Sony claims to be the market leader in game consoles. This comes right after rumors that Sony might be experiencing its first loss in 14 years. In an interview by Official PlayStation Magazine, Kaz Hirai, head honcho of Sony Computer Entertainment said:
“This is not meant in terms of numbers, or who’s got the biggest install base, or who’s selling most in any particular week or month, but I’d like to think that we continue official leadership in this industry.”
But if it isn’t in terms of those, what is it in terms of? He continued, about the Wii and the Xbox360:
“It’s difficult to talk about Nintendo, because we don’t look at their console as being a competitor. They’re a different world, and we operate in our world – that’s the kind of way I look at things.”
“And with the Xbox – again, I can’t come up with one word to fit. You need a word that describes something that lacks longevity.”
Aaron Greenberg from Microsoft responded to Hirai’s comments:
“This sounds like an old hardware company that’s comfortable with its market position. That complacent attitude is out of touch with where the industry and consumer is today.”
“…I can’t imagine any scenario where the PS3 can catch up with us.”
“In fact, even if you doubled the current PS3 sales and Xbox 360 remained flat, they couldn’t close the gap until 2014.”
So Sony, with its 10 year plan, thinks that longevity is going to win the race for them. I don’t think so. Sony’s stance is understandable: the PS2 still shows strong sales for a console that was released almost 9 years ago and has put them at a favorable position, but when it comes down to it, a business has to make a profit to be successful. With Sony still losing money on every console sold, developers still finding the Cell processor hard to develop for, and overall lower popularity even after a fair amount of time on the market, the PS3 is not doing well.
To me, it looks like a case of complacency by a leading company. Just like the decline of Apple in the early 90s, the troubles of the American automakers after vast success in the mid 20th century, and Nintendo before the Wii. When a company sits on top for too long, they lose sight of the market and as a result lose the ability to compete.
So is the PS3 a failure? No, there are quite a few good games on the PS3, its powerful Cell processor still has a lot of untapped potential, and its made by a corporation that isn’t going to give up anytime soon.
Can we call it the leader though? I don’t think so. Each company has its heyday: Nintendo with its NES, Sony with its PS2. Sony might recover in the next ten years, but until then I think it’s between Nintendo and Microsoft to duke it out for the position of industry leader.
Sony hasn’t had a good launch with the PS3 – I think we all know that with the messed up launch and delays. Only thing that is a wow factor on the PS3 is the Blu Ray capability. Nothing innovative!
Sony hasnt done anything innovative on the PS3 except for the Blu Ray player. The Wii is definitely something different. Didnt Techcrunch run an article that Nintendo Wii captured most of the growth in 2008?
The PS3 only has the BR player going for it, and some decent games, but its greatly overpriced right now for what it offers.
I m tottaly with Sony, they are the leaders. I ve the 3 console, the wii and the xbox360 are moded and I don’t even think of downloading a game and I go and buy the expensive ps3 games.
Count how many consoles had issues with the xbox 360 and how many with sony!! Get feedback on sony customer service and on xbox.
Wii is kids and girls console I got it for my wife.the only problem with sony is its expensive and doesn’t have a lot of titles, but I bet you if it was the same price as xbox, everyone would buy it. And sony doesn’t innovate as much as they don’t release rubbish, when they release something, its 100% working without glitches.
Its like comparing BMW and Hyundai. Hyundai sell millions of cars but BMW is the leader.
Thnx
ash,
first of all, speak english. sorry, your petty car paradigm doesn’t work in comparing game consoles. have fun being number 1 in your own world while everyone else is playing GAMES. you’ll fit right in sony’s little camp.
lmao +1 Here.
You are retarded. BMW is not a leader in cars. In fact they are not even the top German brand.
Personally I have owned the 360 for about a year now and had no issues with the console. I used to be a playstation fan and had 1 and 2 but was not about to shell out extra money to support a format I could care less about in BluRay. Sure some of the games look a bit better, but as you said they have less titles.
With respect to the Article. I “would like to think” that I am the sexiest guy on the planet. But that doesn’t make it true.
Ummm… I own all 3 systems. I find myself playing the xbox360 most of the time with the wii coming in second for parties. When I get on the ps3 and find so few people online, I switch back to 360 where there are always a hell of alot more people on. Kind of makes we wonder actually….
100% working, without glitches… When sony releases a game like that.. let the world know which one it is, because it doesn’t exist yet.
