There is so much that desperately needs to be addressed in this thread. Firstly it isn't subjective at all. Early in the previous generation Sony's public relations came off more arrogant, and it was indeed more arrogant. It wasn't a matter of those in positions to comment overselling their product. They resorted to obvious fabrications. Let me reiterate they told a lot of big fucking lies to the media and consumers, and while it was fair to hold them accountable, and mock them for what they said. I for one understand why they felt like they needed to tell those lies, and make those terribly absurd comments.
Fundamentally bluff and bullshit was all they had to wage a war against overwhelming odds. They had to do something to sell their product even when all of the facts were stacked solidly against them. I know some memories are foggy here, but anyone not conceding to the boondoggle that was the first six months of the PS3s launch is at best fooling themselves, and at worst is just being painfully dishonest. The console was overpriced, under supported, extremely lacking in games, under assault from the media, the public, and the industry itself. If all that negative stigma wasn't enough the vindication of the naysayers being born out by the early abhorrent sales was like blood in the water.
Look I am not saying what they did was good or acceptable, and as a point of fact it probably didn't do them, or the company any favors. They were desperate to create a positive narrative, and desperate people say and do desperate things that they wouldn't ordinarily do. Sony lost a lot of credibility due to their poor public relations, and they really got nothing for what was a fools bargain. In the end it wasn't the outlandish commentary that brought the platform back from the brink. That was just the product of a unwillingness to abandon their product no matter the cost. We have debated whether that was sound, or even rational countless times, and we will probably debate that over and over again moving forward.
Yes the public relations back then was a pretty damn insulting. I suppose the question is whether Sony learned from the whole fiasco, and personally I think they have made some pretty serious progress. I doubt they would be a player in this market today if they hadn't. If that narcissistic self indulgent chest thumping had gone on throughout the whole of this past generation I doubt more then a figurative handful would have stuck with them. Consumers don't stick with companies that they don't feel respect them, and there is nothing more disrespectful then a company that thinks it can just lie day in and day out.
I don't think it is anything like a complete rehabilitation. Sony's public relations does have relapses from time to time, but they have balanced out their rhetoric, and they don't get trapped in feedback loops like they used to where they just kept compounding their errors. I think they are a little worse then the others, but it isn't like their competitors don't have faults, or persistent stigmas of their own. Microsoft will never get a free pass on hardware reliability moving forward, and as for Nintendo well they aren't likely to shake their kiddy image anytime soon.
There isn't a equivalency in all of this. Someone has to be the worst as far as certain things are concerned. In this case it is Sony like it or not. They still talk more shit then they need to, and it isn't all that hard. When you have Nintendo that comes across like a infomercial, and Microsoft which always responds with canned noncommittal replies. Sony is the player that is sometimes far too willing to talk, and that gets them into trouble more then the others.
Anyway so much to talk about in this thread, but I felt this point was probably the best one to go with.
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