Business Approach Comparison Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox

[Tap In]

Why does everything have to come back to Xbox?

I just find it ironic that some here on B3D aren't able to dredge up an inkling of desire for a box that's less expensive and more powerful over another, and then proceed to spread around some fine spin.

P.S. I don't know if you fit into this category, nor am I insinuating you're in there.

If PS4 was getting Forza 5, titanfall, Halo, Project Spark and had voice control, fast game swapping, tv pass-through and was moving to a digital eco-system... I absolutely would have pre-ordered that instead and save the $100

 

[Gradthrawn]

I apologize. I was annoyed. it actually had nothing to do with you.

that said. Digital downloads have been and will continue to overtake and replace blu ray sales as early as next year (according to the sourced article).

apologies again.

Holy crap. I was expecting a full on rage response. Instead I get calm reasoning. I'm... I'm a bit disappointed.

In all seriousness, as a heavy digital streaming user myself, I can see the trend towards online consumption through my own habits along with the trends reported in the media (like in the article you linked to). The people like me who also want the original high quality BD (in my case ISO's streamed over the local network) for their main movie experience may well continue to fall into the minority, particularly as streaming quality continues to improve and BB access continues to spread. However, that is a long way from being dead. Further, beyond raw sales volume, being dead would intrinsically (to me at least) imply a lack of profitability and therefore risk of being largely abandoned and unavailable. That was my main issue with such a statement being made (particularly in the present tense) without any source to back it up.

That said, thank you for the apology and calm reasoned response.

 

[Xenus]

It is almost as if Microsoft went through India spreading foot and mouth disease amongst the sacred cows. They aren't the only game in town so why must there be such a controversy when all people have to do is vote with their feet and choose an alternative they do like. This whole thing is truly irrational and thinking about things from their perspective it does seem like something they have agonised over internally for quite some time. In the end it is their box and if you buy their box you sign up to their terms for as long as you choose to use their box. It seems like the biggest fear for a lot of people is that other people will like the Xbox One so they are doing their hardest to try to sway opinion elsewhere. I remember similar things happening with Apple and Google between their respective smart-phone platforms.



The console platform has always seemed to have been stuck in the middle. The business decision to include Kinect for instance makes sense in a context that you can't just keep running away/towards the Red Queen. They can make the box more powerful, but never enough to satisfy the hardcore and they can never make the system cheap enough to satisfy the low end of the market. The only way I can see out of the dilemma is to make the system *useful* in other ways: they can't just make the system able to play movies because *everything* does that; they can't satisfy the hardcore gamer, nor keep the casual gamer enthralled. Their answer is of course the Xbox One, but time will tell if it is indeed the right one. I think they may be onto something which could be the reason why people are so offended by the system.

The answer here is there a reason people want to see the Xbone fail. It's not so much that Microsoft may have a winner or that they hate Microsoft though. It's much simpler then that. They abhor the Xbone's policies and what it is. DRM and media box that seemingly put media capabilities as a equal or more important par then gaming. However like we are seeing with PS+ this gen... If Microsoft reaches superiority or even parity it is likely these policies will continue on into the future and even possibly be adopted by the competition. So if someone doesn't want to see that they locally root for the Xbone to crash and burn. Aka show Microsoft their policies are wrong and lead them to ruin...

 

[blakjedi]

The only drm policy that MS is getting totally wrong is the "your device wont play games if you beyond 24 hers" check in. That's real fuckery imho.

In my other house half hour away, my internet has been down for almost two weeks. The cable company hasn't figured out the cause yet (Comcast in Maryland sucks).

I would be pissed to have a $500 gaming machine not work for its intended purpose just because it didn't check in.

Everything else I can live with.

 

[blakjedi]

Holy crap. I was expecting a full on rage response. Instead I get calm reasoning. I'm... I'm a bit disappointed.

In all seriousness, as a heavy digital streaming user myself, I can see the trend towards online consumption through my own habits along with the trends reported in the media (like in the article you linked to). The people like me who also want the original high quality BD (in my case ISO's streamed over the local network) for their main movie experience may well continue to fall into the minority, particularly as streaming quality continues to improve and BB access continues to spread. However, that is a long way from being dead. Further, beyond raw sales volume, being dead would intrinsically (to me at least) imply a lack of profitability and therefore risk of being largely abandoned and unavailable. That was my main issue with such a statement being made (particularly in the present tense) without any source to back it up.

