I recently read a user comment somewhere in the depths of the internet that said something along the lines of “It’s obvious that Sony has already lost this generations console war”. At first I dismissed this. However a day or two later it seeped back into my brain. As I went through a mental list of all the things that Sony has done wrong since the PS3 was announced in 2005 I began to ponder if Sony really has lost this generations console war.
It’s fair to say that the PlayStation 3 has been traveling on a rocky road for a while. The announcement of the $599.99 price tag at the 2006 E3 seemed to induce a collective “Really?” through out the video game industry (a very similar reaction came from this year’s E3 when it was announced that the PSP Go will be priced at $250.00)
Fast forward a few years and the PS3 continues to be pounded with bad press. It was announced that Sony lost two of their biggest exclusives in Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid to Microsoft at E3 this year. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, made statements threatening to stop developing for the PlayStation 3. Valve has recently said the PS3 is too complicated to develop for and they certainly aren’t the first game development studio to make this complaint.
We can argue the criteria of what it takes to win or lose a console war until we are blue in the face but in reality it all comes down to sales and market share. As of now this is where Sony is failing. However it could very well be another four or five years until we see a new generation of consoles from the big three. Does this mean that Sony has time to make a come back? The PS3 has the release of two of its biggest exclusive franchises on the horizon with God Of War III and Uncharted 2. I also think it’s safe to expect a PS3 price drop some time in the near future. But will a few triple A exclusives and a price drop be enough to reignite consumer interest in the PS3?
Don't worry. If the PS3 does become obslete you can at least mod it to cook hot dogs.
Author’s note: I am an owner of a PS3 and personally I love it. The idea that this piece of hardware could become irrelevant saddens me. Not because I spent a lot of money on it but because of what it is capable of. From a hardware point of view, the PS3 is certainly superior to the 360 or the Wii. However having the ‘best’ product on the market doesn’t mean jack if your marketing team has their heads up their asses.
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It’s an interesting argument, but I have to say that from Sony’s perspective they’re still in the game. For one the PS3 is planned to have a 10 year life span. The Xbox 360 won’t have anywhere near that kind of longevity. So it’s a different strategy between the two companies that really sets them apart. I’ve seen developers make pertinent comments that they’ve already reached the peak of what the 360 can do. On the PS3 I’ve seen comments stating that they’re only really starting to get to grips with the power of the PS3.
Complicated to develop for is something that probably can be levelled at the PS3 but it depends where you’re coming from. The Xbox 360 from what I can tell handles more like a PC in development terms. It has a more traditional triple core processor with a graphics chip. The PS3 on the other hand has a radically different architecture with many processing units that are specialised and adapted for certain operations. In essence, if you started on the PS3 with the architecture in mind, code split into suitable processes to be mapped to the individual processing units then I don’t think it’s as complicated as they make out. The problem comes when you come from the more conventional model of the PC or 360 because the code is just not written with the multiple processing units in mind. To my mind it’s a bit like the whole dual/quad core Vs. the single core chips used in PCs these days. A majority of games still perform better on a single core chip equivalent because essentially the code is not written to take advantage of multiple cores. Each core on a multicore processor, until recently with the inception of the Core i7, was weaker than a dedicated single core chip, but working together were much more efficient. I think in the near future you’re going to start seeing a more regular advantage of the performance of the PS3 over the Xbox 360. The only problem I can see is if developers don’t bother to properly invest in learning the ins and outs of the console (before anyone says you shouldn’t have to, it’s well known that you have to ‘get to know the console’ for every generation, that’s why games later in the console cycle are often much more advanced).
The other thing is that the PS3 has sold roughly 23m vs. Xbox 360 30m. It’s 7m difference, but both still have huge install bases. It’s also important to note that the PS3 hasn’t lost the games that were exclusive. They’ve lost the exclusive because the games have gone multiplatform. One of the reasons why the Xbox 360 has many exclusives is that Microsoft give monetary incentives to make games exclusive. Sony does no such thing apart from advertising (speculating there). From a games producers perspective I’m not sure why you would ever want to limit the potential market for your product unless you were getting a big fat cheque as an incentive.
