The Sony brand loyalty arguement: give it a rest.

[johnsobas]

Snarf Barf said:
You always hear people say: "I can't believe Sony is losing this gen even with all the brand name recognition/loyalty they have/had"....... Some things I'd like to point out: For starters, Sony has a bad rap just as much as they have a good rap as far as quality electronics go....... Second, gamers by and large are not all that loyal. Nintendo took over from Atari and dominated the early 80's and early 90's. Then Genesis (Mega Drive) cut sharply into the SNES in the US. Most gamers didn't care about being "loyal" to Nintendo when it was PS1 Vs. N64 or PS2 Vs. Gamecube. And where did brand name get Sega? And what about Microsoft? That's a pretty damn big name if you ask me. Microsoft is worth like 6X what Sony is and yet for the money they spend they did not win last gen and they will not win this gen either.The Wii is currently dominating for one main reason: It distinguished itself from the competition. Nintendo is back on top because they had a different strategy going in. It has nothing to do with Nintendo "loyalists". Sony's console is selling well considering its price. Some may be shocked that a $600 PS3 didn't sell as well as a $250 Wii while competing with the 360 which had a year head start. I'm not shocked though because I know that no console company has been #1 more then 2 gens in a row and I would make no assumptions about which company will will the next generation battle.

brand loyalty is real, i don't see how you can deny it.  Sure fans won't follow everything the company does no matter what but there is no other way you can explain how PS3 has even gotten as far as it has.  How come sales in Europe for PS3 are so different from NA when 360 has most of the same games and is half the price?  How come the PS2 took off before it even had many good games?  It has to do with history, the playstation brand has made it huge in europe, while in NA you can still see the effects of Nintendo dominating the first 2 gens.