Did Microsoft win the battle but lost the war? (Long read)
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I've been gaming since 92. Had almost every system and played a lot of games. I've notice trends and whats hot and whats not. Ive seen the raise of Sony and the fall of Sega. The raise of western games and the fall of japanese games.
I've noticed that from 95 to 2005 Sony had thing on lock... To where making games that were crossing the lines between gaming and movies (Something Nintendo cant do). If you look at the playstation era ive notice that the trend at the time outside of gaming ( when i was growing up ) was TV ( anime: toonami had ? on lock ) music ( Pac, Biggie, DMX, Jigga, Nas, and Neo Soul artists) , Movies ( The Matrixs )
In 2005 Sony annouced the PS3 and ? was going crazy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv8cYrGG220
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-4HNmuEAKg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g22iiQurkY&feature=relmfuMicrosoft came out with the 360 and was met with bad reviews ( RROD ).... while people were saying " Wait till the PS3 come out" Then E3 2006 came and they announced the 599.99 price tag... and people were like
( I bought one anyways )... The Wii hit the scene and blinded everyone ( ? paid 250.00 for a remote...smh) and took the casual... while the 360 with the lower price took the ? .The 360 had one of the best runs this gen from 2005-2008 (Halo, Gears, Crakedown, Oblivion, etc)... They took all the third party exclusives from Sony and they marketed their games better than Sony. Also they had games running better on the 360 while have first dibbs on time exclusives ( Half Life esp 2...smh) At the time people were saying Sony had no games.
From 2008 till now I've noticed the decline in MS games and the raise in Sony games ( The wii dont count ) but ive also notice that even thought MS have not released games on the level of Sony, theyve still outsold them in America. It didnt make sense to me so i look at the trends of today... Ive noticed that tv, music and movies has changed and what was popular back then is not popular now.
Ive started this thread because Ive seen the trailer Kara
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0KTUysrwgQand then I look at what MS have in the coming years. Then I look at how people post on other forums and they are pro MS and anti Sony while MS hasnt put out 2005-2008 type games... Then I look at sales and saw that the 360 is only 3 ahead of Sony and everything was going wrong for Sony... The 360 had everything going for them and theyre only 3 mill ahead?
So my question is when the trend changes again has MS lost their open window to knock Sony out and secure theyre place in gaming?
Comments
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I forgot about Kinect but meh...
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360 sells nothing in asia, and PS3 is immensely popular in Europe that's why Sony has caught up. Look up the NA numbers which is the largest gaming market and you'll see the truth about it. Wii sales numbers >>> all but fact of the matter is nobody is buying the Wii anymore or playing it anymore. All my friends bought the Wii now complain about how bad it sucks, I was tellin them that ? before it even came out the Wii was gonna be trash.
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dallas' 4 eva wrote: »360 sells nothing in asia, and PS3 is immensely popular in Europe that's why Sony has caught up. Look up the NA numbers which is the largest gaming market and you'll see the truth about it. Wii sales numbers >>> all but fact of the matter is nobody is buying the Wii anymore or playing it anymore. All my friends bought the Wii now complain about how bad it sucks, I was tellin them that ? before it even came out the Wii was gonna be trash.
but thats the thing... it shouldve never got to this...360 hasnt been good since 2008 gaming wise but its still selling... Kinect is part of the reason but picture if KARA wouldve came out for the 360 or The Last of Us? Gamers today would go crazy... Sony is putting out exclusive games but no one is looking for it while Xbox is outselling the PS3 in multi plat games... Even games like Final Fantasy and GTA dont have the popularity that it had in the PS2 era... -
Wtf is kara?
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This topic is basically the evolution of "Mario/Sonic is better than Sonic/Mario."
I'll say the same thing now that I said when Xbox first came out: if the market can support multiple consoles, it will. Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Nintendo ALL existed at the same damn time.
There will never be another singular dominate console. Just like everyone neglected to ? with the PS3 upfront this time around due to that ? price point, people have swung back around once the price came down. Same thing happened with the first Xbox.
