Sony, the PS3, and Brand Loyalty

Over the course of the last six months and the few months leading up to the release of the PS3, there has been a large cloud of media and forum negativity towards Sony and the PS3. It almost seems as if the hate had appeared overnight. Sony went from being on top of the world with the PS2, a vast library, millions in sales, and yet all of a sudden people everywhere seemed to decide that Sony was the devil and everything else was the savior.

I would like to have a civil conversation as I try to understand why so many people jumped ship so quickly. Did Sony do something personally that you disliked, did they make a design choice, was it the price, or was it something else? Please, respond in an intelligent fashion.

What made you change your mind about Sony OR why do you still like them?

Since I created the post I'll toss in my feelings. I think it is pretty apparent that I like Sony and enjoy the PS3. It was a logical choice for me to look forward to the PS3 after having spent hundreds of hours playing my PS2. The PS2 and the PS1 had extensive libraries, incredible series, and gave me an all around great gaming experience that I was not getting from the competition. The N64/Gamecube and the Xbox were good machines and had some titles that I really enjoyed, but they didn't present me with the whole package and were not continually delivering for me like the PS1/PS2 were.

I own all three systems but it was the PS3 that had me most excited. I knew that many of their titles from the PS2 would be making the trek over to the PS3 and that if their track record had anything to show for it, that they would produce many more new and wonderful titles. 

$600 alienated the world. Sony is getting an ear full for thinking it was cool to price a console that margin.shungokustasu

I don't hate them for it, but I don't see myself giving in anytime soon.

Unless Ninja Gaiden 2 becomes a PS3 exclusive.

I think they overplayed the hand they won last generation. Brand loyalty exists, but despite what System Wars would have you believe for most people it's completely trumped by other factors.

Sony seems to have thought that the amazing success of the PS1 and PS2 was a mandate from the consumer to release an extremely expensive product with functionality that at the moment isn't practical, alongside a noticeable software shortage compared to their competitors as well as various PR blunders.

This should get you started...

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=25247543

Not that many people exactly jumped ship. Really even last gen the sheep and lemmings dominated the internet and there were many many Sony haters....but with PS2 having tons of games there wasn't much they could say. As soon as Sony was in a weak position everyone comes out of the woodwork to bash PS3. I remember even before PS3's $600 announcement there were rabid fanboys all over the internet claiming crap like it would be $800 and the games would be locked to console(based off a really stupid patent rumor).

The truth is all this anti PS3 Sony hatred was huge on the internet long before PS3 was even close to launch and once it came out and wasn't instantly the greatest thing ever made, they had something concrete to stir up hatred for.... when really PS3 is pretty decent for a new console right now and has many very promising games coming.

Once ps3 becomes affordable nothing is going to stop it from taking over. Right now most people who bash the ps3 r just pissed off at the high price tag and i got nothing against them bashing it for now.

$600D0013ER

fixed 

[QUOTE="D0013ER"]$600takisse

fixed

Ouch.  It hits home real good blown up like that. 

Everything else is trivial. The problem is

FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-NINE US DOLLARS!

(I still bought one though...)

I think they overplayed the hand they won last generation. Brand loyalty exists, but despite what System Wars would have you believe for most people it's completely trumped by other factors.

Sony seems to have thought that the amazing success of the PS1 and PS2 was a mandate from the consumer to release an extremely expensive product with functionality that at the moment isn't practical, alongside a noticeable software shortage compared to their competitors as well as various PR blunders.

Danm_999

Agreed. Though I would like to blame Kutaragi for this. He was too controlling with the ps brand, and I think most people tend to think Sony as a whole to be arrogant when in reality it was this one person who always had something stupid to say.

I think Kutaragi deserves the same respect that any gaming legend deserves but the past year or so he probably saw the competition as nonexistent and therefore believed that every game developer will make exclusives to sony on their own without negotiating with them. 

In the end, Phil Harrison will be the new Kutaragi face for PS. I see this guy making all the changes to bring back the PS brand on top again.  LBP and Home are testaments to that.

