The beaten down King still has a few knock out punches

[Millennium]

theword said:

With lest than two weeks before the new year, it looks like Sony will achieve their own 08 PS3 sales projection.  So what is the problem?  The problem is everyone else is out performing while Sony is just performing!   It is still hard to imagine that the formidable console King of last generation may have to settle for last place this generation.  Not so fast!  Sony may be a beaten down King, but they still have a few lethal punches waiting to be unleashed. 

Great Brand Equity. 
Sony as a brand has accumulated a huge amount of equity in it.  This is like a huge rocket just waiting for the right fire button to be pushed.   

2nd to none 1st Party Fire Power 
It is Sony that owns more AAA 1st party studios then either Nintendo or MS.  Granted, so far many of these 1st party did not produce the hits that helped move systems, but they all have the potential to do so.  Imagine if, by some miracle, 80%  of Sony 1st party make AAA hits next year.  Sony would have so many exclusive hits that Microsoft would not know what to do to counter the onslaught.

$249 PS3
$299 won't be the mass system mover in this market.   $249 is where the PS3 will need to be.  Because of the BlueRay factor coupled with brand equity, public perceived value of the PS3 at $249 will be greater than whatever price point the 360 or Wii be at that point.

 

1) The brand-equity thing was true up until about the middle of 2005. At that point Sony began to squander its brand equity with very nearly every new announcement concerning the PS3, and at this point there is very little left. Certainly not enough to count on.

2) Sony owns more studios, but frankly very few of them have shown the potential to make hits. They have a couple, to be sure -perhaps more than Microsoft, even- but Nintendo wipes the floor with everyone else when it comes to first-party support, and last I checked this wasn't even a controversial point. Then again, even you seem to acknowledge how unlikely this is, given your use of the word 'miracle.'

3) A $249 PS3 would be nice. I'd also like a pony. That price point might turn the PS3's fortunes around in time (and these things do take time), but it wouldn't matter, because Sony would shrivel up and die from the losses before that could happen.