The Problem with Sony

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 8:35 AM

Sectors: Computer and Technology , Medical
Symbols: AAPL, MSFT, SNY

If this were not enough, difficulties in putting BluRay into production contributed to the delays in getting PS3 to market.

The complex architecture of the PS3 makes it very difficult to develop content for. A lot more difficult than for it’s main competitors. This wasn’t helped by Sony releasing development tools that were also greatly weaker than those from its competitors. A double whammy that caused huge problems for games developers worldwide. Many games were delayed because the problems were so great, costing the game developers a fortune and depriving the marketplace of product.

Sony totally misread the way the market was going. They have clung to their hardcore gamer base and squandered the lead in casual gaming that they had with EyeToy and SingStar. Nintendo have come along with a simpler machine that has massively outsold the Sony PS3 with the simple tactic of providing entertainment that is accessible to a lot more people. With hindsight it looks so obvious, but Sony missed it completely. As a result Nintendo made a fortune and Sony lost a fortune.

Sony have been stretched for cash. They have made losses. The technology in the PS3 has cost a fortune and they are almost certainly still making a loss on every machine sold. They have been forced to raise new capital and to sell off bits of the company. So they have little room to manoeuvre. They cannot throw money at the PS3 problem. This whilst their two main competitors are rolling in money which they are both using to reinforce their positions.

Lack of exclusive content. Both competing machines have a lot more exclusive AAA content. This is a massive USP when the reason for buying these machines is to play content on them. Microsoft have invested heavily into a very impressive catalogue of exclusives and have managed to seduce some former major Sony exclusives into becoming cross platform. This alone has caused an immense shift in competitive advantage.

Sony have messed up very badly with online. This is a real killer and comes from them being a hardware company whilst Microsoft is a software company. So Microsoft understood the importance of online and invested massively in Live. And that investment is paying them back enormously. So they continue to invest and Live is becoming one of the biggest phenomenons ever in gaming. Giving customers a massive USP whilst generating a lot of revenue for Microsoft. And it is growing with almost unbelievable impetus, both in content and in users. The Sony competitor, Home, is still not released after multiple delays and is now several years behind. It will be nearly impossible for Sony to pull back such a huge lead.

Sony have huge, world class, divisions in many areas. Telephones, Film making, Portable Music (they invented this) and Console Gaming. Yet these divisions appear not to talk to each other. So a potential huge strength has become a weakness. The film division isn’t used to place all their unique IP on the consoles for instance. And outsiders who are less constrained can enter Sony’s markets and win. Hence the iPhone which could and should have been a Sony product yet instead has come from a company, Apple, that just a few years earlier had no stake whatsoever in consumer electronics.

With all that against them it is amazing that Sony have sold as many PS3s as they have. The reason they have done so is because of the impetus of the brand and the loyalty of a large section of their user base. The majority of console users have yet to upgrade to this generation, there is still a huge untapped market of non console households and we have yet to reach the $199 sweet spot when the bulk of sales occur. So there is still hope for Sony, which is what the analysts are grasping for. The problem for Sony now is that the sheer weight of USPs is against them. A gulf that further widened this E3 where Nintendo and Microsoft forged ahead whilst Sony were distinctly lacklustre.

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Title: Problem with Sony
Posted by: Tbone Jul 22, 2008 10:22
You are bang on in your assessment of Sony's demise. As a consumer and non techie, the most frustrating thing about most sony products is their complexity and lack of intuitiveness in their controls and interfaces. Their TV controls, video recorders etc are way too complex for the average consumer. Nintendo did it right by making control simple and intuitive. In trying to be too ingeniuous they have outsmarted their audience.

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Title: What a Joke
Posted by: Middy Jul 22, 2008 16:23
You posted an entire article where the foundation for your rant is your own previously posted rants. There are incorrect things all through here. The PS3 was delayed not by the Cell processor but by delays in market availability of the blue ray laser. Blue Ray may have been a small mistake but I have to say, having one media device in my media cabinet is great and the PS3 as a player is wonderful. While the GPU may be less powerful, I have seen no issues with game play or delays, perhaps RockStar did have issues, but I have my doubts it is in the GPU. And as for the other statement about the CELL you seem to misunderstand that all three processors (xBox, Wii and PS3) are essentially Power5 processors. While the XBOX has a multicore processor which is just Power, the PS3 has a core Power 5 with 6 SPUs. At the core they are similar. I will give that Sony made a mistake in delivering tools for optimized development on PS3 but not that the processor is the issue. And as to Online, Sony is and has been behind because Live was available before the XBOX 360 and really was just updated and revised for the 360 release, while for Sony this is its first entry. It has nothing to do with Microsoft being better at this than Sony, only that Sony has some catching up to do.

