David Reeves, Sony Europe’s President said, “we simply have to suffer a little” when talking about the PS3, Europe and the competition. He was talking specifically about Sony’s loss of market share, mind-share and overall performance in the latest competitive console arena. While Sony’s president dismisses Nintendo as in a separate market, David Reeves said, “we’ve learned from Nintendo how to grow the market and move from hand-held device to device – they’ve done it brilliantly.”
What Sony may be dealing with is the fact that they’re not top dog in the latest battle for consoles. Europe has taken to the PlayStation 3 better than the United States and they’ve got plenty of fans in the region. There has been a recent upside to it all, some light at the end of the tunnel:
“PS3 games sales are up 53% and there’s a healthy 1.1m pre-order book for Killzone 2, the first of a new batch of IPs that Sony will be counting on.” (guardian.co.uk)
Although it’s reported the PSP says are down 15% and PS2 software sales are down 51%, at least the PlayStation 3 is filling in the gap for some of those losses. At some point you’d expect the PlayStation 2 to decline, gamers are probably migrating over to the new hardware.
They’ve got some things to be proud of:
- PlayStation Network increases revenues by 200% in 2008
- 55% of all PlayStation owners are on PSN
- 17.5 million PSN subscribers
- 53% rise in software sales on PS3
- Won HD format war
Unfortunately PS3 sales were down last quarter by about 9%, perhaps a response to the harsh economic times. And, of course, the fact that Sony’s VP’s are constantly defending their position in the market is a bit disconcerting. As David Reeves said:
“It’s like Ali v Foreman – go eight or nine rounds and let him punch himself out. We’re still standing, we’re still profitable and there’s a lot of fight in us. I don’t say we will land a knockout blow, but we’re there and we’re fighting.” (guardian.co.uk)
Sony is playing the defensive, guarding themselves against the punches of the competition. Nintendo making headlines for sales, Microsoft coming out of nowhere to try to build market share, while Sony holds out for the tenth round to win it in the end? We’re not yet sure if it’s Ali vs. Foreman or if Microsoft is the next Buster Douglas.
(Thanks, Guardian)
@Electronic Arts buys Popcap Games:
Buying other companies/teams that have potential is sometimes easier (and more profitable) to do.
Everybody does that: the “Narbacular Drop” team developed Portal after being hired by Valve.
@Microsoft: Only Master Chief in Halo from now on:
… so it’ll be a sort of Duke Nukem?
Dunno about this … if the location/universe is compelling enough, you can use different protagonists (see STALKER).
Then again, you have Serious Sam, Duke Nukem and Snake …
@PlayStation Vita dev costs closer to PSP
😛 yeah, they can’t afford to put a cell processor in it.
Jonah, the rear touch pad can act as a universal button.
@Netflix takes aim at usage based billing:
The fault lies with ISPs that don’t want to improve their infrastructure. At some point, while the existing ISPs increase fees, I can see new ones, with a modern infrastructure, coming in and killing the existing ones.
@Expert glitcher hired to clean up Modern Warfare 3?s multiplayer:
It’s hard to find all glitches … some of them get discovered months after release.
@QOTW:
Dunno. Define old. If 2001 is old, then “Codename: Outbreak”. Its game mechanics were more advanced than the graphics it had, so I can see a remake of it having a bit of success.
If you mean older than 2001, then I would go ahead and say none. The reason is that the game mechanics evolved in time, and older games may be a bit too bad in that department. As an example of that, see Doom => Doom 3.
And yes, I am choosing only from FPS-es, because that’s what I like best.
Only Master Chief – I’m glad about this decision. I bought Halo : Reach and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the same as playing as Master Chief. Halo is very non-realistic, as I’m sure most people know, so when I played Reach and I found that defensive play was a better strategy, it took out some of the fun for me. I play on Legendary however so maybe the fact that I died easier made me more defensive. Nonetheless, I still think that playing as the last Spartan is really what makes the game.
Vita – I am going to agree with Jonah about the rear touch-screen, seems unnecessary and will only drive the price up. However, it could be used in many more ways that may make the system a big hit.
Netflix – If Netflix wants to make more money, good for them. They are a business and can do whatever they like with it. I can’t remember who said it but the existing customers will most likely look at the extra eight or nine dollars, shrug their shoulders, and pay the extra.
Glitcher Hired for MW3 – I’m glad that he has extra time to find glitches in the Multiplayer maps. The past couple games (excluding Black Ops) have been riddled with hacks and glitches that nearly ruined the online experience. Modern Warfare 2 was probably the game that suffered the most from it, so its nice to see that Infinity Ward is trying to take care of this one better. With that said, they did lose about half their staff during the year that MW2 was out, so patches for exploits probably weren’t to easy to put out. Back to MW3, even though he will find some glitches, there will always be new ones popping up for the year that it is out.
QOTW – @Herr Alien, I believe old was described as 1995 and older. I would like to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time remade. They did recently remake it, however the general consensus was that there wasn’t enough there to be a valid remake. I agree with that statement and I think it would be really nice to see this game done again, but better. I can always go back and play it on the SNES and still enjoy it, so I am not dying for a remake, but it would be nice.
On a side note, Zynga did make a play for Popcap.
Hiya Fellas,
First, for my buddy Paul:
http://www.allowe.com/Larry/troubleshooting.htm#Cauldron
Here it is, The Black Cauldron! I fully plan on committing several hours to enjoying this after I leave work. I’m sure my wife will understand. This is from Al Lowe’s website, and he was one of the game designers– so it’s legit! BTW Paul, Leonardo WAS the best turtle. So I can’t disagree with you on that!
For the QOTW- It’s funny. When Jonah first asked the question of the week, I thought “ZELDA!”, buuuut Paul already suggested it. I guess I’d like see a remake of an old “point and click” game I used to play on the NES called, “Shadowgate”. I’m not really sure how I would like to see this done, but with today’s technology (possibly Kinect) it might be a cool idea.
Or I’d like to see Rockstar do a remake of “The Oregon Trail”. That would be nothing short of ah-, wait for it, mazing!
There have been plenty of The Oregon Trail remakes. There’s a version on Facebook, the Nintendo DSi, Wii, and even Windows Phone 7.