Okay, who are we defining as core? Because I define it as people who buy 4-5 retail games a year. I think there are about 40 million of those... I could be wrong. I would love some stats on this.
Shuhei Yoshida: Sony's not sure why PS4 is selling so well
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His musing are what every company goes through with their products, you gotta be in the business to understand.
It is literally the same thoughts I experience in our company when we have new introduction and it goes well above expectations (on much, much smaller level) - first you wonder why the heck is everyone buying it like there is no tomorrow then you get worried if everyone already bought it
.It is very typical and something that pretty much every company goes with every successful product.
Disaster Nebraska
Banned
Imru al-Qays;126178475 said:
I'm not disagreeing. But using 160m as a baseline is faulty logic. Even to use it as a guestimate is faulty logic. Last gen we had certain factors contributing to that 160m that aren't going to repeat themselves this time around.
Manmademan
Member
there's also a large number of people who buy consoles used from gamestop or ebay, and aren't tracked in official figures as well. One console "sale" can easily be 2 or more separate owners, not to mention multiple people in the same household.
It's useless to nitpick the 160 million as "not REALLY 160 million separate people" because there are always caveats. It's a good enough estimate.
anexanhume
Member
I wonder if Sony feels it understands why Japan hasn't bought PS4s better than why the rest of the world has bought so many.
Pretty much this. They just played it straight and didn't fuck anything up and offered it at a reasonable price.
Even the touchpad is pretty damn solid.
Well exactly, but in this case we are defining the core as those that will buy a next-gen system. I was responding to the post that stated after 30-40 million "core" gamers buy the console, sales will dry up. Last gen shows that is very unlikely since it doesn't include those that only buy 1-2 games a year (the COD/BF crowd).
Peer pressure.
robertsan21
Member
It's not that hard to understand.
Most powerful hard wear.
Great games coming.
The playstation brand.
Sexy looking design.
Obviously it helped that MS made a weak console and tried to screw over every customer and fan of the xbox.
Most powerful hard wear.
Great games coming.
The playstation brand.
Sexy looking design.
Obviously it helped that MS made a weak console and tried to screw over every customer and fan of the xbox.
Acquiescence
Member
It's obvious Shuhei, there's no need to be coy about it. The truth is, no one can resist the lure of an attractive young lady whipping out her boobies on Ustream in a drunken stupor. It's one of the few universal pleasures left in the world; something we can all revel in. And that's why you're seeing PS4s fly off the shelves.
plus knack
StarlordDial
Member
it was Druckmann i tell ya....he fired Secret Agent Harrison and Fired the Go Signal to Mattrick
this thread though
Okay I see your point.
sono
Gold Member
Ex PC crowd?
Manmademan
Member
Eh, these systems have tie ratios that are pretty easy to look up. i believe the PS3 and 360 are about 8-10 games over the lifetime of the system on average, and this is pretty stable for most systems going back to the PS1 era. Your "core" gamers are the ones that are consistently right on this mark and can be relied on to buy 1 or 2 games a year. Anyone substantially below this (1 or 2 games ever) is your casual audience, anyone significantly OVER that is the hardcore.
4-5 games per YEAR is absurdly high. that's not your core audience, that's the hardcore niche. Extremely few gamers (relatively speaking) collect 30+ games for a single system.
Neuromancer
Member
Haha you almost got me there ya rascal
CrazedProfessional
Member
Must be all those Japanese developed games.
VanCityGamer
Member
Not sure if you're serious? If you're just joking, then I apologize. But I haven't found it to be a game "shit show" at all.
Since I got my PS4 at Christmas, I've played and enjoyed the following: Resogun, AC4, BF4, Outlast, Infamous: SS, Watch Dogs, Wolfenstein, Destiny Alpha + Beta, TLOU: Remastered, and P.T. Plus there's a pile of games I'm interested in this fall. Sure many of those are cross-gen third party games, but it's definitely worth it to have the definitive/upgraded visuals now (and several good exclusives), with a bunch more great exclusive games on the horizon (Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, WiLD, Rime, etc).
Live From PlayStation has also been great entertainment, the DS4 is a fantastic upgrade over the DS3, and the price of the console is very reasonable.
MrCunningham
Member
Shu should just ask Mark Cerny why the console is selling so well. I'm sure Cerny will give him a detailed run down of what he did to make it so successful.
alexandros
Banned
Because its main opponent fumbled and it's been seven years without a new console so the core were clamoring for it. After a while sales should start to drop significantly for both Sony and Microsoft.
I laughed.
Those were the good ole days.
Manmademan
Member
disagree. Sales will only go up for both over the next 2-3 years, as price drops hit the system and "must have" software finally shows up, before slowing down and trailing off in years 4,5,6, etc.
this is pretty much the pattern for all modern systems.
