Sony had a very strong image for CE devices. It also didn't sell well out of the gate. 5 million in first year. Sony did a stellar marketing campaign to reach young-adults with their cool and edgy image.
I think need to manage your retrospective expectations :sly: Remember that the PS1 was only available in Japan (December 1994) for the first nine months and it launched a week later than SEGA's Saturn. There was few notable games in the first nine months other than Tekken 2.
Arguably (and I will argue it) the US/European launch (September 1995) was when solid games began to appear as that brought system quality system-differentiating exclusives Ridge Racer and Crash Bandicoot and some notable games that some folks associate with PlayStation but which were multiplatform like Wipeout (also on PC, Nintendo N64 and Saturn) and Resident Evil (PC, Saturn, DS) and Bust-a-Move (Saturn). Plus the predictable annual franchises like Madden and NBA. I always assumed it took Sony a little while to convince publishers to take a risk investing in PlayStation in addition to,
or instead of, Saturn and N64.
I don't remember any edgy commercials, I remember them just being goofy or weird. You can see some of the the early commercials on the
PlayStation website.
Indeed. What they bought was the idea of PS4 being the best place to play games based on its presence and the wider peer-endorsed culture.
I think you're hugely overthinking this. I really doubt many people really thought "wow PS4
is the best place to play games" rather than "it has some cool games and is affordable, plus <insert friends names> have one". I genuinely don't know anybody who buys into marketing so absolutely.
Adult games isn't part of the argument. To reach the widest audience, Sony needs to sell to adults and children/families. I'm saying it doesn't have the family appeal because it doesn't have the brand awareness/image as a kid-friendly console.
I'm confused by this. Could you explain what you think Nintendo has/does image-wise and what Sony/PlayStation does not? You've used "kids and families", "kid-friendly" and "family appeal" and I'm struggling work out what you mean. From my perspective neither is more family-friendly than the other, actually well the Switch is less because as a family we consume Netflix content and Switch can't do that, but swinging back to just games, they're really much of a muchness.
Which is where I entered this. Years back you could say Nintendo was family friendly and what people really meant was "safe and wholesome for kids", i.e. there were zero adult games (sexual content) and few mature games and the ones which did exist got almost no advertising or promotion from Nintendo and thus Nintendo's reputation as kid/family-friendly was established despite games like Resident Evil being on most Nintendo consoles. But modern Nintendo is a very different beast which is I why think the image is dated.
If you can nail down what you mean, it would help.
As you have a child and play games with them, obviously you can cite the library of games you play, but I argue that it's not what the PS4 is known for, don't represent the best selling titles on it (eg. Tearway isn't a game millions of children are wanting to play), and aren't at all comparable to the family-focussed offerings of NSW and PS2. Heck, those games are all variations on the same theme - third person action games. What if someone doesn't like that style of game? What other options are there. Karting games? Kid-friendly 'shooter' (Splatoon)? Building interactive cardboard things? Pokémon?
Cats and Dogs?
When you say "that is not what the PS4 is known for" what you're really saying is "I don't know how people who are not like me are using their consoles" - simply because you have no visibility of it. And why would you? But how is that any different on the Switch?
As a parent, the Lego games are absolutely amazing in co-op and like a good Disney film, the humour usually works on two levels. PS4 being around longer, it has a lot more Lego games than Switch but we do have Lego City Undercover on Switch. And yes, for the most part the games she likes are all third-person action games, but don't hate on what kids like. Tearaway was a PS+ freebie a long time, which she played about a year old I think. I don't know if you have kids but they develop/learn quickly and it's a constant battle to find new ways to engage with them and keep that learning fire burning. One minute it's new and shiny then it's old and she's looking for something new to do and learn. Most of the games she likes are traditionally very kid-friendly - bright and vibrant visuals for example.
We have Mario Kart 8D on Switch, which we are both rubbish at but you are seemingly unaware that there are almost always karts racers. Specifically on PlayStation there has been Crash Team Racing (new and old), Little Big Planet Karting, ModNation Racers, Nickelodeon Kart Racers, Team Sonic Racing.- I even remember a Wacky Racers one too years ago. Shooters are tricky when at her age, she couldn't play Splatoon as Nintendo have the rating set to E10+. Fortnite is a 12. As for practical/crafting/building stuff, she doesn't need a console to do that - she has so much Lego and there there is Minecraft which universal for kids. She struggles with redstone but mostly because she can't think of applications for it.
When you have young kids, the Switch suddenly becomes really quite limited. If you create kid accounts on both stores and see what's available, the PS4 is by far the better option because it's got six years worth of games. There's dross on both consoles and once you exclude this from Switch, it's slim pickings I assure you. PS4 still has tons of quality content.
Anybody recommending a Switch to somebody with a young child is doing them a disservice. It's the recommendation of somebody who has not looked at what content is available on Switch compared to its competition.
PS2 was that family-focussed console, with something for everyone. Nowadays, that console is NSW. Nintendo set out to create a product to be that console, while Sony set out to create a hardcore console for core gamers.
What is it that PS2 and Switch has that PS4 does not? What type of games, what type of appeal? Can you define this appeal? Who is making up this family? I just don't get it.
My family does not fit your model and we're not an atypical family in any way.
