The Sports Nerds network

1995. Sony just released their first home console and I was following it, but being the Sega fanboy I was at the time, my heart was set on a Saturn. I was extremely excited once I got to play it at a neighbor’s house. My first memory was some racing game and to me it was the best thing ever. That is until my friend rented a PlayStation and we where blown away… by Battle Arena Tonshinden. Yeah I know of all the games, one of the worst fighters ever created is what blew me away? Yes, even with that crappy game you could tell that the PlayStation was just going to be better. Fast forward about a year and half. I get home from school, my mom tells me she has groceries in the trunk and asks me to take them out. She hands me the keys, I open the trunk and what do I see? A PlayStation with Twisted Metal! This was the beginning of a grand era for me. Over the years with all the great releases, I grew to love not only my PlayStation, but also Sony as a company. It seemed they could do no wrong. The PS2 was released in 2000, my buddy and I waited in line for hours to get ours on day one and my love for Sony would only escalate. I loved my PS2 more than my PSOne. At one point my collection was well over 100 games strong.

Enter 2005. Sony as a company was very strong. The PSOne and PS2, sold over 100 million units each worldwide and Sony looked primed to continue that dominance with the PS3. Nintendo by this time had shown their successor, which was not really meant to compete with Sony. Microsoft was rushing to get their successor out before Sony hoping that would be a blow to them. Sony very confident in their brand name and past success didn’t seem to care and didn’t rush to get the PS3 out at the same time as the 360. They created the most complete packages ever for a console. High def gaming machine… check. High def movie player… check. You could store pictures and do slide shows to show them off. You could store movies on the HDD, browse the internet and much more. The PS3 seemed like the greatest console ever! However, these robust features may have been their first mistake. When the price was announced the whole gaming world was floored. $600 for a console? Had Sony gone mad? The 360 was $400 and the Wii was $250, just over the price of the PS3 combined. Microsoft even used that as a marketing tag line/jab at Sony. Even I was left with my jaw dropped and tears in my eyes. Once it launched in 2006, I was not able to get it day one because of the price tag. As badly as I wanted one, I just couldn’t see myself paying that much for a console. So I bought a Wii (well, Jr and I split the cost of the Wii, which I subsequently sold my half of the ownership later for a PSP). When I finally got my PS3 about 6 months later, I loved it. But Sony was having major problems getting them into homes. Why? Surprise, surprise! The price was just too high for a console. Now it’s 2009, they have dropped the price all the way to $400, but Microsoft has dropped the gimped 360 (no HDD) down to $200, which is even lower than the "non competing" Wii. Sony has actually done quite well, but they still need to sell more consoles. They have refused to drop the price and rumors run rampant about price drops at every gaming conference only to leave us disappointed. The PS3 Slim rumors also indicated an imminent price drop, but we have yet to see or read anything solid about it. Sony has even had the manufacturing costs cut down 70%  and still no price drop. Now why am I mentioning all these things about price? Won’t games be Sonys savior? The first year Sony struggled with third party support and even their first party development houses where taking a while to pump out games. However, the last couple of years, quality games have not been a problem. Last year in 2008, they had Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance 2, Motor Storm Pacific Rift, Little Big Planet, SOCOM Confrontation which are just some exclusives. 2009 is shaping up to be even better! So what’s the problem? The price! As consumers we want a price drop right now, but we do need to understand Sony’s side of it. They were losing tons of money when the PS3 first released and only now have to cut cost. They obviously want to make a profit off the console especially considering that it doesn’t seem that they are making tons of money off of peripherals like they did in previous generations. They are also not making tons of money on software because the games don’t sell was well as they do on the 360 and even the first party games don’t sell well initially like Gears of War or Halo, but some seem to have legs. Microsoft, although they seem to be slowing down, has been extremely successful. Their strategy of releasing first worked gaining a big lead and the trust of third parties. Nintendo went a different route catering to the casual crowd a bit more and trying to appeal to everyone. This strategy has been genius and a moneymaker for them. So what can save Sony? They have the games and really seem to have reacquired the trust of third parties. Really, the only thing that can save them is a price drop. But the question is: is it too late to make up the lost lead? Is it too late to make the PS3 the monster of a success that the PSOne and PS2 were? Is it too late to make the PS3 into the centerpiece of the living room like they hoped? We’ll just have to be patient and see what happens in the next few years.

Edwin

Second opinion:

While it's true that Sony isn't the power house it once was they still have a plenty of things to be excited about. Their fall line up is looking mighty impressive with titles such as Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, Beatles Rockband and a whole lot more, but first they need to send Mr. Iwata a fruit basket for proving to the video game industry that you don't always need bigger and better be a success. Sure, not every console is going to be a game changer nor is every console going to be the market leader.What you can do is cater to your audience, Sony has seemed to forget that the people that made them such a wild success bought their console once it was bargain priced. Once the PS2 and PSone reached the sub $179.99 price the systems blew up to astronomical proportions sending the install base sky high and as a result made it easier for developers to make money on their platforms. It's almost as if history is repeating itself. The PS3 is in many ways Sonys N64, coming off two successful platforms while taking their sweet time putting the third into stores and at the same time making hard for developers to make money on their respective platforms. That wasn't Nintendos only problem but we'll save that for a different article. To answer Edwins question, "Is it too late for Sony to become dominate?" The answer is an obvious "Hell yes". If Sony wants to make money on this console and their next console they will need to become a lot more creative with their pricing and console R&D in the future. We will discuss this along with many other video game and sports topics on our weekly podcast. Stay tuned.

Jr.