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HappySqurriel on 22 November 2012
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platformmaster918 said:
DanneSandin said:
HappySqurriel said:
Honestly, while I think it is a bad strategy in general, I think that if either manufacturer produces a (relatively) low performance system it only weakens both Sony and Microsoft; and it strengthens Nintendo.

Because they could release the same game across the PS3, XBox 360 and PC with (relatively) minor changes, third party publishers could ignore the Wii and target the bulk of their big titles to these platforms. If the PS4 and Wii U make a good choice for cross platform development and you need significantly higher budgets to produce a "true" XBox 720 game, the Wii U will get more third party support and the XBox 720 will get mostly enhanced ports ... For Sony, this means that they are in direct competition with a system that has Nintendo's first party developers and many of the same big third party titles as they have (who has a year head start which will likely translate into games selling better on that platform); and Microsoft has many of the same problems with the added issue that their system costs users more and (for the most part) demonstrates little in the way of added value.

I don't see how it is possible, but unless Sony and Microsoft both produce high end systems and can convince third party publishers to "shut-out" Nintendo I would expect their sales to fall.

Yes, I agree with that if the 3 consoles are similar in power Wii U will win next gen, simply because they have their 1st party games. But I don't know what else there is to do for Sony. MS could always up the specs, and try to gain market share by being the most powerful console. But what of Sony? What can they do? They can't compete with Nintendo's 1st party, nor can they compete in terms of power with MS, since MS have so much more money and can outspend Sony... No matter how things play out, I'm quite certain PS4 will end up last next gen.

Sony has the best first party and has a much more diverse lineup than MS.  They have a plethora of genres represented in their first party stable and that's what sold their system this gen.  It's going to put them in second place and at least around 90 million even though they've been the most expensive, a year late, had inferior online at first, had no software until late 07, and had complex architecture.  If they correct those mistakes they can easily sell 100 million.

"Best" in terms of quality is highly subjective and difficult to quantify ... In terms of sales there really isn't any competition, while the lists are not entirely accurate the publisher/platform totals for each of the console manufacturers gives a rough approximation of their sales:

 

Nintendo on the DS: 342 Million http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=&publisher=1167&platform=DS&genre=&minSales=0&results=200
Nintendo on the Wii: 378 Million http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=&publisher=1167&platform=Wii&genre=&minSales=0&results=200

Sony on the PSP: 52 Million http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=&publisher=1535&platform=PSP&genre=&minSales=0&results=200
Sony on the PS3: 107 Million http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=&publisher=1535&platform=PS3&genre=&minSales=0&results=200

Microsoft on the XBox 360: 136 Million http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=&publisher=10313&platform=X360&genre=&minSales=0&results=200

 

While it is not entirely accurate, Nintendo is selling (roughly) 2.5 games for every game either Sony or Microsoft sell. If you take away their massive advantage with third party publishers, neither Sony or Microsoft's consoles are really competitive against a Nintendo system; and it could be argued that this is exactly the problem the PS-Vita is currently facing. While the PS-Vita doesn't (necessarily) have bad third party support, the fact that the 3DS has pretty decent third party support makes the platform dramatically more popular than the PS-Vita.