Why Did The PS3 Fail?

Ikael said:
I find highly misguided to think that the Wii has killed next gen or hardcore gaming. Microsoft and Sony are the very only ones to blame for shooting their own foot. Multiple SKU madness which only confuses consumers, ABSURD pricepoints, penis size contest mentality when designing hardware without paying any consideration to more importan matters to consumers such as reliablity or price, loosing the focus on what a console was (hint: not a multimedia hub), killing the plug and play advantage that consoles had against the PCs, and so on. None of the things that have killed the next gen had to do with the Wii or the non games.
You're entirely right.

The Wii caught a fumbled ball. If MS and Sony did everything right this generation, instead of the exact opposite, I doubt the Wii would be this successful.

In other words, your Gods betrayed you.
 
Phoenix Down said:
I wonder if the Editor would think the same thing if the PS3 dropped to 399... would we still have these crazy Topics?
Heavenly Sword's sales will shut them all up. Then they'll see, then they'll all see!
 
noleshark said:
Funny, a lot of people looked at it as a desperate attempt by a has been company to garner console sales with a weak gimmick of a console. I seem to remember people calling it an over-clocked game cube with a motion controller.

Whoops.... they were wrong.

Yeah, some of these people appear as if they never tire of being wrong.
 
JoshuaJSlone said:
In terms of worldwide shipments, MS has last said X360 is at 11.6 million as of June 30, about 600 days from launch. About 600 days from Xbox's launch was June 30, 2003, at which point it had shipped 9.4 million. Looking at things that way does slightly advantage X360 since its worldwide release was much closer to simultaneous than Xbox's, but it's a smaller difference than that between PS2 and PS3.

Famitsu has X360 up by about 30K over where Xbox was at the same time, a large improvement in the last year considering it used to be far behind. By US NPD through 21 months X360 is about 300K ahead.

rs7k said:
The 360 is tracking ahead of the Xbox at a $399 price point. The Xbox was $199 very shortly after launch, so it is more successful than the Xbox by a fair margin.
The price difference means nothing now. It is, what it is. The two HD consoles are losing money and are in no shape to drop prices aggressively. Look at the latest round of cheap price drops on the 360. this prevents them from doing anything about dropping the price or overcoming the competition. Sony will always be more expensive or risk billions in loses and MS can't reasonably drop their price, or the core would be less than the Wii.

And, the 360 isn't tracking that well ahead. Shipments are bunk because MS stuffed the channel. The US market is MS' biggest market and they aren't that far ahead. I'm sure 'wait til halo' will be a response but unless you are predicting the 360 to jump to 400K per month, than it'll be a course to mediocrity. At some point, we can't continue to collectively call the first xbox a distant second and the 360 tracking towards that number anything more than mediocre.
 
noleshark said:
So now Gears of War, the standard (until Bioshock) that all 360 and PS3 games for that matter had no effect on 360 sales? You are claiming that it was a synergy of the self induced supply constraints and the holidays that caused the bump in sales?
The point is that 360 did not "need a year to take off", it has been selling at a pretty consistent rate the whole time. The bump above normal levels in March 2006 was due to supply catching up to demand, and the bump above normal levels in the holidays 2006 was due to the holidays. (The bump was not unusally large for a holiday bump.) The various games released for the system is what has kept it on a normal consistent level.
noleshark said:
Will the PS3 make Sony money? Yes.

Will the 360 make MS money? Yes.
Both of those statements are quite dubious. The last 1.25 years of losses has completely wiped out all of SCEI's profits since the release of the PS2, and MS is still a couple of billion dollars in the hole with the 360.
 
Everyone who doesn't like the idea of this book is free to write their own and see how much attention it gets.

I'll suggest a title...

"Wait Until Game-X: How Sony Might Still Win Despite Overwhelming Evidence to the Contrary"

Pretty catchy, huh?
 
Before I went to lunch, I thought this thread couldn't possibly get more retarded.




Sometimes, I love being proved wrong. This is not one of those times.
 