Gamers will buy multiple consoles because we're no longer children who have to let our parents decide which one to get and then have playground arguments on why ours is the best choice. We're grown-ass men and women with bank enough to get all of them if there are worthy games to along with those choices. -
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Sony needs to try better in PS4. a $599 system during a time where people have trouble paying their bills is a killer. Add the fact that budgets for games have skyrocketed this gen and you see why the 360 ran ? in America.
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^ Game budget is another reason the single console crown ? is dead too. Why the ? would I make a game exclusive when I can spend a couple hundred stacks and make it multiple platform?
So your company can look cool and mine can die? Haha. No. -
Tough call, Sony has lost the most money in 1 year than they have in like 30 years SMMFH, they havent turned a profit in 4 years. They lost something like $4.4 billion dollars last year alone and have become a follower rather than the leader they used to be. With Microsoft tho, they spent much of the past few years trying to solidify franchises (as Nintendo did very early on w/ its brands) and when the next console comes out that is when they will unleash their potential and really put the MS machine behind the XBox. As for Sony, financially PS3 is a failure and when the next game comes out they're going to need to step up features such as the online component, and hardware while maintaining a fair price. I like how Nintendo took a more simplistic route and just gave gamers a simple system, with simple graphics & Nintendo brands theyve grown up on and managed to sell double PS3 & 360 combined (lets not even go into the DS which runs laps around the 3 of them LOL).
See if Sony and MS had the types of franchises that Nintendo has or something like that, then they could afford to make the types of gambles they made (360 is lucky b/c the Red Ring ? couldve really shut them down) but then again whos got more money than MS ? MS has enuff money is cold hard cash alone to buy Nintendo out right and even Sony if they wanted to, so they could afford to make gambles. Sony on the other hand is not like that. It's gonna take new management and more of a priority in trying to define franchises for Sony in order for them to come back strong.
You know its a problem when DMC makes the switch to xbox or when ppl choose to play SF & pay an additional $200 for an arcade stick and $30 a month for xboxlive over playing a fighting game on a FREE network thru PSN on a far better controller and graphics engine.
Sony fell off but its not too late to come back.
But thats the problem... DMC lost its appeal when it went Multiplat... it looks like games have a little more importance when its exclusive... Financially the playstation brand is the reason why sony is still alive... Sony is losing money off of T.Vs... they did lose money on the PS3 but the PS3 was a trojan horse for Blu Ray... I think they will make their money back off of that alone... And I smh when people think that MS care about the gaming bussiness that much to support the Xbox division... If Xbox was losing money MS would not give them more money to lose, they would just X them out... if you look at trends the Western games are popular and they needed a home... and ? wasnt buying computers so they choose the Xbox... my question is did MS do enough to hold their position when the new trend comes like Playstion and Nintendo has?... When the new trend comes will MS still same the same or still be in competition? Remember... everything went wrong for Sony and they are still only 3 behind the Xbox and Nintendo remixed the Gamecube and people still bought it.. so MS have that appeal?
In hip hop term Drake is popular because of the simp emo trend... but when a new trend comes can he remain on top or can he just maintain? Or will he just fall off... -
^ Game budget is another reason the single console crown ? is dead too. Why the ? would I make a game exclusive when I can spend a couple hundred stacks and make it multiple platform?
So your company can look cool and mine can die? Haha. No.
But with that you lose your identity.... The only game that is above multiplat right now is COD... DMC, Final Fantasy, etc are now looked at like anyother game... They dont have that "Only for Playstation" aura... Look at Halo or Mario... They still have their appeals because you can only get it on one console.. Would Infamous or Heavy Rain be popular if they were multiplat? -
Tough call, Sony has lost the most money in 1 year than they have in like 30 years SMMFH, they havent turned a profit in 4 years. They lost something like $4.4 billion dollars last year alone and have become a follower rather than the leader they used to be. With Microsoft tho, they spent much of the past few years trying to solidify franchises (as Nintendo did very early on w/ its brands) and when the next console comes out that is when they will unleash their potential and really put the MS machine behind the XBox. As for Sony, financially PS3 is a failure and when the next game comes out they're going to need to step up features such as the online component, and hardware while maintaining a fair price. I like how Nintendo took a more simplistic route and just gave gamers a simple system, with simple graphics & Nintendo brands theyve grown up on and managed to sell double PS3 & 360 combined (lets not even go into the DS which runs laps around the 3 of them LOL).
