By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Darc Requiem on 05 December 2008
Edit Thread
tuoyo said:
Darc Requiem said:
@Comrade Tovya

I agree with you. It why, in spite knowing Sony's financial situation, I still think they need a price cut early in 2009. If the 360 starts to pull away from the PS3 significantly, you are going to see the PS3 start to get the Gamecube treatment from 3rd Party developers. You'll see the number of multiplatform releases for the PS3 decrease. Sure major titles like Madden will be released for the platform, but titles from smaller and then medium sized publishers will start fall by the way side. Once third parties start pulling support they rarely reverse course.

Doubt that would ever happen.  The difference in userbase would never be that wide.  And the high cost of developing HD games means it would always make sense to make a PS3 version even if it sells much much less than 360 version. 

 

As I said if. There are several factors. The first being the sales rates of the 360 and PS3 post holiday. If the weekly sales edge of the 360 is only slight post holiday, Sony can push their price cut back. If the difference continues to be stark, Sony will begin to run into problems if they don't cut the price of the PS3.

To put it bluntly, MS has a substantial and growing lead in the US. The gap between the 360 and PS3 is actually larger (7.4 million) than the PS3 userbase (6.7 million) in the region. Developers and Retailers in North America would begin to pull away from the PS3. The 360 already has an over 2 to 1 edge in North America. If the PS3 is no longer gaining on the 360 in North America, it will be harder for Sony to convince retailers to continue to give the PS3 significant shelf pace. MS has near 70% of the HD console market share and close to 40% of the overall market in North America. Sony has just of over 30% of the HD market and around 16% of the overall marketshare. Developers are going to be start question ports with those numbers.

The PS3 does have a tremendous usebase advantage in Japan. Unfortunately, both the PS3 and 360 are well behind the Wii. The PS3 has more of the HD market in Japan than the 360 does in the US. Unfortunately for Sony that over 75% share is only equivalent to a 1.7 million unit lead. That is less than a quarter of the deficit the PS3 has against the 360 in the US. In addition, Japan has shifted away from home consoles and towards portables as their primary gaming devices. So even Japanese developers have started looking at the West when making their development decisions. Also MS has actually been getting stronger in the Japanese market. Sony doesn't have to worry about the 360 catching the PS3 in Japan but it stronger sales are just going to make it that much easier for MS to garner exclusives with money hats.

Sony's saving grace thus far has been Europe. However the currency issue is taking a huge chunk out of their profits. Not only that MS has managed to put up quite the fight in the EU. The 360 and the PS3 in Europe are like the Genesis and SNES during 16 bit era in North America. They are neck and neck. Sony must maintain a close battle with the 360 in Europe. This region is the only reason third parties haven't jumped off the PS3 ship already. Simply put, the PS3 is getting crushed in the US and the Japanese HD market is at niche levels. Europe is PS3's life preserver.