New Xbox & PlayStation 4: What to Expect -Eurogamer.net

[Hiryosuke]

Killzone had the poetential but fell way short...it was too clunky and limiting weapons and slicing up char segments on the first one was a major turn off for me...more freedom less clunky from the start it woulda been great...hell kz3 jus now caught up to what I believe they were hyping it up to be lol

[stu]

BluRay hasn't been the cash-cow that Sony/Matsushita hoped it would. Streaming is just around the corner, though not likely from NetFlix after their recent blunders.

Sony as a corporation has really been struggling in the LCD/PC market as well where they just can't compete with cheaper brands Vizio or Lenovo. Sony (SNE on Nasdaq) stock price reflects this too.

In fact, Sony could have easily dominated the gaming market for a 3rd generation had they not included BluRay playback and kept the PS3 launch price competitive. Still got to give them credit for not pulling out during the dark years of the PS3 unlike Sega though. But with continued low US hardware sales, it may be very hard for them to recover the lead here even with the PS4.

Yeah, that was one thing that Sony should of done different about the PS3, they should of dropped the Blu-ray drive, had they gone with standard DVD they could of come out with a cheaper system and it would of probably beat the Xbox360, but Sony and Panasonic wanted Blu-Ray to beat out HD-DVD as the standard for home movies and with the Playstation brand Sony figured they had a secret weapon, where they could use PS3 to shift lots of Blu-Ray players like the PS2 shifted lots of DVD players.

However it kinda back fired though because they may of won the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD battle, but the high initial price of PS3 cost them some customers and has held them back up until recently, they are catching the Xbox360 in overall sales now though and of course with new machines being launched things may end up getting reset as far as market leader goes, after all who expected Sony to end up where they are now in this gen?

[CruSega]

BluRay hasn't been the cash-cow that Sony/Matsushita hoped it would. Streaming is just around the corner, though not likely from NetFlix after their recent blunders.

Sony as a corporation has really been struggling in the LCD/PC market as well where they just can't compete with cheaper brands Vizio or Lenovo. Sony (SNE on Nasdaq) stock price reflects this too.

In fact, Sony could have easily dominated the gaming market for a 3rd generation had they not included BluRay playback and kept the PS3 launch price competitive. Still got to give them credit for not pulling out during the dark years of the PS3 unlike Sega though. But with continued low US hardware sales, it may be very hard for them to recover the lead here even with the PS4.

Yeah, that was one thing that Sony should of done different about the PS3, they should of dropped the Blu-ray drive, had they gone with standard DVD they could of come out with a cheaper system and it would of probably beat the Xbox360, but Sony and Panasonic wanted Blu-Ray to beat out HD-DVD as the standard for home movies and with the Playstation brand Sony figured they had a secret weapon, where they could use PS3 to shift lots of Blu-Ray players like the PS2 shifted lots of DVD players.

However it kinda back fired though because they may of won the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD battle, but the high initial price of PS3 cost them some customers and has held them back up until recently, they are catching the Xbox360 in overall sales now though and of course with new machines being launched things may end up getting reset as far as market leader goes, after all who expected Sony to end up where they are now in this gen?

Sony became arrogant after selling 100 million + consoles in consecutive generations. They just assumed, regardless of launch price, that the PS2 faithful would purchase it even if they needed to juggle jobs.

This seems to happen with market leaders every generation in gaming.

I personally think its a bad idea to release a new console in 2012 given the current global economic climate.

[Hiryosuke]

I don't think Sony needs to release a new console honestly.. .its still in good shape compared to the aging XBox 360...

[Hiryosuke]

Meaning they can sit in the playstation 3 for a whole.. .imo anyway...besides as you maybe stated the economy sucks 2013...but 2012 is a bit premature...

[MrSega]

@CruSega. After 2 immmensly successful selling consoles. Sony thought they were untouchable and figured thie brand name and phenominal revenue would help them be able to pull off the same thing with PS3, Sony thought that thier consumer base would be dumb enough to spend $600 on a $800 machine. They thought wrong.