See if Sony and MS had the types of franchises that Nintendo has or something like that, then they could afford to make the types of gambles they made (360 is lucky b/c the Red Ring ? couldve really shut them down) but then again whos got more money than MS ? MS has enuff money is cold hard cash alone to buy Nintendo out right and even Sony if they wanted to, so they could afford to make gambles. Sony on the other hand is not like that. It's gonna take new management and more of a priority in trying to define franchises for Sony in order for them to come back strong.
You know its a problem when DMC makes the switch to xbox or when ppl choose to play SF & pay an additional $200 for an arcade stick and $30 a month for xboxlive over playing a fighting game on a FREE network thru PSN on a far better controller and graphics engine.
Sony fell off but its not too late to come back.
But thats the problem... DMC lost its appeal when it went Multiplat... it looks like games have a little more importance when its exclusive... Financially the playstation brand is the reason why sony is still alive... Sony is losing money off of T.Vs... they did lose money on the PS3 but the PS3 was a trojan horse for Blu Ray... I think they will make their money back off of that alone... And I smh when people think that MS care about the gaming bussiness that much to support the Xbox division... If Xbox was losing money MS would not give them more money to lose, they would just X them out... if you look at trends the Western games are popular and they needed a home... and ? wasnt buying computers so they choose the Xbox... my question is did MS do enough to hold their position when the new trend comes like Playstion and Nintendo has?... When the new trend comes will MS still same the same or still be in competition? Remember... everything went wrong for Sony and they are still only 3 behind the Xbox and Nintendo remixed the Gamecube and people still bought it.. so MS have that appeal?
In hip hop term Drake is popular because of the simp emo trend... but when a new trend comes can he remain on top or can he just maintain? Or will he just fall off...
You weren't there when Xbox dropped, were you? This argument was raised then. Everybody ran with that "if it doesn't turn a profit, they'll dump it, so why waste money buying one?" Here we are years later, billions in profits lost, and Microsoft is still slinging Xbox pies.
But with that you lose your identity.... The only game that is above multiplat right now is COD... DMC, Final Fantasy, etc are now looked at like anyother game... They dont have that "Only for Playstation" aura... Look at Halo or Mario... They still have their appeals because you can only get it on one console.. Would Infamous or Heavy Rain be popular if they were multiplat?
Mario is a forerunner of a bygone era. He is Nintendo. Master Chief is Xbox. Sony never, EVER gave a ? to establish a signature franchise.
They started with Crash Bandicoot. Then Gex. Then Kain. Then jumped to Lara Croft. Then Sweet Tooth. Then Raziel. Then Tekken. Final Fantasy 7/8/9 characters. And on and on and on.
If you noticed a dickriding trend then you see what I mean.
Playstation has always dickrode franchises since its inception. You can't point to a game and say, "Playstation" because as soon as the franchise loses heat, it's on to the next one. MS and Nintendo built signature franchises with signature heroes. Also, for the most part, all the characters Sony chose as mascots were part of good, forgettable, or wack-ass games.
Name a Sony mascot outside of Sweettooth who is part of epic gaming history and is also able to be shown in a heroic light. -
Tough call, Sony has lost the most money in 1 year than they have in like 30 years SMMFH, they havent turned a profit in 4 years. They lost something like $4.4 billion dollars last year alone and have become a follower rather than the leader they used to be. With Microsoft tho, they spent much of the past few years trying to solidify franchises (as Nintendo did very early on w/ its brands) and when the next console comes out that is when they will unleash their potential and really put the MS machine behind the XBox. As for Sony, financially PS3 is a failure and when the next game comes out they're going to need to step up features such as the online component, and hardware while maintaining a fair price. I like how Nintendo took a more simplistic route and just gave gamers a simple system, with simple graphics & Nintendo brands theyve grown up on and managed to sell double PS3 & 360 combined (lets not even go into the DS which runs laps around the 3 of them LOL).
