compres said:
90 Mill is a bit of inflated number since a lot of the sales have being either slimmer pstwo's and replacement for faulty ps2's, which are a bunch. Just to be fear I dont have exact numbers either.
They have sold over 90M -- well over now actually. I have a hard time believing 10M people went out and bought a 2nd PS2 just to get a smaller one.
Yes some PS2s broke, others are not being used, and others have been replaced with new shinier models. But if you do that to the PS2 you MUST do that to the 22M Xbox consoles.
It is just a lot easier to focus on units sold.
Dev support can change in one generation, just look at the snes-ps1 transition. I am thinking about the impact of head starts, as the ps1 had a head start, just like the ps2. This is the first time sony is not starting ahead of the pack in sales. lets see how this works out for them.
Sony already has over 100 games in development in Japan. I will assume that the 25 EA games slated for the Xbox 360 are all coming to the PS3. Activision will surely support the PS3.
• MS has more dev support in 2005 than they did in 2000
• MS will have more games available in 2006 when the PS3 launches
MS is also a known quantity now (i.e. Xbox is not just a PC trojan). That said, I don't see Sony's support vaporizing. It is there, it is coming. Don't count out Sony: they will only be behind in sales due to release date. They have better support from JP/EU and have the minds of many gamers.
Sony has a slew of system sellers: GTA, MGS, GT, etc. Having more games is not enough--you need the GOOD games.
I prefered MS's e3 to sony's super hype machine at wortk.(Dont get me wrong, I dont like M$, but prerendered stuff on sony's part was cheak as fuck.) If the fanboi's enjoy watching videos thats fine, not me. Realtime for me, or nothing, thanks.
An important factor in evaluating something in terms of a market is to take your OWN opinion out of it. As a hardcore gamer I was not impressed with Sony's show (less I DID want to see a 150minute KZ movie! drooool).
But MS's was very weak. The good PDZ footage was locked up. PGR3 was a no show. GOW did not get the focus it needed. Ruby demo was not shown. A ton of games were a mess--either looking like Xbox ports OR with horrible framerates.
Sony presented a vision that people drooled over. MS made people confused. I liked MS's show--I liked a couple games they showed a LOT. But you cannot deny fan impressions: people got geeked out by the Sony vision.
The power of marketing is important. I think MS has too many monkey's working in the advertising board room.
I agree with it being good an all, but a 90+million units sold this generation is quite difficult. I'm on the wait and see side, again, sony does not have the head start for the first time in their console bussiness.
They had the DC last gen, which they squashed, and were head to head with the SS in Japan/US with PS1 (actually, SS launched earlier in the US, my friends brother picked one up not too long after E3).
Yes, MS has a lead, and probably a decent one in the US/EU. But that lead means nothing if NOT capitolized on. What games are gonna sell systems in that lead period? Of MS does not supply a killer title, all Sony needs to do is say KZ and MGS will be available on launch day 2006.
Well, what tidal wave are we talking about? You make it seem that it is nearly impossible to beat sony in this bussiness. I would have said the same about nintendo in the nes/snes era.
Nintendo did some stupid things from the perspective in winning the most console sales.
But alas--consoles sales are not everything. Nintendo has stood up well to Sony in console profits with 1/4 the market.
And yes, I don't think I have seen any mistakes from Sony or moves by MS that make me think MS can topple the Sony lead. Dent it? Maybe. Hurt Sony's profits? Yes, I see that. MS grow install base? Yes.
But pass Sony in total console sales? Heh.
They just don't have the system sellers yet. MS has Halo. Sony has a slew of killer name brand titles.
MS's portfolio is growing and looking better every day, but it is an uphill battle. I would feel more confident in MS if they had a killer advertising platform and message/image. They have had some killer material (Ruby, GOW, PGR3) that I feel they have under exposed and not pushed correctly.
I think MS needs new people to run their console image. Allard being "cool" is nothing. Balmar screaming, "Developers! Developers! Developer!" is waaaay to geeky. They are out of touch I think with what gamers want in an *advertising* sense. I think they make good games, but they are not marketing them.
And in this industry the most important thing is getting games to people. Sony has a way of making devs happy and then getting games from devs to gamers.
MS wont fail this gen, but toppling Sony seems like Mt. Everest.