While things are looking better for PS3 late in its life and that to its investors giving it an upgrade to take down Wii U is a no brainer, Sony doesn't have the R&D to build the most techically advanced machine and is limited in options with high end CPUs that will won't cost them a fortune. PS3 will stay alive for several more years. Its going to take them years to earn back that $10-15 billion profit. Considering that Sony's Operating Income is barely even $3 billion and its SCEI division only made $435 million in 2010 even LESS than SEGASammy's $515 million and $5.0 billlion, it would take a whole lot for Sony to be able to afford to build a PS4 and be able to juggle 3 high end platformers. PS Vita would have to be the top selling handheld for at least 4 years worldwide, Sony's electronics brand would have to be selling adeqautely and Blu-Ray's userbase would have to surpass DVD.

These goals are way too far away from Sony to be able to make a Playstation 4.

[CruSega]

@CruSega. After 2 immmensly successful selling consoles. Sony thought they were untouchable and figured thie brand name and phenominal revenue would help them be able to pull off the same thing with PS3, Sony thought that thier consumer base would be dumb enough to spend $600 on a $800 machine. They thought wrong.

While things are looking better for PS3 late in its life and that to its investors giving it an upgrade to take down Wii U, Sony doesn't have the R&D to build the most techically advanced machine and is limited in options with high end CPUs that will won't cost them a fortune. PS3 will stay alive for several more years. Its going to take them years to earn back that $10-15 billion profit. Considering that Sony's Operating Income is barely even $3 billion and its SCEI only made $435 million in 2010 even LESS than SEGASammy's $515 million and $5.0 billlion, it would take a whole lot for Sony to be able to afford to build a PS4 and be able to juggle 3 high end platformers. PS Vita would have to be the top selling handheld for at least 4 years worldwide, Sony's electronics brand would have to be selling adeqautely and Blu-Ray's userbase would have to surpass DVD.

These goals are way too far away from Sony to be able to make a Playstation 4.

So true.
As anyone can see from this, Sony is falling:
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/sne

Their market capital is only 17 Billion. That's still a lot but nothing compared to the days of PS1/PS2 when they were a 35-40 Billion dollar corporation.

My advice to Sony-fire Howard Stringer, as things have gone south with him at the helm. Get some fresh new blood into the company and revive the brand that was once beloved worldwide.


-------------------

By David B. Wilkerson
SNE JP:6758 TWC NFLX XX:DWCBRD

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- As American lawmakers failed to reach agreement on a plan to cut the federal deficit, Monday's U.S. market selloff pushed a number of media and entertainment stocks to 52-week lows, including Sony Corp. /quotes/zigman/197524/quotes/nls/sne SNE -1.99% /quotes/zigman/197500 JP:6758 +3.08% , Time Warner Cable Inc. /quotes/zigman/528868/quotes/nls/twc TWC -1.84% and Netflix Inc. /quotes/zigman/87598/quotes/nls/nflx NFLX -1.75% . U.S.-listed shares of Sony fell 4%, and are down 55% this year. Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, was down 1.3%, and about 9.7% so far in 2011 amid slowing subscriber growth. Netflix, down 5.3% on Monday, is down 58% for the year on a series of missteps, including a clumsily-handled 60% price hike announced in July. The Dow Jones U.S. Broadcasting & Entertainment Total Stock Market Index /quotes/zigman/2625085 XX:DWCBRD -1.52% was down 1.7% at 3,614.56.

Another insightful article about Sony:
http://gizmodo.com/5477633/how-sony-lost-its-way

[MrSega]

@CruSega. I agree. Sony should be focused entirely on trying to rebrand thier traditional brand name. People aren't excited about thier electronics brand anymore and Sony doesn't seem to understand that its not thier "Playstation" line that needs rehabliation, its thier bread and butter.

PS Vita will do very well. But likewise, Nintendo will still maintain its handheld dominace in market penetration. Apple will also be able to take up a large chunk of casual mobile game consumer and SEGA's KIDS PAD does have the opprotunity to nibble a small niche base of gamers and consumers so the odds are stacked up against Vita and the chances of it dominating global sales are slim to none.

Since PS3 has be unable to squeeze a large base and siginificant market penetration in the markets where it is doing well at: Japan and Europe, its not wise investment on Sony's part to even dare invest billions more into a successor, dismal North American sales(currently the largest gaming market) don't help matters either.

