With the Playstation 1 and Playstation 2, Sony was the undisputed King. Fanboys and fangirls can argue and make any claims they want, but the fact is Sony crushed the competition. For 10 years it wasn’t even close. So coming into this current generation Sony was riding high. They were riding in with a decade of dominance and they had the most powerful console in history. The perception was Microsoft was a one trick pony (Halo) and Nintendo was for kids and Pokefreaks. Of course, Sony was confident, they had never really been challenged, and it seemed like it would take a miracle to stop the juggernaut that was the PS3. It had everything going for it. It was a technophiles dream come true. Everything was built in from blu-ray to blue tooth to the Hard Disk Drive. This was the system that was going to usher in the HD era.

Then the PS3 came out and sold out everywhere. eBay prices sky-rocketed, and it seemed like it didn’t matter that it was the most expensive, it didn’t matter that the Wii was trying something new, and it didn’t matter that the 360 had a head start. Microsoft had its fun and the Wii was poised to make a little noise but the King was back. And then, something strange happened. Something that isn’t supposed to happen to mighty Sony. Suddenly, PS3 consoles were everywhere, and Wiis were sold out. Suddenly, everyone wanted the cute little souped up Gamecube with Motion Control, and the Mighty blu-ray HD monster was getting hammered. How did Sony fall, and how can the PS3 rise?

Nintendo has come out of left field to become the market leader, while Microsoft and Sony are both struggling to come to grips with the emerging market the Wii has produced. They both want what Ninten-has, but I think Sony should take a cue from Sega and show off what Ninten-don’t. When a political figure is running for election and he is getting beaten in poll after poll, it is time to go negative. Sony needs to show the differences between the two systems. By simply playing catch up, they are going to be left behind every time. They need to show how much better games look on the PS3, show side by side comparisons. Put Killzone 2 up next to any Wii game and say “you can play this, or this.”

The other issue is the PS3′s high price point. I don’t know if you have checked the news lately but there is a little trouble with the world economy (and by little I mean giant poop-storm). Now, faced with a global financial crisis, Sony finds itself with the luxury SUV when everyone is worried about making next months house payment. The total impact of the economic poop-storm won’t be known for some time, but it is clear that having the most expensive system is probably not the best idea right now. The PS3 needs a price drop. BAD. I cannot tell you how many people tell me how much they ‘want a PS3 but it is just too expensive.’ No more keeping the price the same and adding a bigger hard drive, most people have no idea what to do with an 80 Gb hard drive, but everyone knows what to do with $50 off.

Sony has been saying from the beginning of this generation that the PS3 will have a 10 year life span. This is based on the fact that the PS1 was still selling a decade after it was released, and it seems the PS2 will sell similarly. What Sony doesn’t seem to either realize or say is that the reason PS1 continued to sell and the PS2 continues to sell is they had the largest installed base of customers, by far. Publishers would be leaving money on the table if they didn’t produce games for Playstation 1 or 2. The question Sony needs to answer is: Why would people buy the PS3 in 2014 when they don’t seem to want it in 2009? Simply saying that your system is going to sell for 10 years isn’t enough. You have to prove it.

If there is one thing the PS2 taught, it is that it really comes down to the games. At this point the PS3 is lagging behind both of its competitors. At what magical point does the Playstation 3 suddenly overtake the Wii or even the 360? The Wii has grabbed the casual market, and the 360 has the hardcore fans. People who want a fun system that the whole family can enjoy are buying the Wii, and the hardcore crowd is turning away from Playstation to the Xbox 360. Games that used to only be on Playstation are now on 360 on the same day (GTA 4, Devil May Cry 4, Final Fantasy XIII) or have become 360 exclusives (Ace Combat 6, Beautiful Katamari, Star Ocean). For many publishers the PS3 is quickly becoming the third priority. As this continues, and the difference between the install base sizes continues to widen, Sony will become less and less of a priority. This growing disparity will mean that publishers will be less and less likely to focus on the system, and consumers will follow suit. To remedy this, there needs to be some big time exclusives. Sony needs to get off its high horse and back a truck full of money up to Square-Enix and say “Here is a pile of money. We need Kingdom Hearts 3, NOW!”

Then they need to back a truck full of money up to Polyphony Digital and say “Here is a pile of money. We need Gran Turismo 5, NOW!”

After going to about 3 more developers, they will have made a proper dent in the problem.

In conclusion, I do not think it is too late for the PS3. But I do think that if things at Sony do not change soon, then it will be. It will definitely be an uphill climb to regain the top spot and it will be interesting to see if Sony can find a way to regain the crown.

What do you think? Is it all over for the PS3? What do you think Sony could do to pull it out? Email me at shaolinjesus@wingdamage.com or comment below.

Tags: Editorials, Nintendo, Playstation, Playstation 3, ps3, Wii, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.