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Sony Shifting PS3 Marketing to Focus on Blu-Ray

Posted by Zonk on from the facepalm dept.

Tabernaque86 writes "What started as joke among gamers Sony is now using as a Christmas advertising campaign. Kaz Hirai, president of the games unit, has been quoted as saying that the PlayStation 3 'makes a great Blu-Ray player'. That theme will be central to a wave of ads in North America and Europe. From the article: 'Sony on Thursday disappointed analysts by failing to cut the PS3's price, but Mr Hirai did not rule out a future price cut. "Going aggressive only on price without being able to back it up with content doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me," he said. A price cut would have a "real impact" on sales only if there were enough software titles to support the PS3. But analysts were skeptical and said Sony could miss its shipment targets for the year. "Without a price cut close to Christmas, reaching 11m shipments is going to be very tough," said David Gibson, analyst at Macquarie in Tokyo.'" This is regrettable, too, because there really are a number of strong titles coming out for the console this year.

10 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Strong Titles? by voidstin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "This is regrettable, too, because there really are a number of strong titles coming out for the console this year."

    Really? In 2007? Like What? Looking at the release dates, I don't see a decent exclusive before LittleBigPlanet or Killzone, both of which are in February.

    1. Re:Strong Titles? by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "The Wii is in 1st place in large part because of its price."

      You make a good point, even if it's wrong. The price is part of why the Wii is on top. The majority of the reason is because Nintendo says it's a Game Console first and foremost. It's not a Blu-Ray player. It's not a media center. It's a low priced game console that offers strong gameplay and a unique controller.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    2. Re:Strong Titles? by king-manic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Heavenly Sword looked awesome back when it was a potential launch title and no one new it was only 6 hours long.

      I bought it on friday and am about 1/2 -> 2/3 done. It's a good 6h. No filler. I guess you take it as you will. Some 30h games are mostly filler. This is a 6h game that is very good without filler. It's well paced, somewhat difficult. Frustrating but fair. Very polished. But short. IT's been more then 6h right now. I think they mean 6h if your good at god of war. I'm not that good and I keep trying to play it like ninja gaiden so I'm only 2/3 of the way through after about 12h.

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  2. Games, games, games by vlad_petric · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ... which are made by developers, developers, developers.

    The main problem with PS3 is not the price, it's the games. There are a few good ones, but certainly not enough. With respect to developers, developers, developers, Sony made a few wrong moves:

    • The CELL is perhaps the most difficult platform to develop for. Instead of a clean SMP interface, they opted for a two-instruction set asymmetric architecture. They took a relatively complex problem—developing for a multi-processor—and made it much, much, worse. I always hear that current generation games don't fully utilize the PS3 ... to which I reply "D'oh, if you only knew what it takes to fully utilize it ... "
    • They did not release proper tools and libraries. Our developers are smart people, we'll let them figure it out ... That worked out well for the PS2, but it certainly doesn't work for PS3
    • Their arrogance (most likely) alienated quite a few developers that'd have produced exclusives.

    Conclusion: bad moves -> few games -> third place as a console

    --

    The Raven

  3. Heavenly sword -- killer app? by religious+freak · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I just finished Heavenly sword. If they need to sell more PS3s, build a few more games like that, and you'll take over MS again in no time.

    Good software... good hardware sales. Just got to figure out if you need to make the chicken or the egg first.

    --
    If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
  4. Confused by Ajehals · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I'm not a gamer and I don't own a console, so I may be missing something but does

    Going aggressive only on price without being able to back it up with content doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, mean what I think it means? i.e. "We are not dropping our prices because we have don't have much content as yet, but when we do have more content we will drop our prices".

    I mean I can see the sense in the fact that more games will drive sales, but I don't see why people would pay more for a console when there are only a few titles* why not drop the price, have people buy it as a blueray player and then *not* drop the price again when the titles are out (after all it will already be as cheap enough as if they dropped the prices when the titles came out). Wouldn't that mean that more people would consider buying the console before the content is available (albeit at a lower price)

    Anyway,makes no sense to me, but as I said I'm not a gamer.

    *I have no real idea how many titles are available for the PS3 or how it stacks up against its rivals, so take that statement at face value rather than assume I am insinuating that the platform is not as good as or worse off than $otherplatform.
    1. Re:Confused by 7Prime · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh, I don't doubt that Sony have a plan. But Microsoft and Nintendo also have plans, and currently, they're already way ahead.

      Sony is already playing catchup against two companies that ALWAYS have tricks on their sleaves. Sony hasn't ever had to pull Aces out of their asses before now, where-as Nintendo, and to a lesser extent, Microsoft, are well versed in the ace-ass-pulling.

      --
      Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
    2. Re:Confused by 7Prime · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You must have not been around for the GameBoy Advanced and Nintendo DS... if there's ever any "pulling victory from their ass" award, it goes to those boys. And from what I'm seeing, the Wii seems to be the third system IN A ROW that did the same thing.

      If you think about it, basically every system launched after the GameCube has been a complete success. And I still standby the statement that the GameCube only "failed" (and only in marketshare, not profit) because of the horrendous disaster that was the N64. Many systems sell according to their predicessors. The GameCube sold less units, but it gained a very strong following, which is one of the many reasons why the Wii is doing so well. The PS3 is an accepteption, because I don't think anyone has ever managed to shoot themselves in the foot more accurately than Sony.

      So yes, Nintendo is one of the greatest in "ace-ass-pulling". And their hardware division is only part of it, their gaming division is even better at it.

      --
      Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
  5. Re:PS3 as a Blu-Ray Player by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Dr. Kool PhD, is that you?

  6. 'Course they're not saying they're dropping prices by r_jensen11 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why the hell would they say that they're going to drop prices November 23rd when it's only September 23rd? That's still two months away. Once you announce a future price cut, sales temporarily slow down until said price cut occurs. Then you see a spike in trading volume, followed by a trailing off toward your new equilibrium.