I don't see MUCH momentum in PS3 sales even after the price cut

[Bodhesatva]

windbane said:

Bodhesatva said:

Xiru said:

LeroyBrown said:

Soriku said:
Hey, I care about Japan sales most of all. Why? 'Cause if PS3 is sucking in Japan (which is what's happening now) and Wii does good in Japan (now happening) then probably more Jap dev support (S-E, Namo, etc.)

I whole heartedly concur with this. Obviously it is personal opinion, but I really only care about Japanese developers and their franchises, to each their own but in my experiences Western developed games by and large only really seem to appeal to current trends/genres in gaming lacking any real staying power outside of niche groups in the long run.

I too would normally be worried but since the Wii doesn't have the technology to express game developers true imagination and creative talent, I wouldn't worry as much. As long as the PS3 does respectable across the world, Japanese developers will still make the big games for it. Look at Square Enix. If Nintendo had made the Wii even just a little less powerful than the 360, then Nintendo would own the whole world and there would be no 3rd party games for PS3/360. So as it stands now, Wii can sell all it wants but the technology used inside the console really does hurt any future prospects oh huge amazing games like FF13. I'm sure Square could bring FF14 to Wii, but why gives us a taste of heaven only to send us back to earth?

Interesting argument, Xiru. Can you please explain why platforms like the 3D0, CD-i, Neo Geo, and most important of all, the PC did not (or do not) see strong third party support despite the fact they were (or are) technological leaps and bounds ahead of their competition at the time?

If "fulfilling true imagination" is of such importance (if we can even agree that this argument has validity in the first place, which I'm not sure we can), why don't these developers abandon the inferior PS3 technology for high end PCs?

Didn't I just tell you in another thread that the PS3 has sold twice as much as those consoles combined?

The PC has great third party support. It's a US market, though, but in the US it gets great support. The Mac gets decent support as well.

Xiru, welcome to the forum and please stick around. I completely agree with your assessment.

I completely agree, that is precisely why these consoles were not supported! Which quite negates the concept that people will continue to pursue their "true imagination," even if it means making less money. This is precisely the same reason why people will stop supporting the PS3.

If this were about dreams and imagination, they would have supported the 3D0, correct? And yet they didn't because the install base was too small. Guess where I'm heading with this?

The PC absolutely has support -- I'm an avid PC gamer -- but it's much smaller support than the PS3, 360, or Wii recieves, and that support is slowly dwindling over the years. That's because... the high end PC install base is too small!

The PS3 is outnumbered 2.5:1 by the Wii already, and that number is still growing (it was 4:1 this month in the US, 5:1 in Canada, 6:1 Japan). It's like you're saying this to refute my points, windbane, but this is precisely my point too! It's rarely about "fulfilling true imagination," it's about making money. The 3D0 showed us that (as you pointed out), the CD-i showed us that (as you pointed out) the Neo Geo showed us that (as you pointed out) and the PC continues to see smaller and smaller support, precisely because the money isn't there. Not surprisingly, the PS3 is already following suit:

http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/06/25/sega-bandai-namco-and-capcom-shift-focus-from-psp-and-ps3-to-ds-and-wii.htm
http://www.vooks.net/modules.php?module=article&id=11906
http://www.totalvideogames.com/news/Capcom_Label_PS3__PSP_Underachieving_11864_3307_0.htm
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ea-earnings-fall-q3-new/story.aspx?guid=%7BE8087A72-AFBA-4157-9EF4-EB4632B00A6F%7D
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/technology/17game.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
http://www.destructoid.com/take-2-completely-focused-on-ds-and-wii-strategy-33250.phtml
http://www.thetanooki.com/2007/07/14/activision-looking-to-focus-more-on-wii-development/

Relevant quotation from the last link: "To be perfectly frank, I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to realize what’s going on with Wii and DS. I will tell you that very quickly we turned to both 2K and to Rockstar and said guys, we need a DS strategy and a Wii strategy and we are working on it. As we get into the next quarter and into budget season for 2008, everybody in this company is completely focused on it."

For those too lazy to read these links (and I have more, I just stopped because I assume this is enough), this is a list of the following companies:

EA
THQ
Capcom
Sega
Namco-Bandai
Square Enix
Take 2
Activision

Explicitly stating that they are either moving developmental resources away from the PS3, or towards the Wii, or in most cases, both. And guess what reasons they site as their reason? Poor sales. I don't understand how you can openly admit that the 3D0, CD-i, Neo Geo, Amiga, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast and others all suffered from a lack of software because of their poor sales, but simultaneously seem to believe that the PS3 will magically be immune to this problem. I certainly don't think the PS3 is in as bad of shape as, say, the Dreamcast (Sony's not leaving any time soon), but it's probably lower than the PC (PC sees a fair share of great titles -- just as the Dreamcast did, to a lesser extent -- but its library of high end games is noticably smaller than a major console's would be) and definitely lower than the Gamecube (the PS3 is currently underselling the Gamecube, both in total sales and in marketshare), which also saw very little third party support. 

As a last note, that list of publishers above includes the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 14th largest game publishers in the world. Of the 7 companies in the top 15 not on this list, 3 are Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony themselves, and another is Ubisoft, who has supported the Wii from the beginning. And keep in mind, these companies have all explicitly stated that they have shifted focus to the Wii: the remaining few (such as Konami) may have, even if they haven't stated it publicly.