Mariah Carey said:
You never know. Microsoft never made a dime off the Xbox. Hell, they lost BILLIONS on that machine that the 360 still has to make up for.... and so far that machine's lost them billions too.

Hence the reason why the definition of failure to these people might be a little different than what we are bantering about.

The simple matter is that we are just spectators watching this little console generation play out and the Wii dominate.

The definitions of success and failure to companies that openly sell their consoles at a loss (Nintendo excluded) is probably going to be different than what any of us have. Several previous posters hit the nail on the head. MS and Sony made some serious mistakes this gen and basically lost the forest for the trees this gen. I hope they learn their lessons and we get better products in the future.
 
Count Dookkake said:
Yes, I think the editor would be of the same opinion. $200 price drop in less than a year on a system that is costing them money and was supposed to be the undisputed champion after a month? That makes the failure even more profound.

how are we(and the editor) certain the PS3 is still costing them money to make? selling at a loss

and technically the PS3 never had a "price drop" it really depends on who you ask
 
Count Dookkake said:
Everyone who doesn't like the idea of this book is free to write their own and see how much attention it gets.

I'll suggest a title...

"Wait Until Game-X: How Sony Might Still Win Despite Overwhelming Evidence to the Contrary"

Pretty catchy, huh?

You could just copy/paste the post histories from a choice selection of GAFfers and hand it to the editor.
 
Phoenix Down said:
how are we(and the editor) certain the PS3 is still costing them money to make? selling at a loss

and technically the PS3 never had a "price drop" it really depends on who you ask

We have been discussing the PS3 as a failure from a marketshare perspective. The Gamecube turned a profit, was it a success in your opinion?
 
davez82 said:
Nintendo is a cash cow, its where third party dev's put their shovelware to make a quick buck.
Probably true.

Eventually that quick buck is going to turn in to nothing. At a certain point, companies like Capcom and Namco realized the DS market would not just buy any shit they throw at it. Will the third parties come around on the Wii? Maybe. Maybe not.

One wonders if, in the end, it actually matters.
 
Jokeropia said:
The point is that 360 did not "need a year to take off", it has been selling at a pretty consistent rate the whole time. The bump above normal levels in March 2006 was due to supply catching up to demand, and the bump above normal levels in the holidays 2006 was due to the holidays. (The bump was not unusally large for a holiday bump.) The various games released for the system is what has kept it on a normal consistent level.
Both of those statements are quite dubious. The last 1.25 years of losses has completely wiped out all of SCEI's profits since the release of the PS2, and MS is still a couple of billion dollars in the hole with the 360.

The SCEI information is based on what information? I have not seen the quarterly reports from Sony and would like to look at them.
 
Phoenix Down said:
how are we(and the editor) certain the PS3 is still costing them money to make? selling at a loss

and technically the PS3 never had a "price drop" it really depends on who you ask

Dude, don't move the goal posts. You brought up the hypothetical price drop, as in "What if this happened?"

If you don't want it to be part of the analysis, why bring it up?
 
i'll tell you why sony is losing the console war.

games. they need more games NOW not LATER.

nobody buys a console purely based on its potential or its 'raw power'

instant gratigfication is where its at. even if the ps3 was selling at 399 but it lacked the games and 3rd party support, it still wont outsell xbox 360.
 
noleshark said:
And then he goes with the miserable and apocalyptic bullshit.

If that were the case then most companies kill would kill it. Sony will make their money off the PS3. Just may take longer and be somewhat less than they projected.

That's the same definition that made Apollo 13 a success (well, nobody died....Success).
 
Tobor said:
We have been discussing the PS3 as a failure from a marketshare perspective. The Gamecube turned a profit, was it a success in your opinion?

for nintendo profits yes.. for market share no

the PS3 imo isent losing marketshare(yet) its still early to say whos losing what (ps2 userbase being 110 million or so proves that)

IMO the Wii isent a competitor because of the simple fact its not catered to the same market as 360/ps3..

I dont see many people having a Wii as there only console they will most likely own a second one rather it being a 360 or ps3

i also think alot of people in japan want a PS3 but are waiting for more games/pricedrop... 2 consoles can exist in japan.. easily.. obviously not 3
 
noleshark said:
Will the PS3 make Sony money? Yes.

