Sony confirms plans to launch PS3 in Spring 2006 (U.S.)
- Thread starter Kolgar
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I think the term "killer app" is beind overused here. I can't think of any console that had 3 killer apps at launch. I'm not even sure that's possible because they'll end up competing with each other for sales and not attaining the "killer" attachment ratio.
Take the Xbox launch for instance. Halo was the killer app while DOA3 and PGR were good 2nd tier titles. It took till Splinter Cell to get another killer app on the Xbox.
Anyway, if any system had 3-5 killer apps at launch, I'd expect that system to blow the doors off the market. But I would expect only 1 per system.
Take the Xbox launch for instance. Halo was the killer app while DOA3 and PGR were good 2nd tier titles. It took till Splinter Cell to get another killer app on the Xbox.
Anyway, if any system had 3-5 killer apps at launch, I'd expect that system to blow the doors off the market. But I would expect only 1 per system.
jvd, see my earlier comment about Sony consoles vs. Sony portables.
Sony is established in home consoles - no, it's UTTERLY DOMINANT in them. Of course a third iteration of a PlayStation home console is going to generate much more excitement and many more sales than Sony's first foray into the portable market.
Sony is established in home consoles - no, it's UTTERLY DOMINANT in them. Of course a third iteration of a PlayStation home console is going to generate much more excitement and many more sales than Sony's first foray into the portable market.
Well that depends on how many units are available, it's not an absolute... It's still pretty much a PITA to find a PSP here...
Anyways a lot of this speculation that's going on is going off the assumption that everything is going to be hunky dory and launches rarely go hunky dory...
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Sony should launch when their hardware and games are ready. Period. There's no real mystery to it IMO. As long as they can keep up with demand (for the most part) and put out games that look good against X360, then they will be fine with PS3.
> "Launching a console in the U.S. after the critical holiday season is suicide. When was the last post-holiday console launch?"
Are you suggesting that Sony launch in the spring is equivalent to SEGA launching in the same period?
Sony will easily sell tons of systems in the spring to a large enough hardcore mass to sustain their factories till the following fall to sell to the general masses.
Are you suggesting that Sony launch in the spring is equivalent to SEGA launching in the same period?
Sony will easily sell tons of systems in the spring to a large enough hardcore mass to sustain their factories till the following fall to sell to the general masses.
So if the Xbox launched with SSBM, Halo and GT3, Halo still would have sold as well as it did?speng said:
Laa-Yosh nailed it.
I think Sony's priority (at least in the U.S.) has to be to hobble Microsoft before it can build significant momentum. They cannot allow 360 to catch fire in this market, because if it does, Sony may never be able to slow it down.
Sony must attempt this even at the risk of a less-than-ideal launch for PS3. Given their dominant market position, they can afford to come out stumbling a little. But I'm not sure they can allow MS to reach a full sprint before PS3 even leaves the gate.
Despite what Sony says, I think they realize how important it is to react to a competitor's moves. They do not want to risk losing the top spot because it's damn hard to take back once it's gone.
I think Sony's priority (at least in the U.S.) has to be to hobble Microsoft before it can build significant momentum. They cannot allow 360 to catch fire in this market, because if it does, Sony may never be able to slow it down.
Sony must attempt this even at the risk of a less-than-ideal launch for PS3. Given their dominant market position, they can afford to come out stumbling a little. But I'm not sure they can allow MS to reach a full sprint before PS3 even leaves the gate.
Despite what Sony says, I think they realize how important it is to react to a competitor's moves. They do not want to risk losing the top spot because it's damn hard to take back once it's gone.
TheMightyPuck
Newcomer
Laa-Yosh said:Sony can announce whatever launch date they want, and then delay it as much as they have to. Their highest priority now is to keep people from spending their $300 on an Xbox360 until their own hardware can finally ship. At least IMHO
DING!!! Tell him what he's won...
MechanizedDeath
Regular
Launch dates have an impact on Sony's earnings forecasts. They can only take so many liberties with bogus launches. PEACE.
Shark Sandwich
Regular
I also agree with Laa-Yosh. Sony will launch as soon as they possibly can, and I doubt they care whether there are any games on the PS3 worth playing at launch.
Remember what they did with PS2. They had people convinced "Hey don't buy Dreamcast! PS2 will be out soon, and it can render FF VIII's dance scene, the FF movie face, and Ridge Racer girl in real time! We're not even allowed to export it because it's a supercomputer!" Then, PS2 launched with games like Evergrace, Eternal Ring, and Fantavision. Still, people were paying over 600 bucks for a PS2 on Ebay that holiday season.
Most hardcore gamers (myself included) were content with our Dreamcasts, which had some damn good games by that time. Still, PS2 slaughtered the DC with pure hype.
Remember what they did with PS2. They had people convinced "Hey don't buy Dreamcast! PS2 will be out soon, and it can render FF VIII's dance scene, the FF movie face, and Ridge Racer girl in real time! We're not even allowed to export it because it's a supercomputer!" Then, PS2 launched with games like Evergrace, Eternal Ring, and Fantavision. Still, people were paying over 600 bucks for a PS2 on Ebay that holiday season.
