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Wyrdness on 18 February 2012
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Shinobi-san said:
Wyrdness said:
HappySqurriel said:
In my opinion Sony is caught between a rock and a hard place and, unless they can take a radically different approach in the next generation, the PS4 will likely be the worst selling Playstation home console to date. I don’t think developers are looking to take on the high development costs, consumers are willing to pay a premium for these games or the system, or Sony can afford to take on the hardware losses of a high performance gaming console; at the same time, I don’t think Sony can pull a rabbit out of their hat and offer a new user interface that is innovative enough to stand apart from the competition using a low performance console.


Agreed but I think a major issue for the whole next gen though that I haven't seen anyone touch on is that first party titles are going to be the central pillars of attracting consumers along with marketing, third parties can't afford to be exclusive anymore. Imo the next gen is going to be down to first party performance and marketing more then anything else.


Wrdness, who do you feel out of the big 3 is best poised going into next gen?


Obviously Nintendo as they go into the next gen with out any financial problems and from what I hear a spare 15 billion in dollars to spend not to mention the power of their first party, after all it's Nintendo forcing the situation here and they're forcing it on their terms. We all know the Wii has had issues but tbh Nintendo's first party with third party titles filling the space between first party releases is going to make Wii U a difficult platform to deal with, how do you exactly deal with Nintendo when they now have the same third party support now.

The main issues that have given Nintendo an advantage is that development costs are so high that third parties can't be exclusive anymore they have to hit every platform unless it's an odd game like Dragon Quest or Monster Hunter.  This effectively means the only differences will be first party titles, it's now a case of the's no point going for super powered console that will lose huge amounts of money per unit if it doesn't give you an edge, Microsoft seem to indicate to going the same path as Nintendo and despite losses in money I think they can afford to shake it off and enter the next gen soon after the U they also have a broad approach which I commend as it's bringing in new gamers who can mature in future. First party wise they're weaker then Sony and Nintendo but they still have the financial muscle to contract another third party to develop an IP for them much like they did with Gears and Halo.

For Sony this must be a nightmare, after losing money in multiple divisions and only starting to make a profit on the PS3 they are as someone put it in between a rock and a hard place, they can't afford to be splashing out on a new console just as one is starting to make money while ironically recently releasing another bit of hardware that's sold at a loss but at the same time coming out much later then the U and X3 may in the long run be even more disastrous and industrial suicide as they're not in the same strong position as when the PS2 dominated. They also have Japan to consider so letting Nintendo run off with Japan with both U and 3DS is asking for trouble, I say they just have to respond and get the PS4 out with in a year of the Wii U. Sony's financial issues are part of the reason I suspect MS will be willing for a next gen tbh.