Although PlayStation 3 is still third in worldwide sales, behind the Xbox 360 by about 5-million units, the PS3 community services now have as many online gamers as Xbox 360 says Sony. Sony posted on their blog saying, “with 14 million active accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded, we know that you’re thirsting for this digital entertainment.”
Although US sales of the 360 are killing the PS3, the community membership does give gamers a reason to get online with the PS3. Nobody wants to buy into a console that has very few active online games or an easy way to find friends (*cough* Wii). Having 14-million users helps them bridge the sales gap by building gamer confidence. Social networking is the new term; gamers want to socialize with each other online and with their consoles.
Microsoft recently announced their 14-million subscriber base and continue to update folks when they hit big milestones. The main difference, LIVE is a subscription system — those 14-million gamers are also paying for the service (we’re not sure if silver memberships count in that figure) and this means income for Microsoft while Sony does their service for free.
Although Microsoft is making money on their service, no doubt Sony will bypass their total membership because it has no cost barriers to play. The biggest cost barrier to get on Sony’s network is the PS3 itself and many gamers hold out for price drops which aren’t coming anytime soon (so says Sony). However, building a larger community on a free network allows Sony to siphon gamers to buy downloadable content, games, music, movies and all the goodies that go with these services.
It seems a better idea to triple your audience with a free service knowing a large amount of “hardcore gamers” attach themselves to the easy to buy content on said service. So, is it better to make US $50.00 a year on half the population or give triple that population an opportunity to spend more money on content?
“Thanks to all of you, PS3’s momentum is stronger than ever. There are nearly 17 million PS3 systems around the world, and in the United States, PS3 hardware sales are up nearly 100 percent from where we were at this time last year. Software sales have tripled from a year ago. Yes, we’re proud about everything we’ve accomplished, and we’re even more psyched about where we’re going with our holiday software lineup” (playstation.com)
Eventually gamers may have access to Sony’s Home project, which could raise the community figures and give Xbox 360 something less to brag about. Although, we’re sure Sony would rather be boasting “number one” console again, at least they’ve finally got a win on their side because 14-million users is only the beginning for them.
Plus, it’s hard to argue free.
Some folks over at
“No venerable game players.” *cough* Robin Williams *cough*, though it may be too late to get his opinion on this matter I do want to highlight his own daughter, another fellow gamer, bullied off twitter. I know personally a grandmother who’s at least 60 and as much as a gamer as me. So my point is that there ARE older gamers. Though they may be a minority and the majority may be the immature, the loud and obnoxious ones making the rest of us look bad.
I heard what happened to Anita and it is horrible what others deem as acceptable behavior. I don’t agree with everthing she says but that’s no way to treat a person with a differing opinion. Let’s face it the women have a point, when my daughter asks if she can play a game with a Girl lead and I have to struggle to find ones that AREN’t scantily clad or just sex objects, I have to give her a point. All she wants, and the rest of female gamers is to be represented by more then just digital sex objects and with real female characters.
When I see games advertized on various websites in the side bar ads with scantily clad women with over sized breasts that are barely covered, I know I am being pandered to.
I like to point out the Sierra games had several strong female characters and in lead roles. Like Rosella in KQ 4 & 7, Luara Bow in Dagger of Amon Ra and Colonel’s Bequest, Grace Nakimura from Gaberiel Knight, Elsa, Erana, Aziza all from Quest for Glory. The world didn’t end when it was revealed that Samus Aran was a woman in Metriod, why should we stop there?
I’m still waiting for a Co-Op Zelda and Link game Nintendo.
Your right about the violent reaction because I think the gamers that are showing outrage are the ones afraid their digital sex toys are going to be taken away from them. That isn’t what’s being asked, all that is being asked is for more stronger female cahracters to be show. For women to be accepted as People and not jsut play things, and why stop there? Why not have different races, nationalities, ideologies, sex pref, etc.
It’s disgusting that some of my fellow gamers are treating women and anyone different from their norm so poorly. I grew up feeling like an outcast cause I liked to play games and read fantasy novels. I was seen as a wierdo and I didn’t meet many female gamers at all during school. Once after school though I saw that there were many women gamers and it made me feel accepted and like more a part of humanity knowing I wasn’t some freak oddball.
