http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6087-Dallas-Sony-Examiner~y2009m4d18-Four-Ps-Sony-needs-for-2009-and-beyond
Companies all around the world generally tell their consumers and employees about their mission statements and what the company stands for. They all have core values they are proud of and practice their business based off of this set group of said values.
The momentum of Sony is beginning on an upward swing, but all they need to do now is begin practicing and telling about these four "P's" I came up with.
1) Price
This year during the game expo circuits, Sony needs to announce some sort of break in the price of their Playstation 3 console. Given the state of consumers' pockets, a $400 price tag is still out of reach for many trying to conserve their money.
Sony should not lower the price of an already available SKU only to then not produce that SKU after the current stock has run out, like they did in 2007 with the 60GB version.
Make the price drop permanent and make it appealing. Just do not shove old games with the model and keep it at its current price.
2) Promise
Whenever Sony announces a product, it usually comes at a time when it is too early to talk about it. The prime example was Playstation Home. Two years after it was first announced, Sony struggled to deliver this to its consumers and when it finally came to the masses, it was still in a Beta form. Many gamers say that Home was a failure when it came out.
Another example was Killzone 2 that was announced in 2005, Sony saying that the game would look exactly like the FMV in all aspects when the game was released. Though the game looked like the demo movie when it came out, Sony placed an unnecessary burden on itself for those many months to deliver the promise of these graphics.
Sony must plan an announcement that best suits the product and not over speak. The window of the announcement should be maintained 6-12 months before the product comes out, not the 2 year ahead of time model that Sony has now for some of its products.
3) Push
Now that Sony has the ball rolling to have a great 2009 line-up of exclusive titles, Sony needs to tell the consumers and gamers what to expect from them this year as well as the next (still staying in its 6-12 month announcement window). This push needs to come in the form of marketing, producing clear and cut commercials for television that explains exactly what the product is, being it a game or the system itself (an article about these commercials can be found here). There have been a couple of recent PSP commercials that show exactly what they are selling and this trend of simple commercial needs to continue in the year ahead.
Push the upcoming titles of Infamous, MAG, Uncharted 2, and when the time comes closer, push God of War III.
4) Produce
With this 2009 line-up comes a handful of exclusive titles that make the Playstation 3 more desirable to gamers. You also have the exclusive PSN titles such as Fat Princess, Wipeout, Pixel Junk, etc. Sony must continue to produce the exclusives and other items that will only appeal to its system. Naturally, by having unique titles and accessories, this makes the system more of a value.
Luring developers with the Pub Fund and other perks for giving Sony the exclusive makes for better products and interest from developers. Keep this up and the production will continue to increase.
The Playstation 3 is a great system and has an interest game library so far and more are coming soon. These suggestions are just some things Sony can utilize to make 2009 an even better year for them.
(Former) Lead Moderator
