The vision is clear as day rolling like a motion picture in my mind right now, ‘PS2 is doomed; it won’t last, the thing is too darn expensive’. Others would yell about how the tech was painstaking and that it was way ahead of its time, like being ahead was a bad thing. PS2 doom and gloom articles were all over the place too, with careless journalists mindlessly blowing hard against the console.
But look at what happened in the end, PS2 became the best selling console of all time and believe or not, although PS3 might not realize the high sales numbers PS2 did, in almost every other way, the two consoles faced identical storms and ultimately succeeded.
IGN Called it the comeback kid, well Games Thirst says it never went anywhere.
Repeat No. 1 – Release Shortages
In 2000, only a few million people had purchased the gaming device because of Manufacturing delays. Directly after its release, it was very difficult to find a PS2 on store shelves because they were almost always sold out and people were paying thousands of dollars on sites like eBay just to get their hands on it.
PS3 faced the same criticism. Because Blu-ray was new tech at the time and the PS3 was the only gaming device to carry a Blu-ray drive, components for the technology was constantly faced with shortages, hence stalling development of PS3 to the dismay of unsatisfied consumers. This lead to a worldwide shortage and just like the PS2, people were paying big bucks just to get a one.
Repeat No. 2 - The Price
You’ll hardly find a gamer today who still complains about the price of the PS3, mainly because now it offers an extremely great value, but rewind your thoughts less than a year in the past and you’ll realize how quickly we forget.
The PS3 was essentially written off by many big publications because of its price, crying about how expensive it was and totally neglecting the capabilities of the machine. But don’t be alarmed, PS2 faced the same wrath.
$299 was the launch price of Sony’s PS2 and a good portion of the media was complaining about it, saying PS2 was just too expensive and that Sony should reduce the price immediately if they wanted to remain relevant in the industry. Rings a bell?
Well now PS3 is only $299 and it is now selling better than anytime in its 4 year history.
Repeat No. 3 – Introduction of New Formats
If opinions could kill, PS2 would have never been the success it is. The media said the system would not make it because it carried a DVD drive that was, at the time, relatively an unknown format and that Sony made a big mistake by going along with DVD. It was also a format that gave more space to develop better quality games. Little need to be said about the success of DVDs now, a format that was made successful in part by the PS2.
That same wrath was thrust upon PS3 in its early days for its cell processor. Again the skeptics said it was alien tech and no one knew if it would succeed. Now the PS3 is second to none in terms of storage and devs are now getting a hold of the cell. Because of this, PS3 is now home to some of the best looking games.
Repeat No. 4 – Intricate Design
This seems to happen with every new PlayStation hardware, from since the days of PSone up till right now, the cry remains the same: PlayStation hardware is just to hard to develop games for. That’s what many developers have moaned, most notably Valve’s Gabe Newell, saying the “PS3’s a total disaster.”
From the onset, the PS2’s design challenged Devs to think outside the box, but yet they would be quoted saying that Ken Kutaragi, PlayStation mastermind, built his system too tough, resulting in much struggle for them.
Last year, one of Brink’s devs told Eurogamer that PS3’s tech is “alien” to him. On the flip side, developers like Naughty have mastered the cell technology and are now sharing their knowledge with the unlearned.
Repeat No. 5 – The Games
The PS2’s library boasts over 2000 titles; something no other console has been able to achieve. But before the overload of games, at the beginning, it was scuffed at for having almost nothing to play when it came on the scene. PS3 faced even worst criticism, but who’s laughing now? With games like God of War III and Heavy just to name a few, no other console offers the experience that PS3 does.
And there it is, Sony is losing about $18 on every PS3 sold now and is set to start making a profit sooner than even they projected. The redesigned PS3 slim was introduced in August of last year and ever since, sales have been on pace with the performance of PS2 and I suspect this will only continue.
In closing, congrats to Sony for sticking with PS3 even when the days were pitch black, now the clouds are gone and the sun is momentously shining its light again.
Nice job.
When playstation builds their hardware they make sure they have thoroughbred horses under the plastic hood that will stand the test of time and perservere to survive and be futureproof for a long gen cycle and it is just so amazing to see the ps2 still selling so consistently and with ps3 this will definetly be a long cycle just like its predecessor.
The PS3 is a great console. However what will prevent it from repeating itself of being the success the PS2 managed will be two things. One is the competition is much more fierce. The Wii has blown the doors wide open and left the Xbox 360 and the PS3 out of reach as far as sales. So what has happened is PS3 optimists have focused all of their attention on the Xbox 360 instead as it’s a console that’s more in reach.
