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Forums - Gaming Discussion - How Sony became king of consoles again

Pemalite on 26 September 2018
Barkley said:
The PS3 is still the 4th best selling home console of all time, only beaten by one non-sony machine, the Wii. They never really stopped being the king. They've never had a failed home console and by the end of the year, 4 out of 5 of the best selling home consoles will be PlayStations

But if we include Handhelds (Because Handhelds are still consoles) in that... The Vita was a massive failure.
And isn't the Playstation TV also regarded as a console? How well did that do?

Azzanation said:

That depends what you mean by win. If win you mean on sales figures than sure, in terms of profiting i wouldnt say Sony is king when it comes to profiting. Nintendo knows how to make money and i think Nintendo has a much better history when it comes to making money in the console market. PS3 might be the 4th best selling console however its up there as one of the worst profiting. Thats not entirely a win.

We can't ignore Microsoft's pretty consistent ability to monetize everything either.

Azzanation said:

Maybe so, however you need to look at it as a business standpoint. Whats more important, money coming in or hardware going out.

Would you call MS a winner if next gen they gave out there Scarlett console for free, breaking every sale record in history while losing billions? Would you say they won? I certainly wouldn't. 

The general idea is that the more hardware you got going out... The more money you can bring in from software sales.
But once software sales isn't able to cover hardware costs... Then you have a real issue.


Dante9 said:
The PS brand is so strong, especially in Europe, that Sony would have to f up completely in order to do any serious damage. Some people don't see the bigger picture and think that after the PS3 Sony was on the brink of destruction or something.

Sony is a massive company... Still dwarfed by the likes of Microsoft of course.
However... Even when Sony has made massive mistakes like the YLOD, the Great Playstation hack of 2011, removal of features like Backwards Compatibility and *Nix and so on, the obscene launch price of the Playstation 3... Sony is still able to bring in respectful numbers.

And props to them.


RJTM1991 said:

Playstation has always been a supermassive brand, but when it came to popularity last gen, the 360 had the PS3 beat.

In my opinion, the scales only tipped when the 360's casual audience jumped ship to the PS4.

Around 2007-2008 is when I felt the Xbox 360 was really hitting it's stride... Mostly because of a single game. Halo 3.
That game literally boosted console sales... And the whole industry was talking about it.

...That game also helped recover some of the damage the RROD did to the Xbox 360 brand image.



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

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Miyamotoo on 26 September 2018
Dr.Vita said:
Miyamotoo said: 

Coming from person that said Sackboy, Aloy, Cole MacGrath are popular characters, dont put too much faith and sense in your post. :D

I own PS1, PS2, PSP and PS4 when we talk about PS consoles. Hole gaming market knows about all characters that I mentioned and actualy plenty of people outside gaming because you have merchandise, toys, even Nintendo characters toys in Happy Meals, but same cant be said for characters that you mentioned.

No, it's difficult for you to realise that Nintendo characters and IPs can be more popular than Sonys, in recent time you had too many salty posts regardless Nintendo and Switch and how time is passing you will have more and more of them. :)

I never said that the Playstation icons are more popular than the Nintendo icons. I said that some Playstation icons are just as popular as Yoshi, Kirby, Toad, Peach or Bowser and that Sony has more of them. Then I listed a few Playstation examples. I also said that Pikachu and Mario are the only Nintendo icons that are way more popular than the Playstation one's and that Playstation doesn't have icons that are on the same level as them. And this is only the case because Nintendo milked the sh*t out of these franchises for decades. On the other hand Sony has made new IP's in every new generation. Just look at Naughty Dog or Insomniac Games for example. On PS1 they did Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, on PS2 they did Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank, on PS3 they did Uncharted and Resistance and on PS4 they do The Last of Us and Spiderman. Such a diversity doesn't exist in Nintendo games, Nintendo always uses the same characters console after console. If Sony had used Crash Bandicoot as a mascot since PS1 for all consoles he would have been way more popular than he is today. Maybe even at Mario level, who knows? The biggest Playstation icon today is without a doubt Kratos and guess what? He's one of the oldest Playstation icons who is still used today. Started on the PS2 and still has games with him on PS4. If Sony continue with God of War he will become more and more popular with the time. Basically the same thing with Pikachu and Mario. Maybe we will see him one day as a character toy in Happy Meals (which is btw a really stupid argument to use for something's popularity). If you really own all these Playstations consoles it really surprises me that you have never heard of these Playstation icons. LittleBigPlanet has avery popular game on PSP and there is also LittleBigPlanet 3 on PS4. Horizon was a huge blackbuster game on PS4 and it is only one year old. InFamous should also be known by a person who owns so many Playstation platforms. Someone with 4 Playstation platforms should have a little bit more knowledge about Playstation exclusives. I guess you don't play very often on them but why bother and buy 4 Playstation consoles then? 

