Sony Not Having Traditional E3?

[EricHiggin]

Intrinsic said:

thismeintiel said: 

And I'm not talking about them in a vacuum.  Sony has competition, right now.  MS is going to give it one hell of a push next gen, at least at the start, to try to win their customers back.  And that could include dropping out of this gen early to get a headstart, just like they did last gen.  And you are very wrong if you think they can just watch the XB2 conference and change their HW on the fly.  They most likely already have the final PS5 HW decided upon.  To just change it would require extra months of designing, development, and testing.  This would give the XB2 about a year head start, as Sony is going to avoid a RROD scenario at all cost.  It's also not how they work.  They didn't change the Pro, just because the X was more powerful, nor any of their other systems.  They aren't going to change the PS5 according to the XB2, either. 

You are basing all you are saying on a lot of ifs....... and this isn't about changing theire hardware on the fly, they can however make modiciations to an already confirmed design. Like increase Ram, increase clocks as a result of better and more expensive cooling...etc. Those kinda modifications won't take a year to implement, just look at the XB1 launch, between its E3 reveal and launch clock speeds went up. Thats a less than 5 month window.

The point though is that sony simply doesn't have to go first. Hell sony allowing MS going first and pushing a media campaign of how they will be making the "worlds most powerful console" will actually put a damper on whatever MS is doing. 

They didn't change the Pro cause they didn't need to. They already had this gen in the bag. Sony would even prefer coming a year after XB2 if it would mean they won't release day and date and be the weaker console. Can you imagine what MS would do with that kinda marketing leverage?

Slim and Pro weren't announced at E3 2017 either, so no hardware this E3 doesn't mean all that much. It's a hint but nothing concrete by any means.

Pro and XB1X both had two separate prototypes. PS could do the same with PS5. Heck, they could even have more, one for each upcoming holiday. As long as the tech in those designs wasn't so futuristic that it couldn't be used until those designated time frames, then PS can move up the production and launch date if necessary. If XB were to announce early to mid 2019 that 'XB2' was launching holiday 2019 and it was by far the best performance you could manufacture for $499 at that time, then PS could simply pick the 2020 PS5 version, and move it up to say, a March 2020 launch. This would give them the stronger hardware and would snuff out the new XB most powerful marketing they clearly are sticking with. The problem PS would have is price. It would have to be the same price as the 'XB2' ($499?), which may also require some hardware subsidy early on. Is PS willing to subsidize and are they willing to launch at $499?

The fact that PS decided to wait as long as they did to announce Pro, makes me think they really wanted to see what XB had cooking, assuming Scorpio would be launching late 2016 as well. Since that's not what happened, PS had time to decide how to properly market Pro based on the info they had about Scorpio and announce when they felt ready. Pro was not going to be changed in terms of hardware, they could only have made a costly decision to drop Pro and launch the stronger version alongside XB1X. This would also explain why the Pro launch wasn't the smoothest ever. They probably made some minor changes to the plan to combat Scorpio, mostly in terms of software.

The fact that XB decided to wait until holiday 2017, says to me they simply wanted to make sure they had the strongest hardware on the market. Sure, being closer to native 4k is great, but marketing can be molded for a Pro or XB1X scenario. This also makes me think that no matter what PS does going forward with PS5, XB is going to wait if they need to, to make sure they have the strongest hardware. If this is the plan, then PS would be smarter to just simply get the hardware out sooner than later and make sure that XB is forced to rush if anything.

Dropping PS5 while PS4 is still hot, does seem unnecessary on one hand, but if it get's the PS5 out two full years before the 'XB2', then that would end up giving PS the upper hand in more than just an early launch, because right after MS eventually announces that 'XB2' is the new most powerful console, PS can immediately announce PS5 Pro is coming and it will be the most powerful ever, which would squash the main marketing for 'XB2'. This will force XB to do everything they can to make sure 'XB2' launches as quickly as possible after PS5 does. The more PS can make XB rush, the less first party content it will probably have at launch, or that content will more than likely be half baked, which would not be good for their launch.

PS5 launching later makes more sense in terms of profits and user base, but launching earlier, makes more sense in terms of strategy and the long game. The longer PS decided to stretch this gen, the more they have to think about adding new upgraded PS4 hardware again. There doesn't exactly seem to be a right and wrong answer. Both ways have there pluses and minuses. The mid gen consoles and now a hybrid console blur the lines enough that's it's really tough to gauge what's coming and when.