Is the Xbox Brand Simply Weaker Than the Playstation Brand?

[DivinePaladin]

Hiku said:

DivinePaladin said:

snip

You have to consider that they suffered substantial losses with the PS3, and that when they sacrificed so much to gain back consumer trust (which btw worked), there was always the plan that some of those losses would have to be recuperated with the PS4. That's part of the reason why they're going at this pace right now. They haven't dropped the price yet in spite of MS doing it multiple times, they added fees to online gaming, and at least for the first two years, games are coming out slow, etc. But the momentum is just building up as more and more as third party developers are ready to burst the floodgates with games in the upcoming years. More and more Japanese developers are favoring Sony exclusively, more and more important developers in general are agreeing to marketing deals with Sony, and the PS4 gets cheaper and cheaper to develop thanks to Sony buying so much GDDR RAM, etc.

I don't think they're being cocky or complacent. Because they certainly learned a very harsh lesson about that last gen that they'll not soon forget. The current situation is more about making up for the big mistakes made with the PS3. They're staying profitable right now, but nowhere near to the degree of Nintendo, as Sony are still offering a lot of nice bundles for the games they currently do have.
But I also think there will be a point where we'll see an acceleration in the push for the console, because while PS4 can gain back some of the losses that PS3 caused them, they also can't let that stand in the way of PS4's own opportunities. That would also be a mistake. And that time migth be around the time the PS4 Slim comes out, as a lot of things seem to be falling into place both hardware and software wise around that period.

Oh, of course. I expected no price cut, though in fairness the PS brand profited all but I believe 2006-7. You can attribute 2008 to the PS2 hanging in there if you'd like, but they never exactly suffered hemorrhages like Sony as a whole did. That's neither here nor there, but it is something worth mentioning.

 

What I didn't expect, frankly, was for them to pull a 2012 and after, where they throw massive marketing into select games and throw others to die. The Order did not deserve that push from day one, Sony knew it was a con, and they threw it at us anyway. They're focusing on style instead of substance because they've won every battle since the 8th gen was conceptual. THAT's not something I can just excuse because of the PS3 wariness, because the PS brand has been built on a foundation completely different from this. The PS4 feels like an early 360 era console to me for that reason, and it's why I haven't gotten one yet. And that genuinely upsets me. 

 

I'm sure they CAN fix that if they desire, but they're just oozing 2012 and later era Sony right now. The Sony that announced one day that PSAS was profitable, and the next canned support in order to give more microtransaction DLC for an unprofitable GoW: A. I mean, they dropped Uncharted back to Spring, and we STILL haven't seen them planting the seeds to use the Ratchet game as their big name replacement in the holiday lineup. That's the Sony I don't respect, the one that is so hot and cold with plans (remember how PSAS started as a Powerstone-styled game until 2011? Sly 4?). And I genuinely hope they make it worth the purchase at E3. If not I'll just enjoy Ratchet and Uncharted while mumbling angrily to myself about how they could've had it all.