But thats a point, even characters like Luigi, Yoshi, Kirby, Toad, Donkey Kong, Peach or Bowser are generaly more popular than most of Sony because plenty of people heard for them even if they are outside of gaming simple because they are so long on market with plenty of games and actually merchandise and toys, while if you are in gaming you heard for Kratos, Nathan Drake and Ratchet and thats it, but hardly someone outside gaming heard for them. So only we can say that Sony only have 3 somehow popular characters, while Nintendo have around 10 with 2 that are probably among most popular in world.

Rest of post dont have anything with our discussion, I didn't discuss why they are Nintendo characters so popular, but you right, Sony rearly stick to some characters, only Kratos, Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank are 3 generations on market and only Kratos could be called stronger character from them, also one of problems for PS character popularity and recognisability and reason why Nintendo characters are much stronger is that most of Nintendo characters all have their name in name of game among other things, Luigi's Mansion, Donkey Kong Country, Legend of Zelda, Kirby Adventures, Yoshi Flip Island, Captain Toad, Mario 3D World... I played LittleBigPlanet on PSP but I didnt had idea he is sackboy, I dont like type of games like InFamous so I didnt play Second Son so I dont have idea whats a name of that character, I planing to play Horizon but I also didnt had idea whats name of main character, so you see pattern here, even if you are in gaming you needed to play those games in order to know who are characters you mention (in case of of Big Planet even that didnt helped), while in case of Nintendo even if you didnt play their games you definatly heard about all their characters that I mentioned and good chanches you heard for some of them even if you are not in gaming at all. Also, Nintendo has much more characters, I mention only some of strongest, I even didnt mention characters like Pikmin/Olimar, Samus, Lucario, Villager, Fox, Pit, Roy, Wario, Pokémon Trainer, Diddy Kong, Mewtwo.... Also few take offs, Spiderman is comix and movie characters first not gaming character (its same like you said that Batman is gaming character), Happy Meal is just one arguments how Nintendo characters are spread on market even otuside gaming also Nintendo is now building theme park so they will be even much more popular.  I bought PS4 to play multiplatform games and exclusives like Uncharted games, TLoU and Bloodborne.

 

Dr.Vita said: 
Alex_The_Hedgehog said: 

No, you are the one wrong. Nintendo is not only about Pikachu and Mario.

What about Zelda? Geez, Nintendo 64 sold a lot less than the first Playstation and even so people acknowledges Ocarina of Time as one of the best games ever made. A Link to the past, the original Zelda, etc.

What about Metroid? The Game Cube was totally overshadowed by the Playstation 2 and yet, what is the most acclaimed First Person Shooter that gen? Metroid Prime. What about Super Metroid?

Well, judging by your history on VG Chartz, it's clear that you don't like Nintendo. But please, try to be a bit more reasonable.

Also, respect other people's opinion.

Ocarina of Time is claimed to be the best game ever mostly by Nintendo fans. 

Metroid is not a very popular series among casual people and who defined it as the most acclaimed First Person Shooter that gen? This is mostly said by Nintendo fans. Even if this was true during PS2/Gamecube era First Person Shooter weren't that popular and they were not many of them. The big FIrst Party Shooter rise began during PS3/X360 era with Modern Warfare 1. 

Where is the problem if I tell my honest opinion about Nintendo and their games? As long as I don't attack anyone or anything it should be fine to express how I feel about the company. As long as someone can explain his view in a reasonable way it should be no problem for him/her to express his/her opinion. And I really would like to know where I was not reasonable with my posts in this thread?

No, it's generally claimed like best game of all time based on critics reviews not buy Nintendo fans, and actualy thats one of reasons why Nintendo characters are so popular and recognisable, Nintendo games very often are great games that get great attention even outside gaming, even now, two most critically acclaimed games this gen are Nintendo games, Zelda and Mario.

https://www.businessinsider.com/50-best-games-all-time-critics-2017-3

 

Yeah, Metroid is definitely not among more popular Nintendo's IPs, and Samus is even less reconsible and popular, only people that are in gaming heard for Metroid.

Because every your post sound like Nintendo vs Sony, we're you rising Sony and downplaying Nintendo.

Last edited by Miyamotoo - on 26 September 2018

Lesianimanalo on 26 September 2018

Sony won because the DS4 controller is symmetrical.



