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Forums - Sony Discussion - [Opinion] Why Sony Should Exit The Console Hardware Business

Soundwave on 13 October 2012

Moves Sony should make --

Forget about the standalone Vita being a success. Accept that it's a niche product. Make a "real" Playstation Phone. Vita chipset, 4.5 inch touchscreen, slider design (ala PSP Go but better analogs), Android OS. Make a tablet model as well.

$19.99-$29.99 games via digital download, ditch the retail market and $40 games, it's never going to fly.

PS4, fall 2012 launch, sensible design. $349.99 and $399.99 SKUs. GPU should be comparable to a 7850 Pitcarin, which should easily be 7-8x+ better than a PS4. 2GB GDDR, throw in some cheap 2GB DDR3 too. System should not be bigger than the PS3 Slim (2009 version).

New controller this time -- split-apart "Move" controller that works with a HD PSEye. Move had potential, but was not exploited properly on the PS3, need to have one in every PS4 box. It can work as a traditional controller too, but breaks apart to be like two Move controllers (one for each hand).



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VGKing on 13 October 2012
ganoncrotch said:
VGKing said:
VicViper said:
VGKing said:

Whoever wrote that article seems to overlook the fact that the sales of 3rd party games is MUCH larger than that of 1st party games on the PS3.
So any increase in 1st party sales on Xbox 720/Wii U would be offset by the loss of all the profits they are gaining from the 3rd party games. PS3 should be profitable by now, so those are profits they won't have. PSP is profitable and PS2 is still selling. 

Playstation is an iconic brand. Without Playstation, millions and millions of people would never have played any games. Sony brings affordable gaming to low-income families in 3rd world countries with the PS2. Would Microsoft ever do that? Nintendo? No. Sony cares about the gamer.

BTW, PS4 could easily be sold at a profit from Day 1. Sony could just make a console equal in power to a Wii U, and it would sell purely based on better 3rd party support, PSN and brand recognition.


Yeah, they do that based on care!

Seriously laughing here!

Stay mad bro. Look at how fast Nintendo abandoned the DS and how they let the Wii(once king) fall so quickly.
Sure, as hardcore gamers we want new hardware, but not everyone can afford it. This isn't just about 3rd world countries, even in America hundreds of millions of people live from paycheck to paycheck. Gaming is a luxury to  many.

Let's see if Nintendo is still selling the Wii or DS 5 years from now. We'll see.


I'm almost at a loss for words, you think they had a business meeting where they discussed how much budget to set aside for caring for people in lesser off states? and then shipped a shipping container full of 12 year old hardware from a warehouse to donate to those people? (for money) I don't think anyone is under the illusion that the company they like the most in gaming doesn't things out of the goodness of their heart? surely?

PS2 is a low-cost console with an amazing library of games. 
Sony could have just abandone the PS2 and told everyone to buy a PS3 if they want to continue to experience great games....THEY DIDN'T.

You want proof that Sony cares about the consumer? Look at Playstaton All-Stars. Pure fanservice. Buy PS3 version get Vita version free. This goes for a lot of upcoming games as well like Sly 4 and Ratchet and Clank Full Frontal Assault. Look at the upcoming Playstation Store redesign. They've been working on that for the past 2 years and they payed attention to the crititicim of the current Store. They will also continue to do monthly updates to the new store according to consumer comments.

OF COURSE SONY CARES ABOUT MONEY, ALL COMPANIES DO, BUT OUT OF THE BIG 3, SONY HAS SHOWN ME THEY CARE THE MOST ABOUT US GAMERS.



Play4Fun on 13 October 2012
VGKing said:
ganoncrotch said:
VGKing said:
VicViper said:
VGKing said:

Whoever wrote that article seems to overlook the fact that the sales of 3rd party games is MUCH larger than that of 1st party games on the PS3.
So any increase in 1st party sales on Xbox 720/Wii U would be offset by the loss of all the profits they are gaining from the 3rd party games. PS3 should be profitable by now, so those are profits they won't have. PSP is profitable and PS2 is still selling. 

Playstation is an iconic brand. Without Playstation, millions and millions of people would never have played any games. Sony brings affordable gaming to low-income families in 3rd world countries with the PS2. Would Microsoft ever do that? Nintendo? No. Sony cares about the gamer.

BTW, PS4 could easily be sold at a profit from Day 1. Sony could just make a console equal in power to a Wii U, and it would sell purely based on better 3rd party support, PSN and brand recognition.


Yeah, they do that based on care!

Seriously laughing here!

Stay mad bro. Look at how fast Nintendo abandoned the DS and how they let the Wii(once king) fall so quickly.
Sure, as hardcore gamers we want new hardware, but not everyone can afford it. This isn't just about 3rd world countries, even in America hundreds of millions of people live from paycheck to paycheck. Gaming is a luxury to  many.

Let's see if Nintendo is still selling the Wii or DS 5 years from now. We'll see.


