What does Sony need to do to win next gen on consoles?

[Jay520]

The first thing they need to focus on is software. Price is important but people won't buy a a console with no games, no matter the price. That was the PS3's biggest problem. It didn't get any blockbuster, system-selling titles until 2008 with Metal Gear Solid 4. That was nearly two years after the console released. During which time, the Xbox 360 had exclusives like Halo 3, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Bioshock, along with superior with multiplats like Modern Warfare, Assassin's Creed, etc. Top it all off with a superior online system at the time and it's clear why the PS3 had such a terrible start. As long as the PS4 starts out the gate with some system-selling exclusives, it's going to do fine, well, better than the PS3 at least, regardless of price.

The PS4's next biggest concern is it's ease of development. The PS3 was such a pain in the ass to develop for that a lot of the earlier games were down right atrocious on the system compared to the 360, nearly forcing gamers to buy the games on the superior console-the Xbox 360. Take a look at some of Sony's top developers and you can see that they are STILL learning the system. Regardless of how 'futuristic' this makes the Ps3 seem, this should not be the case. Developers should be able to get the most out of the console as early as possible.

You have Xbox exclusives which more-or-less get the most out of the system early on. Games like Halo 3 & Gears of War spring to mind. Both of these games had modes like single-player, local multiplayer, online multiplayer, & co-op campaigns. Sure later iterations upped the graphics & other technicalties, but the earlier ones still really optimised the system to the point where the games had all these basic features. These are all system selling features which the PS3 lacked early on.

Look at a franchise like Uncharted that didn't receive online until 2009 & didn't receive local Mp until 2011, you can blame this on the system's difficulty to develop for. Or look at a game like killzone 2. The game released nearly 3 years after the PS3 launch, yet still lacked standardised modes like offline multiplayer or campaign co-op. The series didn't see campaign co-op until 2011 with Killzone 3. And probably the biggest victom of the PS3's foreign architecture is Gran Turismo 5, Sony's biggest game. It didn't release until 2010, a whopping four years after the PS3's launch. How misfortunate. One can only imagine the HW boost this game would have caused if it released in the PS3's launch window. The Last Guardian is another example. The game has been in development for 4-6 years and we STILL don't know when it's releasing. The PS3's foreign architecture is a problem & Sony need not make this same mistake next gen

One can only imagine how big the PS3 would be right now if Uncharted had online, or if Killzone 2 released a year or so earlier with local MP, or even if Gran Turismo 5 was released a few years sooner. I guarantee the PS3 would be a lot bigger.

Now, maybe the problem isn't the PS3. Maybe it's Sony developers. Either way, Sony needs to get it's blockbusters out before the second half of the generation. Developers should be able to optimise the system early on in order to catch those early consumers. Sony has SO MANY developers, I'd hate to see them missing they're full potential next gen because of hardware complications.

Pricing is also important too, but no where near as important as launch games & ease of development.

Of course, that's all my opinion.