Time to Just Give Up...

I'll be the first to admit that after the last generation of consoles (Xbox, PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast), I considered Sega and Nintendo both completely out of the game. As history now tells us, Sega has completely given up, but Nintendo really surprised me. After playing the Wii for the first time last week, I see why it has become the highest selling seventh gen console. That's right. If you haven't already heard, despite being released over a year later than the Xbox 360, the Wii has pretty much passed the 360's sales. Due to its low price and great party games, the Wii is just what Nintendo needed to bring themselves back from the brink.

After the success of the Xbox and Xbox Live!, I knew that Microsoft was going to take a much larger share of the market with the 360, but I can't believe how they are crushing the PS3. In every product Microsoft has launched, they are far from being the market leaders in the first gen. By the second they are a big player, and by the third they've dominated the market. Think about it for a second. Have you ever heard of Windows 1.0 or Windows 2.0? How about 3.0 or 3.11? Well, Windows 1.0 and 2.0 did exist, they just weren't that great compared to the market leading Mac OS. I think we all know who won that battle. By the time Windows 3.11 was released, the market had shifted and since then, Microsoft has completely dominated the personal OS market. Remember Netscape Navigator? Yeah, I barely do either, but it once dominated the web browser market. After its release in 1994, it was the de facto standard, holding 80% of the market for nearly 4 years, until Internet Explorer 5.0 captured the lead. Again, while Microsoft came late into the game, by version 3.0 they were a strong competitor and by version 5.0 it was all over.

Needless to say, I knew that Microsoft was going to come out strong with the 360, but I figured it would be a 60/40% split against Sony. After all, the PS2 has sold nearly 120 million units compared to the Xbox's 24 million. I mean, for a brand new console against two companies that had both been making consoles for over ten years (Sony/Nintendo), 24 million is impressive, but they got clobbered nearly 6-to-1 by the PS2. Back to the present, it is Sony that is getting clobbered this time. The 360 has sold almost 14 million units compared to the PS3's 6 million, a 2-to-1 lead, and the 360 is gaining ground.

Based on the title of this post, you might assume I'm saying that Sony should give up. Well, I am, but not completely. I'm merely saying that they should give up on the PS3 -- just try to milk enough money out of it to break even and then focus on the PS4. Let me put it this way -- for those of you who are going to say that the PS3 is 'awesome' in response to this post, no one thinks the PS3 is that great or they would be buying it.

Not only are both the 360 and the Wii vastly outselling the PS3, but so is the PS2. That's right. The PS2, originally released in 2000 is still outselling both the 360 and the PS3. Now part of that is due to its low price and great game selection, but you would think that with all those people who loved the PS2, myself included, that the PS3 would sell better. Not only that, but out of all the consoles ranked on Wikipedia, the PS3 is dead last behind the Sega CD and the Sega Saturn, both of which outsold the PS3.

Now, after the history lesson, we can get to the meat of this story. Sony needs to stop thinking about their own profits and focus on making good electronics again. Let's compare the three strategies of Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo made a very inexpensive console with a totally new game play experience; which I still honestly can't believe is possible. It's a totally new way of playing games that makes it fun for the entire family. Not only that, but Nintendo is actually making money on the thing. So, good for the consumer and good for Nintendo.

On to Microsoft. They aren't trying to capture the family market, but rather gamers, like myself. Their strategy is to make games really easy to develop (which also makes them cheaper to create) so lots of cool games will get made. They also created an awesome online multi player environment which will allow PC gamers to play against console gamers (kudos on that sweet piece of technology) and they were the first company to sell the console for less than it costs to make it. Why? To capture market share. Whether you love, hate, or just tolerate Microsoft, by selling their console under cost, they are forcing all the other players to do the same in order to remain competitive. Microsoft is building a long-term strategy for dominating the living room, while at the same time giving the consumer great games at a low price.

On to Sony and the title of my blog. If Sony wanted the consumer to have a better of an idea of what their long term strategy is (which is to have every consumer device be a product that you can only buy from them), they would just rename themselves, "Ridiculously Proprietary Incorporated." Their only strategy with every product they make is to get the consumer to use their version so the consumer can never buy another non-Sony product again. Now, I'm not against companies trying to retain customers (which Microsoft does as well), but come on! Sony has not only one proprietary digital camera memory format, but 4! Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo, and the Memory Stick PRO Duo. I realize that Sony makes converters that allow you to use the different formats in different cameras that weren't explicitly designed for it, but seriously, isn't one proprietary format enough for them? The PS3 is basically designed to make money and sell blu-ray discs. While it has the potential to have great games, it is way too expensive and the games are so hard to develop that many game designers will not bother. Although, things seem to be getting better since Sony just cut the cost of their SDK (Software Development Kit) in half.

Put yourself in EA's (Electronic Art) shoes. If you make a game for the Wii you've got 14 million potential customers. With the 360 you've also got 14 million and it's easy to develop for. Or, you can make a special cell processor version for the potential 6 million PS3 owners. Which would you choose? Add that to the fact that Microsoft makes more in a year, 15 billion, than Sony does (2 billion) in 7 years. When it comes right down to it, if Microsoft drops the price of the 360 again, which they inevitably will, Sony (which already loses at least $250 per unit) is going to be completely screwed.

This is for you, Sony, so listen up. Stop focusing on trying to make blu-ray a standard, and rip it out of the PS3 to sell as an add-on player like the 360 does. Make it cheaper and easier to develop games, and for the love of God, make your console cheaper or you're going to be facing two far superior market leaders next time around. In the end, having the better technology (anybody remember Betamax vs VHS?) doesn't really mean diddly squat because 8 of the top 25 rated games are for Wii, 7 for the 360, and only 2 for the PS3. Listen to the consumers, for once, before you go the way of Sega....

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