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.
Gamertag has posted what they claim is a flyer sent to developers advertising the “Project Cafe” (the alleged placeholder name for the next-gen Nintendo console) SDK, with some interesting claims:
How odd to release the sequel to a fun Wii game on a hand held device over the original platform. Introducing, Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero. Sure, the DS is a great staging point for an Elebits style game, but what happened to the Wii platform?
Well, I got the same rumor, about a new console being developed by Nintendo, targeted for 2012. I am not the console expert, so please feel free to bash me for the following:
While I think the new console to be the real deal, I also think 2012 is a bit too soon. The market for 3DS was not yet properly exploited.
Now, about the SDK, Nintendo was not the most license friendly company. That lead (obviously) to a poor game library. Was that enough to wake up Nintendo? Is this the reason for having such a friendly SDK?
I say yes, that is a good reason. Actually, that is also a good lesson being taught here by MSFT.
However, from “making a friendly Nintendo SDK” to making an “easy to port SDK for all consoles” there is one more thing needed: access to the ins and outs of all consoles. Why would MSFT and Sony give Nintendo access to their technology? How would that benefit them?
Could it be an anti-competition scheme involved, where all developers settle for similar products with just little differences, only to impose a certain price level across the board?
To me, the SDK raises more questions than the piece of hardware.
Well, Nintendo confirmed it.
“Nintendo confirmed it.” 😀 The anti-competition scheme? 😀
Well it’s like there useing old ideas again. I remember they trying this with the Game cube and micro GBA’s . I’m sure its better tech this time around and I hope they have the “hard core” in mind this time around.