Activision vs. Sony

[Glover09]

Interesting, but I think you're wrong on Blu Ray, I thinks it's going to turn into something of a loss for Sony.

It's only going to last until movie downloads become widespread, at which point it could find itself as the uncomfortable half way between cheap and easy to find DVD's and cheap and easy to find HD downloads.
The (legal) choices for downloads aren't massive at the moment but they're no worse than Blu Ray. I think a lot of technophiles are just going skip Blu Ray and go straight to downloaded movies they can watch on any screen in the house.

I agree its not a win for Sony, but for other reasons was well - I think the Blu-ray isn't enough of an improvement over DVD as DVD was over tapes, and so it doesn't really make the price point for me. Add to that, these downloadable movies and the fact that other companies will be making Blu ray players too for half the price means that I don't see Sony profiting enough from Blu ray to justify the loses they are taking on the PS3

No, Blu-Ray probably won't be a bright spot on the PS3's resume, but I am one of those people who wants a physical, hard copy of most things. Also, I don't trust anything online, so why would I buy a download version of anything that could be hacked or hacked into.

In other words, I'll take my chances with Blu-Ray and UMDs.

 

[Doug]

Interesting, but I think you're wrong on Blu Ray, I thinks it's going to turn into something of a loss for Sony.

It's only going to last until movie downloads become widespread, at which point it could find itself as the uncomfortable half way between cheap and easy to find DVD's and cheap and easy to find HD downloads.
The (legal) choices for downloads aren't massive at the moment but they're no worse than Blu Ray. I think a lot of technophiles are just going skip Blu Ray and go straight to downloaded movies they can watch on any screen in the house.

I agree its not a win for Sony, but for other reasons was well - I think the Blu-ray isn't enough of an improvement over DVD as DVD was over tapes, and so it doesn't really make the price point for me. Add to that, these downloadable movies and the fact that other companies will be making Blu ray players too for half the price means that I don't see Sony profiting enough from Blu ray to justify the loses they are taking on the PS3

No, Blu-Ray probably won't be a bright spot on the PS3's resume, but I am one of those people who wants a physical, hard copy of most things. Also, I don't trust anything online, so why would I buy a download version of anything that could be hacked or hacked into.

In other words, I'll take my chances with Blu-Ray and UMDs.

Fair enough, but to be honest, it seems likely to me that by the time Blu-ray begins to be widespread, the next thing will turn up - be it holographic discs, whatever, etc, heh. Mainly because of the current economic climate.

 

[Jumplion]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Warner_labels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_EMI_labels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Universal_Music_Group_labels
Activision would do just fine.

Regardless, Sony still takes with them many big name bands, Activision wouldn't want to lose any potential songs in their franchise. Not to mention they would lose many songs to the Rock Band license, and I don't think Activision wants to give their rival any more advantages. Besides, Warner Bros. doesn't have Hungry like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duran_Duran] the Wolf [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_like_the_wolf]

And even that's assuming that the music drives sales of the game, and not the reverse. Guess what.. it ain't so.

Wait, a music game isn't drived by the music? What a world we live in! *coughDJHerocough*

If you track album sales you find that those bands on Guitar Hero get a significant kick when a new Guitar Hero is released. This doesn't suggest that people who buy guitar hero are doing it because they already know and like the music that's on it, but rather because they like the game, and perhaps a song or two on the box catches their attention. Then when they hear what else is on it, they go and buy. Well, given the major labels listed above, I'm willing to bet not much would change with or without Sony.

Same can be said with the Rock Band songs, which would not lose Sony support in this hypothetical situation.

Then assuming all of that, we need to somehow believe that the head of the PS3 division would be able to convince shareholders and the division head of Sony Music to take the hit for the console that is the worst performing in sales this generation,

Gross exaggeration, as I has been stated multiple times, in the first two years the PS3 has sold better than the 360 in it's first two years. Of course something would sell well if it has a year head start.

in a time when Sony is suffering significant losses on almost all fronts.

Can't argue with that.

I can imagine that meeting. "You want us to what? You realize what kind of sales these games generate for us? Why don't you just drop the price? Okay, but you're asking ME to take a loss to my side because you don't want to on yours."

Yeah, ain't gonna fly.

OR, Activision gives back support or Sony supports their rival of Rock Band and refuses to give any of their songs, and everyone is happy and moves on with their lives. I would imagine that the PS3 would still put profits for Activision regardless, and as you previously said, they'd still get money from each song downloaded (royalties and such being paid to the band/brand), so cutting support on a console that still easily makes them money is stupid for Activision, not Sony.

