Where Is Mighty Sony?
by Zac Shipley, filed in Gadgets, Games, PS3, Sony, Wii, Xbox 360 on Sep.06, 2006
The impassioned call rang out above all others in a recent Sony investors meeting:
With the company in the red yet again in its most recent quarter, Japanese investors were in an unhappy mood. “I bought shares in mighty Sony,” cried a woman whose holdings had lost nearly two-thirds of their value. “What are you going to do about this?”
Wired Magazine investiages the company’s future with Can the PS3 Save Sony? and comes to the ultimate conclusion that Sony’s various teams and departments are in such dire straights the fate of the entire company rests on whether or not the PlayStation 3 can be a profitable success.
Sadly, the future is not looking any brighter this day. Joystiq reports: European launch of PlayStation 3 delayed until March 2007, and this heartbreaking blow to the fastest growing game market is quicky followed up with North American, Japanese PS3 launch limited to 500,000 units.
Add on the fact that the unit itself still costs $600, and trendsetters like Penny-Arcade have sworn off the launch as “bullshit” and even the editor of Official PlayStation Magazine will be opting for an Xbox 360.
Maybe I’m not seeing the glow of Sony fans right now. Entire sites like This is Waiting mock the future of the PS3, and literally hundreds of posts on digg, youtube, and blogs all across the net collectively laugh at every single mis-step. The detractors aren’t watching Sony fail, they’re actually cheering it on.
There is little doubt Sony will sell through the initial stock quickly. I’m sure they’ll also meet their trimmed goal of 2 million by Spring 2007.
But with Xbox360 poised for its second year and reporting rapid success, and the Wii celebrated at the most talked about console since console wars began 20 years ago… Does Sony even have a shot now? I mean, could this be the end of the road for the biggest company in gaming? A year ago I’d say this was impossible, but now I wonder if a Playstation 4 will even see the light of day.
September 7th, 2006 on 12:05 am
And to think, a year ago today Sony fanboys were screaming about how the PS3 was gonna ‘pwn’ Microsuxx.
How is Sony gonna own anything, including it’s own stock when they continue to shoot themselves in the foot on a nearly weekly basis?
September 7th, 2006 on 12:07 am
By the way, you check Gamespot? There is gonna be 400,000 units for launch in the US. If you thought the Xbox 360 launch went bad….
September 7th, 2006 on 1:13 am
What’s even more amazing to me is how Japan is getting the short end of the stick (as opposed to Europe getting no end at all). Wow.
~Sean
September 7th, 2006 on 6:55 am
what are the japanes going to do? buy a 360? ah-ha-ha-ha! North America is the market to beat in their heads, but leaving out europe… damn xbox already had a strong following there. Australia too.
September 7th, 2006 on 2:08 pm
Well, the 360 does have ‘Blue Dragon’ coming out for it, and it’s one of Japan’s top-ten most anticipated games, according to Famitsu. Maybe that’ll move some units.
September 7th, 2006 on 3:02 pm
Blue Dragon is probably the one that’ll finally persuade me to shell out for a 360.
I was reading that Sony’s big push for 1080p has been flushed due to performance issues, now all the games are being scaled back to 720p.
Brutal.
September 7th, 2006 on 7:52 pm
Yeah, I saw that many developers were doing that. I don’t think any other console, OTHER than the “Phantom” has made so many claims only to have to go back and retract statements. “Our system will be a router, right out of the box!” “November 17th, worldwide launch!” “We could sell over a million systems without any games!” Bleh.
Sony’s also failing in the viral marketing campaign, they’ve done nothing to get anyone excited about the PS3. I remember, months before the PS2 launched, getting all sorts of crap about the machine in the mail. Pictures, write-ups about the games and all the possibilities, flaunting the DVD playback and of course TELLING you when it was being released.
This is the worst marketing and PR I’ve ever seen! They should be embarrassed. They haven’t even made me excited about any of their games, I don’t even know what’s in the launch window other than Sonic, F.E.A.R. and EA’s crappy sports titles (save for Fight Night) and their loss of exclusives leaves me with no reason to give them my money. Rumor’s been flying around for awhile that ‘Devil May Cry’ was going multiplatform, and with Ubisoft doing so with ‘Assassin’s Creed’ and Capcom finding an audience on the 360 with ‘Lost Planet’ and ‘Dead Rising’, I can see that happening.
September 8th, 2006 on 1:30 am
I’m looking forward to the time after things fail horribly, when people start writing articles called “The PS3: Where did Sony go wrong?”
All they’ll have to do is cut ‘n paste all the articles that are being written right now.
October 30th, 2006 on 11:30 pm
[...] I previously mocked the state of the corporate giant with my post “Where Is Mighty Sony?” But I’ll be damned if they don’t keep falling on their face over and over. [...]