With NPD's December and total 2008 sales data coming out tomorrow, it seems like a timely moment to ask: Why is the Playstation 3 performing so badly? After a decent start to the year, Sony has been slipping further and further behind its competitors. By November, it wasn't just a distant third place, but the only current gen console to see sales actually decline from 2007, despite two heavily hyped new games, one of which got overwhelmingly stellar reviews and was touted as a system seller (starts with an "L," ends with "anet").
There are lots of potential reasons that we're all aware of, including price (even though the PS3 is arguably the best value given its features, it still costs $100 more than the standard 360 and $150 more than a Wii), developers' difficulty working with the system, price, consumers' confusion over blu-ray, price, a lack of good exclusives, price, and, oh yea, price.
Sony's aware of all this, of course, and there are are reasons it can't solve them (on the price front, especially, SCE apparently feels an intense need to turn a profit, even if that means ceding volume). But an interesting question is why Sony's efforts to stand out -- the advantages it does have over its competitors -- aren't working. One reason: Odd as it is to say, I think Sony may just be too artsy. It's giving smart gamers (a category in which I'd include myself) what they want and it's not helping the bottom line.
Example #1: What was Sony's biggest release this year? "LittleBigPlanet." Sony may have attempted to market this as an all-aged fun-stravaganza, but given the weak sales so far (215,000 domestic units in October; far less <outside the top 20> in November; only 1.3 million registered users worldwide, meaning it sold far fewer), it hasn't yet hit a mass audience. So who does love it? From what I can tell, fans of quality, "artsy" games. The reviews are spectacular (one of the worst reviews on Metacritic coming from this largely positive crank) and there's tons of buzz amongst game critics, bloggers, aspiring designers, and others who like to really think about the games they play.
Similarly, Sony has put a lot of emphasis on the Playstation Network Store. It's the only one of the big three console makers that's investing its own money on downloadable "indie" games, resulting in innovative exclusives like "flow," the "PixelJunk" series, "Echochrome," and soon titles like "Flower" and "Fat Princess." Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare have fewer exclusive "indie" games, more ports of old favorites, and, frankly, more junk (though there are a few gems, like "Braid" and "World of Goo").
Of course there's "Home." Sony's answer to Xbox Live is to basically mimic "Second Life," the heavily hyped virtual world that was actually used by just a small number of artsy-minded Web obsessives.
The Cross Media Bar (XMB) is much cleaner and more Google-esque than Xbox Live, filled as it is with ads and other clutter, or the boring grid on the Wii menu.
Even the console itself is smoother, prettier, quieter -- a superior work of art.
And yet... there's little evidence any of it is helping sales. Sony has all these advantages, and plenty of smart people touting them, but it's mired in third place. It's not that being artsy is a bad thing. Substantively, it's great. And impressive that such a big corporation manages it. But as a question of where the company dedicates resources, I wonder whether Sony's being too high minded.
That's not to say Sony hasn't made any efforts to hit other audiences. "Resistance" 1 and 2, "Uncharted," the upcoming "Killzone 2" are all games that broader audiences should be able to appreciate. But so far, none have really caught on. Certainly not the way that "Gears of War" or "Wii Fit," to mention some new franchises aimed at mass audiences from Sony's competitors, have.
It's notable, if obvious, that the PS3's best month in 2008, the only one in which it sold more than 400,000 units domestically, was June, when "Metal Gear Solid 4" came out. And looking forward, the best hope on Sony's horizon to really move consoles in 2009 is probably when "God of War III" is released.
When all is said and done, Sony's efforts to do something different are impressive, but not enough to change the game, or at least overcome that $400 price tag. Compared to, say, Nintendo's efforts to do something different with the Wii, the PS3's artsy ambitions are barely moving the needle at all.
Which isn't to say it's a bad idea. "LittleBigPlanet" is a major achievement in videogame design and Playstation Network is undoubtedly leading the way in the indie gaming movement. XMB and the PS3 console are elegantly designed. But if Sony want more people to appreciate them, it looks like the old rules apply: it needs more hit core or family franchises, and probably a price cut.
Plus ca change...
http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2009/01/is-sony-too-artsy-for-its-own-good.html
Go Team Venture! I still don't get the Wii, PS Move, and Kinect.