Sony MUST turn things completely around by 2014. And they know it. If they can't then they are aware that 20 years after entering the console market SCEI could be filing for bankruptcy and that Sony could be reverting back to being a 2nd party OEM company instead of 1st party.

[stu]

[So true.
As anyone can see from this, Sony is falling:
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/sne

Their market capital is only 17 Billion. That's still a lot but nothing compared to the days of PS1/PS2 when they were a 35-40 Billion dollar corporation.

My advice to Sony-fire Howard Stringer, as things have gone south with him at the helm. Get some fresh new blood into the company and revive the brand that was once beloved worldwide.


-------------------

By David B. Wilkerson
SNE JP:6758 TWC NFLX XX:DWCBRD

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- As American lawmakers failed to reach agreement on a plan to cut the federal deficit, Monday's U.S. market selloff pushed a number of media and entertainment stocks to 52-week lows, including Sony Corp. /quotes/zigman/197524/quotes/nls/sne SNE -1.99% /quotes/zigman/197500 JP:6758 +3.08% , Time Warner Cable Inc. /quotes/zigman/528868/quotes/nls/twc TWC -1.84% and Netflix Inc. /quotes/zigman/87598/quotes/nls/nflx NFLX -1.75% . U.S.-listed shares of Sony fell 4%, and are down 55% this year. Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, was down 1.3%, and about 9.7% so far in 2011 amid slowing subscriber growth. Netflix, down 5.3% on Monday, is down 58% for the year on a series of missteps, including a clumsily-handled 60% price hike announced in July. The Dow Jones U.S. Broadcasting & Entertainment Total Stock Market Index /quotes/zigman/2625085 XX:DWCBRD -1.52% was down 1.7% at 3,614.56.

Another insightful article about Sony:
http://gizmodo.com/5477633/how-sony-lost-its-way

Well from what I've read it seems that Howard Stringer is due to step down in 2013, it may be that he is persuaded to go early and allow someone else to take over the helm at Sony, it seems one of the likely candidates is SCEI's current president, Kaz Hirai.

Maybe Hirai will then be able to turn Sony around and get them back on track. From what I've read on the PSVita they've been able to rectifiy a lot of the issues with the PS3 (it apparently a lot cheaper to make and the development tools are a lot better) and I'm sure that they will be using the same plan for the PS3's successor as they did with PSVita.

[stu]

@CruSega. I agree. Sony should be focused entirely on trying to rebrand thier traditional brand name. People aren't excited about thier electronics brand anymore and Sony doesn't seem to understand that its not thier "Playstation" line that needs rehabliation, its thier bread and butter.

PS Vita will do very well. But likewise, Nintendo will still maintain its handheld dominace in market penetration. Apple will also be able to take up a large chunk of casual mobile game consumer and SEGA's KIDS PAD does have the opprotunity to nibble a small niche base of gamers and consumers so the odds are stacked up against Vita and the chances of it dominating global sales are slim to none.

Since PS3 has be unable to squeeze a large base and siginificant market penetration in the markets where it is doing well at: Japan and Europe, its not wise investment on Sony's part to even dare invest billions more into a successor, dismal North American sales(currently the largest gaming market) don't help matters either.

Sony MUST turn things completely around by 2014. And they know it. If they can't then they are aware that 20 years after entering the console market SCEI could be filing for bankruptcy and that Sony could be reverting back to being a 2nd party OEM company instead of 1st party.

You just contradicted yourself in that post, first you said that the Playstation brand is not the issue, but the rest of the company. Then at the end of your post you claim that it will be SCEI (the Playstation division) that will be going bankrupt.

In a previous Sony thread, I posted links and quotes from a Gameindustry.biz analysis of the problems facing Sony, in that analysis it showed that it isn't the Playstation business that is unprofitable, it is the LCD TV and Camera businesses that are bringing the company down, they need to restructure these or get rid of them, then focus on becoming a leaner, more focused company.

SCEI is actually one of the few bright spots in Sony's line of companies and therefore I would think further investment in the Playstation would be the way forward.