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BMaker11 on 06 November 2013
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IsawYoshi said:
BMaker11 said:

No, I read everything, and understood it perfectly. Nowhere did you say the PS3 was a failure, but because it "went down" to a possible 100M, while Nintendo and Microsoft jumped considerably, you can't say Sony "won" because they let the competition catch up and didn't sell as much as last gen. Well, how many PS2s/GCs/XBs were sold? 190M? How many consoles have sold this gen? 260M? So is it really so much as "they let the competition catch up" or is it "the gaming market has expanded"? I'm sure the latter is a more legitimate answer since total home console sales have grown by almost 40%.

And like I said, regarding comparisons to the PS2, the PS2 was on the market for 13 years. The PS3 has been on the market for 7 years. You can't ignore the fact that the PS2 was available for almost double the time the PS3 has been, and then use that to knock the PS3 for "selling less". Otherwise the, like in the analogy, the iPhone 5s just hasn't done as well as the iPhone 4s (even though the 4s has been out for 2 years and the 5s has been out for 2 months)

You said yourself that the PS2 was a little over a 100 millions when the PS3 launched. First of all, the PS3 is (probably) not going to be close to that at PS4 launch, secondly, the PS3 launch was a gigantic failure, naturally leading to more people buying PS2 over a PS3 because of the price. It doesn't seem like that will be the case for PS4, which will hurt PS3 sales in comparison to PS2 sales. 

 

You stated that the market expanded. So let's look at that. PS2's gen: 190m. PS3's gen: 260m. PS2's sold at launch of PS3: 100m. PS3's sold at launch of PS4: 80m.

 

The gen as a whole was more successful, but Sony less. Doesn't really prove your point. Why didn't Sony expand? The PS3 CLEARLY let the others catch up. 

First bold: as much as we want to look at the PS3s launch as a failure (due to price, staggered launch, etc.) realize that the in terms of raw units sold, the PS3 was right in line with what the PS2 did, maybe a little less (looks like VG Chartz got rid of the aligned launch sales tool, but I remember comparing the two before). So can you really call it a gigantic failure, comparatively? It was $600 and didn't have many games, yet sold in line with what the best selling console of all time sold in the same time frame? When said console was still on the market for significantly less money? And if more people legitimately bought PS2s instead of PS3s because of the PS3s price (as opposed to, you know.....the fact that the PS2 was still massively supported. One of the best games ever, GoWII, came out in 2007) that just means that people will buy a system with similar experiences, in the beginning, but at a cheaper price, ergo, the PS3 will still sell even with the PS4 out.

Second bold: Only reason Sony didn't expand, comparative to the grand scheme of things, is because #1 Nintendo hit a demographic that was never targeted before. The "gaming" that people like you and me are used to isn't what expanded. Nintendo added a "new gaming", per se, by putting new (and different) users into the mix. Unless you think the 30-something mother of 2 that gets Wii Play to play with her kids is in the same group of 20M+ people who buy GTA or CoD #2 Microsoft tossed money around heavily. They didn't invest in new franchises and give the Xbox its own image. They went after every title that screamed "PlayStation" and got it on their platform and the result is that what made PlayStation PlayStation (yes, I put that twice) was available on more than one console. No need for everyone to get a PS3 to play GTA when you can get it on the same day and date as the PS3....on a 360. And they don't want to get into a bidding war with Microsoft. This is why Sony started over and began investing in their 1st party and 2nd party, and that's why we got LittleBigPlanet, Motorstorm, MAG, Heavenly Sword, White Knight Chronicles, and more. Why do you think everyone keeps saying "games wise, the PS3 definitely won"? But untested new IPs come with a trade off in that they aren't familiar and thus aren't "go to" or "system sellers"

edit: And just in case you think "Microsoft didn't give Xbox its own image" was unjustified, let me give you a little thought experiment. When you hear "Final Fantasy" what do you think? When you hear "Tekken" what do you think? When you hear "Metal Gear Solid" what do you think? When you hear "Devil May Cry" what do you think? When you hear "Kingdom Hearts" (big entries) what do you think? When you hear "Dynasty Warriors" what do you think? I may even still go as far as asking: When you hear "Grand Theft Auto" what do you think?

I doubt you said Xbox for any of those titles, and yet they appear on Xbox or will appear on Xbox One. When I came to this conclusion a few years ago, I realized that the 360 wasn't the "next Xbox". It was "a PlayStation with Halo" (considering what else is only on 360). And when you put a Playstation vs. a Playstation, it should be no surprise that their sales are pretty neck and neck