See if Sony and MS had the types of franchises that Nintendo has or something like that, then they could afford to make the types of gambles they made (360 is lucky b/c the Red Ring ? couldve really shut them down) but then again whos got more money than MS ? MS has enuff money is cold hard cash alone to buy Nintendo out right and even Sony if they wanted to, so they could afford to make gambles. Sony on the other hand is not like that. It's gonna take new management and more of a priority in trying to define franchises for Sony in order for them to come back strong.
You know its a problem when DMC makes the switch to xbox or when ppl choose to play SF & pay an additional $200 for an arcade stick and $30 a month for xboxlive over playing a fighting game on a FREE network thru PSN on a far better controller and graphics engine.
Sony fell off but its not too late to come back.
But thats the problem... DMC lost its appeal when it went Multiplat... it looks like games have a little more importance when its exclusive... Financially the playstation brand is the reason why sony is still alive... Sony is losing money off of T.Vs... they did lose money on the PS3 but the PS3 was a trojan horse for Blu Ray... I think they will make their money back off of that alone... And I smh when people think that MS care about the gaming bussiness that much to support the Xbox division... If Xbox was losing money MS would not give them more money to lose, they would just X them out... if you look at trends the Western games are popular and they needed a home... and ? wasnt buying computers so they choose the Xbox... my question is did MS do enough to hold their position when the new trend comes like Playstion and Nintendo has?... When the new trend comes will MS still same the same or still be in competition? Remember... everything went wrong for Sony and they are still only 3 behind the Xbox and Nintendo remixed the Gamecube and people still bought it.. so MS have that appeal?
In hip hop term Drake is popular because of the simp emo trend... but when a new trend comes can he remain on top or can he just maintain? Or will he just fall off...
You weren't there when Xbox dropped, were you? This argument was raised then. Everybody ran with that "if it doesn't turn a profit, they'll dump it, so why waste money buying one?" Here we are years later, billions in profits lost, and Microsoft is still slinging Xbox pies.
But with that you lose your identity.... The only game that is above multiplat right now is COD... DMC, Final Fantasy, etc are now looked at like anyother game... They dont have that "Only for Playstation" aura... Look at Halo or Mario... They still have their appeals because you can only get it on one console.. Would Infamous or Heavy Rain be popular if they were multiplat?
Mario is a forerunner of a bygone era. He is Nintendo. Master Chief is Xbox. Sony never, EVER gave a ? to establish a signature franchise.
They started with Crash Bandicoot. Then Gex. Then Kain. Then jumped to Lara Croft. Then Sweet Tooth. Then Raziel. Then Tekken. Final Fantasy 7/8/9 characters. And on and on and on.
If you noticed a dickriding trend then you see what I mean.
Playstation has always dickrode franchises since its inception. You can't point to a game and say, "Playstation" because as soon as the franchise loses heat, it's on to the next one. MS and Nintendo built signature franchises with signature heroes. Also, for the most part, all the characters Sony chose as mascots were part of good, forgettable, or wack-ass games.
Name a Sony mascot outside of Sweettooth who is part of epic gaming history and is also able to be shown in a heroic light.
MS had a vision to put every Xbox in a living room to replace cable boxes... The first Xbox and early 360 stuff was about games but then time passes and you dont see MS devotion to ? games anymore... You see they let Bungie go... As for playstation dickrode franchises i can agree with that but at the same time it was a gift and curse... Dont forget the the PS2 era is the greatest era when it comes to games because they didnt put all their eggs in one basket and they had had different typles of genres... they had Final Fantasy for the RPGs lovers... They had ICO and SOTC for the indy lovers... ? of War for the action adventures lovers... etc . The Xbox is known for FPS and Nintendo is known for Mario and kids games... The problem with Sony was that when the recession came they didnt have that signiture game to fall back on ( maybe GOW )... Thats why they are pushing Uncharted so hard. It didnt help that they lost all their exclusives that they had in the PS2 era...
