It is hard to try to write something this, without risks of there being a flamewar, accusations of trolling, and partisan cheerleadering or spin, not based in reality, but upon wishes.  So, I am going to try.  Basic idea here is to look at what happened to Atari back in the day, and the crash of the 1980s and compare it to Sony.  On this note, I do want to ask some questions to see if there can be realistic spin to maybe undermine some possible parallels.  I had been saying Sony as Sega repeat, but Sony's size makes it different.  First, I will go a bit into Atari's background, and then ask about Sony in comparison.

Back in the 1980s, the videogame industry was booming, but there was trouble on the horizon.  Economic woes didn't help either, but there was oversaturation of content and people getting tired of content on the TV screen.  In all this was Atari, who was seen as THE icon of videogames. However, it then reported record losses, and ended up winding down, and being sold off by Warner Communications to Jack Tramiel.  Atari went small fry then, and Nintendo came along later, and saved things.  But it looked like that computers would be more major players.

Today, there is similar.  You have talk of smart phones and tablets being the shift of playing.  Sony is falling into the Atari category that, while not catching everyone off guard the way Atari had, it still seen as troubling.  And these factors have myself concerned, for a number of reasons I am about to ask about, and want to see answers here.  The concerns are over the videogame industry as a whole, and the "crash again" talk that pops into my head.  So, on that note, I will ask these questions and see if anyone can maybe refute or point to why not:

* Atari pulls out of the videogame industry and there is a collapse. What signs are there that Sony isn't going to decide to just ride out with current equipment they have and then this result in them doing a delayed pullout?

* If Sony pulls out, what would the impact be on the videogame industry?  Is it strong enough to hold on or would do this accelerate move to smart phones and tablets for gaming?

* What does Sony have up its sleaves to get it back to profitability and get it to be able to still hang around?

* What signs are there that the videogame industry doesn't have systemic weaknesses that release of new hardware wouldn't fix?  Even Gamestop is reporting losses.

So, these are my concerns.  Can someone address these? Thanks...

That's an awfully odd point to bring up, if you don't mind me saying. I was under the impression (but I wasn't even born when it happened, so I may be wrong), that Atari's downfall was due to the videogame market crash thing that happened from over-saturation of products along with a plethora of rushed and poor games which ultimately cost them dearly until Nintendo turned things around with the NES. Wasn't that to do with consumers losing confidence with quality in the industry which Nintendo rectified with the whole 'seal of quality' thing?

I'm wondering, what are the parallels with that situation that can be drawn with the situation Sony is facing at the moment? Arguably, games these days go through more quality control than ever (Black Ops Declassified aside!) and while you could argue over-saturation with PC's making a resurgence and phones & tablets strong-arming their way in, there's still only 3 home console makers and the market is still here for the time being.

To answer the questions you asked, I don't really know the answer to those. What Sony have up their sleeves to return to profitability may simply be a core console which is an improvement but can be sold at a minor loss if released at the right time (people keep eyeing early 2014). As much as I love them, I don't have them down as the type of company to pull a Wii and really shake things up in the industry. But maybe it doesn't need that. Perhaps a consistent, reliable system where you know what you're getting is enough. Options can be added later if need be. I personally get the feeling that some decent goodwill has been built up towards Sony recently (outside of this forum, of course) with PS+ being a good deal for consumers; online services being free & vastly improved; a slew of exclusive games making it worthwhile to buy the console, etc. Taking this momentum into the next gen can be no bad thing.

As for what would happen if Sony did pull out, idk. People keep saying someone else would step in, but I honestly cannot see that happening. With even Nintendo having to release the Wii-U at a minor loss these days, it seems like an odd move for some other company to make to step into a business where it almost seems a necessity to loss-lead in order to shift hardware. Plus, it took Microsoft pretty much a full generation to get a proper footing in home consoles so there's no guarantee that another contender would hit it off straight away either.

I think asking if the "videogame industry" is strong enough to hold on or whether it would accelerate moving to tablets & phones is a bit of a contradiction, though. Whether we personally like it or not, a big shift in gaming is towards tablets and I believe they have become part of the industry. Not a integral part, but where there is gaming they are part of the games industry. The devs who used to work for big AAA studios are now making iPhone games. They're the same people who were delivering "the industry"'s core content, so surely it's the same content that they're delivering now (albeit on a smaller scale).

Anyway, apologies if this is a bit of a ramble or doesn't make sense, kinda tired.

My concern is that you are going to try to draw a parallel between Sony and Atari where there isn't one. You don't know why the console market collapsed in the eighties. You don't even seem to understand that Sony's problems aren't a weak game market. You don't even understand that the current market is all kinds of healthy. It is just down when compared against the fad that was the Wii.

I think I understand where you are coming from, but the truth is that the market just won't give a shit if Sony has left the market. Consoles have come and gone, and when they go away the players just buy into something else. There just isn't much of a future for Sony in gaming as far as their financial status is concerned. There isn't any way that Sony can just wait it out. They need to keep moving to stay ahead of their debt, and to give them a chance to come up with some kind of hit product. If they stop then the debt will just overtake them, and force them right into bankruptcy.

Which is likely to happen regardless, but if Sony isn't going to jump into a new console generation. Then Sony has some choices to make. Such as whether to sell off the assets to create spending capitol, or to create some new kind of priority for the division such as third party software. The one thing they cannot do is sit unused. By the way if they don't announce you better believe that their PS3 software market will begin to happen pretty quickly. The sad truth being that nobody likes to develop for a dead brand. In a world with backward compatibility it is even more damning.

Anyway no connection between the two. Other then Sony is actually far less important now then Atari was way back then. Microsoft or Nintendo would instantly pick up any slack in the market, because they would be the real benefactors of Sony's demise.

i don't think we need to worry about sony's gaming division unless if they repeat the miskates of the first couple years of the PS3 with the PS4

Oh snap who didn't see an Atari comparison to Sony coming?

There's no realistic comparison I can make between the situations Atari and Sony are/were in, and the state of the videogame industry during those times. It's a completely different business nowadays. If Sony were to withdraw from the videogame hardware market, honestly not too much would change. Their software division would either be liquidated and bought by other companies or remain intact and go third party, so we'd still most likely continue to get new installments of franchises that are Sony exclusive like Uncharted, God of War, Gran Tourismo, etc.

Perhaps another electronics / tech company would throw their hat into the ring upon Sony's exit like Apple or Samsung or maybe even Panasonic again, but the way the market is today and how the home console market is on its way to becoming homogenous, Sony's exit would be like a blip on the radar compared to what Atari's demise did to the videogame industry back in the day.

They repeated an awful lot of mistakes with the Vita so I wouldn't be surprised to see them screw up the PS4 / Orbis. Even if they show some semblance of basic competence going forward, can they really afford to compete with the Xbox Trinity / Delta?

that's why i am thinking they are going to take a bit of gamble and use the PS3 to compete with the next xbox and wii u 

Well... I guess the problem for Sony is that they are very close to broke and launching a console probably costs over a billion dollars these days.

you cant compare the PS3 to atari 2600. there are great games for the PS3 and not for the 2600
i will always remember the 2600 it was my frist console