I'd say the opposite was true.  Sony were so sure the PS3 was going to win they put BR in to try for a double win with both the console and the format.  I doubt they figured PS3 would fail so stick in BR anyway - what would be the point of that?  You wouldn't imagine it would ensure BR victory in the format war, would you?

I believe they figured Nintendo had no chance after the Gamecube and saw MS as a threat to head of by pushing out a high spec console to match their approach - i.e. they'd get the traditional audience plus steal the audience MS was growing with the Xbox/Live.

Instead they got caught both ways - Nintendo came out the traps like gangbusters and the delay to market for PS3 let the 360 grab a vital lead in US/UK market with the shooter/online crowd.

Doesn't mean they won't learn their lesson for a PS4 though - at the end of the day, whatever people say, you don't end up with the sales of PS1/PS2 by accident or because you don't know what you're doing.

In some ways I feel it's MS who still have the most to prove - they've shown steady growth since the first Xbox launched, but never a real surge that indicates they could reach PS1/PS2/Wii heights of HW sales.  Of course, if they can keep the growth pattern strong then while this gen they won't be first they could have a shot the following gen.

How many times do I have to tell you people that Sony didn't learn a thing? They knew they weren't going to be in first because they sacrificed the PS3 for Blu Ray. Sony even said it at the beginning of the gen when they told everyone about the price. Do you think they were innocent in all of this? Fuck...lol.

That's why they won't do it again. Because that was a mistake. Sony didn't expect that they will suffer a massive lost from this and to make matters worse who could've predict about recession . But if they do it again with the PS4? Then they are stupid. LOL.

I never said they knew the PS3 would fail. I stated that they knew it wouldn't be in first because of the price. Sony isn't a stupid company. Wanna know what they didn't expect? They didn't expect Microsoft to be in second and them in third.

The Xbox wasn't a failure..... technology-wise when it was far more superior in power to the PS2. In addition, it came in second place. What made the Xbox suck was the lack of games. It's not Microsoft's fault Sony acquired 90% of third parties on their side during Microsofts first go. Microsoft made them eat it this gen by taking the most popular 3rd party games on their system. If Microsoft can pump out some good first and second party this gen while keeping third party coming in, they will have a very good fanbase for next gen.

Oh it was a BIG failure.

1.Outsold by PS2 by 120 million.

2.Lost 4 billion

And PS3 still gets all big 3rd party franchises just like the 360. COD, PES, GTA, FIFA, Resident Evil...

I'm not sure I'm seeing the difference.  If Sony really thought the PS3 wasn't going to be first then with track record of PS1/PS2 they were essentially expecting it to fail vs the competition, no?

Sure they knew the price was high but at the time their was little reason to believe it still wouldn't be in first place.  360 was doing okay in US/UK but looked pretty weak elsewhere, particularly Japan, while Nintendo was coming of the low sales (by comparison to PS1/PS2) of the Gamecube.  It seems to me from the evidence of the time (their press releases, etc.) that they thought they'd outstrip the Wii pretty quickly and overtake the 360 lead soon enough.  Totally wrong of course.

The PS2 wasn't cheap at launch either, so even historically the evidence was they could launch with a high price, cut production costs then grow on the base of a big ownership base and high SW sales.  I believe they thought the double wammy of an HD console plus BR would make the price paletable, and were counting on HD TV / BR adoption to help the console.  Again, totally wrong.  360 went from strengh to strength in US/UK and then Others and even made a few blips in Japan.

The Wii growth needs no mention.

In short, I think Sony were caught with their pants down by the competition - nasty for them and they paid the price (or have so far anyway).

I just really doubt they thought PS3 would be anywhere but in number 1.