And then you're thinking Sony is going to convince its competitor companies in the RIAA to take a further hit to their sales right now to support Sony's gaming platform? Seriously? You actually beleive that?

Why not? Something about "not being in your best interest" or something.

 

[Megacherv]

Yeah, not many good games out for the thing.

Of course there fucking are, otherwise 23 million people wouldn't have bought one.

thing is, even if the PS3 was cheaper than th 360, i still wouldnt buy one, because there are no games on that i have any interest in. nothing they're brought out so far has even slightly piqued my interest. aside from Killzone 2 (which i hear is actually pretty mediocre), can someone name a REALLY good exclusive? something that blows the pants off anything the 360 or the Wii have put forward?

The Ratchet and Clank series

Perhaps you should play the games yourself and not listen to others opinions so you can develop your own?

(<3 Killzone 2)

Why you...rrr...you...RRR...yo...ARGH!

Yeah, not many good games out for the thing.

Of course there fucking are, otherwise 23 million people wouldn't have bought one.

thing is, even if the PS3 was cheaper than th 360, i still wouldnt buy one, because there are no games on that i have any interest in. nothing they're brought out so far has even slightly piqued my interest. aside from Killzone 2 (which i hear is actually pretty mediocre), can someone name a REALLY good exclusive? something that blows the pants off anything the 360 or the Wii have put forward?

The Ratchet and Clank series

ehhhhhhhh....
No.
Have you played the new Ratchet and Clank games?
They both sucked eggs. That was putting it mildly.
And by no good games I meant exclusives.

Well, it's a bit extreme saying that there aren't any good games for it. All the games that I now have for the PS3 I've enjoyed loads.

 

[PizzaDentist]

$149 dollars for the deluxe Modern Warfare 2? Woo hoo, comes with some silly green glasses. As one of the highest earning video games studios in the world, I hereby decree that Activision must forthwith STFU.

And as someone who still uses a CRT television in standard definition, I couldn't care about BLUE Ray and wouldn't be bothered paying hundreds just to have a player in my console. DVD's are just fine for me. It's not as though I'm going to repurchase all the 400-odd films just to see nipple hairs on anyone not wearing a shirt.

 

[DigitalJedl]

Yeah, not many good games out for the thing.

Of course there fucking are, otherwise 23 million people wouldn't have bought one.

thing is, even if the PS3 was cheaper than th 360, i still wouldnt buy one, because there are no games on that i have any interest in. nothing they're brought out so far has even slightly piqued my interest. aside from Killzone 2 (which i hear is actually pretty mediocre), can someone name a REALLY good exclusive? something that blows the pants off anything the 360 or the Wii have put forward?

The Ratchet and Clank series

Perhaps you should play the games yourself and not listen to others opinions so you can develop your own?

(<3 Killzone 2)

Why you...rrr...you...RRR...yo...ARGH!

Spoiler

Ain't I a stinker?

 

[Casual Shinji]

PLEASE no more SONY-autopsy articles.

 

[Ashbax]

All this generation is really is a learning period for everyone. Sony to learn to be more humble. And Microsoft to be more patient. Hopefully they'll both learn from thier mistakes so thier next systems will be all the better.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft went with HD-DVD instead of BluRay. Sure it would keep thier system from playing movies (unless they ported them over themself), but it really doesn't matter what format thier games are on. Still would be giving Sony the upper hand, but they've done that thier whole (console) life and still are in really good shape.

Going HD-DVD would really fuck with the pirates too.

I dont see how blu-ray is a good idea for sony, infact, its one of the Ps3's problems. Very expensive, games hard to make, and overall fucking things up, meaning alot of developers struggle to put in every gameplay aspect, as, even though blu-ray isnt that much of a jump, its still hard to work with. I agree with this article quite alot.

 

[LordSphinx]

I think BluRay will disappear once flash drives become the norm. A 256go flash drive (yup, such a thing exists already) is much better than a 50go dual layer BluRay Disc... And it will be common faster than we'd imagine, I'm sure. It just has to be cheaper to make. Also, data is transfered much faster on those than on discs, and it breaks less. Can't wait, the loading time will finally go down

 

[Shamus Young]

I think BluRay will disappear once flash drives become the norm. A 256go flash drive (yup, such a thing exists already) is much better than a 50go dual layer BluRay Disc... And it will be common faster than we'd imagine, I'm sure. It just has to be cheaper to make. Also, data is transfered much faster on those than on discs, and it breaks less. Can't wait, the loading time will finally go down

I hadn't even considered this. I don't think another disk-based format will threaten BR for years, but you are right: A simple flash drive may well end up having higher storage, AND be cheaper to produce, AND have faster access times, AND work with portable devices, AND require a tiny fraction of the voltage of a BR drive, AND not owe any licensing tribute to Sony.