RJTM1991 on 26 September 2018
Ka-pi96 said:
RJTM1991 said:

Playstation has always been a supermassive brand, but when it came to popularity last gen, the 360 had the PS3 beat.

In my opinion, the scales only tipped when the 360's casual audience jumped ship to the PS4.

The scales were in the favour of the PS3 the entire gen everywhere except the US. It won Europe at a canter without needing to wait for anybody to jump ship, and PS3 vs 360 in Japan was just a massacre.

Ah, but the PS3 and 360 were neck-and-neck sales wise. Some sites even report that the 360 narrowly outsold the PS3.

It wasn't until the XB1 PR disaster that Sony took a clear, worldwide lead.



LiquorandGunFun on 26 September 2018
Train wreck said:
LiquorandGunFun said:

This LOL

 

MS fucked up. sony capitalized.

Really?  Don't know why people continue to put the "Microsoft fucked up Sony capitalized" mantra out there.

Two countries represented 70% of xbox 360 sales.  What would Sony capitalize on when they were already dominant in markets outside those two?

really? sigh, not even worth it. thought it was pretty streight forward, but then this is the internet. enjoy your beliefs, not interested in sales warz.



 

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RJTM1991 on 26 September 2018
Ka-pi96 said:
RJTM1991 said:

Ah, but the PS3 and 360 were neck-and-neck sales wise. Some sites even report that the 360 narrowly outsold the PS3.

It wasn't until the XB1 PR disaster that Sony took a clear, worldwide lead.

The PS3 already had a clear worldwide lead everwhere except the US.

...and now, partially thanks to the PR botch and other MS shenanigans, Sony owns the US.



Tsaki on 26 September 2018
Lesianimanalo said:
Sony won because the DS4 controller is symmetrical.

I was reading the thread from the beginning, seeing everyone's point of view and arguments, and then your comment popped. It made me laugh.

OT: The video was cool.



colafitte on 26 September 2018
RJTM1991 said:
Ka-pi96 said:

The scales were in the favour of the PS3 the entire gen everywhere except the US. It won Europe at a canter without needing to wait for anybody to jump ship, and PS3 vs 360 in Japan was just a massacre.

Ah, but the PS3 and 360 were neck-and-neck sales wise. Some sites even report that the 360 narrowly outsold the PS3.

It wasn't until the XB1 PR disaster that Sony took a clear, worldwide lead.

How do you definine "neck and neck"??? By sales by year or lifetime??? Are PS4 and Switch sales neck and neck right now or not because one have around 60M sold more than the other??

PS3 always sold each year more than X360, only the very first years can be considered neck and neck, that's why PS3 recovered from a year later start in USA and almost a year and a half in Europe  to finish with even more lifetime sales. To diminish the worldwide success of PS4 saying that it was because of XB1 PR disaster is a fallacy. PS3 was the best selling console in 2013 and PS4 was in 2014. The only reason some people get confused is because X360 finished way stronger in USA compared to its rivals Wii and PS3, so the USA centric media and forums expected XBO to dominate next gen, but for everyone else outside USA with a knowledge of how PS3 was selling elsewhere it surprised nobody. PS4 was going to sell more worldwide even if XBO PR disaster never happened in its launch. That only secured that PS4 was going to sell even better than XBO.

To put things into perspective right, a Playstation home console has been the best selling console of the year since 1996 until 2017 except in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (Wii was the best selling console those years). that's 18 from 22 possible years being Playstation the leading platform of the year.

If something, a person, a team, a company, "wins" 18 of 22 years, how do you not expect to win always next year?? And yes, there is handhelds where Nintendo is the clear winner, but the industry of handheld consoles don't move anything closer the amount of money and softaware sales that home console bring to the table. So to compare success of a home console against a handheld console 1:1 is not completely fair. That's why i prefer to disccuss only home console in this topic, because the original topic was about PS4 against XBO anyway...

Last edited by colafitte - on 26 September 2018

RJTM1991 on 26 September 2018
colafitte said:
RJTM1991 said:

Ah, but the PS3 and 360 were neck-and-neck sales wise. Some sites even report that the 360 narrowly outsold the PS3.

It wasn't until the XB1 PR disaster that Sony took a clear, worldwide lead.

How do you definine "neck and neck"??? By sales by year or lifetime??? Are PS4 and Switch sales neck and neck right now or not because one have around 60M sold more than the other??