PS3 blue-ray disks are rotting from the blue-lazer and decaying in the air. Ensuring that you HAVE to buy another one to replace it. The optical drives are dieing, which is a higher count than the RROD’s that are manufacture related, not RROD from poor care, and age, or from surges.
Sales are still 1/2 of x-box 360’s sales. RROD is being fixed free, in most events, past the one year warranty, and X-Box has recorded every repair. The units being killed now, is from hack-jobs pretending to repair, but they are only resetting the unit, and hacking it to run for another 3 months. Microsoft refuses to fix hacked boxes that were “Supposedly” repaired by back-yard techs. In every event, they stated that the units were not repaired, and the “Repair” from the hack, ultimately led to an unrepairable death of the unit. Cracked boards, burnt boards, solder fused shorts, improper mountings, poor heatsink tension, improper heatsink-compound application. All from the hacks, not from Microsoft producers. People are being suckered into buying returns that customers have swapped-out, hackers have modded and are selling as refurbished or repaired, and they are not.
However, in those same repair shops, there are 2:1 more PS3’s dead from blue-ray failure. There is also a growing pile of rotten decayed blue-ray disks which looks like an old pile of AOL disks. Stores can’t sell them, ebayers are returning them, and you are living with the expensive losses. Luckily, PS3 has a great majority of one-time-play games, so you won’t notice until you try to play that classic game, or watch that old movie again.
“And sony doesn’t innovate as much as they don’t release rubbish, when they release something, its 100% working without glitches.”
Are you suggesting that there have been 0 failures of PS3 hardware, and that no PS3’s have been bricked by firmware updates? Granted, there may be very few harware failures compared to (one of) their rivals, but saying that their reliability is 100% is borderline fanboyism.
“Hyundai sell millions of cars but BMW is the leader”
The article asks the same question I’m going to ask. Leader in terms of what?
That is very funny. When companies act like Sony I suspect that they are on troubled times. Most onlookers see what is happening. But on the other hand if they make some money it may not matter that they are loosing the race.
ash,
first of all, speak english. sorry, your petty car paradigm doesn’t work in comparing game consoles. have fun being number 1 in your own world while everyone else is playing GAMES. you’ll fit right in sony’s little camp.
I cant believe there is only 1 person who thinks the ps3 is #1. It might not be the #1 seller but it is def is the best counsole. Does your xbox or wii have a web browser? Does it play in 1080p? And we already know neither one plays blurays. The wii doesnt even play DVDs. And as far as game selection if 75% of your games are garbage like the 360 and 99.9% for the wii than what does more games really count for. I own all three systems. Well just 1 now because my 2nd 360 is in the shop (rrod). I and I sold my wii 2 weeks after owning because I realize I read above a 4th grade level. And as far as price the extra $100 or $150 is well worth so stop being cheap. You cant take your money with u dummies.
Your eye can’t even see 1080p.
Yes, x-box has a blue-ray player, so we can play blue-ray.
The PS3 console is better by the specs… but no game today uses all the specs of the console, so that is as useless as driving a lamborghini for a golf-cart. What good is power that isn’t being used? A rock is potential. A rock that doesn’t move is less useful than a pebble that moves fast.
Sony doesn’t make great things. They just make things. They are the copy-cat of illusion. The killer of great potential. The generic stereotype of all things common, cheap, and overpriced. They try to be mafia and exclusive, telling you that you need things, and stopping others from gaining. Ultimately, they are still behind everyone else, without their own original innovations, and without sharing.
Name one thing “Sony” actually invented, that was not stolen or purchased from another company? You can’t. They live off acquisitions and corporate theft. They take free-code and twist it into copyrighted material. They hire students for 1/4 the price of a real designer, and steal their designs. They take good potential technology, and drive it into extinction.
Can you make a playstation game? Legally, within your budget? No…
Can you make an x-box game? Legally, within your budget? Yes… “XNA and XDK and OpenXDK”
Not only that, but you can even sell it on x-box live. (The dishwasher game is a perfect example.)
That’s what I thought.
One thing that is lost upon the corporate talking heads, fan-boy defenders (of all three systems), and industry journalists is that all three systems are being supported by the market. This is despite the fact that the PS2 is still the most used console in America (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/217/1050217/ps2-is-still-console-king). This is great news for all three systems, and for gaming in general. Personally, I don’t really care which console “wins.” As long as there are games, and innovation in the industry, consumers (HELLO, US!) win.
sorry for my english aj. Wish your 2nd language is better than mine.
