How is selling 105+ million consoles doing something wrong?

At launch:

PlayStation - $299
PlayStation 2 - $299
PlayStation 3 - $499/$599

At launch PS3 was $200/$300 more expensive than it' s predecessors and $100 more expensive than the already year old 360. Hell, PS2 didn' t really take off until the price was cut to $199.

PS2 was initally difficult to code for, but Sony put together improved dev-kits and toolsets and everybody adjusted. Middleware like Criterion' s Renderware (which was the UE3.0 of the previous generation) gave many 3rd party developers an easier time with the machine and after a couple of years the development problems had been forgotten.

PS3 has been called hard to code for and many (mosly 3rd party) games have suffered as a result. But we' re a year down the line and companies like Epic and Infinity Ward are proving that 3rd party' s can actually get great results from the hardware. Now that Epic have their multi-threaded renderer working on the console, UE3.0 licensee' s will benefit, meaning future Unreal Engine based games should be comparable to the 360 versions. It' s also worth noting that Ratchet & Clank and Drakes Fortune are both technically superior to 99% of what' s been released on 360.

In both cases there was an adjustment period, which is to be expected from a new generation of hardware.

PS2 launched with several much hyped games that turned out to be duds (The Bouncer anyone?) and the half decent games paled in comparision to 2nd generation Dreamcast games like Shenmue and Jet Set Radio. It wasn' t until late 2001 when Metal Gear Solid 2 and GTA 3 both launched that PS2 really came into it' s own.

Similarly, PS3' s first year has been plagued by inferior ports and superior competition, ...but we' re probably either at or approaching the point where that' s a non-issue. Quality flagship titles are starting to show up and next years PS3 lineup is stronger than 360' s.

As for 3rd party games themselves... PS2 benefitted from both the original Playstation' s success and the fact that Sega were struggling. Dreamcast was a fantastic console and developers loved it, ...but Sega had exhausted themselves financially with Saturn and weren' t deemed all that marketable, especially compared to Sony who had just stomped everybody and their mother in the previous generation.

PS3 will benefit from PS2' s success, but the people who made Sony' s first two consoles so successful aren' t the kind of consumer who pays $499/$599 for a videogames console. They' re the kind of consumer who is now making Wii so successful. Once sony drop the price closer to $199 we' ll see PS3' s monthly sales rise above 360' s.

The only thing Sony have screwed up this gen is their marketing campaign. I mean, it' s not much worse then Microsoft' s but it' s nothing like their previous campaigns. I expect them to get on top of it eventually but they should have had it all sorted for this holiday season.

To say PS3' s launch and first year on shelves has been uncannily reminiscent of PS2' s launch and first year on shelves would be an understatement - underwhelming software and technical teething probems etc... but look at PS2 now, it' s likely to remain the most successful games console for a long time, perhaps forever.

Once PS3 enters a more fecund stage, and there' s no reason to doubt that it will, we' ll forget the constant stream of bad press and watch Sony tear Microsoft a new asshole.

It' s funny how at $100 more expensive and with both fewer and inferior games PS3 has performed just as well, possily even better, than 360 did in it' s first year. I wouldn' t put money on Sony losing to Microsoft this generation. We' ve been here before.

Interesting comments there Nitro.

It' s funny how at $100 more expensive and with both fewer and inferior games PS3 has performed just as well, possily even better, than 360 did in it' s first year. I wouldn' t put money on Sony losing to Microsoft this generation. We' ve been here before.

Once again, I' ve been preaching this for a long time. And just like 2001 had MGS2 and GTA3, 2008 already has MGS4, GTA4 (even when multi-platform, the success of it is going to be huge on both consoles, no matter which one is selling the most at the time) Add GT5, the new hype LBP (which even if it doesn' t generate Halo like millions, it is enough to get tons of people looking its way) is causing and maybe FFXIII (though this is yet to be seen and most likely will fall into 2009) plus all the other titles people are eagerly awaiting. However says PS3 has no good titles coming, then they are just really blinded by dumb fanboyism.

Like Nitro said, apart from their marketing campaign (and a few " I said this" yet do something else entirely) Sony has done considerably well for its first year. And the fact that the PS2 is the best-selling console of all time should tell everyone that says Sony dropped the ball from the PS-One to the PS2 and now PS3 otherwise. And for those who say PS3 is just to hard to develop for, I am sure developers are looking at what Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted have done with the hardware and will more than likely get more into the system. And it looks like Kojima with MGS4 and Square with FFXIII are going to be just the same, if not ten-times better, than what we have already seen from Naughty Dog and Insomniac. And both Konami and Square are third party. Though judging by CoD4 and UT3, and even some of EA' s latest (like FIFA 08 and the coming Burnout) the bad ports and multi-platforms seem to be steadily disappearing. DMC4 seems to be following on this path as well.

If we' re only talking in terms of Sony vs Microsoft, next year is when the outcome will ultimately be decided. For 2006 and 2007, Microsoft ended up with many 3rd party games " exclusive" by default, purely because 360 hit the market a year earlier than the competition. When you take that into account, PS3 isn' t actually doing all that badly.

Also, we' ve only really seen a handful of games from notable Japanese studios. Games like Tekken, Soul Calibur, Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Team ICO' s games etc... were all big players last gen for Sony. They' re the games that defined the console. Now, Capcoms games have gone multiplatform and Soul Calibur will be on 360, but Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo and their ilk won' t.

I think Sony' s lineup for next year is far stronger than Microsoft' s, and as long as their 3rd party games are on par, i can' t see them coming off anywhere near as badly as they have this year.