The PS3 was Sony’s trojan horse. They designed it with the purpose of continuing their gaming success with the PS2 but also to shoe horn Blu-Ray into the home. The PS3 was Sony’s and the BDA’s weapon against HD-DVD in the consumer HD disc war. It in no small part helped Sony win the format war by putting Blu-ray players into the home in the guise of a games console. At the time they sold it at a massive loss and it made it an absolute bargain as a Blu-ray player. To this day it’s still one of the best BD players on the market with online updates, pretty fast loading a full spectrum of codec support. The problem for Sony in the long run is that BD haven’t taken off with the success that they’d hoped and it’s meant that they’ve ended up making quite a large loss on their investment in pushing BR (along with a load of other things admittedly).
I don’t know who will win the console war at the moment and to be honest I don’t even know whether it’s particularly relevant these days. It’s not as if there is an absolutely massive gulf between the PS3 and the 360. I’m a PS3 owner but I bought it more as a BD player and for it’s multimedia capabilities as much as the games. I had an Xbox before that but the 360 just didn’t provide on the multimedia side at the time. I might still buy a 360 because I really want to play Halo again, it’s about the only thing I miss from the Xbox. It will be interesting to see what the motion controller expansion holds for both systems. I just hope that they don’t take away from the core game dynamic.
I have to agree that Sony still has much to offer in terms of sheer power. The main issue that developers have IS the fact that the PS3 is difficult to program for but, and I agree with Sam on this, it’s a departure from the known and comfortable programing methods. Yosuke Hayashi, developer of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, has gone on record to say that the PS3 is not difficult to code for and that other developers are just making excuses. The big issue I see isn’t its install base or programing difficulty, but more of the fact that companies aren’t showing the big black behemoth any love. But, as has been said before, the 360’s been pretty much maxed out…the PS3 still has a lot left beneath the surface.
Also, Activision’s CEO threatening to stop developing for the PS3 is nothing more than a bully move to get Sony to drop the PS3’s price. A price drop will be nice but Activision is trying to force it so they can make even more of a profit on the Sony side.
What people seem to discount is that PS3’s gpu & split ram is it’s achiles heel. The 360’s GPU is far more powerful as is it’s unified memory structure. So while one can argue that the PS3’s cell & spu’s are powerful – with hardware it’s the balance of the whole – the sum of it’s parts. And Sony made some poor choices on a few areas… I own all 2 consoles and do not see my ps3 as the most powerful – multipass & shader efficiency of 360 games result in a more technically advanced experience in most cases. Great art direction & 2 pass textures are the name of SOny’s first party game.
find a new hobby loser!
I HATE the PS3 and hope it dies tommorrow. It will be soon.
Hey Mark, I hope your 360 gets RROD and burns down your house.
With the price drop planed for the PS3, experts say the 360 and the wii will go down the drain and it will be the death of the 360
Love how Mark’s comment is still there! Fanboys!
stupid hater, PS3 is and will be the best console for the decade
STOP WRITING CRAP LIKE THIS WHY DONT YOUR TRY WILL MIRCROSOFT LOSE? OF WHY THE WII SUCKS ? STOP COMMING ON SONY . THE ONLY REASON EVERTHING LOOKS BAD IS BECAUSE OF OF THE TIME THE CONSOLES CAME OUT AND PPL MIGHT SAY THEN WHY NOT THE SAME IS HAPPENEING TO THE WII THIS IS BECAUSE THERE IS ALOT OF WINEY CHILDREN WHO PARENTS ARE CHEAP ENOUGH TO BUY IT. THINK ABOUT IT IF A PARENT WAS TO CHOOSE BETWEEN A WII AND XBOX AND A PS3 GUES WHAT THEY WILL CHOSE THE WII BECAUSE IT IS THE CHEAPEST AND HAS NO VIOLENCE. EVERY DAY IM SEEING SOMEBODY WRITING SOMETHING ABOUT SONY . SONY THIS SONY THAT JUST STOP AND IN DUE TIME WE WIL SEE WHO WINS OR NOT.
