by Eddie Makuch

Back in August, PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida said Sony was mystified by the smashing success of the PlayStation 4. At the time, he said the system's overwhelming popularity "defied the conventional thinking," which the executive said could in fact even be a problem. To understand where a platform is going, you need to know how it got there, he argued...

"But when you ask the question; what did the PS4 and Xbox Onedo better than PS3 or Xbox 360, it's a harder question almost to answer," he said...

Compared to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the PS4 and and Xbox One are up on a double-digit percentage basis compared to where the last-generation consoles were over the same period of time.

Yoshida said the PS4's focus "completely shifted" compared to the PS3's. With the PS3, Sony attempted to build a "super-computer," he said. The idea was that developers would quickly understand how to make the most of the hardware and the platform would be a rousing success. But that didn't exactly happen. As it turned out, the PS3's Cell processor wasn't the simplest to understand right away, and it "took a long time" for developers to get fully acclimated to the system.

When setting out to design the PS4, Sony's planning teams changed course.

"So what we really focused on for PS4 was ease of development and ease of use by consumers and developers," he said. "And I think that's paying off really handsomely."

More at teh link:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-sony-thinks-ps4-is-a-massive-success/1100-6432902/

My opinion: I think that was obvious from the get go

It's a success because they allow cross platform play and the others don't.

Try this Sony, It's powerful, easy to develop for, well priced and sequentially has a great library and potential library of games.

They want to look at the PS2 for inspiration ...

I've got three words for them, "trust and potential" ...

I don't think I could have put it any more truer myself!

I think it all comes down to pricing mostly.

Up until 2005, the idea of a console was basically a $300 box if you were pushing it. Anything higher would fail. And this was a time when people weren't used to the idea of buying $300-$750 gadgets every other year (smart phones and tablets).

Then the 360 happened. and not only did it come in at $400, it also started the trend of multiple priced SKUs. Then as if that want bad enough, Sony came with a $600 console. The only reason the PS3 even did as well as it did was due to the success of the PS2. And remember, this was all in 2005/2006 when $600 was equivalent to $750+ in today's money.

The PS4 has brought thing back to normal. Put things back at a price point that the general consumer is willing to pay for. The general consumer doesn't care about stuff like easier to develop for and the PS3 didn't lack games or get shafted. Publishers go where the userbase is. All this talk we hear of these days about third party ps4 exclusives has nothing to do with ease of develoent but rather size of the user base.

If by next year Sony could somehow get the PS4 down to an entry price of $199, it would hit 100M sold by the end of 2017.

Simple, yet smart, way of thinking. While Nintendo and Microsoft were busy inventing gimmicks and stuff, Sony actually was working to make the importants things right. Congrats to them.

PS4 started out amazingly and has never looked back.

It seems every generation someone hits the ground running and dominates sales (last year Wii) while others stumble out the gate. Sony last gen and MS this gen.

It is good to see Sony making up financial ground and trying to gain profits considering they have been hurting financially for a long time.

MS' horrible start has now ushered in the Spencer era which IMO has been amazing and gives me confidence in the future.

Hopefully Nin learns from some of the Wii U mistakes and NX will be awesome.

Next gen might be the best ever!

I think it was mainly due to the length of time of the previous gen. It was the longest ever. Consumers were desperate for new tech

Sony marketing plus hardware that's not a complete disaster is a recipe for success.

Except in the handheld arena (which I don't understand).