I'm almost at a loss for words, you think they had a business meeting where they discussed how much budget to set aside for caring for people in lesser off states? and then shipped a shipping container full of 12 year old hardware from a warehouse to donate to those people? (for money) I don't think anyone is under the illusion that the company they like the most in gaming doesn't things out of the goodness of their heart? surely?

PS2 is a low-cost console with an amazing library of games. 
Sony could have just abandone the PS2 and told everyone to buy a PS3 if they want to continue to experience great games....THEY DIDN'T.

You want proof that Sony cares about the consumer? Look at Playstaton All-Stars. Pure fanservice. Buy PS3 version get Vita version free. This goes for a lot of upcoming games as well like Sly 4 and Ratchet and Clank Full Frontal Assault. Look at the upcoming Playstation Store redesign. They've been working on that for the past 2 years and they payed attention to the crititicim of the current Store. They will also continue to do monthly updates to the new store according to consumer comments.

OF COURSE SONY CARES ABOUT MONEY, ALL COMPANIES DO, BUT OUT OF THE BIG 3, SONY HAS SHOWN ME THEY CARE THE MOST ABOUT US GAMERS.


No! That's a lie!

My favorite company cares about gamers most!



Ji99saw on 13 October 2012
pezus said:
Ji99saw said:

If Sony could make as much as Microsoft and charge for online they would do it, don't dare think they wouldn't, if it were as you say PS+ would not even exist

Doesn't that tell you that they care what the consumer thinks?


No, that tells me that they would do anything to get the upper hand on Microsoft and XBL and considering XBL is bigger than PSN even with a subscription model tells me they failed but are far too deep in the gen to start charging so they go the middle route which is PS+ in order to monetize it. Free to play games come out everyday and they are free not because they care about consumers but because they have a better chance of competing and getting a bigger consumer base to charge them later



Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve.

"I don't debate, I just give you that work"- Ji99saw

osed125 on 13 October 2012
VGKing said:

PS2 is a low-cost console with an amazing library of games. 
Sony could have just abandone the PS2 and told everyone to buy a PS3 if they want to continue to experience great games....THEY DIDN'T.

You want proof that Sony cares about the consumer? Look at Playstaton All-Stars. Pure fanservice. Buy PS3 version get Vita version free. This goes for a lot of upcoming games as well like Sly 4 and Ratchet and Clank Full Frontal Assault. Look at the upcoming Playstation Store redesign. They've been working on that for the past 2 years and they payed attention to the crititicim of the current Store. They will also continue to do monthly updates to the new store according to consumer comments.

OF COURSE SONY CARES ABOUT MONEY, ALL COMPANIES DO, BUT OUT OF THE BIG 3, SONY HAS SHOWN ME THEY CARE THE MOST ABOUT US GAMERS.

begin sarcasm/

MS cares the most because it has the best online service (even though I have to pay), and I loved Halo, Gears (which they are still making).

Nintendo cares the most because they bring Zelda and Mario (which I loved to death), don't put big emphasis on graphics because I want a cheap console, and they bring good family friendly games.

end sarcasm/

Being a fanboy means that's its favorite company will always be the one that "care the most".

You can say everything you want but companies only cared about money. 

Supporting the PS2 = they found a big chance to exploit the sales (do to it's high success), also because the PS3 sales were really bad the beginning, if it wasn't for that the PS2 wouldn't have been supported for so long.

Playstaton All-Stars as fan service = we don't know that, Sony probably saw Smash and it's success and they thought, why not make a similar game but with Sony characters? and going by the pre-orders the fans don't seemed really excited...

Crititicim of the current PS Store = every single company takes feedback from customers, that's what keeps them living, Sony's also has to compete with xbox live, which is superior in almost everyway. 



Nintendo and PC gamer

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DigitalDevilSummoner on 13 October 2012

The journalist, and I use the term loosely, in his incompetence did raise a very interesting question:

What is the face of the Playstation 3 ? What is the mascot or the poster boy or the system seller for the PS3 ?

The cell processor, the blu ray, Nathan Drake, Kratos are all pretty big names/features/selling points but I don't think any of them comes on top.

I do feel the PS3 has lost some of the identity the brand had in previous generations. For me Sony's biggest mistake this generation was not securing the Final Fantasy brand.

Metal gear solid 4 is probably one of the most recognizable unique things on the PS3 but that was it, that metal gear chapter has ended. So, objectively I think Final Fantasy is the only name that could have been the face of the PS3, even the PS4.

 It's the only thing that could have been Sony's Zelda, Mario or Halo. Strictly from a business standpoint it was a plainly stupid move not to go after FF with everything they had.



fauzman on 13 October 2012
Player2 said:
fauzman said:
Player2 said:
fauzman said:
RolStoppable said:
CChaos said:
I've read the article twice now and...I think the biggest problem is I don't think I'm able to figure out what he's getting at. Sure, the games would sell if they were all made multi-platform, but I can't really see them making as much money as would offset the loss of hardware income. I mean, even thinking about that doesn't make a tonne of sense, especially with the Super Slim and what I imagine is a better margin for the PS3.

