Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Sony to use Nintendo's "less powerful console" strategy with PS4?



I rarely post anything related to anything but Nintendo topics, but this story is very interesting. Sony Executive James Armstrong had this to say about how powerful the Playstation 4 would be when compared to Playstation 3:

"It’s hard to say right now. I do not think we’ll have a console with a lot better graphics than the PS3 currently offered. I believe the future will be to offer consumers better and more accessible experience . The aim will be to make more people enter the world of video games and try to design titles for women."


Link


Those statements sound all too much like Nintendo......when they said it 5-6 years ago. Sony is a competitor to Nintendo no doubt, but they also need to stay good at what they do best and when it comes to video games and video game systems, they've been caught with their pants down on several occasions.

I don't see the trend changing much in the future, for Sony or Nintendo. Nintendo innovates and Sony "barrows" from it. This has been going on since the SNES era.

It is strange that an exec would come out and talk about Sony's next console in such a way as he did. Most PS3 owners consider themselves in the "hardcore" crowd. How does a statement like this make them feel?


8 comments:

Biohazard said...

At the same time, this isn't all too surprising. Sony was operating at tremendous losses during the first two-to-three years of the PS3's life, so there's no way they can make any huge investments like they did this generation. In fact, it was so bad that I even heard from someone at Falafelkid's comments section that Sony may not even be able release a PS4. Sony made a wise decision in retreating back to their comfort zone of having traditionally "inferior" hardware; that is when they really shined. Microsoft may follow, but I think they can risk it a bit because they get their profits from somewhere else, and they have always afforded to lose a lot of money on their consoles.

The next generation is all about content rather than who can pump out the most power under the hood. The graphics gap is going to be same as the PS2/GameCube/Xbox era. It may even be smaller.

Mariyiddo said...

If they try to appeal to a wide audience like Nintendo did 5 years ago, they will most likely fail. Well, as long as they don't ditch the "Playstation" name. Women won't be buying a Playstation 4 anytime soon because they wont see it as a system for them nor a name that appeals to them. The Wii had a universal name that could appeal to both women and men. Right now playstation is known to women as "that system with COD on it". To change this, Sony has to change their entire approach and change the name as well as the look of everything. That is, IF they go this direction in the next couple of years. :P

Biohazard said...

Sony just hasn't been able to push their motion sensing controller as well as Nintendo and Microsoft have been doing. They're treating Move as if it's a peripheral compared to the Wii-mote and Kinect. Sure, we can play Killzone 3 and Resistance 3 with the device, but if the traditional controller still works with it, what's the point? Given the increased negative reception the core audience has on motion gaming, especially after Microsoft's disastrous E3 press conference, Move is essentially useless. While the PS3 may have been a low point for Sony, they still maintain a dedicated core base, and it will be interesting to see how they could juggle between appealing a new audience with the PlayStation brand while satisfying their core followers.

Anonymous said...

sony had 10 billion savings before ps3 release after and with operating in the red they have nothing ps3 lost 7 billion more than ps1 and ps2 ever made combined ad tv losses computer losses and the cost of cell sony destroyed themselves in a year and ps3 is 80% of the blame sony also admitted that psvita will be sold at a loss for the first 3 years

whoever is running sony is clearly taking a all or bust mentallity and it will lead to sony becomming a nobody like jvc etc

sony was destroyed and made near bankrupt by nintendo/samsung/apple

sony sticks got owned by flash cards and all sony chips and software has flopped

they will do a dreamcast with ps4 and psvita then go out of gaming hardware for good THEY HAVE NO MONEY AND NO POWER VS SAMSUNG NINTENDO APPLE

releasing psvita at a loss is just mental...

sony was never hardcore ps1 and ps2 are casual sony fans are hyercrites

Travis Hendricks said...

I seriously doubt Sony will "not be able to release a PS4." Sony is a massive company and PS1 and 2 were both very profitable for them. If anything they know they need a PS4 for the company to succeed.

Either way, this is nothing but great news for Nintendo (and it's fans) if this is true. This means the lead the Wii U has won't be "crushed" by the new systems (at least not Sony's) in 2013/2014 when they come out. The graphics will likely be close enough that 3rd parties will still make multiplatform games for the Wii U.

Anonymous said...

Sony just turned a profit THIS YEAR with the PS3. The PS3 finally was able to make them money. So, it would be a dumb move to ditch the PS3 when its just started to make Sony a profit. In Japan it's the #1 home console. They need to put aside the idea that the PS4 is just around the corner. Since that would potentially kill any interest from consumers in buying a PS3.

Besides, Sony already had to invest millions to save PSN and make it reliable enough for those 70+ million users.

I don't think that it would help them to bring on a new console and to start anew with it. Spending millions developing it, then spending more promoting it. And also being willing to lose money with each system sold (since they would need to sell it cheap in this crappy economy).

So I don't think the PS4 makes any sense now. Sony finally got the PS3 to make them a profit and they have still many hurdles to tackle (hackers). They have to work that out before they are in any shape to bring in a new system to the market.

Now, today I've been reading news stories that say "Wii U not much powerful than PS3/360".

Now, that issue is being sold as bad news for Nintendo supporters. I however, think that this is a POSITIVE and not a negative.

Why? Because the Wii U was always considered to be merely an UPGRADE to the Wii. Catching up to this generation if you will. So why is the fact that the Wii U is not way more powerful than present consoles, bad news? When it will offer exactly what the original Wii needed. HD graphics and power than can go 1-on-1 with the competition.

Another reason to celebrate, is that current owners of the PS3 and 360 can be at peace. Since they won't have to worry about the Wii U jump-starting the next-generation of consoles. Their PS3 & 360's will still have at least 2-3 years of life.

The home console industry needs those 2-3 years to pass before any next-gen console comes. Because after that time comes and goes, the technology that will power them will be affordable enough for the game companies as well for consumers. I mean, if the PS4 comes out now, it will cost way too much.

Anyway, after the PS4 and Xbox 720 come out and start catching on in about 3-4 years, Nintendo could very well release a console that will 1up them in terms of power. And since the technology will be relatively old, the system would be cheaper to buy and sell.

So it's all good news IMO.

Anonymous said...

sony did not turn a profit this year with ps3 THEY TURNED A OPERATING PROFIT i.e for a short period 1 month or 3 months more cash came in than out with ps 3 devision WIT]H SONY JUST RESENTLY MERGED WITH A MORE PROFITABLE DEPARTMENT .....

ps3 lost 7 billion it will never make back 1 billion so the ps3 will come to its life end owing billions and billions in debt

if ps3 is turning a profit how is sony still operating at loss this year as it has for the past 4 years

ps3 has turned as much FAKE profit as x360 i.e billions in loss ps3/x360 will die owing billions

nintendo has a war chest of 20 billion sony has nothing and is loosing millions every year

ps3 was a desperate move to stop bankrupcy at sony and ps3 slim still sells at a loss

ps1 and ps2s profit was exhursted proping up ps3s madness loss...

Anonymous said...

All this talk WiiU not much more powerful is rubbish devs are saying 50% faster/more powerful on early dev-kits that equates to Power7 4 cores at 3.6ghz and a Custom HD Radeon gpu at 825mhz plus Raw Power means nothing in Graphics as 3DS has shown with Revelations ect expect 3/4 times graphically more powerful than ps3 lets see what devs say when they receive updated kits in june/july