Outside of Sweettooth ill say Kratos... MAYBE Rachet and Clank...All in all if i had to look back Sony did good to set themselves up for the PS4... they established a good amount of first and second party while still having third party support... And nintendo will always have first party and adults nostalgia...smh
Can MS rely on third party and steal exclusives next gen like they did this gen? -
The way I see it is that MS did a great job of marketing and promoting the 360 through Live. They succeeded in selling units,but failed to leave a mark of greatness in the industry where it counts for games like Sony,Sega and Nintendo did.people keep bringing up third party games,but the PS still has those games and neither company can benefit from them like the SNES and PS2 did.Notice that the PS2 sold over 100 mil while the Xbox barely passed 25 mil.
As you stated ocelot they are only 3 mil more 360s sold than PS3s and that is not counting actual console that are still actually working.A lot of what contributed to the 360s sales are from people who bought upwards of 10 consoles which is a known fact.While MS seen sales figures,they really have not dominated the way they wanted to as they had stated the beginning of this generation they would have PS2 success and we all know that did not happen.
In essence MS has set themselves up for a hard time next generation because Halo has not been as big as it was when Halo 3 released now that COD has took it's fan base and the crowning king of online shooters and Battlefield has even grown bigger than Halo.Add to that Bungies departure and MS does not have a notable dev on board for elusive games anymore.Also Sony's exclusive games have proven to be successful since people would not have any reason to buy the console if all of the best games were multi plat.
People always say Live is superior to PSN and them diss the PS3 exclusives,but that does not make sense since something must have been selling the PS3 even when it was at a higher price.I do not think MS has won anything rather that Sony has stumbled earlier on this generation. Now you see once notable 360 franchises like Ninja Gaiden,Bioshock,Mass Effect and Lost Planet on the PS3 which were games that had previously helped sell Xboxs.
Gears will also be multi next gen and is not MS go to franchise after Halo. Sony has built Uncharted and LittleBigPlanet into big franchises and they still have twisted Metal,gran Turismo and GOW.MS will be in serous touble next generation if they think that multi plat games will continue to sell the consle,As with the WiiU being HD it will also get a large share of 3rd party games and companies will not give MS time exlusive DLC with the games being on both the WiiU and PS3 also.
The Wii was the wild horse this generation because it did not appeal to the ? or online fans,but seeing how the tech will be more up to par with the WiiU things will not fall in MS favor.As you said both Sony and Nintendo have their exclusive franchises which have sold both consoles.MS is the odd man out and what strategy can they use when both the WiiU and the PS4 will have the same 3rd party games?
Why pay for Live when both opposition will offer free online gaming? The fact that the PS3 has outsold the SNES despite people calling it a failure means that they did something right without having all of the 3rd party games to themselves.Gran Turismo has always been the dominant franchise on the PS anyway and that franchise is far bigger than any thing exclusive to the Xbox.
At the end of the day Sony is unfazed as the PS3 continues to sell more at a higher price globally,MS failed to capture Japan as they had lobbied for and now 3rd party games are selling at an equal level on both platforms with the exception of shooters.Wait til the PS3 hits $299 and it will keep selling just like the PS2 did and the PSP is doing now.Sony is the only company to have the ability to manage both old hardware and new hardware simultaneously.
Damn that's a titangraph lol. -
@MadJack...
Co-sign every word... That's exactly what I was thinking... -
At the end of the day Sony is unfazed as the PS3 continues to sell more at a higher price globally,MS failed to capture Japan as they had lobbied for and now 3rd party games are selling at an equal level on both platforms with the exception of shooters.Wait til the PS3 hits $299 and it will keep selling just like the PS2 did and the PSP is doing now.Sony is the only company to have the ability to manage both old hardware and new hardware simultaneously.
Damn that's a titangraph lol.
Isn't it already $ 299 or cheaper? -
Sony lost.
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LOL at 3 mill a small gap when the Xbox is already peaked.
