You do know that PlayStation don't have to release anything next year right?
When the GTA6 news hit casuals everywhere was saying " I have to get a PS5"
Technically true but it'd really suck from an enthusiast's POV if they had no big 1P exclusive releases for next year. That could bite them in the ass for new hardware releasing later (such as PS6). It'd give the impression that you're better off not buying into the platform early if there will be dry spells only a few years after launch.
you can easily argue that sonic 2006 fucked up the brand image of the mascot that put them on the map, but even then they bounced back with the movie, social media marketing (before you say it, yes it proves your point) a couple of good games over the years. besides Sega like you said did not royally fuck up any of their other great games. neglect, sure. but good releases that come out from them in their other legacy ips are good.
that being said, as much as hifi was handicapped by the shadow drop it was also very special to have a profilic brand new release just show up especially after all these games with absurdly long dev times taking years after their first showing to come out.
i agree with you otherwise for the most part. infact i already did say that games arent everything. ms has everything that isnt games covered. they could easily market games with their insane supply of money.
it is especially telling when the best game xbox put out in years doesnt chart shit because its on gamepass. it does prove that day 1 gp does hinder gamesales and that is another thing xbox needs to address besides game output
True among Sega's IP Sonic is the one most infamously mismanaged. However, I think that didn't do much to Sega themselves because they still had high-quality games on the market at the time and coming out around that same time. Plus as you said, they recovered from it in good time.
I think something that makes Microsoft hesitant with going big on Xbox marketing, is they are very low in how confident they'd see a return in sales revenue from that advertising. We don't know what the sales revenue or Game Pass growth (if any) from Starfield have been like, but it was their biggest marketing push in a very long time and the game dropped heavily or completely out of most sales charts around the world, very quickly.
Results like that make them very apprehensive towards splurging more heavily on advertising and marketing. It's funny you bring up social media marketing for Sonic though, because if there is one thing messaging-wise Xbox are very strong at, it's social media. I'm not talking the astroturfers (though that is a big component of it, and I obviously don't condone it or the way Microsoft's weaponized it IMO), but more so how they have Phil Spencer literally everywhere doing interviews, or the way their social media accounts galvanize the brand and interact with the fans. I feel Sony have been really weak in this area of marketing & messaging honestly, which is why so many FUD narratives against the brand take root and proliferate online in enthusiast spaces both on forums and more mainstream platforms like Twitter and Youtube.
While a lot of that has no bearing on actual market performance, it can make discourse online a pain in the ass because a lot of false takes propagate and Sony really don't do anything to try getting ahead of or controlling the narrative. Like right now there are still people speculating who Sony are going to acquire but I've checked out of that discussion, because there is zero point speculating on that when Sony themselves are so uptight and quiet about what M&A moves they're going to make outside of super-small purchases.
But it wouldn't hurt them to have more of a presence in online enthusiast spaces, instead of there being word on all these departures, or losing 'exclusivity' on various franchises associated with the platform, or the only outright strong news being sales reports. Not saying they need someone with a cult of personality like Phil Spencer at all. But, a more personable face that can communicate with the community and provide updates on what the teams are working on, do things with the community, bring back PS Experience, stuff like that.
How did Xbox, go from having the US market on lockdown during the 360 era to this.
Horrible upper management.
Luminoth-4545
can correct me but I think US lifetime estimates for Xbox 360 were around 44 million and only 29 million for PS3.