PS3 always sold each year more than X360, only the very first years can be considered neck and neck, that's why PS3 recovered from a year later start in USA and almost a year and a half in Europe  to finish with even more lifetime sales. To diminish the worldwide success of PS4 saying that it was because of XB1 PR disaster is a fallacy. PS3 was the best selling console in 2013 and PS4 was in 2014. The only reason some people get confused is because X360 finished way stronger in USA compared to its rivals Wii and PS3, so the USA centric media and forums expected XBO to dominate next gen, but to anyone else outside USA with a knowledge of how PS3 was selling elsewhere it surprised nobody. PS4 was going to sell more worldwide even if XBO PR disaster never happened in its launch. That only secured that PS4 was going to sell even better than XBO.

To put things into perspective right, a Playstation home console has been the best selling console of the year since 1996 until 2017 except in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (Wii was the best selling console those years). that's 18 from 22 possible years being Playstation the leading platform of the year.

If something, a person, a team, a company, "wins" 18 of 22 years, how do you not expect to win always next year?? And yes, there is handhelds where Nintendo is the clear winner, but the industry of handheld consoles don't move anything closer the amount of money and softaware sales that home console bring to the table. So to compare success of a home console against a handheld console 1:1 is not completely fair. That's why i prefer to disccuss only home console in this topic, because the original topic was about PS4 against XBO anyway...

Not diminishing anything, here's my original post -

"Xbox played a big part in the PS4's success. Between the ridiculous restrictions, lack of top-tier exclusives, and condescending attitudes of their PR team, they practically handed Sony the win this gen.
Microsoft didn't just shoot themselves in the foot, they cut their own fucking legs off."

The Wii U bombed, Xbox was their only competition and they blew it. It's pretty obvious that the negative press surrounding the XB1 helped catapult Sony back to the top.



colafitte on 26 September 2018
RJTM1991 said:
colafitte said:

How do you definine "neck and neck"??? By sales by year or lifetime??? Are PS4 and Switch sales neck and neck right now or not because one have around 60M sold more than the other??

PS3 always sold each year more than X360, only the very first years can be considered neck and neck, that's why PS3 recovered from a year later start in USA and almost a year and a half in Europe  to finish with even more lifetime sales. To diminish the worldwide success of PS4 saying that it was because of XB1 PR disaster is a fallacy. PS3 was the best selling console in 2013 and PS4 was in 2014. The only reason some people get confused is because X360 finished way stronger in USA compared to its rivals Wii and PS3, so the USA centric media and forums expected XBO to dominate next gen, but to anyone else outside USA with a knowledge of how PS3 was selling elsewhere it surprised nobody. PS4 was going to sell more worldwide even if XBO PR disaster never happened in its launch. That only secured that PS4 was going to sell even better than XBO.

To put things into perspective right, a Playstation home console has been the best selling console of the year since 1996 until 2017 except in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (Wii was the best selling console those years). that's 18 from 22 possible years being Playstation the leading platform of the year.

If something, a person, a team, a company, "wins" 18 of 22 years, how do you not expect to win always next year?? And yes, there is handhelds where Nintendo is the clear winner, but the industry of handheld consoles don't move anything closer the amount of money and softaware sales that home console bring to the table. So to compare success of a home console against a handheld console 1:1 is not completely fair. That's why i prefer to disccuss only home console in this topic, because the original topic was about PS4 against XBO anyway...

Not diminishing anything, here's my original post -

"Xbox played a big part in the PS4's success. Between the ridiculous restrictions, lack of top-tier exclusives, and condescending attitudes of their PR team, they practically handed Sony the win this gen.
Microsoft didn't just shoot themselves in the foot, they cut their own fucking legs off."

The Wii U bombed, Xbox was their only competition and they blew it. It's pretty obvious that the negative press surrounding the XB1 helped catapult Sony back to the top.

OK, fair enough, but i was really reacting after this quote:

It wasn't until the XB1 PR disaster that Sony took a clear, worldwide lead.

Sony didn't "took" anything after that XB1 PR disaster because they already had it. That's what i was trying to say. X360 sold around 20M more units than PS3 in USA and even with that huge advantage, PS3 still sold equal or more worldwide in less time. PS3 launched even later in Europe (its biggest market) in March 2007 compared to X360 December 2005 launch. 

For me, Sony already had a clear lead worldwide as a whole (even counting US sales), but if your "clear" means selling 2x or even 3x more, then i guess you're right.

But if you asked me back then in 2013, I expected already, even before the annoucements of both consoles that PS4 was going to sell more than XBO and the next Nintendo home console (I always thought that Wii was something that Nintendo would never replicate again, I almost ended being wrong knowing now how Switch is doing, although it's still not Wii levels of success, and I don't expect PS4 level of success in the end either, but that's another discussion).