Is Sony failing to capitalize? A question of momentum.

[ZenfoldorVGI]

richardhutnik said:

Momentum is things that may fit sports teams, and competition between one team versus another one. The reality of the marketplace is NOT momentum. People don't buy consoles due to momentum. They make choices based on personal preferences, and the preferences of those they know. They also are influenced by marketing, and library of games. But momentum? Well, that is in the heads of people who who root for a videogame console of choice.

By the way, isn't the PS3 outselling the 360?

Edit: And I just saw the 25th aniversary remake of We are the World for Haiti, and this thread about videogame companies having momentum and who is on top, and there is some sort of scoreboard seems increasingly like a vain pursuit.  Isn't there more pressing things we can tend to, while using videogames as devices to distract, rather than obsess over?

Momentum causes sales, and it relative to demand. It is also affected by sales trends. There are all these things relatable to momentum. Imagine if Johnny buys a PS3 because of a new game that is released, or because of a price cut. He then tells his friends about said game, and they buy it. Now, all members of that group of friends have a PS3, except for one. He will want a PS3 now, and so forth. If he can't find one, and instead buys an Xbox 360, then the momentum sony built from the price cut, in that group, will not grow as much as it would have otherwise.

Momentum is the reason things taper off. Often, an inciting incident(price cut, new game, competitor mistake) can start momentum, but momentum isn't stopped as suddenly as it is started.

The PS3 is a ball on a rail. Think of the price cut as a big push of that ball by Sony. Over time, the ball will slow down, and it will need another push. Software releases are little pushes, stuff like that. Every move by Sony should be a push. Not meeting demand is not a push, it is a mistake. It was a rough spot in the track Sony knew about, but didn't fix. When it gets to the other side of that rough spot, it might not be going as fast as it was before. Sony will need to push it again, to rebuild momentum. If Sony stops pushing the PS3, the ball will stop. If they give it a big push, the ball will go very fast. You only get so many mega-pushes in the videogame industry. The price cut was one.

Thing is, when you give a mega-push, you want to make sure you are in a straight-away. Just like in Wipeout HD. Don't waste a boost on a sharp curve, or a ramp unless you know exactly what you're doing. You might hit a wall and waste the boost.

I speculate that Sony is wasting the boost by using it in a curve.

It most certainly is relevant in all the industries I've studied, and as far as I know, the term momentum didn't start out in sports. I would speculate it was a physics term first(see my above example). It is simply relatable to anything on a linear structured path.

As far as us having better things to talk about, that's ignorant. This is a videogame forum. You could say that anything here is a waste of time(and many would), but to me, it is important, so please refrain from calling my interests "vain persuit"s, and telling me I should talk about We are the World instead.

If you have a interest to discuss We are the World, or Haiti(sp?), please make another thread, and pay no mind to this one.