I have seen many people say this although not so much lately but there is still a few people who seem to beleieve this.
They keep saying how lost marketshare means the ps3 is a failure fact is the ps3 is on pace to outsell the GC and original xbox(at a higher price point, not to mention the surge of sales it will get when it reaches around the $250 point in say 12-16 months). The lost marketshare is due to the fact that the competition actually stepped up this gen .
Nintendo aggresively went after the casual market with cheaper hardware a broader spectrum of family/casual friendly games and low developing costs. Because of the cheaper hardware/low developing costs its very low risk for devlopers especially now with its install base. They aggresively used marketing to show wii as a hip device like apple did with the ipod. Its still selling very well and has a solid library, its the undisputed sales winner of this gen hands down unless sales drastically drop off or nintendo relases a system early(both of which are about as likely to happen as the zombie apocalypse)
Microsoft launched early, spent tons on marketing and bought 3rd party support and exclusives. the 360 is ahead of the ps3 but is still within range of the ps3 catching it at somepoint this gen. It has the best current library and online service lowest initial price and is still barely out pacing the ps3 worldwide and has only been doing so since the price drop. Microsoft fought hard for the hardcore audience and they have it at the moment but day by day its momentum is slowing the big realeases have come with few known hits on the horizon it seems to be losing some of its steam and while still a great value is future in this gen is a big question mark as to where it will finish 2nd or 3rd, highly dependent on it upcoming games which at the moment is up in the air nobody really knows much about where its going but right now is the best bang for your buck especially for the hardcore gamer and online gamer.
Sony stumbled out of the blocks this gen expensive hardware, limited library sony made mistakes(focusing on cell and bluray hurt them but in the end made the system better but kept manufacturing costs high). As time has gone by its has improved its library signifigantly and with the exception of 360's first year of games has close to the same number of high quality exclusives keeping pace with the 360(since the 2nd half of last year most would argue it has outpaced the 360 in quality exclusives). It has the nex-gen movie format, free online and is currently the best "value" in hardware out of the 3. Sony is close to profitability on the ps3 after about 2 years which is roughly where they have tarditionally started to make money on their consoles(in the 3rd and 4th year).
What I'm saying is yes sony made a few mistakes but the fierce competition is why they are behind not because the system itself is a failure. At its current pace it could very easily do 50-60 million in install base at the end of its lifespan which would place it roughly ahead of the snes and n64(acording to wikipedia) and well ahead of the GC and orginal xbox all of which many people consider great systems. If you gauge failure based on losing marketshare its pretty hard for sony to do anything but fail considering the monsterous numbers the psx and ps2 reached. personally I'm a sony support have been since I switched to the psx from my snes. I'm very happy with my ps3 don't have a wii or 360 but think they are good systems. To be honest although a little off topic I think the ps3 will pass the 360 eventually cause MS seems to be gambling its future for short term success in the pocketbook(spending on 3rd party exclusives, folding development houses, letting bungie go 2nd party) which I think will hurt in the long run.
Just figured it was time for a little perspective for some of those people who still think its a failure now freel free to rip my post apart in classic SW style.
Log in to comment