So to see other gamers reject women gamers just boggles my mind. Do men who favor sports reject having women join in? Do men at car shows say “look at that fake car girl she shouldn’t be here!” It’s beyond my comprehension at all the “fake gamer girls” and calling every girl with an opinion a “femi nazi”.
It’s time for some boys who seem to be stuck in high school still to GROW UP already.
@Qotw: I loved playing WoW but it was an time sink of a game. My most memorable moments weren’t the raids or instances but the times where I was just hanging out with friends around a fishing pond or traveling through the air on my griffon. I also seemed to be one of the few human players who went and got a giant tiger mount from the Elves.
While I like superhero stories the fantasy setting is what does it for me.
A little update:
Lori and Cory Cole, the makers of Quest For Glory had an update to their Kickstarter Hero-U. In it they discussed the issue about the hate toward females in games and players themselves:
“We have been very disturbed by the degree of hate towards indie game developers, and women developers and players in particular, on many web sites. Personally I think it comes from jealousy – The commenters want the publicity and success of the game developers without devoting the years of 60 hour weeks that it takes to build a game.
Unfortunately, a lot of this has come across in the form of hate towards women. This isn’t new – Roberta Williams got hate mail for featuring Rosella as the main character in King’s Quest IV – but it is just plain wrong. Games can be fun with either a male or a female protagonist as long as the story reflects that choice. Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a male Slayer? Boring!”
“Shawn Could Have Been Shawna
Lori wrote about why we decided on a male character for the first Hero-U game at http://www.hero-u.net/leaders/why-shawn-isnt-shawna/. I assure you that we will have female protagonists in future games and that we will ignore any resulting hate mail. 🙂 We are proud of the strong female characters we created in previous games, and even more of the ones in Hero-U.
We have also proudly added our names to an anti-hate open letter on diversity in gaming and the game industry at https://medium.com/@andreaszecher/open-letter-to-the-gaming-community-df4511032e8a. We hope many of our backers will continue to speak out against hate and harassment in any form. This week I learned a new term – SJW or Social Justice Warrior – used negatively about people who harp about social justice in gaming and media. You know what? We’ll wear that badge proudly. Our games have always been about heroism, and yes, that includes social justice.”
To summarize they were appalled at the hate, they signed the Petition against hate, and they revealed that Roberta Williams herself had received hate mail for Rosella being the lead in KQ4 and how DARE she save her own father.
I had no idea that Roberta had received hate mail for what was one of my favorite of the KQ series. Remember this game was Pre-internet days so it was easy to be isolated to my own POV on this game. I had already known about Samus Aran as female so I then took it for granted that there would be more of the like.
They also brought up the subject of the Sierra company revival, while they stated they weren’t involved they were also not against future involvement should something come up. So yay! 🙂
@All the things that are wrong with the gaming world
This debate has been going on for a long time and I am not sure I can add anything that hasn’t already been said. To be honest, I am indifferent to the opinions of the general gaming mass. They can be homophobic, sexist or even marxist for all I care; as long as they don’t cause other people trouble. What I find worrying the most is discrimination in the gaming industry itself. Mature, highly educated professionals who are often in position of power over others are the worst kind. They can genuinely harm the well-being of others with their discrimination and often do so. I would say sorting the industry out is a priority; trying to change gaming as a whole is impossible at this moment.
This all reminds me of the gaming “civil rights” movement of the sixth generation, which was fueled by the release of GTA: San Andreas. Many gamers pointed out that African-Carri beans were highly under-represented as the main protagonists. Not much has changed since then. My friend still complains when we play an Asian MMO and the only character he can make is a very attractive white male.
@All those lovely times I did not play WOW
My first time playing WOW was 2012. I spent weeks downloading the 32GB patch and when I finally played it I was lamed out. Since I played many many WOW clones beforehand, I found WOW itself to be very dated in comparison. I didn’t bother playing it past the first quest, especially since my friend dropped the game saying that Mysts of Pandaria update made it crap.