[Opinion] Why Sony Should Exit The Console Hardware Business

[NightDragon83]

This is one of those backhanded articles whose headline says one thing while the article says something totally different.  Sounds like he's making the argument that SCE is just too damn good at what it does to be relegated to struggling in third place, so they might as well take their ball and go home if they can't be #1 every generation.

Couple points I want to counter here...

1: "Can you imagine the disbelief die hard Gears players would feel if they had the chance to play Uncharted and, in the process, realize that Epic games and Cliffy B did not create the 3rd person shooter?"

Ummm... first off Epic never stated or even insinuated that they created the 3PS.  Plenty of other 3PS games came out before it like SOCOM, Freedom Fighters, RE4 just to name a few.  They did however popularize it to the point that it's now on the same level of the biggest mainstream FPS franchises.  Secondly... I wonder if the author realizes that Uncharted came out a year AFTER the first Gears game.  The quote seems to suggest that he thinks it was Sony / Naughty Dog who created the 3PS.

2: He then goes on to compare Killzone and GT to Halo and Forza, and saying that if they were all on the same platform (Sony's), then these Xbox exclusives wouldn't be held in such high regard.  This guy loses all credibility right there... comparing Killzone to Halo???  Are you f'n serious?!?  You can certainly make that argument between GT and Forza (though I definitely think Forza would give GT a run for its money since it takes like 4-5 years for a new GT game to come out and just 2 for Forza), but Halo???  If Halo had come out on the PS2, this would be Sony's #1 exclusive killer app, and today games like Uncharted and Killzone would be afterthoughts instead of premiere Sony exclusives.

3:  "While Sony does their own fair share of IP milking, they’re among the biggest risk takers in the industry when it comes to backing and publishing unique titles."

Yeah... because when I think of risk taking and unique titles, the first thing that comes to mind is Sony's big holiday title, the cumbersomely named and shameless ripoff PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Good thing that Sony is taking risks by backing and publishing unique titles like Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101 though... oh wait.

4:  If SCE were to go third party, sure they'd shake things up a bit initially, but in no way would they threaten other major publishers.  If anything, many of Sony's franchises would end up like SEGA's... struggling to find a stable home while no longer holding the weight and prestige they once did in the industry since they would no longer be backed by dedicated hardware.  As if putting Uncharted or GoW on the NextBox would magically slow down Halo, Gears and COD sales, or putting Jak, Ratchet and Sly on the Wii U would slowdown the Mario Machine that is Nintendo.