Will the 360 make MS money? Yes.

The Xbox line has done nothing but lose BILLIONS of dollars for Microsoft so far, and the PS3 ain't exactly got Sony rolling in piles of money so far.
 
Count Dookkake said:
Yes, I think the editor would be of the same opinion. $200 price drop in less than a year on a system that is costing them money and was supposed to be the undisputed champion after a month? That makes the failure even more profound.

how is something with a lot of new technology and dropping in price a failure? Look at the numbers on how dramatically blu-ray lasers fell in production price. Blu-Ray is the main reason the price is high, and itll keep dropping as it becomes highly adopted and hd-dvd finally hits the dust (because it needs to, universal, toshiba need to suck it up, microsoft needs to stop paying off both to derail both formats so they can own DD, and paramount is either stupid for going exclusive (minus speilburg) or smart for getting to make a free epic film with nothing but profits to wait out their contract). PS3 is using a lot of standards, bluetooth, usb HID, standard HDs, all those are getting less expensive by the day, and blu-ray dropping dramatically.

A lot of you lolerskated when sony said they could sell 4 million with no games, well with a lot of overly present opinions that all of you have on ps3 games, they just about DID that. Suck it up, the price is dropping, the games are coming. If the price is too high for you wait, itll drop, its the nature of technology.
 
Phoenix Down said:
i also think alot of people in japan want a PS3 but are waiting for more games/pricedrop... 2 consoles can exist in japan.. easily.. obviously not 3
The last time two consoles "existed" at the same time, in the sense of hardware and software life, was the 16bit era, with the Megadrive and SFC.




It's not going to happen. Stop kidding yourself.
 
Phoenix Down said:
for nintendo profits yes.. for market share no

the PS3 imo isent losing marketshare(yet) its still early to say whos losing what (ps2 userbase being 110 million or so proves that)

IMO the Wii isent a competitor because of the simple fact its not catered to the same market as 360/ps3..

I dont see many people having a Wii as there only console they will most likely own a second one rather it being a 360 or ps3

i also think alot of people in japan want a PS3 but are waiting for more games/pricedrop... 2 consoles can exist in japan.. easily.. obviously not 3
My only console is a Wii, because I'm not a selective enough gamer to properly appreciate a 360 or PS3. A lot of people are the same way; it's just that not many of them are GAFers.

B-Ri said:
A lot of you lolerskated when sony said they could sell 4 million with no games, well with a lot of overly present opinions that all of you have on ps3 games, they just about DID that. Suck it up, the price is dropping, the games are coming. If the price is too high for you wait, itll drop, its the nature of technology.
Unfortunately, the quote was "five million," and the PS3 still hasn't hit that.
 
Phoenix Down said:
for nintendo profits yes.. for market share no

the PS3 imo isent losing marketshare(yet) its still early to say whos losing what (ps2 userbase being 110 million or so proves that)

IMO the Wii isent a competitor because of the simple fact its not catered to the same market as 360/ps3..

I dont see many people having a Wii as there only console they will most likely own a second one rather it being a 360 or ps3

i also think alot of people in japan want a PS3 but are waiting for more games/pricedrop... 2 consoles can exist in japan.. easily.. obviously not 3

They are being outsold 7 to 1 in Japan and 4 to 1 in the US and you think they aren't losing marketshare? The mind boggles.
 
noleshark said:
Hence the reason why the definition of failure to these people might be a little different than what we are bantering about.

The simple matter is that we are just spectators watching this little console generation play out and the Wii dominate.

The definitions of success and failure to companies that openly sell their consoles at a loss (Nintendo excluded) is probably going to be different than what any of us have.

In this case, Sony made it pretty clear exactly what their idea of success was: to basically crush the competition immediately.

noleshark said:
Several previous posters hit the nail on the head. MS and Sony made some serious mistakes this gen and basically lost the forest for the trees this gen. I hope they learn their lessons and we get better products in the future.
You do realize, that in the context of the discussion in this thread, you are admitting right here that the 360 and PS3 are failing, or at least have been?
 
