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Puppyroach on 05 July 2016
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S.T.A.G.E. said:
Puppyroach said:

And Sony wanted to take advantage of Nintendo´s position to get into the Video game market which was an important image factor for that company at the time. They all do it for their own selfish reasons, and I am pretty sure MS wouldn´t be in the hardware business if their OS had been on those platforms. That doesn´t change the fact that they ARE in the hardware business now and has realized how important the XBox brand is for reaching out to different demographics and expanding the Windows 10 platform. I do think they want to go the Steam route, where XBox is the platform, while the hardware is made by different producers.

I agree that Microsoft would not have entered the console race if Sony and Nintendo wouldve just come quietly and allowed them to create their OS. Nintendo was using Sony R&D behind their back and instead of becoming enemies Sonys board was talked into creating a relationship instead of firing Yamuchi (father of the playstation). Sony expressed their terms in contract to Nintendo before CES in the 90's and Nintendo walked out on it before they revealed it. Sony wanted to scrap the playstation but was talked into keeping it. Sony's advantage with the gaming industry came from using hardware to sell their formats and thus serve to sell hardware for not just their platforms but their hardware competition outside of the gaming realm (Many people would not have been able to buy DVD or Blu Rays had Sony not sold their consoles at a loss) . They evolved into a legitimate game developer (Something Microsoft still struggles to do). Sony's battle with Nintendo was a legal one.

At the end of the day, Sony and Nintendo's bread and butter are still consoles. This cannot be disputed in any way shape or form. This has always separated them from Microsoft because at the end of the day its about consoles for them. Microsoft is now firmly a cloud/OS game publisher.

Microsoft is still making consoles now, but the question remains whether they will still be interested in making consoles after this gen.

MS has been a "legitimate" game developer since the 80's. And yes, Nintendo did some foul play behind Sonys back but stop painting such a rosy picture of Sony. They obviously wanted to use Nintendo's position for their own benefit, since video games where a very small part of their own structure back then. The reason why video games is such an integral part of Sony business today is, for a large part, their huge success in the segment. But it is also, for a very big part, because of their failures as a company in other segments, leaving video games to be one of the largest assets they have.

 

I do think Sony is starting to look beyond standard console generations, just like MS, since they know it is within software and services where the money lies. They are very much needed in the video game market.