starcraft said:
But thats not really worth it if it cost billions to develop, sacrificed your gaming dominance and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes because PS3 inclusion wasn't enough for straight-out victory now is it? |
You were speaking sarcastically, of course, but if you're Sony then yes, the ends may have justified the means. Recall that even before Sony entered the video game market, they intended the Playstation to be a hook to lure consumers into Sony's vision of a multimedia center, wherein Sony could make money hand over fist by supplying all of your entertainment needs. The games were simply the bait. If Sony's multi-billion dollar investment into the PS3 helps it reach this goal, I don't think they'll mind much.
Of course, the problem they face is that they might have chosen the wrong trojan horse when they went with Blu-Ray. If this article is to be believed, Blu-Ray's victory over HD-DVD's hasn't led to enough profits for the movie studios to be pleased with the format. If VGChartz and other game tracking places are correct, the PS3 isn't selling software at the rate Sony expected it to. In other words, Sony may have won itself a Pyhrric victory.
Alternatively, their fortunes could turn around, Blu-Ray could begin to be widely adopted, and Sony's gamble will have worked. I'm skeptical that this will happen, but then reading the consumer market has never been my forte. Let's have this conversation again in about two years, and see how the situation developed.