B-Ri said:
how is something with a lot of new technology and dropping in price a failure?

Because if it was selling as Sony predicted, they wouldn't need to cut the price. Hence, in this context, price cutting does have the faint whiff of failure.

Remember when people that the Wii was overpriced? It doesn't seem to need a price cut any time soon. Why? Because it is a success.
 
Tobor said:
They are being outsold 7 to 1 in Japan and 4 to 1 in the US and you think they aren't losing marketshare? The mind boggles.

Did you bother reading everything I wrote? What did I say I thought about to Wii?
 
noleshark said:
So now Gears of War, the standard (until Bioshock) that all 360 and PS3 games for that matter had no effect on 360 sales? You are claiming that it was a synergy of the self induced supply constraints and the holidays that caused the bump in sales?
Someone argued that exact point. If you track their sales WW, they had a bump over the holidays but promptly took the same path of sales as the previous year. GOW had no big effect on the overall and long term sales of the 360. It's been argued that the hardcore gamers picking up the 360 buy games at higher rates than typical casual gamers. And here we are, 9 months into the year and the 360 is still selling no more than 200K per month in the US. Just like last year. Not really ahead of the Xbox a generation ago. 300K ahead wouldn't be statistically significant. GOW sold great but didn't bring in new gamers. It sold to the existing game base.

Your argument about how the 2nd holiday of the 360 was a major bump above the first holiday is laughable. I know 2 years is a long time but it's not long enough to forget about all the shortages MS had with the 360. I'll do some digging.
 
Mariah Carey said:
In this case, Sony made it pretty clear exactly what their idea of success was: to basically crush the competition immediately.


You do realize, that in the context of the discussion in this thread, you are admitting right here that the 360 and PS3 are failing, or at least have been?

Using your definition of failure, yes.

And even if either one were to "succeed" there are still lessons to be learned.
 
Phoenix Down said:
Did you bother reading everything I wrote? What did I say I thought about to Wii?

The rest of what you wrote was even worse. I was trying to be nice.

Besides, my mind had already boggled.
 
So then you define success by the Wii? I have to agree with you that the Wii is successful, but may have also actually redefined the term while getting there.

The other consoles were designed to pass savings on to the consumer once profitability is reached.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
You're entirely right.

The Wii caught a fumbled ball. If MS and Sony did everything right this generation, instead of the exact opposite, I doubt the Wii would be this successful.

In other words, your Gods betrayed you.
Sony did the same with the PS1. Had one gimmick (CDs) and ran with it. See that boys, the PS1 was just a gimmick ran well. The wii has someone to look up to.
 
Orlics said:
GK達はこの本を読むべきだwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


そして、己の愚かさに気付くのが良いwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww








GK涙目wwwww
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


:lol :lol :lol

Harsh. For those not in the know, 'wwww' is the equivalent of 'lol.'

Translation to those who care:

The GK's gotta read this ololololo
Then they'll realize how stupid they are lololllololololol

GK's tear-filled eyes lollollollol


2chan or 2ch Xbox fans trolling their asses off. Looks exactly like from 4chan's /v/ on a sunday morning. :)

w comes from warau, which means laughing. Lots of w's is pretty much warota, meaning laughing your ass off. Our perfect equivalent of lölz.
 
noleshark said:
You are comparing putting people on the moon to video game console sales?

Bit of a stretch, don't you think?

It is similar in the fact that some people might see them each as failures (not landing on the moon vs. not being #1) or as successes (nobody died vs. being profitable). This whole topic is kinda silly because everyone has different ideas about what success and failure are. I'm sure the book has more in depth analysis and the title has added shock value just like the EGM cover with the PS3 splattered by a tomato when the article was not as harsh.
 
Joe Molotov said:
The Xbox line has done nothing but lose BILLIONS of dollars for Microsoft so far, and the PS3 ain't exactly got Sony rolling in piles of money so far.

I think Microsoft got what they wanted. They wanted no monopoly in the living room by Sony and they wanted to counter Kutagari's statements about wanting to kill them.
 
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