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Machiavellian on 29 March 2013
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Chark said:
Machiavellian said:

What does it matter if Sony gets media spotlight now.  Why would things not reset.  The PS4 does not exist in a vacuum.  There is competition and anyone who is thinking about purchasing a console is looking to see what both companies bring to the table not one.  It's not like Sony reveal their console and they had it ready for purchase.  Actually if Sony did that, it would have totally changed the landscape and MS would have to make some type of message to counter.  Instead the PS4 will not see daylight until November.  By that time there will be plenty of information, Commercials, reports you name it for any consumer to make a purchase decision.  The only thing Sony gains by releasing info this eary is good will but they do lose in other areas.  There is no ground lost because Sony has not released anything.  By the time E3 comes aound, it will be 6 months before either console is released.  Are you telling me by that time everyone will not have enough information to decide which console they want to purchase.  6 Months is a long time and Sony giving MS 3 months to counter seems even more.

For Sony to show their hand with over 9 months for a respond from their competition is either brilliant or blunder. They allow their competition to make changes and tweeks to counter their stragety.  They give their competition a chance to tighten their message to analize information from Sony reveal and better market their device.  I am not looking at this situation like a gamer or consumer, I am looking at the situation like a business analyst developing my message with plenty of time to address weakness or strengths based on getting knowledge early.  The race for Consumer money is not going to be decided in the short months between Sony and MS reveal.  This will be a long battle just like it was last gen.


I'm not talking about the savvy consumer, the core gaming diehard who knows what they are buying and is up to date on all the info. I'm talking the general public, the bulk of the consumer base that these products are going to sell to. Not everyone watched the PS4 event and there are still plenty of people who don't know it happened or what any of it means that might be looking to buy the console when it comes out. Advertisement is really important.

It seems you aren't really thinking this through or looking at how product launches work. You even suggest that having the PS4 on shelves shortly after the unveil would have been a good thing? Sega did that route with the Saturn and it blew up in their faces. Retailers were pissed, consumers had no idea the thing existed. The fact that the console is launching the same year as the reveal is a short time period itself. The Wii U announced at E3 2011 and launched Nov 2012. Now the consumer landscape has changed and our culture's speed of communication is much faster so a long wait for launch might be a bad thing now but there still needs to be time to get the word out, gather public demand, produce the units to meet demand, and distribute them timely.

There is also a lot more info they can release on the PS4 that they just didn't have the time for at their unveil. The lone spotlight is really important for marketing reasons. That's not saying MS releasing closer to launch won't give them momentum but it is less time to market and less game announcements able to mention the next xbox.

The reason I suggest that having a product on the shelves first is because the people who purchase a brand new console on release is the hardcore market.  First adopters are the people who are serious about their games and having a console out on the market with games that are a mark improvment on the previous Gen woudl have been a killer feature.  launching a month after you reveal did not work for Sega because they did not execute their stragety correctly.  One company bad track record is not a presadent.  Look at Apple, they do the same thing, Announce and have product ready within the month and it seems to be working for them big time. It would be silly to think that If Sony announce a console and have it on shelfs a month later that they would not be blitzing commercials, mags, news sites and just about everthing else with they can find.  You can be certain if MS did this, they would blitz everything to get the word out.

People have stated that Sony reveal was viewed on Youtube by over 15 million people.  This is totally different from Sega time which such announcements reach was limited by a conference.

Taking the hardcore market before MS could respond would have set up quite the momentun that would have starved MS of those sells.  When the hardcore goes one way then they tend to swing the masses.  People start to talk about how great the system is and all the capabilies it offers now.  The mass market consumer will not be looking at the PS4 when it first comes out with it games centric message.  Instead Sony would promote their media hub capability to that crowd.

As for the PS4 releasing more info at E3, I have no doubts because there is a lot of information that is clearly not cleared up.  Instead that info just goes on the pile for both companies at this time and unless it trumps what MS is doing it will either be a point or a minus.