We all know who is winning the console war, but who is putting more effort into their gaming division? We break down the basics in each company’s work efforts, and showed what each company has to deal with in the gaming industry.
Advertising: Everyone knows that Microsoft is doing an excellent job with their advertising campaign. You see their advertisements all over national television, stores, and even in some cases on Mountain Dew (Halo 3). Nintendo does not advertise to quite the extent of Microsoft, but that there really is no need for it. The Wii already has ridiculous sales and there is no need for Nintendo to waste their money on marketing. Everyone already knows what the Wii is about and putting commercials everywhere would be useless. And then comes Sony. We all know that Sony is not on the ball with their marketing but I feel we will begin to see changes this year. We have already seen them advertise to the max with the Winter X-Games and I look for it to continue. Especially with titles like Killzone 2, God of War 3, Gran Turismo 5, Heavy Rain, and much more expected this year.
Microsoft: Microsoft currently only has to deal with one platform, the Xbox 360. With one console, they have to work on games for that console as well as bring out firmware updates. They also need to manage the production of the console and keep up with marketing. Now with Microsoft’s games, without a doubt they have amazing titles but do you think they are working to build developers or build companies? No, they are not. What they do is go to a company and tell them they will pay a certain amount of money to make their game exclusive. All this requires is money and all they are doing is buying games that are either going to be multiplatform now or be on that one console. With all this free time on their hands, what is taking so long to fix the Red Ring of Death and the newly discovered E74 hardware issues?
Nintendo: Nintendo currently has to manage two consoles on the market, the DS and the Wii. Nintendo has to produce both platforms and create games (anyone up for another Mario or Wii ____ title?). Nintendo does not really have to worry about marketing so they save time and money there but they also need to work on the updates for the Wii (which are not even close to the significance of the 360 and PS3 updates). The DS doesn’t even really get updates although they have updated the hardware which led to a sales jump but is not a benefit for people who already purchased one.
Sony: Sony currently has to manage three consoles on the market, the PS2, PSP, and the PS3. Sony has to deal with the production of all three platforms and still manage to put out games for them. True, the PS2 and PSP’s game library have not been updated with solid games for awhile now but the PSP has a few big titles coming soon like Resistance: Retribution, Patapon 2, as well as a few others. On the other hand, Sony is obviously working very hard on their game library with recent releases like Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, and much more. And look what PS3 gamers have to look for this year like Killzone 2, God of War 3, Heavy Rain, and many more. Sony does not do the Microsoft thing where they buy the exclusives, what they do is buy and build first party studios who then develop brand new IPs which are exclusive. This requires much more face to face work with companies and a lot of explaining the hardware since Sony went with a futuristic console. Sony is also working hard on PlayStation Network. True, PlayStation Home is not what Sony said it was going to be, but look how quick it has evolved since the release of the open beta, which has only been out for a month and a half. They released the Video Store during E3 08 and look how that has taken off. The PlayStation Video Store had a larger library than 360’s in three weeks and now it has a much larger library. Now they do have a movie studio and I understand that, but this shows how hard Sony is working to improve the PlayStation Network and keep it free. Lastly, they need to spend time on the firmware updates for the PS3 which add some useless programs and features but they also add significant features that enhance your overall experience while using the console. Not only do they release firmware updates for the PS3, but as well as the PSP. If you look at the PSP when it first launched and then looked at it now, you would realize that it has evolved into something amazing that can be used by everyone every day. Features like the web browser and the “Remote Play” feature (which allows you to interact and control your PS3 anywhere there is Wi-Fi) are just two of the significant features added to the PSP during its life cycle.
So who do you think is working harder this generation? Leave a comment with your thoughts. And please remember we are not talking about which company is selling their platforms better, we are talking about which company is doing better for the gamers.
http://www.thegameraccess.com/2009/01/sony-is-working-harder-than-microsoft-and-nintendo/
Fanboyism???