Well, since you asked nicely. I don't like this idea that my game machine should be a media center or my PC. I have to pay extra for all that stuff and each medai feature is NEVER fleshed out as well as my PC/MP3 player/DVD player...whatever.

The idea that they can charge $600 for a console and think that's acceptable is just plain wrong.

They say very stupid things.

The PS2 was great becasue it offered everything I need to have great games, no more or less. It was cheap and it was simple. Just plug in and play, no bells and whistles. The PS3 is twice the price and 10 times more complex. People just want to play games, not do their taxes on their game console. The simple casual feel of playstation is all gone, buried under$1000 HDTVs, a trojan horse DVD format, HDMI, 1080i and god knows what else.

I just want my simple easy cheap playstation back.

no rumble

Once ps3 becomes affordable nothing is going to stop it from taking over. Right now most people who bash the ps3 r just pissed off at the high price tag and i got nothing against them bashing it for now.

GermanShepard06

do u even own a ps3?

dont hate sony just most of the games that they have are games im not really into. I have a ps3 but i had doubts of keeping it time to time. Only reason why i still have it is cause i dont want to regret selling it and re-buying it and seeing how the bluray will take off. reading about sony bmg putting spyware and virus on audio cds makes me want to be more careful when i purchase things in the future. i didnt even know about that. scary stuff.

Another reason: I have a Dell 2405FPW monitor which supports 1080P resolutions, but it doesnt support HDCP. Blu Ray is perfectly capable of playing back at 1080p resolutions to my monitor, but they had to cripple their format by supporting draconian copyright protection schemes. xbox_daddy

Then what the hell do you call that HDD connector on the Xbox 360?

I call it a 'protect our profits' scheme. 

Sony taking down my favorite Import gamesite Lik-Sang. Why did you have to sue them bankruptcy? Why?matallicthewolf

Lik-Sang got what it deserved. That's what you get for selling products that support piracy and trying to circumvent regional restrictions.  

[QUOTE="matallicthewolf"]Sony taking down my favorite Import gamesite Lik-Sang. Why did you have to sue them bankruptcy? Why?TekkenMaster606

Lik-Sang got what it deserved. That's what you get for selling products that support piracy and trying to circumvent regional restrictions.

I understand your anger... :roll:

[QUOTE="xbox_daddy"]Another reason: I have a Dell 2405FPW monitor which supports 1080P resolutions, but it doesnt support HDCP. Blu Ray is perfectly capable of playing back at 1080p resolutions to my monitor, but they had to cripple their format by supporting draconian copyright protection schemes. TekkenMaster606

Then what the hell do you call that HDD connector on the Xbox 360?

I call it a 'protect our profits' scheme. 

[QUOTE="TekkenMaster606"]

[QUOTE="matallicthewolf"]Sony taking down my favorite Import gamesite Lik-Sang. Why did you have to sue them bankruptcy? Why?D0013ER

Lik-Sang got what it deserved. That's what you get for selling products that support piracy and trying to circumvent regional restrictions.

I understand your anger... :roll:

What the... is that supposed to mean? Lik-Sang sold products that aided in the stealing of games, they sold products in regions they shouldn't have and they got what they deserved.

And Sony was the only company going after them?

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/1905/Sony,+Nintendo+and+Microsoft+vs.+Lik+Sang 

People better check themselves.  

I stuck with the ps1, dare I say it? for Crash Bandicoot, I loved him as a kid. I stuck with the ps2 for Grand Theft Auto (what a major change, and I started playing this at 11, and no I'm not **** up like the media says kids would be) and also Final Fantasy (my friend got me hooked on this). The ps3 I bought cause I still look forward to this, since my dad offered to pay 200 bucks off, and then decided to get Resistance cause it looked cool. Now I'm a big Resistance fan.

