Sony's 2006 dissapointment timeline - GOTDAYUM.

[Undercover Cop]

(Click here for the news links)

Feb. 27th, 2006 - Sony misses it's Spring launch date

May 8th, 2006 - Sony holds it's E3 conference announcing the pricing of the PS3 at $600/$500
May 8th, 2006 - New PS3 controller will have six degrees of motion, but no rumble feature. Sony's Phil Harrison states that rumble was last gen and no longer needed.
May 31st, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison denies copying the Wiimote and states that the PS3 will replace the PC

Sept 6th, 2006 - PS3 is delayed in Europe until March 2007
Sept 6th, 2006 - PS3 launch shipment is cut from 2 million to 400,000 in the US (100,000 to Japan)
Sept 8th, 2006 - Sony's President admits that the company's hardware is in a current state of decline
Sept 26th, 2006 - PS3 first-party titles announced to be the same price as third party titles, at $59.99
Sept 26th, 2006 - Square Enix will not exclusively support Sony's PS3 as much as they did with the PS2.
Sept 29th, 2006 - Sony's President Ken Kutaragi states that his company does not care about the Xbox 360 and Wii competition.

October 12th, 2006 - Sony Exec calls the 360 and Wii "too expensive"
October 19th, 2006 - The infamous spec sheet comparison and how Sony claims the Xbox 360 requires HD-DVD to play games
October 20th, 2006 - Announced that Sony may have to replace your PS3 controller for you after it no longer holds charge
October 24th, 2006 - Sony sinks Lik-Sang
October 26th, 2006 - Sony's Q2 profits decrease by 94%
October 28th, 2006 - Sony president Ken Kutaragi said he expects the PS3 to be capable of running games at a stunning 120fps
October 30th, 2006 - PS3 will push Sony $1.71 billion into the red
October 31st, 2006 - Japan launch of the PS3 is cut to 80,000 units

Nov 8th, 2006 - Sony ships without update. You must update your PS3 out of the box in order to use PlayStation Network
Nov 9th, 2006 - NBA Live 2007 is cancelled on the PS3
Nov 9th, 2006 - Oblivion is pushed back from launch title to Jan 2007
Nov 10th, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison states that he can no longer confirm a March 2007 launch for Europe
Nov 11th, 2006 - PS3 launches in Japan and rewards few
Nov 11th, 2006 - Sony unprepared for Japan launch
Nov 14th, 2006 - Sony will miss 400,000 unit target for the US. Approx 150k to 200k will be shipped for launch
Nov 14th, 2006 - PS3 has backwards compatibility problems
Nov 16th, 2006 - PS3 downscales 720p games instead of upscaling to 1080i
Nov 16th, 2006 - Sony's Jack Tretton comments on the PS3 BC problems and states that the Wii has 0 backwards compatibility
Nov 20, 2006 - NYT not impressed with PS3
Nov 21, 2006 - PS3, PSP Rainbow Six held till '07
Nov 23, 2006 - Saving Sony, one console at a time
Nov 26, 2006 - More PS3 exclusives head to 360
Nov 26, 2006 - Bloomberg: Sony missed PS3 ship targets
Nov 30, 2006 - Sony shuffles senior execs
Nov 30, 2006 - Analyst: "I cannot imagine a PlayStation 4"

Dec 4, 2006 - Sony Australia: Wii "More Fun" than PS3
Dec 8, 2006 - Court rules for Immersion; Sony to pay up
Dec 11, 2006 - Industry watchers weigh in on "record-low tie ratios" for Wii and PS3 and other results from the month of the new systems' debut.
Dec 19, 2006 - Time says PS3 was a bust
Dec 21, 2006 - Virtua Fighter 5 dukes it out on Xbox 360
Dec 21, 2006 - Sony filed a patent for wiimote style hand-held controler

 

[Shark Sandwich]

This won't last long.

 

[Fu3lFr3nzy]

This won't last long.

Thats not the point though

2006 just wasnt Sony's year, thats all (though this statement can be argued )

 

[Capeta]

Dec 8, 2006 - Court rules for Immersion; Sony to pay up

I guess I missed that one. How much does SONY have to pay?

 

[Acert93]

In of itself the list isn't bad. Actually helps me out as I have been working on some end of year reviews for each of the companies. Obviously 2006 had a lot of frustration for Sony with delays more delays, shortages and more shortages, software sliding, and so forth. 2007 should be a MUCH better year for Sony. I cannot really see it being any worse. Of course the PS3 got out the door so that is what really matters. All this other stuff is pretty irrelevant now. The focus is now games and services.

 

[Acert93]

I guess I missed that one. How much does SONY have to pay?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6116423.html

Immersion sued the joy out of Sony's sticks back in 2002; new court ruling forces Sony to pay almost $27 million annually to the technology maker.

...

San Jose-based Immersion, which owns the patent on technology used for the rumble feature in Sony's Dual Shock controllers, successfully sued the electronics giant for patent infringement in 2002. A jury ordered Sony to pay Immersion $82 million for three years' worth of damages.
On Monday, a California judge ordered Sony to pay Immersion a licensing fee of 1.37 percent per quarter based on the sales of PlayStation units, Dual Shock controllers, and a selection of PlayStation 2 games that use Immersion's technology.

 

[Gholbine]

Not that I insinuate that the OP is an "Undercover" anything, but at least half of that list is grasping at straws, and has nothing to do with disappointment for Sony.

 

[Nesh]

Its a pointless thread that shows only the bad, overemphasizes on some events and avoids the positive,

 

[rabidrabbit]

Don't quite get how all these can be classified as "disappointments" or even negative, many are also blown totally out of proportion.
I guess you need certainly tinted glasses...

For example:

May 31st, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison denies copying the Wiimote and states that the PS3 will replace the PC

Sept 26th, 2006 - PS3 first-party titles announced to be the same price as third party titles, at $59.99

October 19th, 2006 - The infamous spec sheet comparison and how Sony claims the Xbox 360 requires HD-DVD to play games

- - - so, when MS does a spec sheet comparison in form of "a technical analysis" in the Major Nelson's blog, it's all right, as is them saying "DVD is enough".

October 28th, 2006 - Sony president Ken Kutaragi said he expects the PS3 to be capable of running games at a stunning 120fps

Nov 8th, 2006 - Sony ships without update. You must update your PS3 out of the box in order to use PlayStation Network

Nov 30, 2006 - Sony shuffles senior execs

Some of the lines are downright obvious and more or less the same with the competitors too:

October 20th, 2006 - Announced that Sony may have to replace your PS3 controller for you after it no longer holds charge

- - - yeah, or you'd need to buy a replacement battery which isn't quite cheap either, and the expected SIXAXIS battery life isd long enough this is very much a non-issue

Sept 29th, 2006 - Sony's President Ken Kutaragi states that his company does not care about the Xbox 360 and Wii competition.

Dec 21, 2006 - Sony filed a patent for wiimote style hand-held controler

Most of them are the teething problems pretty much every console faces at launch. Games delayed!?!?!?! Launch supplies limited!!!!!1?! OMG!!!1!1!!! This is the F1RST, every other console must have got perfect marks on these issues, SURELY!!

 

[StefanS]

I fail to see the relevance of this thread. Honestly, if you want to discuss bad / good management practises, this could / should be done in a far better manner. As it is this is just too close to being trollish. Moreover, I'd fear we'd import the GS discussion and its style in here. Thus locked.