That said, thank you for the apology and calm reasoned response.

No problem. My mother in law fell ill this evening and I was on the phone with my wife at the time I read your response and got frustrated. Things happen. Nothing to do with you.

I stream almost exclusively through xbmc running on appletv. I used to download through newsgroups etc and store and stream from my pc using a plex client. Out the window. Even on my ps3, I haven't bought a physical bluray in years.

 

[Bagel seed]

You think the advent of Siri and voice recognition on Kinect is not going to outlast freaking bluray? Logic should rule posting sometimes.

What do those things have to do with Bluray..? I'm not sure what you're arguing anymore.

This thread seems to be all about personal preferences anyways. Yawn.

 

[eastmen]

The answer here is there a reason people want to see the Xbone fail. It's not so much that Microsoft may have a winner or that they hate Microsoft though. It's much simpler then that. They abhor the Xbone's policies and what it is. DRM and media box that seemingly put media capabilities as a equal or more important par then gaming. However like we are seeing with PS+ this gen... If Microsoft reaches superiority or even parity it is likely these policies will continue on into the future and even possibly be adopted by the competition. So if someone doesn't want to see that they locally root for the Xbone to crash and burn. Aka show Microsoft their policies are wrong and lead them to ruin...

It makes me laugh that people flock to sony , do they forget what sony is ? With the psone they introduced money hatting and bought their way into the industry by buying exlcusives .

Sony introduced the ps 2 which for the first year was primarly a dvd player .

Sony delayed their ps3 a year and priced it crazy high with poor specs to include bluray.

Sony is the one that has set a precedence for adding unwanted features at the expense of their own plans.


The xbox one wont crash and burn it will lead everyone kicking and screaming into the future and by the end of this generation people will be wondering why they ever bought discs and had to get up and change them.

Its the same thing that's happening now. Bluray is slowing and streaming is taking over. Cds are dead and even dd is falling to the way side for streaming music.

All the industries are changing and people are saying they don't want the old ways anymore. They want to buy once and use every where.

MS is releasing the ipod and Sony is still screwing around with discman's and mini disc as far as I'm concerned when looking at the two consoles and their featuers and games.

 

[blakjedi]

What do those things have to do with Bluray..? I'm not sure what you're arguing anymore.

This thread seems to be all about personal preferences anyways. Yawn.

You have to read Xalions post and then my response to get the context of conversation. He found bluray to be more compelling as a feature than anything announced in the Xbox one. I think digital downloads and voice control are and will both be bigger than blue ray ever was.

That's the business comparison. IPhone 4 sold a shit ton because of the inclusion of Siri. Kinect 1 sold 24 million units and had voice controlled activation... there is clearly a market for that.

 

[Tap In]

The only drm policy that MS is getting totally wrong is the "your device wont play games if you beyond 24 hers" check in. That's real fuckery imho.

In my other house half hour away, my internet has been down for almost two weeks. The cable company hasn't figured out the cause yet (Comcast in Maryland sucks).

I would be pissed to have a $500 gaming machine not work for its intended purpose just because it didn't check in.

Everything else I can live with.

smartphone connection? once a day, they said it would be kilobytes of data exchanged. they need to have an app that runs on your phone or log in on xbox.com so your smartphone can do a simple wifi connect and let XB1 authenticate

 

[Cranky]

This argument I can support and understand. It's a well found argument and deserves a conversation.

I'm talking about quotes such as these.



And unless my eyes fail me there was not a single mention of kinect or pseye in this quote.

Context is your friend. Why you can't understand that launching at $399 is a bad idea FOR SONY shareholders.

