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Forums - Sony Discussion - Sony's "PS5 is for hardcore" statement: Was it a misunderstanding of SIE's plans?

TheMisterManGuy on 12 May 2020
DonFerrari said:
TheMisterManGuy said:

How So?

Even in that case, I still kind of think it illustrates how differently both Sony Corp. and Sony Interactive view the PlayStation brand. What Sony Corporation sees as niche, and what SIE sees as niche are probably two different things. For the overall picture, it'd make sense that the executives at Sony Corp. would see the PS5 as a niche product because they view way more potential in growing general purpose markets like phones and TVs. But in the eyes of Sony interactive Entertainment, they probably see the PlayStation 5 in much broader terms, since that company only really does video games, and thus to them, 100+ million units is a wide audience.

When you're trying to sell everything from movies, to smartphones, to music, to sound systems, of course video game consoles will look niche in comparison. 

Even shuhei Yoshida should see Playstation as niche when compared to smartphone gaming market or the whole gaming industry. Nothing wrong on it and niche also shouldn't mean small, just reduced in size compared to a full market. That is why we say companies need to carve for a niche that only they fulfill the market.

That's only in context of the PS Vita, which obviously struggled in a post-smartphone world. I think he and the rest of SIE understand that console gaming is too fundamentally different to be compared with mobile gaming. 



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AJNShelton on 12 May 2020
TheMisterManGuy said:
SKMBlake said:

Nope. It's way more complicated than that.

How So?

SIE with headquarters in the US has been implemented in 2016 (so it's very recent) but also have a japanese office which aims to have similar power over the Playstation brand but from Japan, since a great amount of Sony studios and partners are also in Japan.

This is neither really a Sega of Japan vs Sega of America situation though.

But overall, the company is still very tied with Sony Corp. in Japan and is a great part of it. As many Sony divisions have been restructured (such as the Sony Camera division and Sony Mobile division which became Sony Electronics Corp).


Sony is struggling a lot recently (as many japanese companies in recent years) and it is believed in Japan that if you're company is struggling, you should choose a restructure process.



The_Liquid_Laser on 12 May 2020

My take: Executives spend very little time talking with actual gamers.  However they spend a lot of time talking with investors.  Investors live in a world that is very different from the average gamer.  They are looking for the next big thing in gaming, and the common wisdom among investors right now is that the next big thing in gaming is either mobile/microtransactions or subscriptions.  Investors have this idea that there is far more money here than in traditional console gaming.  (I think they're wrong, but whatever.)

So, if you are a Sony executive, then you are going to hear very frequently questions about mobile or subscriptions.  And so an executive might think, "No we aren't doing any of that.  That isn't how we make our money."  And the way he said it is "PS5 is for hardcore gamers."  He's really just saying that PS5 is for the exact same type of customer that playstation has always been for.

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 12 May 2020

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DonFerrari on 12 May 2020
TheMisterManGuy said:
DonFerrari said:

Even shuhei Yoshida should see Playstation as niche when compared to smartphone gaming market or the whole gaming industry. Nothing wrong on it and niche also shouldn't mean small, just reduced in size compared to a full market. That is why we say companies need to carve for a niche that only they fulfill the market.

That's only in context of the PS Vita, which obviously struggled in a post-smartphone world. I think he and the rest of SIE understand that console gaming is too fundamentally different to be compared with mobile gaming. 

It is "same market" smartphones are "replacement products" type of competitor to consoles. But you get the idea.



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