However the Xbox 360 has done something the original Xbox couldn’t really do and that is take marketshare away from the Playstation brand. So now we see over 39 million systems out there, a far cry more than the original Xbox achieved, plus a game library that is just as large if not larger than what the PS3 currently offers due largely to the fact it was out a year earlier.
The 2nd point is we all know Sony has more in-house studios than Microsoft. So as far as exclusives the PS3 is in a better position. However 2010 looks like another break-out year for the Xbox 360 to combat the PS3 with games like Halo Reach, Alan Wake and Fable 3. Each will be pretty big games to take on God of War 3, GT5 and Heavy Rain and other exclusives. The Xbox 360’s console exclusives are still just as powerful like Mass Effect 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction too as we can already see from the latest NDP numbers for Mass Effect 2.
What the PS3 lacks that the PS2 had is 3rd party influence. The days of them favoring the Playstation brand are pretty much over. Yes we still see a few like MGS4 and Agent but most will be from Japan now. On the flip side Microsoft has been very aggressive with getting 3rd party support and taking away those key IP’s like Final Fantasy and Tekken and Resident Evil and many other IP’s the original Xbox lacked. They also managed to take away the GTA brand from the Playstation and making it on parity between the two. This has all put the focus back onto Sony and it’s own games. Well those games just aren’t selling like the Gears of Wars and the Halos. GT5 will but very few will reach those numbers. Which again comes back to the importance of console exclusives that are just as meaningful as true exclusives. M.A.G. and Heavy Rain will not sell as well as Mass Effect 2 so which is more favorable of selling consoles? The fact is the largest portion of each games library falls back onto 3rd party titles. This is what’s keeping the PS3 from reaching PS2 status. The biggest incentive is blu-ray and consumers can now get a blu-ray stand alone player for under $150. But for the videophile and gamer the PS3 is the obvious choice. It currently offers the best value out of all 3 consoles at the moment. But don’t expect that value to stay forever as Sony will most likely keep that $299 price point to gain profits after all the losses it has so far taken. The Xbox 360 and Wii can still cut costs and be profitable at the same time. Those two consoles are simply cheaper to make.
Plus with Natal coming out this could also swing things into Microsoft’s favor. Or it could be a complete bust. We just don’t know yet and the Sony fans will obviously think it will be a bust.
All I can say it’s nice to own both. This leaves me in a position to enjoy games like Mass Effect 2 (as I’m not a PC gamer and besides, how does that help the PS3 anyways?) the upcoming Alan Wake and Heavy Rain and God of War 3. I’d hate to be a position like some fanboys who are just optimistic to their console preference and pessimistic to the competition. Those people are the real losers.
Long but interesting post.
And welcome to Games Thirst!
You’ll find it’s a peaceful community here.
Gabe Newell’s comments cannot be taken as credible. He has a vested interest. A former Microsoft employee for 13 years, Gabe Newell’s Valve will only develop games for Microsoft systems – Xbox 360 and PC. They have flat out refused support for Sony, Nintendo, or Apple. Remember, Valve threw a hissyfit and refused to assist EA with the Half-Life Orange Box port for PS3. The whole thing would be like Ted Pryce of Insomniac saying that the Xbox 360 is poorly designed. If Gabe is sincere about the PS3, there is still a conflict of interest on Gabe Newell’s part, so he should keep his gargantuan mouth shut.
Welcome airtoast!
Well obviously the PS3 isn’t going to dominate this generation the same way the PS2 dominated the last gen but this article is spot on. Sony’s stance on the games market has always been offering consumers a “Complete package” – a console that will do what the other’s cannot.
The PS3 is very much a complete package. Blu – Ray playback, free online gaming and, due to their huge first – party lineup, the best exclusives available on the market. Sony have more first – party stuidio’s at their disposal than Microsoft and Nintendo combined and it’s starting to show. The PS3’s software was head and shoulders above the other consoles in 2009 not just in terms of quality but in terms of variety. 2010 looks to be even better for Sony with games like MAG, Heavy Rain, White Knight Chronicles, GOW 3, Gran Turismo 5 and Yakuza 3. Then there’s other games on the horizon such as Infamous 2, Resistance 3, Killzone 3, The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy Versus XIII.
Since the launch of the Slim the PS3 has really hit it’s stride. Outselling the 360 every week worldwide without fail and outselling the 360 by more than 2.2 million units for the 2009 calendar year. GOW 3 and GT 5 will both be huge system sellers for Sony (GT 5 especially) and the phrase “It only does everything.” is not just a maketing slogan – it’s reality.