Why Sony should leave the video game hardware business
Creatively bankrupt
With the constant stealing of ideas from both Microsoft and Nintendo it has become increasingly apparent that Sony has become creatively bankrupt this generation. It’s no wonder that Phil Harrison left Sony when he did as it must have seemed incredibly frustrating for him to witness his bosses in Japan blunder and lose everything because of a lack of vision. Think about this, Sony is the only console maker this generation that hasn’t had any of their ideas stolen. Not one single idea they’ve had in the last three years has proven to be worthy enough for the competition to even want to steal.
Rest of the company is going to hell in a handbasket
With their computer and television market shares under intense siege you would think Sony would bunker down and focus their efforts on their mass market offerings and attempt to stop the upstarts before it’s too late. Not Sony, they’ve decided instead to focus on what will obviously be the niche 3D market that won’t see any type of real market share for years to come. Why focus on the 90+% of the market when you can focus on the niche ones?
Then there’s a “What the hell are they thinking?” moments like allowing Sam Raimi and Toby Maguire to walk away from Spider-Man 4. Seriously was there ever a more sure thing than Spider-Man 4 with those two? Instead Sony wants to risk a reboot on their most lucrative franchise. Hello? At a time when Sony is losing money and hoping to start making some in a few years you don’t go messing with the few things in the company that are actually working.
Increased game development costs
It’s nearly impossible to miss the stories of lay offs in the video game industry these days. Just 18 minutes before I started typing this for example there was a story posted at Joystiq about Rebellion closing a studio. With things as bad as they are the industry needs to look at ways of cutting costs. One obvious way would be to streamline development costs across platforms. With Microsoft owning Windows they obviously are leveraging it to make Xbox 360 and Windows development as seamless and attractive as possible. Sony on the other hand is marching to a different drummer and adding unnecessary costs to third-parties. Imagine how much cheaper and easier it would be for third-parties if the PS3 with its cell processor and blu-ray drive didn’t exist. Instead of multiple teams they could have just one with only a small part of it having to worry about the few differences between 360 and Windows development.
Increased competition on the same platform
Imagine the added incentive for development studios to up their game when they’re competing on the same platform. Games like Forza and Gran Turismo appearing on the same platform would directly impact each others sales leading to even more intense competition between them. Games like Killzone 2 instead of being disconnected from the main FPS fanbase would instead be a part of it and have more of an impact and a lasting impression in the competition between FPS games. It would also give the chance for Sony’s games to be appreciated by a wider audience.
Leave while the Playstation name still means something
With even more losses expected for Sony there’s a real chance it could spell disaster for the Playstation 3 and any possible successor. The Dreamcast failed partly because Sega simply didn’t have the money needed to continue competing and Sony may find itself in the same boat next generation. Instead of risking another console launch when they have a history of losing money on hardware maybe it’s time to leave it to others that have proven themselves to be capable of actually making a profit off hardware. It would also save their third-parties from suffering if they do launch another console and things go bad for it.
-The End