 

[blakjedi]

smartphone connection? once a day, they said it would be kilobytes of data exchanged. they need to have an app that runs on your phone or log in on xbox.com so your smartphone can do a simple wifi connect and let XB1 authenticate

Yeah I read that on gi... that's still lame. People have to be tech wizards to play a freaking videogame. Its just not worth it. Even if they just said no new games I'd be okay... but no gaming after just 24hrs? Bah

 

[dobwal]

What I'm finding amazing is MS is not getting in front of their bad press. This is not the MS of 2004-2007. I'm not even sure who they are targeting anymore. I think One is a great idea in design. But, they have to win over the gadget heads and the walmart moms early. More expensive and less powerful is a lose/lose on both those fronts. Even talking about used games now is dumb. The only common thread in every console race is the domino effect. When you're behind in perception or sales you have to work twice as hard to catch up, not stick to your losing strategy.

If One is going to be a media delivery hub, what does it matter to lose $100+ now. Each unit is a potential cash machine for 6+ years. They have to realize perception is reality. They may have a better plan and design, but they have to still remember who owns the living room. We got two people sitting on our steps. PS4 is asking nicely to come in, offering seemingly more for less. The other is a quiet arrogant prick saying they may seem to be offering less for more but once in you'll see.

I don't have anything against MS. I know its trendy to bash the One. But they're not exactly making a compelling fight.

Why not? If you look around MS is doing interview rounds talking directly about their policy. Their DRM plans have been fluid but we pretty know how their DRM works. Our discussion isn't dominated by policies that MS tried to sneak past us.

Soccer moms do not readily sit down and research consoles over the internet 5 months before launch. The mainstream is mostly educated by sales people or a manufacturer's website. So thats a matter of MS taking steps to ensure their policies are well described and that retailers are educated so the customer needs are being met.

 

[eastmen]

Yeah I read that on gi... that's still lame. People have to tech wizards to play a freaking videogame. Its just not worth it. Even if they just said no new games I'd be okay... but no gaming after just 24hrs? Bah

the most likely scenario Is that someone buys an xbox one , brings it home and connects it to their wifi. Afterwards the system sits in the same space for the next 7 to 8 years.

 

[Strange]

Context is your friend. Why you can't understand that launching at $399 is a bad idea FOR SONY shareholders.

If it was bad for Sony shareholders, stocks will directly reflect that.

Go check the stock prices for the day after the announcement, which is June 11.

http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp...Line&q=NYSE:SNE&ntsp=0&ei=VEm5UZmwF8eekgXt7wE

And it appears that shareholders are completely fine with it.
And why exactly do we care about the shareholders again?



Plus you act as if you know they're selling PS4s at a loss, and/or should try to milk every dollar from consumers.

 

[patsu]

Context is your friend. Why you can't understand that launching at $399 is a bad idea FOR SONY shareholders.

Nah... Not over a price. It depends on their overall strategy, and execution.

 

[Rangers]

the most likely scenario Is that someone buys an xbox one , brings it home and connects it to their wifi. Afterwards the system sits in the same space for the next 7 to 8 years.

that's been the case with my 360 the last 8.

and probably everybody posting in this thread's console...

that's why the 24 hr check just doesn't materially effect me...

 

[patsu]

From Xbox One:

- Forza 5, Killer Instinct and Ryse on the public floor.
- Dead Rising non public (only for press) demo.

Heh, no one knows for PS4 ?

Someone mentioned Drive Club, inFamous in the KZ thread. So KZ was not playable ?

I also saw Warframe, Planetside 2 playable in one of the public videos. There must be more (e.g., the indies ?).

Destiny and AC not playable ?


I assume they are all running on devkits ? What are the specs of the devkits ?

 

[Rangers]

Heh, no one knows for PS4 ?

Someone mentioned Drive Club, inFamous in the KZ thread. So KZ was not playable ?

I also saw Warframe, Planetside playable in one of the public videos. There must be more (e.g., the indies ?).

seemed like a whole lot of indies mostly, from what i saw of roving reporters in the ps area of e3.

not exactly the most graphically demanding or desired games by the public...

"Octodad: Dadliest Catch" was there in force I think.

 

[patsu]

seemed like a whole lot of indies mostly, from what i saw of roving reporters in the ps area of e3.

not exactly the most graphically demanding or desired games by the public...

"Octodad: Dadliest Catch" was there in force I think.

There should be big guys too. I suspect you probably didn't bother to look. ^_^

 

[Rangers]

Yeah it's just what I saw when I watched the Gamespot roving reporter in the PS area. Nothing but indies.

I doubt much triple A Xbox One was playable in Xbox area either.