I have been an XBOT since the original XBOX in 2001. However, after having gone through too many defective 360’s, that last one just last month (a Jasper, no less), I am now using the PS3 almost exclusively.
Blu-ray, user upgradeable hard drive and the Cell Processor are now hitting their stride and the 360 is starting too feel “PS2″-ish now.
While loath to admit this, it seems to me (and my many 360 friends) that once the Slim PS3 comes out, with the v3.0 firmware at $299, that Sony will begin to overtake Microsoft.
And let us not forget that the PS3 has sold nearly 23 million consoles to date. And with a console that is twice the price of the 360.
Thank you for writing this article. Now the fanboys can gloat and beat their chests over it like a couple of gorillas. Durr, durr, PS3 in third! Ignore the games and how far the price has come down! Duurrrr!
wither it lost it or not, i am still happy that sony is making games that i want to play, and they are always cooking new stuff, i dnt see any reason to hate any console, but i feel that sony is the only company that cares for true gamers
It’s still possible for Sony to catch up to Microsoft… Many have pointed out that if you line up Sony’s release date with that of Microsoft’s you will find the trend being that Sony has sold more consoles at a higher price point than Microsoft. Microsoft is basically ahead because of a year’s lead on the competition in terms of total unit sales. In any case both are fighting for second place anyway, the Wii has far outsold both, despite launching later than the 360 and despite now being priced higher than the 360’s cheapest SKU.
Sony has benefitted in a big way from the PS3 by winning the hi-def DVD war with Blu-Ray. Also it is likely that Sony’s priority is profitability over the long run. It’s the same case with PSP versus DS. They no longer care to cut the price of the PSP just to win against the DS. 2nd place is still very profitable enough for them. The same relates to the 360 and Wii. If they make more money being in third place than less money coming in 2nd or first due to the expense of the hardware I doubt they’ll bother. In any case a price drop will do well for them. Given that Sony is committed to 10 years and apparently MIcrosoft is boasting that they are too, there’s still a lot of time left to see how this plays out.
Speaking of exclusives, Sony hands down has the biggest amount. Also the FF and MGS loss isn’t that big a deal. FFXIII is still exclusive to PS3 in Japan where it will really move consoles due to the series popularity there… Overseas, while it is a popular title, it’s less of a system seller. As for MGS, the main series game MGS4 is still exclusive to the PS3 and is likely to remain that way… The new spin off Rising is an unknown at this point. We’ll find out in the future what it means… Let’s not forget that Sony also gained a few exclusives like FFXIV online which appears to be timed and Rockstar’s Agent which appears to be a true exclusive utilizing blu-ray.
It’s unfortunate that you’re making a lot of the same bad arguements that a lot of PS3 trollers make in claiming that the system is ‘dying’ or losing.
The first and biggest problem people have when handling the issue of the console dying is usually the cost. Yeah it’s expensive, but remember that the cost of one PS3 is two 360s. So on a pure monitary point, the PS3 sells two to one vs the 360. Yeah it’s costing sony a lot to sell them, but they have two money making fallbacks to help push their long term agenda (ie selling PS3s without so much loss)
Also I take it you’re new to the Sony scene as you said that MGS has been lost to the 360, which in fact, MGS 2 and MSG 1 have been on the 360 and game cube. Also no one’s really sad about FF XIII since square has a history of changing lead platforms every so often.
