Oh, just coming in to thank MrSardonic, JoshJ and Panther (where ever he might be) for the charts. Man, it really emphasizes how bad off the PS3 is in Japan and how well the DS is doing. I remember some of the charts showing a 3 contenders on a LTD pattern and the plots were generally similar. Not the DS. That bad boy is truly gonna shatter records. What's scary is that it'll be given the opportunity because the PSP is still somewhat of a hardware success. Imagine if Sony announced the PSP2 within a year? Talk about bomba and giving up. I think their arrogance, the need to make any money and the embarrassment would prevent sony from announcing the PSP successor anytime soon. What does that mean? Probably at least another 2 years of DS domination.
So, if the DS stays on track and does, max, 8 million in Japan. What does it do over the next 2 years. 14 million. More? That'll put it around 35 million in Japan alone. With the GBA finally taking a back seat in NA, does that put the NA around that same area? Europe? Possibly 100 million WW in 4 years with a great outlook as a $99 or $79 impulse purchase. Then Sony, I would guess, has to launch the PSP2 against an aging but massively successful DS as an impulse purchase and the DS successor?
I'm tired of talking about the DS current situation. It's a lock. The handheld arena looks to be very price conscious (NA still buys the GBA in droves) and Nintendo knows that. Innovation and games that take advantage of portability will lead you to success. Sony has to give up the all in one handheld if they ever intend to gain dominance in the handheld arena in terms of games. They can sell all the hardware they want but 3rd parties would be more wary next time around unless they can prove they can move software. And next time around, they won't have the luxury of being the dominant console maker with a similar handheld device that lends itself to easy porting. Lots of brain dropping there but just thinking about Sony's prognosis in the handheld arena. Surely, they are devising the PSP2 now. So, with all the evidence of the last year, I'm wondering if they are thinking of changing philosophies.
Right now, the evidence is that the PSP is a hardware success and software disaster, in terms of sales. The message is all wrong and past history has shown us that these gaming companies take awhile to repair their message. Nintendo took 2 hardware cycles, 10 years, to come up with a more successful plan. Sega, is still in disarray. Believe me, I'm not calling the next handheld generation by any means but Sony is in an interesting position right now.
We saw Nintendo stumble for quite some time and really still make a few mistakes (online, graphics are areas they could improve on). So, if they hadn't come up with simpler games, we might still be talking about how it took Nintendo 3 generations to fix some of their issues. I would be interested in hearing your opinions.
nli10 said:
Must just add the only thing funnier than all the 'Wii will fail' crow eating will be the resurection of these threads when the PS3 is the best selling home console in 18 months time (Xmas 2008) to see who must consume the crow this time.
I've always seen the Wii & DS as massive short term (3 year) lifespan consoles - and as they are always proffit making and have the best games for me at the moment that is fantastic.
PS3 I see as a 5 year proposition, Sony are making more than enough money off the PS2 and are just brand positioning the PS3 for the long haul. They need to be seen as the pioneers of the cutting edge stuff otherwise Sony Inc. will look underpowered. They want you to buy the Sony TV and Sony Memory and the whole PS3 lifestyle not just the big black box. I'm not surprised that Sony have no real big releases for a while, the hardcore Sony fans will buy it anyway and promote it anyway and the games can benefit from the extra 6 months in development.
Well, not your opinion. Please enlighten us how Sony can flounder for 14 months and magically turn it around. Taking into account that they are not selling the PS3 at a profit but a $200 loss and even if they drop it to $400, MS is showing that a $400 console isn't breaking any sales records but is on track for 30-40 million consoles or 50 million consoles within 5 years. Yeah, it's an improvement but they are still eating a lot of cost. Has MS been profitable with the games division yet? And where can Sony come up with a $400 reduction in manufacturing cost?
Edit: That was a weird decision. All consoles before this gen have cost less than 400 and more specifically, 300. Cost reductions have only allowed them to get that down to sub 100. 200 dollar difference. For the PS3, they have to drop costs by a whopping 700 bucks to get to $99. Or $600 to get to $199. Wow, it just had to make sense if Sony was on drugs. They had to have been high.