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Title: Not paying attention
Posted by: morganfell Jul 22, 2008 16:54
How does it feel to be asleep in class? I ask that because one of the things of which you accuse Sony is lack of exclusives. Yet anyone that was awake for half of E3 knows MS had the big announcement of SHARING A VERSION of the game yet the Sony show was predicated upon their massive number of exclusives. Sad really that people like you have even have internet access. You make Michael Pachter look like Einstein. The graphics processor crap is really old and quite tired. You can't consider a GPU without considering the processor to which it is tied. Considering the best looking games this generation have been on the PS3 - Uncharted for one thank you - choosing to blame the PS3 GPU because devs making a multiplatform game concentrated on the 360 is just retarded. I agree that people often blame the devs but when you see the hardware physics in games like GRAW2 - thanks to PS3 architecture - compared to their much more bland software physics driven cousin on the 360, well, no excuse for your uninformed comments. Like Jade Raymond and her intital comments about PS3 architecture - which later had to be recanted - you too have a piece of humble pie at the dinner table of ignorance. Bluray? MGS4, end of story. People like you are so shortsighted. Kind of ironic considering you claim to be an ANALyst. But then again any gaijin would naturally concentrate on those things which occupy the American mindset - which is the next 5 minutes. Sony has chosen to look far down the road and size matters pal. Sony messed up online. Ever play online? No? One of Sony's biggest issues are people like you. The lie spreaders. I seriously doubt you are coordinated enough to operate thumbsticks else you would know the horrendous performance with Live is inexcusable compared to the freedom of PSN. And as Sony has demonstrated at E3, their online evolution is more than some stolen Miis. Are you a developer? Of course not. Otherwise you would listen more to comments from the developers themselves and what they have said about the PS3 architecture. Isn't it time for another meal with your friend Gabe Newell? It sounds like the two of you chow down from the same trough. Good riddance. This is one more website for me never to bother clicking on again. You have been stereotyped as a MS and Nintendo fanboy. The ugly truth about stereotypes is there is quite often a basis in fact for the moniker with which people are branded. You are a class A example of that fact.

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Title: No fanboy, for sure?
Posted by: TasukiNekoi Jul 22, 2008 17:05
First of all I don't understand why Wii's always compared with XBox and PS. It has a completely different target group and isn't a next gen gaming machine for sure. Secondly not only Sonys E3 PConference wasn't that great, Nintendo lacked there as well. The only bigbang was MS there. For the BluRay, as it shows Sony took the right decision there and why not use a Trojan horse for that? And the PS3 doesn't have the Rrod, the cause of many frustrating moments for XBox owners. Furthmore the PSN does quite a great job and for me "Home" would just be a nice addition. To spend money for playing online several hours in a month, as you have to on XBox, isn't just the right thing for me. At last PS3 outsold Xbox360 in Japan and Europe, so the market in question is USA. The "war" on market shares isn't over yet.

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Title: Your opinions are far from truth
Posted by: Clarence Thompkins Jul 22, 2008 18:43
Ok Bruce this article is 2007 too late. All these technology mumbo jumbo doesn't really matter any more. Why you may ask? well lets start off of each of your arguments: Cell-Though the Cell may have cost many high dollars but now development cost has been going down considerably that's not even an argument there. Graphics Processor-You fail to see how the Ps3 is built there is 256Ram for GPU and 256 of shared flexible Ram which is shared between the Cell and RSX http://talkplaystation.com/ps3s-ram-and-rsx-explained/ if you wanna learn something here's the site Next we have blu-ray which is a short discussion because when ps2 introduced dvd's people though that was too much space now look where we are at with content on discs enough said complex architecture yes it has been but now that developers are actually learning that its really not all that hard to develop for its actually getting easier just ask developers Money issue...Sony has 4 platforms (including the PSN) that they are gathering money from and though Nintendo is doing well Mircosoft has been also lossing money. Have you been living under a rock? Now even the elite is messing up where Microsoft spend 3million for returns to fix the problematic RRoD Exclusives Mircosoft has Gears Halo and Mass Effect that are really AAA titles what else? Seriously Sony has too many companies under there hood to even say they dont have exclusives They havent started to even open the vault yet Most their titles have been brand new IP's Uncharted, Heavenly Swords, Resistance, Folklore, Lair, They now released Ratchet, MGS4, and soon to be release many other new IP's. You really need to look up your facts before posting misleading acquisitions and think about what you're gonna write. I dont know if you seen the salls but its around 19.7 360 14.4...so they manage to sell only 5mil more with a 1 year lead please give this up and close this article down you embarrass yourself