Is he trying to say that if Sony cut hardware out of the mix, it'd somehow make the company profitable again directly through games? Cause, if so, that's one of the most bizarre things I've heard in a while.

Sony has traditionally been using the razor and blades model (selling hardware at a loss, making the money back on software), so there isn't much hardware income to speak of. The PS3 lost billions on hardware over its lifetime, so that's what the suggestion to go software-only is based on.

You are wrong. Sony dont make consoles so that they can make back money on the software. They sell a defective console at launch at a loss and make that money back by selling the later SKUs at a profit (since the price of parts falls considerably over the years). They did this very successfully for both the psx and ps2. However, with the ps3 they lost so much money in the initial launch years that they probably wont make back the money they lost by the end of the ps3's lifetime. But this is slightly different from them selling hardware and just expecting software to cover for it. 

Also, considering the position sony are in, the ps4 will probably be sold at a profit or very close to manufacture cost to reduce/eliminate any losses from the get-go (or at least that is what indications are). So I dont think they will do as badly as this gen.  

Fixed for you.

http://techspyblog.blogspot.com.es/2010/03/conclusive-proof-of-sony-timer-aka-sony.html

Look at the reliability of the consoles sold at loss and those that aren't. And don't mention the words "more powerful" or the Gamecube will destroy you.

Not sure I follow you. Neither the article or the clip mentioned a difference in the reliability of  the initial fat or the later "slim" consoles. And even if there is a greater reliability in the slim consoles, this could just be from sony learning from their mistakes (though I understand from your article that the point was that the same problem occurred with both the psx and ps2). Personally I find it hard to believe that sony would be deliberately making defective consoles since they have a reputation for solid products though I guess its a possibility. Either way, Im sure that most of their sales were probably NOT due to replacement psx or ps2s like you are suggesting... unless you have some proof?

And im not sure where your "more powerful" or Gamecube comments come from since they are irrelevant and fairly silly to boot. 

It's simple. Sony sells a console at loss at launch to quickly establish an userbase and get third party support. A % of those launch units will fail 2-3 years after they are bought and the owner have to buy a new one, but then Sony is making money with the hardware. This failure rate is higher in Sony consoles.

The Sony = reliable is a thing of the past.

Of course most of their sales were not from replacements, but if more money can be earned this way, why not?

Some claim that it is that way because their consoles are more powerful (the parts are "newer", less proven, etc), but the Gamecube was more powerful and more reliable than the PS2.

I see. Thanks for clarifying. I still have a hard time believing they would do this and hope they arent so greedy but it really doesnt change things for me. I would be pretty unhappy if they were knocked out of the hardware business since I am very pleased with their IPs and what they have done this gen on a gaming front (they have been lacking in other areas). 



<a href="https://psnprofiles.com/fauzman"><img src="https://card.psnprofiles.com/2/fauzman.png" border="0"></a>

logic56 on 14 October 2012
pezus said:
Ji99saw said:
pezus said:
Ji99saw said:

If Sony could make as much as Microsoft and charge for online they would do it, don't dare think they wouldn't, if it were as you say PS+ would not even exist

Doesn't that tell you that they care what the consumer thinks?


No, that tells me that they would do anything to get the upper hand on Microsoft and XBL and considering XBL is bigger than PSN even with a subscription model tells me they failed but are far too deep in the gen to start charging so they go the middle route which is PS+ in order to monetize it. Free to play games come out everyday and they are free not because they care about consumers but because they have a better chance of competing and getting a bigger consumer base to charge them later

How do you define 'bigger'?

L.M.A.O !!!



Chark on 14 October 2012
Ji99saw said:

No, that tells me that they would do anything to get the upper hand on Microsoft and XBL and considering XBL is bigger than PSN even with a subscription model tells me they failed but are far too deep in the gen to start charging so they go the middle route which is PS+ in order to monetize it. Free to play games come out everyday and they are free not because they care about consumers but because they have a better chance of competing and getting a bigger consumer base to charge them later

Do you have an example of a company doing that?



Before the PS3 everyone was nice to me :(

Cobretti2 on 14 October 2012
Metrium said:
pezus said:

 

This article is quite funny in light of recent sales numbers...

 


You are aware that this week's numbers are in no way a good indicator right? They launched a new model of the PS3 and for some reasons europeans jumped on it like crazy. These numbers are only because of the PS slim slim and that in a week or 2 they will go back to normal.

don't forget that hardware sales does not equal profit.

PS3 sold millions at launch and it LOST Sony money. Sony makes its money from software sales, 

 

My personal view:

It would be nice to see Sony publish software and drop the hardware race, However like others have said it would leave a void. Sadly I can see that void being filled by Apple. If that happesn gaming will be ruined forever as all the apple sheep will flock to the overpriced apple product.