Playstation 2 in 2nd place This Gen!

[AnthonyW86]

Reasonable said:

WilliamWatts said:

Reasonable said:

WilliamWatts said:

Sony probably cut the PS2's life short a year too soon. They probably ought to have released the PS3 in 2007!

Actually, if the strong push for HD DVD and the rushed release of the 360 hadn't forced their hand, I think the PS3 would have released later.  I don't think Sony had the initial production and costs where they really wanted it when they launched PS3, particularly in US and Japan.

The PS2 was selling fine and without the external factors they had no real need to launch when they did - and I doubt at the time they were really worried about the Wii, although of course with hindsight we know they should have been.

They probably figured all they had to do was show up to win. So why not take away the format war at the same time? :-p Though in any case I doubt that HD-DVD would have won even if the PS3 had been delayed. Sony's reputation with the PS2 and their own movie studios pretty much sealed that deal.

Agreed.  I think when they decided to put PS3 front and centre against HD DVD they felt they could survive the inevitable initial high price at launch due to brand dominance and that they'd recover any lost momentum via price cuts on the back of production improvements at a later stage.

Instead, of course, the Wii became the real PS2 (saleswise for consoles sold) of the generation and the 360 surprised them by gaining a very stubborn and firm grip on the predominately English speaking markets, particularly US and UK.  I think MS also suprised Sony with the aggresiveness with which they pursued timed and other exclusives.

Nobody knows what the hell Sony was thinking coming out with such a expensive device. This is a possible scenario:

Sony employee: ''Our obsession over Blu-ray and Cell means the PS3 is going to cost over $800 to produce. Isn't that a bit to much?''

Sony executive: ''Don't worry we will just sale the first PS3's with a loss and make that money back later like we always do''.

Months later:

Sony employee:'' I just realised if we sale the first 10 million PS3 or so at a loss of over $200, doesn't that mean we lose over $2 billion? How are we supposed to earn that back with a device that's alway's going to much more expensive than the competition?''

Sony executive:'' Uhm.... whoops.... about that retirement plan....