Most hardcore gamers (myself included) were content with our Dreamcasts, which had some damn good games by that time. Still, PS2 slaughtered the DC with pure hype.
mckmas8808
Legend
And some good games. Sony still has the leg up on MS as far as selling consoles is concerned. They have sold almost double in the U.S. as MS has in the world.
Don't some of you understand the power and respect that Sony has in this console thing?
This time around sony can't lie , they have a strong rival in the market . Ms is going to hit like a hurricane with advertising and games plastering x360 everwhere during the holiday and all the news channels will be reporting that its the hot new toy . Sony launching in march no matter what you say about the psp is a bad move .
Do you honestly think that if sony launched the ps2 with the horrible games that it had for the japense launch here that march instead they would have crushed the dc like they did ?
Sony can stumble and making to many mistakes will hurt them .
Instead of sony trying to counter ms they need to go off on thier own .
Do you honestly think that if sony launched the ps2 with the horrible games that it had for the japense launch here that march instead they would have crushed the dc like they did ?
Sony can stumble and making to many mistakes will hurt them .
Instead of sony trying to counter ms they need to go off on thier own .
Shark Sandwich
Regular
mckmas8808 said:
Like what? The only good games I recall at PS2's launch were Tekken Tag Tournament and Ridge Racer 5. Maybe there were a few other good ones too but not many.
My point was, there are some people in this thread saying that which ever console has the best games is going to sell the best. PS2 is a counter-argument to that. It seems like pretty much every hardcore gamer agreed that Dreamcast had a much better selection of games when the PS2 came out, yet that did nothing for them.
I would argue that it doesn't really matter which console has better games. It doesn't even matter when PS3 launches! What matters is whether Sony is able to convince the general public that their system is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition in terms of technology, regardless of whether it's true or not, like they did with Dreamcast. Just look at what people are arguing about now. All I see is which one does more "dot products", floating point performance, memory bandwith, etc. It seems that people at this point are more concerned with which one is going to be more powerful, regardless of whether they have any understanding of the hardware.
scooby_dooby
Legend
mckmas8808 said:
Don't you understand how quickly gamers will ditch a console and move to another? People forget man, the casual gamer that makes up most of the market just wants the coolest system, that basically comes down to games.
They want the games, whichever system delivers the best/most games, and has the best/most marketing will win. 360 has a headstart, and deeper pockets, sony seems to have the media on their side, we'll see how it all goes down.
There's no way Sony will launch in March, it just doesn't add up to me. It's a terrible time of the year, they have no games to show, 2x blu-ray drives are still very new/expensive, the RSX GPU is still in production, I just don't see it.
Of course they can't tell gamers that it will be a FULL YEAR after the X360 launch cause that will just turn people off, and they'll switch camps. Who wants to wait a year while all these cool games are coming out?
So, Sony has no choice but to pretend they'll launch soon after, possibly holding people off from buying a 360 during the holoiday season. Then when march comes, push it back another 6 months and hope most of those people will wait a little longer. It's like sleazy marketing 101.
I'm just glad I don't have to wait till Q4 2006 to play a next gen console...can I get an AMEN?
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
The hardcore don't matter in the end. DC had better games, but not ones that mattered to the average gamer. Where was Madden? Where was MGS2? GT? etc... Sega had no franchises of worth in the marketplace.
This time is different because MS has solid support from the likes of EA, Activision (Quake 4 for example), etc... and a few good franchises of their own like PGR, PD, and Halo.
I agree that Sony can't let MS have a whole year in the US to themselves. It's one thing to let X360 launch with some decent games like PDZ, Kameo, PGR3, Madden 360, etc... and quite another to let the likes of Halo 3 and Gears of War hit the market before the PS3 is even out.
Sony needs to get their hardware out there. It will sell out even without good games and will allow them to keep pace with MS before their good games hit.
One thing is for sure, if PS3 launches with crap games then you will know that Sony was scared of the X360 pre-emptive launch strategy and felt they had to launch no matter what. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
This time is different because MS has solid support from the likes of EA, Activision (Quake 4 for example), etc... and a few good franchises of their own like PGR, PD, and Halo.
I agree that Sony can't let MS have a whole year in the US to themselves. It's one thing to let X360 launch with some decent games like PDZ, Kameo, PGR3, Madden 360, etc... and quite another to let the likes of Halo 3 and Gears of War hit the market before the PS3 is even out.
Sony needs to get their hardware out there. It will sell out even without good games and will allow them to keep pace with MS before their good games hit.
One thing is for sure, if PS3 launches with crap games then you will know that Sony was scared of the X360 pre-emptive launch strategy and felt they had to launch no matter what. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
mckmas8808
Legend
Sony won't launch without some great games. I know that they can't just put out a system with 2 good games and beat MS. Sony is smarter than some people here are giving them credit for.
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