Why would the PS3 finishing in last place, not first, be a bad thing?

[Dodece]

@Squilliam

I am not sure it is a false dilemma, because I have heard nobody rationally explain how Sony can back its way out of its current position. They moved towards proprietary hardware in a gamble to dictate to the industry. That would have paid off if they had succeeded. Theirs would have been the standard. Now theirs will not be the standard, and they are hardly vested in the technology anymore. So they do not even enjoy the real benefit of selling to themselves. Cutting out a middle man.

They have put together an online plan that is free to their customers, but is a financial drag for Sony. Once again would have paid off if it had hurt Microsoft, but it did not. Now they are cornered if they were to begin charging many customers would become irate. Though they really need to charge unless they want to loss lead heavy yet again, and it is not as if the costs are not going to increase over time as more games will need support.

They have managed to botch developer loyalty out the window, and the earned reputation that went with that. So now they have to fight for what they used to have handed to them. There is another mountain of money they have to cough up. Basically they have to rebuild those relationships to have any real chance to stand out.

Then we have the failure of the loss leading model, and more importantly the fact that Sony probably cannot do that anymore. Which technologically speaking will handicap them out of the gate. Their machine cannot be high end. Hell I would not be shocked in the least if the next Nintendo console was stronger then the next Sony console, and that is something the fans on this very site would be sickened by.

Perhaps you could look to great marketing spinning straw into gold, but lets be real here. Sony marketing just isn't that good. In fact it has been downright awful as of late. More a running joke as they try to speak to consumers as investors. Rather then trying to play gamer lust.

I would just love to see a real concept for how Sony fixes all these things in a generation span. Which is what Sony needs to do. The answer at Sony this generation was to throw a lot of money at the problem, and honestly I do not see Sony being able to do that next generation, and they will be going in ass backwards. It is not as if their concepts need work. They are flat out wrong. Like they have been running the race backwards while the competition is running facing forwards.

Just want to know how Sony is supposed to do this. Nobody gives a really good explanation it just seems like hopeful wishes. Not that I think any competitor in this area past or present could run a full one eighty will deep in third place, and not slip farther generation over generation.