This never dawned on me. Very interesting.

 

[Pendragon9]

I think BluRay will disappear once flash drives become the norm. A 256go flash drive (yup, such a thing exists already) is much better than a 50go dual layer BluRay Disc... And it will be common faster than we'd imagine, I'm sure. It just has to be cheaper to make. Also, data is transfered much faster on those than on discs, and it breaks less. Can't wait, the loading time will finally go down

I doubt it. Only those not in the know would completely rely on flash drives. You need physical backups of data. It can't all be digital. What happens if your computer crashes? You lose all that data?

All I'm saying is that we shouldn't just be throwing away blu ray because Sony supports it.

 

[Jumplion]

I think BluRay will disappear once flash drives become the norm. A 256go flash drive (yup, such a thing exists already) is much better than a 50go dual layer BluRay Disc... And it will be common faster than we'd imagine, I'm sure. It just has to be cheaper to make. Also, data is transfered much faster on those than on discs, and it breaks less. Can't wait, the loading time will finally go down

I hadn't even considered this. I don't think another disk-based format will threaten BR for years, but you are right: A simple flash drive may well end up having higher storage, AND be cheaper to produce, AND have faster access times, AND work with portable devices, AND require a tiny fraction of the voltage of a BR drive, AND not owe any licensing tribute to Sony.

This never dawned on me. Very interesting.

Eh, either way Blu-Ray sales are up nearly double [http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/697467/Blu-Ray-Sales-Up-91-Percent.html]. Oy, I was waiting to use that article, so good!

 

[Ravinak]

I really don't think Sony has any problems with their number of units sold.

Here's an announcement of their sales figure as at 20th Feb, 2009 - With 21 million units sold:
http://www.psu.com/PS3-global-sales-top-21-million,-says-Sony-News--a006508-p0.php

Here is an article posted on the 28th May, 2009 for the Xbox360 - 30 million units sold:
http://www.thehdroom.com/news/Global_Xbox_360_Sales_Cross_30_Million_Mark/4872

While there is still a gap between the two sale figures, we must also consider that the Xbox360 has been out for 3 years, and the PS3 has been out for 2 years, so their sale rates is actually very similar.

Also, with all the upcoming exclusives line up on the PS3, who knows what will happen after another year or two.

 

[rmx687]

Man I really love reading these, I follow Experienced Points regularly and on the whole, this and the other features is what really distinguishes The Escapist from other gaming sites. While other sites bore me with NPD's and Japanese software stats, I can get informed opinion here and it's becoming a rarer commodity everyday.

However, one line confused me:

"Even if they were able to slash the price down below Xbox 360 levels, it would take a while for the increased sales to grow the user base enough to attract more developers."

It's confusing because not only does the PS3 enjoy nearly every 3rd party experience offered on the 360, at this point it seems to be getting more 3rd party exclusive support, from Atlus (Demon's Souls & Persona 5), SEGA (Valkyria Chronicles, Yakuza 3), Rockstar (Agent), Tecmo (Quantum, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2), and Square Enix now that the sales numbers are in, their 360 exclusives sold terribly and Final Fantasy XIV as well as Final Fantasy Versus XIII are in production. It doesn't really seem like Sony needs any more developers.

Furthermore, this article also neglects falling manufacturing prices that have put the ps3, by most recent estimates, $50 more to produce than it is sold. With Blu Ray drives and Cell processor motherboards now having smaller and less expensive versions on the market, the PS3 slim is more of a reality than ever, especially with pictures, videos, and edited IGN podcasts all confirming its existence.

Lastly, I'm still not sure how there's an aura of "mistake-making" around Sony concerning the PS3 launch and history. Despite few launch games, an extremely higher price point, weaker online service, and tougher development costs, they've still managed to sell 10 million consoles a year, which is more than could be said about the 360 in its first two years. If Sony's hurting, then how was the XBox faring from 2005 until Q3 2008?

 

[-AC80-]

hummm acording to the games con 2009 looks like activision and sony got what they want a price cut YAY!!!!

 

[moress]

I think I can clarify what he was trying to say about the PS3 being harder to program.

They've stated that they want the PS3 to have a 10 year life span (unthinkable compared to the XBox but not the PS2)... anyways what I think he's saying is that they could have gone with a simpler system that was easier to develop for, but instead they went with the more complicated system that had potential.

And the hardware needs to have a ton of potential if its still going to be competitive in a decade... try to imagine building a computer with today's technology that will be able to play just about anything developed in 10 years.