jeffbase34

I would say yes. They posted their first major loss in 15 years, the PS3 continues to lag way behind Xbox in sales, and key franchises are dead in the water.

I just read that Final Fantasy could be delayed further. No telling when GT will ever come out, and no God of War this year. We are almost 3 years into this cycle, and this performance is absolutely pathetic compared to PS2.

Sony's powerhouse, Killzone 2, couldn't even beat Halo Wars in sales. Not even close. And not to mention that most of the good DLC is Xbox exclusive. The negatives just keep mounting. Sony needs to have a huge E3 to bring back the excitement. If they simply talk about Uncharted 2 and the new Ratchet, that won't cut it. The huge PS2 fan base is eroding fast, and no one will really care when Final Fantasy finally sees the light of day.

Shagrath

And how is this not a console bash?

Brent L

Well, yeah, it basicly is, but it's also true that they're in "last place" right now I suppose after leading the pack for a decade or more. I'm a little shocked to be honest, both at the lack of Sony holding their ground as well as the Nintendo explosion.

I sometimes wonder what sort of numbers the PS3 would be pulling if it didn't have the Blu-ray playback.

fumanstan

The mods are overly strict about it, so it probably will be viewed that way.

Personally, I don't see how it is console bashing given the points brought up are mostly true. "Bashing" is thrown around way too easily around here just anytime there's a discussion comparing consoles and something negative is said.

Spiderbite

Well, hardware wise, they aren't that far behind the 360 in worldwide sales. 8 million behind in hardware sales is not terrible considering the year delay from the 360 and the price difference.

I guess what hurts them the most is that a good many of those sales are for BD use only and they are hurting in the software sales market more than anything.

And for people like myself that have all the consoles, I don't know of anyone who would rather play on the PSN or the Wii network (whatever it's called) over Xbox Live when they have a choice. So the majority of software sales on a multi-console online play-heavy game tends to go to the Xbox which likely stings as well.

musick

I love my "last place" system
this thread is stupid

madcougar

I think the price point for the PS3 was and will be their downfall this generation. They overestimated what people wanted and what they were willing to pay for it. Plus they mortgaged Blu Ray on this generation of Playstation. Sure they won the battle against HD-DVD, but they have definitely lost this generation's console war.

I don't think any of this is console bashing BTW. The reality is that the PS3 has been dead last the entire generation and at this point the reasons this happened are becoming more and more clear.

chess

A few more questions?

Who sold more consoles last year MS or Sony? How about last month?

What do you suppose 120 million PS2 owners are going to do when the PS3 is $200?

How many people have bought 2 or 3 360s?

This generation has a way to go IMO, but thanks for your insightful post.

fumanstan

Surely, you're not assuming that just because someone owned a PS2 that they would automatically buy a PS3 for the right price?

chess

I'm not assuming anything, I'm just asking questions.

However, I do know that a BUNCH of PS2s sold last month for "the right price".

Just saying.

fujishig

This is an interesting question. Removing it would've cut down the costs drastically, and probably removed much of the impediment devs had early on with the system. It would've been much more similar in price and features to the 360, and (I'm speculating here) there might not have been as much of a delay in launching it. I wonder if they would've done better without what many consider is the PS3's best feature.

But then, how would the HDDVD vs. Blu war have gone? Who knows?

DRG

I agree with this. IMO there's a difference between a mature discussion of a system's shortcomings and someone going into a Yar's Revenge announcement thread saying "ATARI 2600 SUXXXX!!! U SHOULDVE BOOUGHT ODYSSEY 2!"

On topic, there's still room for Sony to grow, even if they never eventually 'win' the war.

fumanstan

Well, whats your answer to that question? It sounds like you're trying to push that there would be brand loyalty, and video game console history has shown that it's pretty much non-existent from my perspective.

I'd say by the time the PS3 is $200, the 360 will probably be closer to $100 and the 120 million people who purchased PS2's or the thousands that purchased the PS2 at $100 might lean towards the cheaper console.

Groucho

Has a console ever recovered from third place over two years after launch?

chess

I think he was postulating that BR was the one thing moving the system...at least for a while.

And I think Sony is very happy to have won the HD war, even if it cost them PS sales in the short term.

fujishig

Right, and it was the one thing moving the system, which accounts for the lackluster software sales... I'm just saying that they might've done better as a gaming system without that feature.

chess

From Wiki:

That said, I'm not sure that there is any historical allegory for this generation. The Wii and DS have shaken things up a bit, and Sony is hanging on to a premium pricing strategy when the market barely (if at all) sees the PS3 as "premium" in relation to 360.

My take: wait and see. this could be a long cycle.

Michael Corvin

chess

Probably, but BD should pay dividends far beyond a console cycle.

chess

At least one thing's "official":

jeffbase34, who I don't recall seeing on the forum, officially plopped a big flamebait turd on the forum and bailed...which makes one more thing official...

fumanstan

He's fairly new and has posted a decent amount recently, including other posts in the video game forum. I don't think not posting for an hour constitutes "bailing." You seem awfully irked about this discussion.

UncleGramps

The answer to the thread title is "yes". I own a PS3 and enjoy it, but if you're looking at it in terms of sales, market share, etc., Sony is clearly not doing very well right now. I'm not sure how they go about recovering from this. They have a number of great exclusives but very few of those are selling as well as they would like.

edstein

It's too early to tell. Look how long the PS2 has carried on. I don't see anything wrong with the PS3. HDMI, Blu-ray, 1080p games, hard-drive based (upgradable), bluetooth, WIFI, etc. It's a really future proof system as it sits today. It's biggest drawback is the online community. If Sony doesn't come up with a game with "must have" online play, then I think they will continue to struggle in that area. (this is not console bashing)

Liver&Onions

He posed a question, put his reasons why he thinks it's 3rd only for Sony, and didn't shit on the other two consoles. If he came in and said the ps3 is losing because sony is poo, msft is god and nintendo is ra, then this would be closed quickly. but - it was a valid question, and his concerns were voiced.

chess

Irked? Yeah, I hate this kind of crap.

And yeah, I did a quick check...only other thing I found was post to "announce" how much he hates RE4, with no follow up.