Sony’s confidence in Playstation brand could be their downfall
A few days ago the internet gaming community was buzzing with the news that on Tuesday, 31st March Sony would be making some kind of big announcement. We at TGP even speculated as to what the company could be announcing. Would it be improvements to Home? Were they going to provide details on Team Ico’s new title? Or would they announce a (much needed) price cut for the Playstation 3?
The answer left us feeling deflated. Sony’s big announcement was that the PS2 would be available for 99 euros in Europe and 99 dollars in the states. The Uk however, would not be getting a price cut. We can already get the machine for £80 and that’s good enough for us brits in Sony’s eye.
Price Cut for PS3?
However, the feeling within the gaming community is that PS3 must be reduced in price soon. It’s in last place overall in the console war yet it remains more expensive than both the Xbox 360 and Wii. The previous attacks on the 360 that Sony have launched stating that with all of the add-ons the 360 ‘needs’ to be comparable to the PS3, the PS3 is actually the better machine doesn’t really hold much weight in the current economic situation the country finds itself in. Bottom line, £189.99 will allow me to play Resident Evil 5 on the Xbox 360, whilst £289.99 is what I’d need to shell out for the a PS3 and then an extra £39.99 on top of that for a copy of the game, giving a grand total of almost £330.
Whilst you could argue that the PS3 has a 20gb bigger hard drive than the 360 and you’re getting a blu-ray player, this was not what I was shopping for (and indeed not what parents will be looking at when their children are asking for a console for their birthday or Christmas presents). I was simply looking for the cheapest way to play next-generation games like Resident Evil 5.
Sony, please don’t get Nintendowned
Sony are making the exact same mistakes now that Nintendo made before, during and after the launch of the Nintendo 64. They were seen as arrogant because the NES and SNES had dominated the console scene for so long and when upstarts Sony came along with their newly announced Playstation machine Nintendo never even blinked.
They were Nintendo, you didn’t play videogames, you played Nintendo. Yeah, that worked out great didn’t it? The Playstation One would take gaming to a whole new level whilst the N64 was late to release, overpriced and had poor ports of multi-platform titles that often cost more than the original format they were ported from. Any of this sounding familiar?
They seemed oblivious to the fact that their machine just wasn’t selling as many units as their rivals and carried on month after month ignoring it. When it was time for their next machine to launch a few years later Nintendo was left trailing in last place with Gamecube.
Development costs are now a lot higher than they were back in the N64 and Playstation One days and the tough economic situation the world finds itself in means people don’t have as much to spend. If your sales falter now the effects could be far more serious. With Sony announcing its first net loss in 14 years and the freezing of salaries how much longer can they afford to let one of their most important brands; Playstation, slip further and further behind?
E3 – its time for a change
So E3 is heading our way in a few short months. Will this be the time that Sony finally announces a price cut for their flagship console? Who knows? I hope for their sake they do though, I love Playstation and competition in the marketplace is healthy and necessary.
No-one wants a one horse race. But also no-one wants to back a loser.
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