Why didn't I got to the 360, well I felt that there was no good games for it, and my friend(I wouldn't call him a friend, he uses me long story) tried to get me to buy an xbox for halo 1 and 2. They offered to let me mulitplay it with them, they were pros, this was my first time. You don't kick somone's ass to convince them to buy it. I didn't think buying one game I didn't like was worth spending whatever a xbox costs. I didn't have a job at the time so I'd get the xbox for christmas and wouldn't be able to buy many games, not that it would be a problem cause Halo is only one game, Halo 2 is another.

[QUOTE="D0013ER"][QUOTE="TekkenMaster606"]

[QUOTE="matallicthewolf"]Sony taking down my favorite Import gamesite Lik-Sang. Why did you have to sue them bankruptcy? Why?TekkenMaster606

Lik-Sang got what it deserved. That's what you get for selling products that support piracy and trying to circumvent regional restrictions.

I understand your anger... :roll:

What the... is that supposed to mean? Lik-Sang sold products that aided in the stealing of games, they sold products in regions they shouldn't have and they got what they deserved.

And Sony was the only company going after them?

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/1905/Sony,+Nintendo+and+Microsoft+vs.+Lik+Sang

People better check themselves.

I stick with Sony for a few reasons:

1. They have a dedication towards finding and funding innovative new titles like PaRappa, LocoRoco, LittleBigPlanet, etc.  (Sony looks for innovation in software, rather than hardware like Nintendo)

2. I've always had good experiences with Sony products (aside from one ps2 with DREs)

I went with a ps3 specifically for a few reasons:

1. It has most of the exclusives i loved from last gen (Jak, Team Ico games, MGS) and overall caters to the genres i prefer (action/adventure primarily). 

2. The ps3 is a full-on media center that can do many things.

3. Free online that does what i need it do (also, the dedication to innovative software i talked about before is what led to Home)

4. Awesome hardware (Blu-Ray and teh Cell!11!!!1!)

5. I'm a gamer, which is why I also own a Wii and a pretty nice pc (not a 360 yet, but i'm just waiting for more games that i like and for them to solve the hardware problems)

$600D0013ER

I second that. It's not that I hate the PS3 (I have a PS1, 2 and.. P?), its just too much money for me to sink into a console. No matter what bells and whistles it has on it. Drop it a hundred, and they may have my business. Drop it $200 or more and they may have a 360/Wii killer.

I rarely, if ever, buy a console (I play 99% of my games on PC). So when i do i expect it to work. Last one i bought was a PS2. Which then comes to the reason why i wouldn't even consider, for the life of me, spending $600 on a Sony console, seeing as my PS2 busted after only 1 year.

As for Brand Loyalty, sure, I'm loyal to the PC brand. That's about it. It's got all the genres covered, the best tools for play (KB/mouse), highest quality and amount of games from the past, and the best looking games for the future.

For calling Americans cheap! KillaHalo2o9

More Americans bought that piece of crap Ps3 than anywhere else around the world. SOny should give us Americans a big kiss on the butt for supporting their garbage.

I stick with Sony for a few reasons:

1. They have a dedication towards finding and funding innovative new titles like PaRappa, LocoRoco, LittleBigPlanet, etc.  (Sony looks for innovation in software, rather than hardware like Nintendo)

2. I've always had good experiences with Sony products (aside from one ps2 with DREs)

 

 

I went with a ps3 specifically for a few reasons:

1. It has most of the exclusives i loved from last gen (Jak, Team Ico games, MGS) and overall caters to the genres i prefer (action/adventure primarily). 

2. The ps3 is a full-on media center that can do many things.

3. Free online that does what i need it do (also, the dedication to innovative software i talked about before is what led to Home)

4. Awesome hardware (Blu-Ray and teh Cell!11!!!1!)

5. I'm a gamer, which is why I also own a Wii and a pretty nice pc (not a 360 yet, but i'm just waiting for more games that i like and for them to solve the hardware problems)

makingmusic476

If you're a gamer why did you buy the Ps3? Not any of those games you mentioned are out and may not even make it out due to the price of the Ps3. Some people don't want to spend 600 for a "video game system"

P,s. you do know the south lost the war right?