As for activision, they’re just trying to put themselves in the lime light for a bit. They know they have nothing major even being developed and their arguement of the PS3 to hard to develop for is the EXACT SAME ARGUEMENT that was used in the PS2’s up and coming time. So it’s not like people were totally oblivious that the PS3 was going to be pie to develop for and those who actually spend time and ask for help have pulled off some good things (ie Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, Killzone 2).
Look I know you mean well and are concerned that your investment may be in trouble, but it’s not. The first sign of trouble would be absolutely no first party studio development for the console, which isn’t likely. Other than that, ignore the nay-sayers and game on.
Let’s see. Release a $600 console and make it extremely difficult to program for? That’s a double whammy right there. Now add the popularity of the Wii and the Xbox 360 which shares the vast majority of the same games as the PS3 and you have a recipe for a long road ahead of you. However Sony does have blu ray on their side (it won the new format) so it’s the most future proof. Plus they have the most in house studios to make exclusive games. To make the PS3 a success Sony needs to be sound financially to ride the tough times out. How long can they continue to take losses on the hardware and how long can they pump millions into creating games that will only be released on the smallest install base? Time will tell but in the meantime I’ll just keep enjoying my PS3.
Xbox Live is the reason why the PS3 will never overtake the 360. The PS2 is just approaching a 10 year lifespan, but it is almost irrelevant now. The PS3 is in a distant third place with lagging sales. If the dominant PS2 can barely last 10 years, the PS3 will be lucky to last 5.
The console war does not exist. If you think it does, you are a supreme dumbass and you have no life. Good day.
Yeah genius, and there is no terrorist threat either right, everyone loves Americans, and 9/11 was done by Dick Cheney.
There is a console war, and until the day Sony and MS merge, there most likely will be one.
there is no stupid war, they are making money and you what r u doing?
Who cares if they finish dead last they are still putting out nasty games and the big title hasnt landed yet. God of war three. Sony xbox and nintendo if you own one of the three you arent likely to get a different console. They are fighting for those who have old gen systems. Look at ninendo they took a break from this war when they put out the gamecube sony isnt going anywhere every one shut up. And what is this war just sales or whos making the biggest impact on the market numbers say that wii is selling like hot cakes but every website shits on it for having ps2 graphics. This is how the console war is gonna end up Microsoft by a hair then sony just because theirs a shit ton of hate then nintendo that aint sales just whos done the most to improve gaming overall.
these articles are a waste. there will never be a victor in this so called console war. the console war was just made by fanboys that refuse to support any other console but their own.
(i am not a fanboy. i own both the playstation 3 and xbox 360 console.)
Hmmmmm I’m beginning to think that whoever wrote this article luvs microsoft. Even if Sony loses the console wars, it won’t stop producing games or sales. If activision decides to pull out of making games for the PS3, it’s a big loss to them as Sony will find someone else to make games for them and there are millions of people who own a PS3 so you tell me if they’re gonna pull out it’s just threats. About valve and their lazy ass developers who only made 1 game that everybody really played (HL series), they don’t seem to making much for the PS3 now and yet the PS3 is doing fine without them. So in a long run I thing that Sony will prevail no matter how the sales look like now……….. This article is totaly stupid and microsoftcock sux
One, Activision wouldn’t dare it would just lose them money, and Valve is not a very talented developer and the CEO is a former microsoft employee so of course they are gonna be biased.
The ps3 is not going anywhere
“The 360’s GPU is far more powerful as is it’s unified memory structure.”
The only real difference between the GPU’s is how 360’s works better at AA.If it was so superior MS would do the same as Sony does with cell,hype how much better it is,they don’t because there is so little in it.
Add to it that the SPU’s can as naughty dog put it “super charge RSX” then you get real time graphics like this.
http://www.gamersyde.com/pop_image.html?G=10999&N=6
http://www.gamersyde.com/pop_image.html?G=10999&N=2
Valve is not a talented developer, yeah that’s funny. Now if left 4 dead was a PS3 exclusive they would be one of the most talented devs out there I’m guessing. You PS3 fanboys crack me up.
