PS3 may never catchup to the 360

[Dodece]

Sony has effectively cut the umbilical cord that was their brand loyalty. The response to the pricing was very much outrage from what I observed. Not reluctant acceptance real outrage. Many former or current PS2 owners felt a real sense of abuse. That Sony was expecting them to spend so much. Further more there was a real frustration with the fact that the new console was a glorified way of sneaking a proprietary format into the market. Finally Sony has abandoned backwards compatibility forcing consumers to abandon a feature that is an accepted standard in gaming now.

I question specifically how much brand loyalty Sony has left in the market. I fear it is not as verbose as many posters believe. Sony has obviously did a great deal of damage to it. Further more there is the real question for consumers as to why stay loyal given what Sony has done over the past year. Backwards compatibility was a good reason, but that reason no longer exists. The formats are stalemated generating reluctance, and other brands are being very successful at market penetration.

While some point to the other regions as a example of the power of brand loyalty. I ask this why is Nintendo beating Sony in those regions. Why are they losing to Nintendo in every region. Why are they losing to Microsoft in North America, and how come Microsoft in Europe isn't utterly destroyed. Even Japan wasn't to keen on the brand for most of the year, and they have the home field advantage in Japan. With the brand loyalty supposedly has this shouldn't happen at all. They shouldn't have to fight this hard to compete at all.

I think the brand loyalty is very much mythical. There isn't exactly any proof that it actually exists or affects sales in any significant manner. Had it existed the company that had it seems to have squandered it. During these discussions its often assumed that most PS2 owners were happy with their console or developed an attachment to the brand.

Thats hardly logical they may simply prefer the console with the most games, the lowest prices, and the easier controls. In other words they would play any console that provided those regardless of brand name. The fact that for a time the PS2 fit the bill, and still does to a large part doesn't mean the consumer really cared. Many consumers buy many things regardless of brand name. When I buy a movie I am not usually checking for studio names.

I really want to read some proof to the effect that this loyalty has been tracked and actually exists. When I read how Europeans buy products, because of brand names. I am really floored what they don't compare the merits of the products at all? To be honest that sounds like a form of mild retardation to me, and I just can't bring myself to believe that any person regardless of region has some faith based brand name fetish. This just doesn't ring true to me.