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[IbizaPocholo]

2013 was a major year for video game news. The seventh generation of consoles were starting to show their age and it was time for Sony to reveal and launch their next home console, The PlayStation 4. This is the story of how Sony secured PlayStation 4 as a generational leader with the help of smart marketing and a gaming-first ethos from its early rumors in late 2012 to its release in the fall of 2013.

• 2013 was a crucial year for video games as the seventh generation consoles were becoming outdated.
  [*] Sony announced the next generation of PlayStation hardware, the PlayStation 4, which needed to be successful after previous product failures.
  [*] Rumors started surfacing about the next PlayStation console via LinkedIn job postings and codenamed "Orbis."
  [*] Speculations arose about the console's potential features, including its inability to play PlayStation 3 games and the restriction on playing used games.
  [*] The official announcement of the PlayStation 4 was made on February 20th, 2013, with an x86 GPU, 8 GB of system RAM, and social functionality, among others.
  [*] The PlayStation 4 would feature an enhanced DualShock 4 controller with a touchpad, a light bar, and a share button.
  [*] The announcement of the PlayStation 4 generated hype and anticipation, especially when Xbox started to face problems
  
  [*] The launch of the PlayStation 4 was a major success and the console became one of the best-selling consoles of all time.
  [*] The success of the PlayStation 4 was attributed to smart marketing and an effective video game press conference by Sony.
  [*] The launch of the PlayStation 4 was exciting for gamers and IGN employees.
  

 

[feynoob]

Provide games and provide gamers what they want. Something which the rival company couldn't do it.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

A big part of Sony's success with the PS4 was how much Microsoft screwed themselves up with the TV TV SPORTS TV launch party, +25% cost over the PS4, always-online requirement, no game lending and Don Mattrick telling people to buy the X360 instead of the XBox One if they didn't want an always-online console,.

Microsoft's screw-ups during the XBone's launch in 2013 were nothing short of epic. The XBox executives' cognitive dissonance over what gamers wanted was enormous.

 

[Unknown?]

A big part of Sony's success with the PS4 was how much Microsoft screwed themselves up with the TV TV SPORTS TV launch party, +25% cost over the PS4, always-online requirement, no game lending and Don Mattrick telling people to buy the X360 instead of the XBox One if they didn't want an always-online console,.

Microsoft's screw-ups during the XBone's launch in 2013 were nothing short of epic. The XBox executives' cognitive dissonance over what gamers wanted was enormous.

They also had no momentum going into Xbox One. Kinect alienated the hardcore crowd they built from 2005-2009. While PS3 was getting banger after banger in those empty 360 years of 2010-2013.

 

[Killer8]

The start of this video makes it sound as if this was Sony's Final Fantasy moment ie. that PS4 was a do or die situation. "Previous product failures" is really over-selling the state of Sony in 2013. PS1 and 2 were a massive success. PSP was a big success. PS3 was a success once it found its footing with the Slim (it sold more than the X360 by the generation's end).

Their only real hardware misstep was the Vita. However, it's apparent that they just decided to support the PS4 instead of making a comeback story out of Vita due to the state of the portable market in the early 2010s. People forget that the 3DS also had a dire first year, requiring massive price cuts from $250 to $170 and an XL redesign to ignite interest.

 

[[Sigma]]

Kaz
House
Layden
Yoshida

 

[onQ123]

Don't read into it too much

https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstec...much-into-the-ps4s-million-day-one-sales/amp/

 

[ToTTenTranz]

They also had no momentum going into Xbox One. Kinect alienated the hardcore crowd they built from 2005-2009. While PS3 was getting banger after banger in those empty 360 years of 2010-2013.

All the more reason not to try to enforce stuff your audience hates, such as not letting people borrow games from each other or not letting people use their console if it's not connected to the internet.
Even today, 10 years later, these would have been a terrible idea. I still get into situations where I take my console to a rented house or hotel room with no WiFi signal and just play my games offline for 2 or 3 days.

 

[Banjo64]

I don’t think there’s ever been a more perfect storm in any previous system war.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

PS3 was a success once it found its footing with the Slim (it sold more than the X360 by the generation's end).

They litterally emptied the warchest built up in the PS2 era to do it. Selling more than Xbox360 didn't change the fact that it required that they spent ALL the money the PlayStation division had. If PS4 didn't sell they would have ran out of money.