I think the main thing Sony need to do is move hardware in Japan. 360' s dead in the water so their only competition is Wii and i think that once games like GT5, Metal Gear 4 and Tekken 6 are released we' ll see some serious movement there. It' s a huge market too so even if they performed worse than Microsoft in Europe, Japan could make up for it.

It' ll be interesting to see how everybody does in December. PS3 did 466,000 in the US in November which isn' t brilliant, but isn' t damning either. Sony will probably do a mil worldwide for the month which given the circumstances is pretty respectable. It' ll be higher in December and they' ll probably have a good January too, so March - May (Spring) will be really important and Sony will be pushing to get games out.

Microsoft have done a lot of things right, but their exclusive software isn' t really pushing hardware sales like it should be. BioShock, Halo 3 and Mass Effect were arguably their biggest releases of the year and yet Wii has still trounced them lending credence to the increasingly commonly held belief that the ' Halo' consumer already owned the console. Microsoft have chiseled their corner of the market and are now going to struggle to expand on it. The industry isn' t fuelled by sci-fi shooters featuring bald space-marines. If it was, 360 would kill everything... ever.

I don' t even see 3rd party game sales on PS3 being an issue. By this time next year the picture will look very different and i fully expect most PS3 versions to be selling comparably to the 360 versions. I think the current install base is hindering software perforance and when that increases, so will the sales figures. Though i do think it will take another price cut for that to happen.

I really look forward to reading your post Nitro. I know your getting into the game industries cant wait to hear your name some where. If you do make a game make a great one.

Oh yeah do you think you could fit me in some where in the story line. It doesn' t hurt to ask. I can see myself playing a black super hero like the Black Superman with BM on my chest. Black Man is what we could call him.

Not with these colors of course but here is an Ideal. I am not that fat but who cares.

I am not that fat but who cares.

That' s what we all say

I think that Black Man character should be somewhere in ALL games. Kind of a universal easter egg. I found Black Man!

No it should be a jew. lol

I think that Black Man character should be somewhere in ALL games. Kind of a universal easter egg. I found Black Man!

Hell yeah I like that ideal . Picture Black Man kicking Dante ass in DMC5 Yeah I can see that.

No it should be a jew. lol

He can be jew in the day and Black Man in the night.

Hell yeah I like that ideal . Picture Black Man kicking Dante ass in DMC5 Yeah I can see that.

Dante sure needs a humbling. And Black Man owning him would be very satisfying

Dante sure needs a humbling. And Black Man owning him would be very satisfying

Yep lets hope Nitro will take our ideals in.

Jew at Day Black Man at Night.

As usual nitro hits the nail on the head . But i would just like to say that ps2 didnt have any real competitors , ps3 has two of them . I don' t think the 360 is going to fade away . As nitro said , 3rd party support for the ps2 was awesome . That was because i dont think they had any other choice . Xbox wasnt a great success and i dont think we need to mention the gamecube at all . I dont think it matters if the sales of multi-platform games are more on the 360 because of the head start that it had , in the end what matters is the sales are more and we are talking about 2-3x more . I feel this generation is going to see a more spread out market share than any of the previous generations . Its all good for us gamers in the end

My (rather amateur) predictions:

PS3 will eventually come into it' s own, though potentially hobbled by lack of blu-ray support. Like it' s predecessor, software exclusivity will be key (second only to price drops). Unlike it' s predecessor, the PS3 could be technologically superior to the 360, but let' s face it, any verdict on that front is completely subjective throughout most of the pundits on the industry. Final: Has the capability to surpass other systems, given a year or two.

Xbox-360 will remain constant, with or without HD-DVD supremacy. It' s cheaper than the PS3 and has a library of exclusives of it' s own, and the buttress of Xbox Live will probably keep it afloat. Final: Will probably falter slightly, but will remain popular.

The Wii, could decrease in popularity significantly within the next year. The challenge will be to create entertaining content consistently without it seeming overdone, to make up for technical shortcomings. Final: Could decrease in popularity significantly. Keep an eye on software (As usual).

Nitro, I tend not to read long posts, But I' d read your book if you wrote one. You usually sum up everything I think in a few paragraphs which is great, I' m way too lazy for that though...

Nitro, I tend not to read long posts, But I' d read your book if you wrote one.

Same Here

*blushes*

So What' s up on my game ideal. Don' t say no and then 5 years later I see a game with your name on it starting Black Man . Thats called breaking the law.

I personally feel that M$ could be playing catchup in 2008. Most people who purchased the 360 were doing it to ' Finish the fight' . Next year I don' t see anything that is exclusive or that big coming to the 360. I fear and it is a big fear that the PS3 will start it' s resurgence. The fear is that if the 360 does have a bad year then M$ may farm out the ' 720' to Tosh and take a back seat.

Although this is an old story, this could be the future.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/10/22/toshiba_xbox_hddvd/

Who knows, but if what Nitro found about Gears 2 for November 08 turns out to be true, then the Xbox has a pretty big game there. Though if PS3 does as well as I am predicting, one big exclusive is not gonna overtake the PS3 armada.

Other than Gears 2 (if it does come out), I only see Ninja Gaiden 2 as the biggest exclusive the 360 has next year. People say Halo Wars, but that is only being carried by the Halo name, just like any Final Fantasy spin-off being carried by the big double F. I am not saying at all that it is gonna be a bad game, and we all know it' ll probably sell tons, but mostly due to the reason I already stated.

As far as Too Human, well, with all of the UE3 fiasco and development problems, it could turn out to be the next Lair. Though that is pretty early to call as well.

Alan Wake , Fable 2 , Banjoo Thriee ?? The supposed Perfect dark and blue dragon sequel ?