Commanche Raisin Toast
Member
am i the only one reading this interview completely differently? Shu's notoriously bad and phrasing things, so here's my translation:
"In the face of all the doom and gloom (that we at Sony were starting to believe) about the console market, the PS4 is doing much better than we anticipated. We assumed consoles were facing such tough competition that PS4, although on track to do well, wouldn't reach the 10 million mark as fast as it did- even in our forecasted best-case scenario. This is making us go back to reassess our analysis on the market to make sure that this is true growth that will continue upwards."
"In the face of all the doom and gloom (that we at Sony were starting to believe) about the console market, the PS4 is doing much better than we anticipated. We assumed consoles were facing such tough competition that PS4, although on track to do well, wouldn't reach the 10 million mark as fast as it did- even in our forecasted best-case scenario. This is making us go back to reassess our analysis on the market to make sure that this is true growth that will continue upwards."
atomiksuperinsan
Neo Member
social media is one of the main reasons too. nearly all of gamer community is on social media in some way and with power of the internet, you can get all the marketing you ask for. people now have hundreds of followers, friends and they can market your product in most efficient way. (and its free most of the time!) also that works both ways too and you can end up like microsoft.
vagabondarts
Member
My second favorite days in gaming, right behind PSOne era.
Because they built the better product and the mainstream audience caught on.
Social Media is why the PS4 is selling so well.
Not just the reveal. The horrible PR and the lack of vision for the console was obvious. Kinect pack-in was huge mistake and probably lost them millions of year 1 sales.
Neff
Member
They went with 'something different' because it paid off in spades with Wii, and because the last time they tried to compete in the core gamer arena with Gamecube, they failed. But Gamecube's problem was simply PS2's absolute indestructible momentum at that point. There was no top dog or dominant brand going in this gen, and I think that a pedestrian, powerful, premium Nintendo console -encompassing Wii's legacy just like you said- would certainly have worked out better than Wii U. In fact, this gen was probably their best shot since PSone to retake the 3rd party market. But they no doubt realised that such a market is volatile these days to say the least. Given that they're the biggest first party developer in the industry, and that the success of their hardware hinges on their own software, I don't blame them for making a cheaper, less flashy console to keep development costs down.
El-Pistolero
Member
Tell us about those great innovations that MS and Nintendo brought...Please, go ahead!
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
Amongst three options, two were really shitty. All Sony had to do was make a solid product.
Not that you are wrong about ipad growth declining last quarter, but it is important to keep scale in perspective. iPads sell in a quarter what the PS4 will sell in a year. iPads sell more in a year than all consoles combined.
Winter John
Member
It's selling well because MS decided to scream YOLO and leap off a cliff with a loaded shotgun pointed at their nuts. It's nothing to do with the quality of the PS4. If MS had simply come out with the 360 part 2, there is no way the PS4 would have the lead it has now.
This is why MS needs to either slash the price of the X1 until it's a minimum of £50 cheaper than the PS4, or get a revised console out within 2 years. They seem to be doing well on the software side, but nobody in their right mind is going to buy a less powerful console at the same price as the PS4.
This is why MS needs to either slash the price of the X1 until it's a minimum of £50 cheaper than the PS4, or get a revised console out within 2 years. They seem to be doing well on the software side, but nobody in their right mind is going to buy a less powerful console at the same price as the PS4.
Last gen long overdue, the competition made all the mistakes and missteps that they could possibly could make in the preparation and at the start of the cycle, and offering the most powerful console in market at a lower price than its direct competitor. Also, going forward, having a mandatory online subscription will make it more difficult to lose PS4 users to other platforms, so each user won in the beginning of the gen will be a potential customer through the whole gen, that's a continuous stream of revenue from a customer won early on. The effects of this early dominance will progress exponentially through this cycle.
machemachete
Banned
Well, it sold better because PS did very few mistakes with the console, lower price also.
What i dont understand is why is still selling so much when there are so few quality PS exclusives in the console right now (not counting indies, and most of them are on PC or are multi). Xbox One on the other hand have way better catalog while we speak but is not selling so well.
What i dont understand is why is still selling so much when there are so few quality PS exclusives in the console right now (not counting indies, and most of them are on PC or are multi). Xbox One on the other hand have way better catalog while we speak but is not selling so well.
BeforeU
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
So people who bought Wii and Wii U are fool?
El-Pistolero
Member
It is selling well because the design is good, the price is good, the tech is good, the messaging is good and Sony support for games throughout the lifespan of their home consoles has always been good. But, hey, Sony did not do anything...
petethepanda
Member
I'm just saying, if you bust through the drywall in Shu's house you'll find the place is insulated with PS4s.
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