There is much talk on the site lately of how Sony got in last place, when (or if) it will retake 2nd place, etc.

Theories range from price, amount of AAA games, sacrificing the console business to win the HD/BR war, and on and on. The PS3 certainly has AAA games. Helping much? No. Hm.  

My theory? Sony forgot what got them on top. It wasn't called this at the time, but is was the Blue Ocean. Market expansion. The beauty of the PSX & PS2 was that they were both consoles for everyone. There were games for the "hardcore elite" and game critics, there were games for 6 year old Disney Princess fans. Games for everyone. ICO & Rugrats, GTA & Snoopy vs the Red Baron, MGS2 & Scooby Doo's Night of 1000 Frights. They had Resident Evil & Trivial Pursuit. They had Final Fantasy & Family fued. Star Wars Battlefront & Crazy Taxi. Hell they had Eye Toy : Kinetic & Yourself! Fitness YEARS before Wii Fit.

See the problem? Sony never became #1 by catering to the niche hardcore. They became #1 because they made a WIDE VARIETY OF AFFORDABLE GAMES FOR EVERYONE. They currently are not doing that. Yes there are some multi plat Lego games, and multi plat guitar games, a Singstar and Buzz game here and there, but with the PS3 Sony set out to make a console for the elite.

Look at the quotes SONY made: "Five Hundred Ninety Nine US Dollars", "You might have to take a second job", etc. This was (is) clearly not a console for everyone, so "everyone" isn't going to buy it. The Elite have and are buying. 350k sold this week means someone is buying. But even with 350k sold, Sony is still in last. And they are still ultimately targeting the elite. How can they gain market share? The competition is marketing much wider. Sony is marketing to a lake. Nintendo to an Ocean. and M$ is moving from their elite to the ocean. 

The PS2 (and in some ways PSX) marketed to an expanded audience. Just like the Wii. That's why both of these systems are winners. The PS2 offered  something for everyone. If you took out all the non AAA PS2 titles from the PS2's library, you would be catering to a niche market. Sony has chosen to do exactly that. And third parties who could have provided a mix of kid/fitness/everyone games can't because the cell made it cost prohibitive.

Before the Wii the PS2 was the biggest market expanding gaming console of all time. PS3 was focused on the hardcore, and BluRay, not the "average gamer". Sony put themselves here. This was their market to lose. Hell, I waited over 20 hours in line to get a launch PS3. There was no Wii line (it launched a day or so later).

Ok, so they had a bad start, it only got worse. Sony then destroyed it's consumer loyalty. Some have said the press has done this, but it's all on Sony. Sony had delays, shifts in core values, delays, lies, & more delays.

This is an old overtalked about issue, but look at the quotes:

2006: "Backwards compatibility, as you know from PlayStation One and PlayStation 2, is a core value of what we believe we should offer. And access to the library of content people have created, bought for themselves, and accumulated over the years is necessary to create a format. PlayStation is a format meaning that it transcends many devices -- PSOne, PS2, and now PS3."

Not even a year later (10 months) and "core values" go right out the window.

2007: "We have made clear on many occasions that our priority is on developing innovative new features and services for PS3 and not on backwards compatibility."

Sony must honestly think consumers and the press have the memories of a fly.

And while B/C is an old arguement at this point, it is a perfect example of showing how Sony has destroyed it's consumer loyalty. Get a second job to get a PS3. The variety of games you've come to expect are not on this console. Buy only new games, your old ones are old and don't matter anymore (see VC, only you've always promised access to them without rebuying them). Don't promise games by "x" date and delay delay delay. Home will come early, no late 2007, early, no late 2008, maybe by beginning 2009.

My Theory on Backwards Compatability issue. I think BC will return through a software emulator. I think it was pulled not only to save $ but to extend the life of the PS2, which has helped keep some profits coming in. I think the emulator is ready, I just think they are waiting for the profitable PS2 to die on it's own. I would almost bet that Sony will offer PS2 games as downloadable content, and I hope they don't make people repurchase games they've already bought once. We'll have to see how they handle that if this theory is even correct...

Sony can save the PS3. Don't lie to your customers. Make games both accessible and affordable for everyone (see Microsoft strategy, not perfect, but better than Sony's). Look at the core Playstation X & 2 values. Go back to what made you a success and look at how you've changed for the worse.

It's not just the economy that put Sony here this holiday. Not just the price, MS, or Nintendo. Granted the economy, price, MS & Nintendo aren't helping. But Sony got here on it's own arrogance and disrespect of the consumer. Sony needs to look back at what values it let go and find them again. That might make second place within reach?

Your theories?

Because Sony thought they were so powerful that they could replicate (bit by bit) the piss poor strategy Microsoft had last generation and make it work.

So Sony moves from an ocean to a lake with M$. Nintendo just makes a bigger ocean. Microsoft sees the ocean expand, and moves out of the lake and into the now bigger ocean. Sony stays in the lake. Ironic.

That's really the strategies of this generation in childlike simplicity.

Sony didnt make a console for the elite. they just wanted to make the best system for the consumer, but they didn't know exaclty wat the consumer wanted at the time, neither did MS or nintendo. so they try to make the best system possible, wat they end making is the most powerful's but at wat cost

now they know wat the consumer wants, a system that is afforable, with a variety of games. sony has one of these, but the other only they dont' have. which is why they are in 3rd, well at least for now.

i personally doubt sony will go down this easy, they are too well established and by now they know they made mistakes and have admitted it.

Very good points... great thread, honestly.

Sony trusted too much in their brand, and it didn't work.

Good write-up.

But PS3 still has B/C. It's not PS2 b/c, but I don't think anyone would argue the point that PS1 games aren't full of win. So your old games still do matter.

PS3=Sega Saturn. That is my theory. There was a nice graph to illustrate this. Hold on.....  OK.  Thanks pbroy.

For every similarity the PS3 has to the Sega Saturn, there are also a lot of differences. Hell, the Saturn's strongest region by far was Japan. Does that sound like the PS3 to you? How about the best selling games or how much games sold? The completely different demographics? There are so many differences.

I disagree with your point, and agree with the OP's point. Sony made the PS3 for the gaming elite, they forgot everyone who bought the PS2 for a DVD-player with games, who eventually grew to love the games the PS2 offered. Now those consumers have moved to the wii, the newest system who caters their type of games to them. Nintendo KNEW what they were doing when they made the wii, Miyomoto stated himself

"If the DS had flopped, we might have taken the Wii back to the drawing board."

But the DS did NOT fail, instead they struck gold. They made a handheld system that can cater to the casual crowd, but the core group also highly enjoyed. Thus the wii we know today exists. Nintendo knew what they were doing with the wii, they knew what to expect, and their predictions paid off.

I also believe microsoft knew what they were going to do this generation, to a point. Their entire strategy seems to revolve around xbox live and expanding it, the original xbox had xbox live to a certain degree with success. Being successful with their online functionality in the 6th generation, they wanted to expand it in the 7th generation. Their strategy has changed a little bit from time-to-time. But if NXE means anything, it means they still seek to improve the online experience of the xbox live gamers. Parties? Netflix? Only the beginning.

To allow for a real PS3, they have to lower the costs, ditch XDR RAM, and have a faster BD-ROM drive. They only way I foresee this happening is with an early slim PSthree or they should just give up for now or release PS4 early which would be a drastic biz decision that would force them to pull out entirely.