2nd, Just wondering what are xbox innovations?
3rd, no one has been able to mod the ps3! Look how many times MS said the xbox is a hack prrof!
4th, Sony are the leaders in technology
sorry for my english aj. Wish your 2nd language is better than mine.
2nd, Just wondering what are xbox innovations?
3rd, no one has been able to mod the ps3! Look how many times MS said the xbox is a hack prrof!
4th, PS3 is leading in style, quality, Power efficiency, processing, graphics, Compatibilityn, Multimedia etc.
5th, I don’t know what upset you about Hyunda (maybe u own 1)
6(h BMW is not the leaders in Germany, mmm. Let change it with Ferrari (oops they are not the leader in Italy, and they don’t have the top selling car) I am gonna stuck with BMW, one of the 1st to introduce ABS, windshield screen, inbuilt gps navigation, inbuilt computer. 1st diesel hybird card, 1st Hydrogen car. At least they have a car in f1
Finally, I am not against xbox or Hyundai, every product has its market and its buyers, and if all the world have the same taste we would end up with one brand and life would be more boring.
hahaha. PS3 is energy efficient? Then Wii doesn’t use electricity at all.
Kaz Hirai: In other words, I am clearly DELUDED.
No one can actually see that the ps3 is actually 10 years ahead of its time. With a few upgrades it could be still going in 10 years where as the 360 has no chance. The ps3 has 10 times as many features. The xbox 360 in metaphorical terms is similar to a chinese copy of how a sports shirt is copied. The ps3 does have a blu ray player but it also will never fail on you it has a nice interface and software. I can watch full 1080p videos on my ps3 and compairing the elite and the ps3 te price is pretty much the same, for a company that loses money every time it makes a sale you know you are getting a good deal. The only reason you would by a 360 would be for the games (which are crap) and the price. But the ps3 is far superior in so many ways its indiscribable. I did not even describe the wii because in my oponion it is not a gaming machine and is an arcade thing from 10 years ago its like comparing the oldest gameboy to the psp.
The “Jaguar” was 10 years ahead of its time too… That is like having a flying car, ten years before laws allow you to fly a car. It is useless, wasted money, above most programmers, untested, difficult to work with, and sub-generation technology.
It is better to have solid ten-year old technology that works, than to have alien technology ten years ahead of programmes and players, which no-one can use.
PS3 and xbox are the Same price here in NZ….. PS3 = $750 with 1 game…..Xbox360 =$450+$40(play and charge kit)+$188(wireless Adapter)+$100 (1 year xbox live)====total of $788-00……… It wiould cost $788 to get the xbox 360 close to what the ps3 has as default…. Plus the ps3 has and extra 20gb storage space………. why i like the ps3, can copy videos to hdd,web browser,free pslive,upgadeble hard drive,memory card slot,Quiet,no dvd tray,better looking,no additional costs, eg wireless adapter, charge kit, xb live etc….. Plus the blu-ray player.. and the ability to play copied dvds….. the games to me are basicily the same, with an = share of exclusives on each console… (plus the ability to connect ps3 to the psp)…. PS3 is better than the xbox 360 that is the TRUTH…. I have both consoles but mainly use the ps3 i just use xbox for GOW2 + Halo2… other than that it just gathers dust…… wii is for young kiddies
I can’t believe how many people defend the PS3. If PS3 was so great, Sony wouldn’t be losing money and their system wouldn’t be in last place.
Sony dominated for 2 generations with PS1 & especially PS2. So to come in last for PS3, they had to screw everything up!
There are a lot of people who would buy a PS3 even if PS3 was just a toaster in fancy packaging. They love Sony & anything Playstation. However, despite this very loyal fanbase (fanboys), Sony is still losing.
What makes me laugh is all the people denying that Sony screwed up. They claim you get great value with a PS3, the games are better, everything is better. Yet Sony still lost.
Either Sony is understating their sales #’s by A LOT, or the PS3 is just an overpriced Blu-Ray player.
LOL, sony only dominated because there was no competition…
X-box was just on the birthing table, while PS has had over 30 years… and that is all they offer, after 30 years in the business? X-Box beat a 30 year old company in three years, using only two children.
PS has made arcade units, had tons of failures, continues to manufacture apple-like child toys, and continues to fail to provide programmers with tools and support when it is needed. They reply, “Deal with it, thank-you, that will be $5,000 for this help-line assistance. Have a nice day. Yo-gotto si hier for engrish.”