 

[DonJimbo]

I never forget the day I got my PS4
The Triple Pack with Infamous Second Son Killzone Shadowfall and my beloved Knack
What a day it was
Bought it from GameStop when it was still relevant

 

[drganon]

I don’t think there’s ever been a more perfect storm in any previous system war.

The ps1 had a lot of things working in its favor as well.

 

[Dane]

A big part of Sony's success with the PS4 was how much Microsoft screwed themselves up with the TV TV SPORTS TV launch party, +25% cost over the PS4, always-online requirement, no game lending and Don Mattrick telling people to buy the X360 instead of the XBox One if they didn't want an always-online console,.

Microsoft's screw-ups during the XBone's launch in 2013 were nothing short of epic. The XBox executives' cognitive dissonance over what gamers wanted was enormous.

Basically a lot of the generations are mostly based on how the others will screw up before launch.

Last gen: Xbox One pricing, Kinect, weaker hardware, Don Mattrick, and Nintendo WiiU

HD gen: PS3 starting at 500 USD, telling people to get two jobs.

128-bit: Sega bankrupt, Nintendo losing software support, Xbox is a newcomer.

32-bit: Saturn at 400 USD and hardcore to code, Nintendo 64 uses cartridges that are 30 to 50% more expensive to customer.

 

[nush]

This is a bit of "History is written by the winners" story.

PS4 only got ahead because their two competitors fumbled the ball hard. Sony Stayed in their lane and made a competent console with a good extra power boost. They also didn't fuck up with their valued IP.

 

[onQ123]

A big part of Sony's success with the PS4 was how much Microsoft screwed themselves up with the TV TV SPORTS TV launch party, +25% cost over the PS4, always-online requirement, no game lending and Don Mattrick telling people to buy the X360 instead of the XBox One if they didn't want an always-online console,.

Microsoft's screw-ups during the XBone's launch in 2013 were nothing short of epic. The XBox executives' cognitive dissonance over what gamers wanted was enormous.

No it wasn't PlayStation has been successful every time even when they messed up & Xbox 360 had a year headstart & the PS3 was $599 against Xbox 360 & Wii they still sold 87 million

 

[kyussman]

The Xbone launch was a massive own goal of epic proportions.......I still remember watching that reveal wondering what the fuck the Xbone even was,did it even play games.....I wasn't sure for a while,lol.Regardless,Sony provided a slew of fantastic exclusives last gen.

 

[solidus12]

PS4 was an amazing console. The only problems it had were its jet engine noise and lack of backwards compatibility.

Got a 7200 Pro when it released, and it was silent most of the time.

 

[Umbasaborne]

The good days, when video games were exciting, and playstation actually tried.

 

[mejin]

I doubt Ryan McCaffrey was impressed.

 

[diffusionx]

I was surprised with how quickly and easily normie Xbox owners (not Colt Eastwood types) jumped ship to PS4. I thought that the cheevos, friend lists, infrastructure, etc. would have given more lock-in (surely that was the intention of all that), but people were like, "nope dont give a shit, this is trash".

 

[Desprado123]

Sony industry employees and specifically their PS employees are passionate gamer, that is why they know what people like ,however, MS is like just doing business and just passing days with no vision, clarity or any goal.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

The funny thing is that XBox One had better exclusives than PS4 in the first few years of the launch, but mattrick had to screw it up with all that forced online, kinect, tv, tv crap.

 

[Doom85]

Could have summed up the whole thing with this:

 

[Tomi]

What is happening with xbox this gen?

Total wrong approach this generation

 

[shaddam]

The tvtvtvsports E3 edit and the official how to lend ps4 games video sealed the gen

 

[Magic Carpet]

Hey Ibizapochoco. If you post one more IGN article I'm blocking you.

 

[Shubh_C63]

A better short summary :

 

[SportsFan581]

I don't really think the PS4 launched in that great of shape tbh. MS just launched poorly.

I'd say MS had the better software lineup over the first couple years, they just had a weaker console and the TV, TV, TV baggage.

 

[skit_data]

I wonder how it would’ve turned out if the RAM wasn’t bumped up pretty close to the specs reveal.
Outside of the DRM, ”big brother is watching you”-vibes and bad PR Xbox had a pretty strong launch line up, everything else was off.