PS3 has lost the console war folks, and they are not likely to ever catch up to the other two. However what needs to be remembered, is that the loss of the console war from Sonys point of view should mean little to PS3 fans, at least for now.
A loss does not mean they are going to stop making the PS3, it does not mean they are going to stop making great games for it, and it doesn’t mean the PS3 is any less entertaining, it just means a Playstation is no longer the market leader. So unless your a share holder I wouldn’t worry about it. At least not until next gen, next gen Sony may not want to make another Playstation if PS3 does not give them some kind of return on the investment, Sony will most likely just not make a new console until PS3 does start making them money, and that could be well over a decade.
@Shmick: So I guess that just because someone is critical of Sony’s marketing strategy, it automatically means they’re a Microsoft lover? Get real. The true fans are the ones that WILL criticize what they love so that it can be improved. No criticism hurts and doesn’t help improve things.
Also, while Sony might still continue to produce systems despite losing the war, Sony being in last place makes companies less likely to make exclusive games. So the Console Wars do matter.
Then why critisize Sony?? Noone really knows what’s going to happen in future Sony has been in market for much longer than microsoft and is doing quiet well and even the PS2 is still selling games and consoles for people who can’t afford either consoles and don’t@ me pls I’m only commenting on what’s happening so far and I know that the PS3 isn’t doing better than xbox 360 or wii but tables could turn around if Sony drops price
[...] post by Bill Shibley [...]
Unlike last generation’s GameCube, the PS3 is a strong third that’s slowly creeping up on the Xbox 360. I don’t know if you’ve checked lately, but the chasm separating the PS3 and Xbox 360 is getting really small.
And to think that the PS3 came out a year later.
Ergo, if both consoles were released simultaneously, the PS3 would easily rank ahead of the Xbox 360. Just check the year-on-year numbers for proof.
You are all wasting your time with video games. You all lose. Get over it.
i wouldn’t waste my time doing anything else.
Let’s not kid are selves, when SONY finally taps out and drops the console another $100 we will all own one until then let them take a beating and come up with any strategy that they think is to blame for their failure besides the true reason.
lol this article is a fucking joke. what i find funny is the irony of this console war, back in 2006 and 2007, ps3 was getting own by 360 cuz they didn’t have any games and 360 had gears and halo 3 coming out.
i remember all 360 fangirls were bashing on ps3 like hell. now look where we’re at. now it’s the opposite, 360 have no good exclusive games. what does 360? halo? shit as if halo odst isn’t enough now they giving us halo reach lol is that all microsoft can come up with is halo?? ppl will say what about mass effect 2, alan wake and splinter cell? those are also on pc so i will buy it on pc if i want to play it.
that’s what hurt 360 fangirls is that even if ppl who don’t have 360 can still play a lot of their exclusive games while u can’t do the same with ps3. u got to buy ps3 to play it.
and metal gear solid rising… it’s on ps3, 360 and pc. plus it’s a spinoff kojima won’t even be involve in it that much. activision threatening to stop supporting ps3 and psp? fucking bluff. there’s 22m ps3 out there they ain’t going to stop making games for ps3. they want price cut so they sell more of their over milking games. what about them reducing price of their fucking games? maybe it will sell more eh
looking at ps3 exclusive exclusives. i will try to list what i remember: uncharted 2, gran turismo 5, god of war 3, heavy rain, mag, the last guardian, agent, ninja gaiden sigma 2, mod nation racers, demon souls, ffxiii versus, ffxiv online, quantum theory, rachet & clank a crack in time, eye pet, afrika, and many more i can’t remember. tell me what 360 have to even come close to that? fucking nothing.
So you’re on the side of the PS3 then? It is true that exclusives to the PS3 are actually only available on the PS3. I just wish we all had one console that had all the games, then we wouldn’t have this stupid divide. It’s a bit like a format war that no one ever truly wins. Pointless.