Kage848 said:
By all means the PS3 fanboys should be happy if/when the PS3 takes second place. I for one think it will and ill even go so far to say it already has, you can't ignore a years head start in my book. But this guys correct. I have said it before and I'll say it again. Sony is by far the biggest loser this gen. Again please sony fans don't get mad at us stating the facts. I own one and love it as its a great console but this is reality. |
It all depends on how you look at it. Sony dropped the ball no question, but recent evidence suggests the market has been largely willing to forgive and forget. Is that what a loser looks like? No a loser loses market support and doesn't get it back. PS3 is well on the road to redemption, people and companies who redeem themselves aren't losers.
Microsoft's aim was to obliterate the PS brand and wipe it from people's memories (OK slight exaggeration maybe). You can bet Microsoft were giddy with anticipation of achieving this goal when they saw how Sony botched the PS3 launch and pricing. They would have seen the demise of the PS brand in a single generation being a distinct possibility. (Had Wii not come along and blown both PS3 and 360 out of the water (and though I dis-like raising it as it's too often over used RROD didn't do them any favours) they may well have succeeded, so Sony actually owes Nintendo a favour for keeping them in the game.) But Microsoft couldn't deliver the knock-out blow. Sony was wounded, badly wounded, but the PS brand pulled through to get to a sustainable position. Is that what a loser looks like? No, when a loser goes down they stay down. PS3 picked itself up, and got back into the fight determined to carry on.
It wasn't even a year ago when there was a lot of talk about Sony bowing out and leaving the console hardware game. Is anyone other than the most one eyed PS3 hater really thinking that now? PS3's star is on the rise. Can you really say that a console whose star is on the rise is a loser? No, when a loser's prospects have gone sour they fail to turn things around. PS3's fortunes turned around and it's are enjoying a resurgent return to form.
Financially PS3 has cost Sony a lot of money, but sometimes you've got to spend money to make money. Circumstances conspired against Sony and they got stung by having their overall business get badly hit both from within (and not just by PS3) and from without. Microsoft's loss leading Xbox strategy has now started to pay dividends. You can't say Sony's loss leading PS3 strategy was a losing strategy at this point in time. A few more years will have to pass before you can really put the period of PS3 being a loss making hardware into it's proper historical perspective. It might be right that Sony made a very bad judgement call with PS3 being high priced and still sold at a loss, But there might be long term payoffs for Sony that will end up more than compensating for the lean times. Sony has survived the finaincial problems to date, and that's what really matters in this respect.
From a different perspective: that PS3 is now more competitive than it's ever been (despite the most dire predicitons of a great many people and pundits), and has the prospect of eventually having higher LTD sales than 360, you could argue that 360 will ultimately lose this generation. Why? Because Microsoft basically let PS3 get back in the game and it's quite possible that in doing so Sony are poised to re-take the crown in the next generation. The very last thing Microsoft wanted out of this generation (especially with the way Sony began) was for Sony to be capable of vying for top honours in the next gen battle. A key 360 KPI will not be met. There's nothing Microsoft can do about it, PS3 is still here, Sony is still here, and PS4 is about as certain as a next gen XBox. You can't tell me that Microsoft is a bit bummed about that. They wanted it all this gen, but they didn't get it (again thanks in large measure to the Wii).
The inter-generational contest is finely balanced between 360 and PS3. And while Wii is a phenomenon PS3 and 360 are very successful 2nd and 3rd placed consoles and they will both be in a position to challenge Nintendo in gen 8.
If you want to see things from a macro-perspective then you should look at the console wars like a boxing match with each generation being a round. PS3 started this round with a standing 8 count (or 2), after delivering 2 standing 8 counts in the previous round and a knock out blow (Dreamcast). By the end of the round PS3 will have delivered enough blows of its own for the round to be called pretty much even between 360 and PS3.
You can call PS3 the loser, and it looked a lot like one for some time. But it doesn't look like one now.
“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
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