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Title: Wow - how uninformed can you get?
Posted by: doby Jul 22, 2008 18:43
So the PS2's EE was "off the shelf?" Whoops, better look that one up again! The graphics processor is only Slightly LESS if you are use the same code on both GPU's since the XBOX360's has UNIFIED shaders AND THE RSX does not,but even with UNIFIED SHADERS THE PLAYSTATION 3's GPU has more RAW PROCESSOR power than the xbox360 GPU even with unified shaders. with other code and since its a moot point anyway because the playstation 3's graphics render is the Cell+GPU= graphics render puts the Playstation 3 ABOVE the xbox360's Graphics+CPU render. THIS HAS BEEN THE TOUT OF THE XBOXFAN to try to make out the xbox360 system haveing the better graphic render system compared to the PLAYSTATION 3 which its not.

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Title: The Problem with Bruce
Posted by: Truth Jul 22, 2008 19:35
False information and noticeable dislike toward Sony therefore obviously biased opinions.

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Title: I will sound like a fanboy, but some of your points are wrong...
Posted by: Real Gambler Jul 22, 2008 20:33
Cell: It's exactly like the competitor, with a general-purpose Power Architecture core BUT with streamlined coprocessing elements which greatly accelerate multimedia and vector processing applications. It didn't delay the PS3, the Blu-Ray did. Design of the cell started in 2001, so they could use pre-release version quite before 2006. Graphic Processor: Please, please tell us what it is! Nobody in the world knows yet. It's all speculation so far. That's one of the most secret thing about the PS3. So how can you compare it with others? We know it's an NVIDIA RSX but no real clue what GPU they used. Architecture: A lot more difficult? Define a lot? Harder to port games made on the other console? YES. Harder to learn than the other console? NO. Same instruction codes, but a different hardware architecture. Every consoles have different hardware architectures. Sony misread the way the market was going: Yep, Microsoft too, and they are software guys!!!! Not a big deal. Both consoles can adjust if they want to. It's only peripherals. I can use a graphic tablet, a mouse, a blutooth keyboard on a PS3. I would not shoot them for not including a Wiimote or a scale. Sony need to throw money at the problem: You see a problem, I don't! Sales are not so bad. They make money from all the other divisions. Lack of exclusive content: Wow, they lost a third party, and it's drama. Sony make pretty much as many exclusives, as Microsoft does. And Microsoft is not dying no? They only exclusive game, is the one you make. Everything else is open for business. GTAIV is a good example of what money can do. Online: How could they be wrong? It's free! It's working, and it's available since the start. I've already saved $120 of online fee since I got my PS3. So I can live with a few little problems and buy more games for my console. Home? Could not care less. Sure I'll take it, because it will be free. But I can play right now, for free. And I love free things.... Divisions not talking to each other: Wow, for an analyst, you're not watching their Sony's products for sure! Latest Bravia HDTV? They have the same XMB (cross media bar) for the menu as the PS3. Latest Sony Laptop? Yep, again, same XMB. Talk about brand recognition. Talk about division talking to each other. Talk about ease of use for the end users. Now, you're right on one point though. They should not have made a Iphone, anybody could have done that. But they are long overdue for a PSP-Phone. Though, I would bet it's on the burner right now. And guess what, it will have an XMB as well! P.S.: I own every game consoles except the XBOX. Not that I don't like the XBOX, it's just that I throw huge amount of money at my PCs, and would rather use my PC to play Microsoft games. And sure enough, I don't have to pay $60 a year (so far) to play my PC games either. (and they are cheaper).

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Title: 2006 called
Posted by: Nick Jul 22, 2008 21:32
Wants it's incorrect, wrongly informed fanboy article back thanks. Could you get a more one eyed misinformed article than this? Serisouly buddy do your homework before attempting to sit on your high horse and preach incorrect crap.

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Title: OMG
Posted by: Chris Jul 22, 2008 21:43
WTF none of this douche's points make any sence.. This guy is just a wannabe journalist with Google ads all over his page and just wanting some hits.

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