Shuhei Yoshida: Sony's not sure why PS4 is selling so well

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Powerful machine at a reasonable price with a decent library of games after a seven year hiatus? Let's not mention how clumsy the competition has been. The stars pretty much aligned for the PS4, it's a system that has almost everything going for it.
 
Hopefully the momentum can maintain until we finally start getting some steadier new releases. It'd be a shame for Sony if this all turned sour before the holidays (I doubt it, but still).
 
Canis lupus said:
I don't think so, Sony said about half of the PS4 install base didn't have a PS3, they're also getting customers who didn't even own a last gen console.

The current PS4 hype is that of Wii/iPhone proportions, people just want something that is popular, the PS4 announcement trailer had 30 million views, more than any super bowl ad during that month.
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ummmm no not really close either.
 
TheXbox said:
Powerful machine at a reasonable price with a decent library of games after a seven year hiatus? Let's not mention how clumsy the competition has been. The stars pretty much aligned for the PS4, it's a system that has almost everything going for it.
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Except Japanese games.
 
NexusGamer said:
A bit of a "playing dumb" comment
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I don't think so. I think he's genuine.

And for the record, I kind of agree with him.

I'm sure it's partially due to console gamers consolidating around a powerful lead console in the wake of Nintendo/MS fuck-ups and also partially due to some pent-up demand after a long console gen, but the library still isn't particularly compelling.
 
Is Shu on truth serum in this interview?

The honesty almost seems farther than PR would generally allow. It's nice to see I suppose but kind of hilarious
 
Props for being honest about it.

Lots of people thought the dedicated game hardware might not be needed going forward
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I don't know that Shu thought this, but it sounds like many at Sony Japan felt like they could apply the Death of Console in Japan to other territories, which is just not the case.

I think there's a few possible reasons:
1) We're finally starting to come out of the Great Recession and people have a bit more spending money, combined with reasonable price and a shiny new console launch after a long last-gen
2) 360 owners who switched because MS really f'd up the Xbone launch
3) Sony really brought a compelling case for the PS4 (not all of which has been realized yet), including more indies, remote play, streaming of old games
4) Banderas
 
Still huge demand for console gaming. Even though the hardware is weak, it's still noticeable better the your competitor. Add in reasonable pricing, it wins by default.
 
Chalk it up to a few key factors:

Last gen was really long. A lot of people were ready for more powerful hardware. PS4 is the most powerful of the options out there, so it will have more appeal in that regard.

MS really sent a message that serious gamers didn't want to hear. They're still recovering from that. A lot of angry potential customers went with PS4 as result.

As for new customers, I think jumping in with PS4 sounded really fun the same way it did with Wii some years back. It was in short supply, it was the hot ticket, so people wanted it.

Really this whole thing has been the perfect storm for PS4. They're lucky because it surely didn't have the software to warrant this kind of success. But now it DOES, so its only going to keep riding on top, IMO.
 
Canis lupus said:
I don't think so, Sony said about half of the PS4 install base didn't have a PS3, they're also getting customers who didn't even own a last gen console.

The current PS4 hype is that of Wii/iPhone proportions, people just want something that is popular, the PS4 announcement trailer had 30 million views, more than any super bowl ad during that month.
Click to expand...

I don't think this is accurate.
 
Video games follow a market. The more expansive games get the more we look at consoles. I think the PC area has the same thing, but they aren't consoles. They do some things better and some things way differently. We're looking at these consoles to push out the next set of games and moments to remember.

I think a lot of people last gen also got burned out after a while. They switched to PC and they can't stand consoles. The PS4 is basically saying screw that, let's move forward. I think it's a really good thing.
 
1. The last generation was too long and core gamers were starved for a new system.

2. The only real competition offers less power for the same price.
 
A big factor is that they hit the right notes from the start. Focusing on core gamers, a sweet point for price, and they have the best hardware (which goes back to the first point). But what's possibly the biggest factor is how tired people were of last gen consoles. And we're seeing evidence of that by just how fast they've fallen off since the new consoles launched. It seems like people couldn't wait to get rid of them for something better.
 
IMO it's because MS fucked up and drove away a lot of their existing 360 customers into the competitor's side and now that both sides have a subscription, they are less than wanting to switch sides once they get a system and that puts PS4 on a huge momentum.
 
Well Shu isn't a marketing person so it makes sense he might not know, good to see an honest answer.

I think it's just that rhw PS4 has great games, and it's dominating everywhere. It's the "it" console of this generation and MS and Nintendo's weak offerings have no doubt helped tremendously.

MS can't seem to stop screwing themselves over, PR wise.
 
KernelPanic said:
I'm curious.

Did Nintendo why the Wii was selling so well back in the day?
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I don't think they completely understood it, which is why they lost them within 3-4 years and couldn't recapture them with the Wii U.

... which is why Sony might be concerned about understanding their new base now too.
 
Not that hard to understand.

Great hardware at a great price from a brand that already has great brand recognition. It's a no brainer for a consumer. Throw in the other things like Micorosoft goofing and you're set.

In the end, Sony needs to not try to figure out why it happened but focus on sustaining it by backing up people's purchase.
 
Did you read the whole interview, specifically the questions he was asked ?

It was pretty obvious ( and discussed in the last threads about this interview) that he was being flippant with Eurogamer.
 
They're confused because a big part of it was Microsoft totally crapping the bed. All the good will and fanbase they had built up were furious and the only place to turn to was Sony. Had Microsoft put out a competitive console that was lean, powerful, and an evolution of the 360, this would be a much closer race.
 
Sony's product was 80% of the price of the closest competitor, it's the most powerful console available, and Nintendo have done their very best to shoot themselves in the foot this gen. What's not to understand?
 
Partly them not treating the customer like crap and insulting their intelligence (relative to MS).

Partly them having a cheaper console (relative to MS)

Partly them having a more powerful console (relative to MS and Nintendo)

Partly them having a unified online infrastructure (relative to Nintendo) that has a pretty decent perceived value (relative to MS)

Sony did a lot of things right, but they sure got lucky this gen because Sony and Nintendo did a lot of things wrong wrong wrong. That just blows things up even more.

Shu's just being coy. He should know.
 
I'm not so sure why either. It's certainly not the games. The Wii U had a better launch line-up.

I guess it could be that they made such a big deal about the No-DRM thing and the good press created a lot of hype, and the media was all on their side.
 
A great console coupled with Microsofts complete and utter fuck up with the xbone.

They played everything right with the ps4... I only have an xbone btw
 
-Pyromaniac- said:
Not that hard to understand.

Great hardware at a great price from a brand that already has great brand recognition. It's a no brainer for a consumer. Throw in the other things like Micorosoft goofing and you're set.

In the end, Sony needs to not try to figure out why it happened but focus on sustaining it by backing up people's purchase.
Click to expand...

Understanding how it happened and who comprises your audience is important to figure out how to sustain, though. That's what he's talking about - it's not mutually exclusive.
 
Here you go, Sony.

1) Hunger for a new gen after the longest ever.
2) Timely saviour image after not being the 'bad guy', in this case Microsoft.
 
Customers asked for 'X' ... Sony gave them 'X.'

Pretty easy. Also I wouldn't really worry on future sales if I was Sony. Again, these days people go where the people are and the majority of gamers go and that's Sony over MS and Nintendo this time.

Microsoft didn't even market to gamers originally... which is insane for a games console.
 
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