Remember how big and strong Sony seemed at the last E3? Remember how they seemed to respond to the Xbox One's policy like a rational person might, suggesting that deep in their heart, they really did have humans who cared for their customers? Remember when they vanquished the tyrant Microsoft and everyone swore that they had the next console generation all sewn up? Remember when you thought nothing could bring them down?
Well, nothing lasts forever.
Months have passed, and Microsoft has since regained some of their ground. Apologizing for their mistake, Microsoft seems to be trying to regain their consumer's trust. Now, I'm not one to forgive and forget - I made a blood pact with some of you to remember it to the end - but now that Matrick has been Nixoned, they might just have a chance. They have done what they can, and it seems to have somewhat worked.
But what has Sony been doing in this time? Well, aside from taking a few small swipes at Microsoft, they really haven't been doing much of anything. They basically seemed confident that they had this coming generation locked up, much like they did with the PS3 and Nintendo before with the Gamecube. But perhaps this was not the case.
Let's take a look at the most important part of all this. The part that Microsoft neglected and started their PR nightmares with, and the only part Nintendo seems to work on: games. An important fact from the PS4 reveal and at E3 that people seem to have forgotten was that, when you get right down to it, there weren't that many actual games announced. The most impressive one, hands down, was Watch Dogs, and Ubisoft recently pulled that one back. (Take it from someone who was looking forward to Rayman Legends back last year; I know that feel.) Apart from that, what's left? Killzone at launch and Infamous on the way. Good games, but not capable of supporting a system, especially since you can't play PS3 games on it either. There's a handful of indie titles, and while strong independent support is definitely a plus, in this case it seems more like an asterisk on the back of the box than a system seller.
And it's not just at launch; in the following months, not a lot of new games are coming to the system. The ones that are coming are mostly multiplatform, including PS3, and that might be the most damning feature of all - why buy a new system when you can get the same games on your old one? This is exactly the dilemma Nintendo had with the Wii U, and that was with no opposition. Now Sony has to compete with not only a Nintendo that, after a year, is finally offering a steady stream of good games, but a Microsoft that actually does have quite a few games of its own. Dead Rising, Ryse, Titanfall - their launch lineup practically blows the other two out of the water.
Did I mention financials? Sony has been suffering a string of financial setbacks for months now. The fact that their games section only losing $8 million is the least of their worries is, in fact, the greatest of their worries. Nintendo hasn't quite been in the black, either, but their sales numbers allow a lot more optimism than Sony's, with a slow growth steadily emerging. And Microsoft's doing just fine, especially since they also make money off of their PC sales. (By the way, nice job, PC master race! You're certainly striking a bold move against the Big 3 by picking one of them and supporting them financially! Truly, you are the wise ones.)
Now, I'm not saying Sony is doomed. A few months ago, we were all convinced that Microsoft was destined to go down like Sega, and we certainly messed up there. However, they haven't won yet. And they might not win. Perhaps S&M will end up locked in another endless tug of war, while Nintendo collects the large pile of money nobody else seems to have noticed. But hey, that's just my theory. And, judging by my previous experience with arguing on the internet, I'm wrong and my mom was a whore. So, what do you think?
Bonus: Did you ever think that Sega would win the console wars back in the day? And why?