Alby_da_Wolf on 10 June 2013
| Kresnik said: The things that made Sony 'great' (in the sense of selling lots of consoles and dominating the industry) was a variety of factors, many of which were beyond their control or simply pieces falling into place. Some of the things that helped Sony to dominate they aren't even doing anymore. Timed exclusives (i.e. GTA on PS2) seem to be a thing of the past save for timed-exclusive DLC, and they seem to be a practice heavily adopted by one of the rival console manufacturers. Advertising isn't as good as it was during the PS1 or PS2 era, in my opinion. The Sony adverts last holiday in the UK were pretty lame (Wonderbook/Family Fun/Vita). Nothing close to stuff like "PS9" or "double life". I mean yeah, those were abstract and didn't actually show any gameplay... but they damn well stuck in your mind. Closest I remember Sony getting is "the world is in play" advert they had for Vita when it launched. I do, however, think Sony can end up doing well for themselves this generation. And I personally think that as a manufacturer/software developer they're in a much better place than they've ever been with multiple talented teams expanding so much that they break off into two. |
Good points. Sony's currently doing many things right, but for every company many things exist that are beyond their control and others that they control but unexplainably do wrong (like some incredibly bad Sony and MS ads, or Nintendo killing Wii too early). A good start is a good start, but it isn't a warranty. A bad start of the competitors, though, is always an advantage, but Sony must not waste it.
Edit: BTW, 7th gen is a surprising example of this thing happening not just once, but twice (first MS throwing away its head start, then Nintendo wasting the huge lead it managed to gain in a very short time): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_handicap_of_a_head_start
