples connected lives. I do not believe Sony can dominate the market on exclusives alone, and if things go the way they are looking right now, that is all they will have.

Android didn't "wipe out Bravia and Xperia".  That's an operating system. Samsung and Apple wiped out Sony's Xperia line (as well as utterly decimated the OS kings, Microsoft at their own game. As for TVs. Ask yout average TV user what operating system their TV runs and they'll look at you funny. No one really gives a shit about the operating system their TV runs. All they care about is whether it has the apps they want and whether those apps work the way they should.

Why would Sony make a console that runs Android or Windows? You make zero sense. People buy game consoles to play video games. As long as it has an app package that's "good enough" that's all that matters. Whether or not you can view .pdfs or check your email on your PS5 isn't going to matter at all to a prospective buyer.

The PlayStation 4 already competes against PC, TV, Set Top Boxes, Tablets, Smartphones  and Handheld offerings and are on the verge of 100 million in sales. Why would the PS5 suddenly not be able to compete? Because now you can play Gears of War or Forza streamed to a tablet? And again, here's the part you keep ignoring. Tablet owners aren't willing to spend $60 to play Forza on a tablet (with touch screen controls no less). How are game developers going to make money selling their games on platforms with userbases that are unwilling to pay for them? You can get FIFA on iOS and Android, and shockingly, EA still managed to sell nearly 12 million copies PS4 alone, and that's just hard copies. Why would this change? Exclusives only matter when third party offerings are equal or near equal. That's why when someone is choosing between a PS4 and a Switch, it doesn't matter that Madden is also on Xbox, it matters that Madden is not on Switch. And if Switch get's some type of tablet/touchscreen version of Madden for that sells for $8 on the store? People are still going to lean towards buying a PS4 to play the Madden they want to play - in front of a TV with a controller.

You arguments aren't based on any kind of sound reasoning. You're treating game consoles as if they're PCs or TVs or set top boxes or whatever. They're not. Google is just going to quirt out device after device that runs Android and users the google play store like the next Ouya and let Sony do their own thing.

I swear we live in two different worlds. Most people I talk to are fully aware of what TV OS, Set Top Box, Console, or PC they are using to get content to their TV, along with knowing what Apps they enjoy on said OS.

Android is absolutely what damaged Sony's Mobile and TV business. They were doing great in the Mobile space with PSP and TV sales were fine when they were running their own OS. When they bought complete control of their Phone business and Killed off PS Vita to focus exclusively on Android based Xperia's is the exact moment that they started loosing billions and declining in sales. Ever since they dropped their own OS on their TVs and moved to Android sales and profits have fallen every year. Android has done nothing but hurt Sony, and it has drove a wedge between PlayStation and the rest of the company. Xperia and Bravia do not push Sony services, or interact with the PS4. They actually compete directly with Sony, and push Google services over Sony's own. Sony looses on the sale of the hardware, and every time a user grabs anything from the Google Play Store and Google services instead of PS Store and PS Services.

Of course I compare consoles to PC, Smart TV, and Set Top Boxes, saying they don't compete is no different than saying iOS and Android didn't compete against Handhelds. We have already seen how foolish it was to pretend competition doesn't exist in the Mobile space, why would we do it again in the Home space?

As for why PS5 will fail when PS4 has succeeded. PS5 will be facing a market where people can play Madden 20, NBA 2K20, Grand Theft Auto 6, and Future Assasin's Creed and Call of Duty titles, directly on their TV, with a controller, or via PC, or a Set Top Box, or on their Tablet/Phone, or on their Tablet/Phone with a controller, or with their Tablet/Phone streamed to their TV with a controller. PS4 did not face a market, where the devices people are using every day for every other computing and entertainment experience, also had the ability to deliver the same gaming experience as PS4. PS5 will be facing a market where all of these device offer the same, or an even better experience than PS5.

PlayStation 5 will fail because it doesn't offer anything people can't already get from every other device they own. Sony will fail, because they have not made an ecosystem of devices that allow people to get done what they need to get done. That is why I say Sony is Sony/PlayStation's greatest threat. They have everything they need to build an ecosystem that can compete with Apple, Microsoft, and Google, but they fail time and time again to capitalize. There is nothing Apple, Google, and Microsoft can do to over take Sony in gaming, only what Sony won't do to compete against iOS, Android, and Windows. PS5, a single Home console, can not fight against ecosystems with devices that span all form factors.