I am sure many think its the high price.

Or maybe its the games,  i said i would never get a PS3. But i did, and so far i have said. Dont get a PS3, you wont be pleased with it.  All i have it do is play Motorstorm, God of war 2 and FF 12.  

Howvere i am sure it will pick up, a lot of people want one.  However people i have spoken too at uni, want 360's too. As it has amazing looking games.... 

I jumped ship after i purchesed an Xbox last gen, realising it was better than my PS2 with only a handfull of games i actually played. Although i thought the 360 might fail again, it seems to be mashing up a nice libary so i can get games for both my systems.  

I also think HD is what is pushing people away from the 360 and the PS3. They assume they need a HD TV to play it, or get the best visuals.  That is no way the case, I am sure sales people are to blame for that. 

i dont' agree with sony's business tactics and strategies with the ps2 or the ps3.

so, i vote the only way i can; with my dollar.

i think everyone just want some excuse so they don't have to buy the most expensive console.

the rest... well, the rest may have never been on sony's side at all. 

Price isn't the problem. The 360 is more expensive than the PS3 remember? People are probably just waiting for good games.DaysAirlines

What?

For calling Americans cheap! KillaHalo2o9

Yeah, that really hurts the pride.  I mean sure, anyone watching the media has to listen to constant stories about how hard we have it when our gas prices go up.  The rest of the world pays $5-$7 a gallon for gas...but we cry the second our gas gets up to $3.  

Not that we're cheap or anything.

Or petty...no, not at all.

I think if this thread shows anything it is how few REAL gamers are on this forum and how many are posers who think the console they buy says something about them as a person.  Not gamers but consumers.  After all, how many are acting as if the SOny hate just started with the PS3 when it has been this bad since the PS2 launched.  Hell, since BEFORE the PS2 launched since some people are still stuck at E3 watching that FF8 demo running in real time.  They refuse to accept that any PS2 game delivered on graphical promises because launch games didn't look like the demos.  Talk about holding a grudge beyond all hope of reality.

I'm a Sony fan.  I admit it.  But I'm not a fanboy as I know that Sony deserves much of the negative feelings they've been getting lately.  The $600 PS3 was a kick in the teeth, their racist and borderline insane advertising, the lack of games out thus far, the delay in getting developers proper dev tools until the console was pretty much out already.  Sony has made TONS of mistakes this gen.   However, I look at a list of people complaints and I see a bunch of people bashign SOny for things that EVERY console maker has done and done very recently.  That is just sad and shows how irrational some people can be.

they lied about the console really badley then they charge too much for a console cut of all its features....

thats whats the worst thing for me and ive owned one also.......

$600D0013ER

1.) My PS2 ate my discs. People talk **** about Microsoft but conveniently forget things that happened in the past if it suits them.

2.) Sony charges an exorbitant price for products that don't warrant the price. Namely TVs, Camcorders, the PS3... um how long do you want to keep reading this?

3.) Remember the Mini-disc, UMD, and Betamax? Went the way of the Dodo.

4.) I've never jacked into the Matrix, nor have I played Toy Story level visuals in a game, contrary to what some Sony execs would like you to believe.

5.) I don't care about brands, I care about the games that happen to be on the brand of the console that they are released on, not the console itself.  I care that the games on the PS3 I already have on the 360 or are completely not interested in.

6.) Sony itself is just a deplorable company, up there with the likes of Wal-Mart. 

I just want the best in terms of hardware,features,games(coming up.) and mostly future potential(lets see what the 360 can deliver in 2009:P ).The difference between me and the PS3 bashers, im willing to pay for it.

They re just short handed and of course not poor.

I dont want to give Sony a hard day for offering me a powerhouse many $ under production cost.

 I dont want  others to have fun with me  when i eventually buy it forced by the fact it ll be the only console to compete with an ultra expensive pc for years.

SONY RUUULES.It has nothing to do with US companies.All of them want money but Sony deserves it because quality is not a foreign word for it just like it is for MS.