I mean, it's not like Sony was any slouch in the first party department before PS3. Many of the PS2's best games were published by Sony.I think it's one of the most important consoles for Sony. It has the best first party lineup for a PlayStation console and I doubt Sony's WWS would be the powerhouse they are now if it wasn't for the underperformance at launch and the developer woes.
A lot of posts will say "but Sony turned it around and beat the 360 in the end for sales".
And this is 100% true.
But the crucial reason why Sony got the PS3 generation wrong is this:
If Sony released the PS3 and continued the momentum of the PS2, Microsoft would no longer be in the gaming business.
They outsold the original Xbox 6 to 1 and had the opportunity to take that brand equity they built with consumers and get people to buy into their vision in the PS3.
MS would no longer exist in console gaming if it wasn't for Sony's errors on the PS3,
Nothing wrong with it really aside the OS functionality, that was there big mistake.
Packing all that power and they forgot that folks might want to speak with their friends online. That they might want to listen to music while they played their games, etc.
I might be mistaken here but I don't think Sony turned anything around. Year on year they outsold their primary competitor (the 360) since the PS3 launched. The doom and gloom sentiment surrounding the PS3 and its launch was very much overblown, it got better with exclusives later in its cycle but it was never as bad as people say.
I also think your downplaying how much Microsoft got right with their 360. It was affordable, had a great feature set, and shipped first. Sony could have shipped first and taken that benefit away from them, but the rest I think Microsoft were just better poised to win out on. Their original XBOX was already ahead of the game when it came to online play and Microsoft doubling down on that was the logical step forward, which paid off.
The PS3 was basically a continuation of the PS2 hardware wise.A lot of posts will say "but Sony turned it around and beat the 360 in the end for sales".
And this is 100% true.
But the crucial reason why Sony got the PS3 generation wrong is this:
If Sony released the PS3 and continued the momentum of the PS2, Microsoft would no longer be in the gaming business.
They outsold the original Xbox 6 to 1 and had the opportunity to take that brand equity they built with consumers and get people to buy into their vision in the PS3.
MS would no longer exist in console gaming if it wasn't for Sony's errors on the PS3,
They did everything wrong until the slim, price drop, and marketing changes. Those 3 things happening at once saved PlayStation.
From a hardware perspective, they released an underpowered machine a year later and $100/$200 more expensive than it's direct competitor.
The PS3 basically built the Xbox brand.
Compared to 360, obviously. 95% of multiplatform games looked better on the 360, with huge problems on PS3.Underpowered? Compared to what?
Also as far as releasing a year after the 360, Microsoft chose to rush their system to the market at the cost of reliability.
This thread was unnecessary, and only looking for drama.
Nah, original plan was drastic, but not that extreme.IIRC, they had similar plans for the PS3 as well with Kutaragi's vision basically having been, 'We don't need no stinking graphics chip!
Compared to 360, obviously. 95% of multiplatform games looked better on the 360, with huge problems on PS3.
As a consumer, yes, absolutely. The only important thing is the end result. And the end result is that Sony came with an underpowered machine $100 more expensive and a year later.
Price was too high for many and not many good games available at the start. Plus the 1 year delays to the Xbox if I remember correctly?
It was messy.
As a consumer, yes, absolutely. The only important thing is the end result. And the end result is that Sony came with an underpowered machine $100 more expensive and a year later.
Terrible price
Bad launch
Difficult to develop for
PSN was trash
Inferior multiplats
I'm not a fan of this console. At all.
Cheapest Blu-Ray Player
Amazing mid to end of life
No defense there
Free online and PS+ was fantastic during these times
The best exclusives this gen.
I love this console. A lot.
I agree. I play my PS3 almost daily, even with a PS4. From 2009 until the end, the PS3 was on fire. Hell, even from 2008 with Metal Gear Solid 4.
The only two things Sony directly did wrong were the price point and the Cell being too exotic. The rest was just Microsoft making excellent use of its year head-start and Sony not really sensing where the tide was going.
In that first year (really the first couple years) Microsoft managed to get some important (console) exclusives, largely by convincing a whole new culture of western PC developers to jump over to consoles, and it established a service and OS that set a new standard Sony didn't see coming. By 2007 the result was big games like Oblivion and Gears that directly appealed to western gamers in a way 20 years of Japanese console games never had, plus features like custom soundtracks and achievements and online features Sony didn't have.
On top of all that, the HD era brought about changes that caught the Japanese third party publishers that defined the PS1 and PS2 off-guard. People used to buy PlayStations for Final Fantasy, Tekken, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear, and the like. Those games didn't arrive on time and when they did most had to go multiplatform to recoup costs.
Sony eventually course-corrected with that $299 slim but also by investing in big AAA, western-oriented first-party IPs like Uncharted. For all that though, Microsoft never really overcame its relative weakness outside North America and the UK. Sony was always stronger in Japan and continental Europe, and that helped the PS3 eventually overtake the 360 worldwide. This remains the case today, even though technically Microsoft is still ahead of Sony when it comes to software and services.
You probably don't remember this song, but it's pretty funny.
What do you say, did Sony go wrong with the PS3? Was it a great or a flawed console? Have they managed to redeem themselves later?