Pristine20 said:
Squilliam said:
Dodece said:
@Squilliam
I ask this particularly valid question. Does Sony need to win this. This generation already has the telltale signs of being a Pyrrhic victory for Sony. They have already lost more then they could win. Even if they capture the European market it could very well be a blood letting the gaming division could not afford.
There must be a point where one has to make one of three choices retreat, stand, or attack. Sony has been on the attack so long one has to imagine they need to enter into a defensive frame of mind. Protect their assets, and not incur greater losses. Eventually Sony must find a way to be profitable with their gaming division. Not just profitable, but profitable enough to help carry divisions that are going to be going through hard times.
Perhaps I am six months ahead of the curve, but I think if Sony continues to be financially reckless the result will be far more dire then merely coming in third for a generation. I honestly cannot conceive as to how Sony will justify more price cutting to investors that are already obviously very upset in regards to the gaming division.
I am coming from the mindset that if Sony just finds a way to be more profitable that is the victory they need. Market penetration isn't the panacea they need. They need to start making back some serious cash. |
Sony are caught between a Rock (Themselves) and a hard place (Microsoft).
They need to sell hardware because they are also quite a big publisher and their development companies only sell software on the lowest selling platform of the generation. But to sell hardware they must incur losses now, and with the rest of their financials not looking good they don't have the luxury to delay profitability nor can they reasonably justify such actions because if Microsoft thought they could knock Sony out of the running it would be in their long term interests to do so.
Financially I wouldn't be surprised if they sold off or closed a few of their under-performing studios to stem the bleeding. Thats an obvious first step for them to make. The real issue is they have to act, but it will cost them. In the Americas, if they don't do something immediately next year the whole country will be lost to them. Losing 2:1 is just the start, they are on the losing end of a very slipppery slope. By June if they don't cut the price I could see them losing by a 2.5:1 or 3:1 ratio.
I dunno really. All I can say is that they are looking pretty defeated right about now. Im not talking about some fake premature fanboyish description, im talking about slipping further and further into 3rd place. Sitting in 3rd they aren't in a position to make any real money, but they won't lose as much so perhaps that may be the best course of action?
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Haha Squilliam. NA has been long lost. I don't think sony really cares about winning anything here. If you noticed, the rumors of picecuts are for the EU. PS3 is 3rd place this gen no doubt. It could catch up or come close to 360 if it's still around when the next-gen launches and Japan finally adopts the current gen but all that is far-fetched. It's pointless for sony to cut prices and risk the collapse of the company. Regardless of outcome, the ps3 would always get support due to the cost of HD development and just the sheer potential for more profits e.g CoD:WaW sold 1.3mil on 360 compared to only 0.8 mil on ps3 but I don't think Activision would do without the 0.8 mil.
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Not winning, just not losing so badly. America is still an important market, you can't just ignore it like you can with Japan this generation. I wasn't talking about exclusives or any garbage like that. What I was really saying was that they need to sell hardware to sell 1st/3rd party software to make money. But to sell hardware they have to lose money so its really a catch 22.