Price, specs and messaging, all in favor of PS4.

 

[KungFucius]

A big part of Sony's success with the PS4 was how much Microsoft screwed themselves up with the TV TV SPORTS TV launch party, +25% cost over the PS4, always-online requirement, no game lending and Don Mattrick telling people to buy the X360 instead of the XBox One if they didn't want an always-online console,.

Microsoft's screw-ups during the XBone's launch in 2013 were nothing short of epic. The XBox executives' cognitive dissonance over what gamers wanted was enormous.

I still view this as gamers, including me, lacking foresight. MS tried to create a system that was essentially all digital with the option to buy physical and also the ability to resell digital games. They did not disclose the details, and people only focused on not being able to sell used games in an open market. If the system was well thought out and allowed gamers to sell used digital games it could have been pretty cool. Again we never got the details so it could have been ass too.

I would love to be able to transfer my license from a disk to the system and back to the disk on PS5. I buy disks just in case I hate the game and want to sell fast to recoup ~ 75% but I am not a fan of waiting for it to ship to me, installing it from the disk and having to put the disk in to play. The Xbone had an answer to this problem. I didn't want to hear it either back then, but 10 years later I am curious if this could have been better for gamers. Whatever, they walked it back and still failed. This is probably why they tried Gamepass, and Gamepass is better than reselling games you are done with.

 

[user friendly]

They litterally emptied the warchest built up in the PS2 era to do it. Selling more than Xbox360 didn't change the fact that it required that they spent ALL the money the PlayStation division had. If PS4 didn't sell they would have ran out of money.

You could argue it's the reason why they are in the position they are in today. I hope the same happens with MS as we need a good back and forth, competitive generation.

 

[Crispy Gamer]

A large part of Sony's success is due to their own efforts and building up its first party during the PS3 generation they were also forced to divert funds in house because of their unusually weak 3rd party position. The only thing that Microsoft "screwed up" was the messaging/policies but as far as software they had an excellent launch.

 

[mrmustard]

Bad PR (for the forum dwellers) and 399 vs 499 (for the masses) broke Xbox's neck.

 

[Sub_Level]

PS4 is such an incredibly boring console that was missing features from PS3, was underpowered, and had zero backwards compatibility. And yet it was still easily the best choice cuz Xbox One and Wii U were jokes of a competition.

 

[Vlodril]

I still view this as gamers, including me, lacking foresight. MS tried to create a system that was essentially all digital with the option to buy physical and also the ability to resell digital games. They did not disclose the details, and people only focused on not being able to sell used games in an open market. If the system was well thought out and allowed gamers to sell used digital games it could have been pretty cool. Again we never got the details so it could have been ass too.

I would love to be able to transfer my license from a disk to the system and back to the disk on PS5. I buy disks just in case I hate the game and want to sell fast to recoup ~ 75% but I am not a fan of waiting for it to ship to me, installing it from the disk and having to put the disk in to play. The Xbone had an answer to this problem. I didn't want to hear it either back then, but 10 years later I am curious if this could have been better for gamers. Whatever, they walked it back and still failed. This is probably why they tried Gamepass, and Gamepass is better than reselling games you are done with.

The ability to resell games was always bullshit which is why they didn't have an answered when pressed on the subject.

 

[TGO]

Doesn't seem that long ago, I can even quickly find the photo I took when it arrived on my phone

Shit I forgot I had that TV stand back then

 

[EverydayBeast]

PS4 had the resources, you could play blue rays, it didn’t have a web browser, there’s a lot of great exclusives, Sony recruited VR specialists that flat out changed the future of gaming. It’s a hall of fame console, the game chat, the cool controller, integrating social media sharing, it was a different console and good for Sony they deserve the award.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

[*] The success of the PlayStation 4 was attributed to smart marketing and an effective video game press conference by Sony.

WTF kind of revisionist history is this?

The PS4 was a major success because they built atop the success of its previous hardware platform, the PS3, by delivering high-quality AAA first-party games.

No console ever succeeded purely on the basis of marketing and press conferences. 70-85% of the mainstream gaming audiences who buy and play these things don't give a shit about console hardware marketing nor do they even care at all about the press conferences. They care about games and the games drive the platform hardware sales.