The Making of the PlayStation

Edge Online has an in-depth look at the beginnings of the first PlayStation console. It starts at Sony's partnership with Nintendo, the purpose of which was to integrate a CD-ROM drive into the SNES. A falling out between the companies led Sony to stubbornly pursue a market dominated by Nintendo and Sega. The console's technology and Sony's unusual position in the industry quickly attracted the interest of many developers and publishers, eventually leading to sales that emphatically won that round of the console wars. "'There was a huge resistance inside the company to actually being in the videogames business at all,' explains Harrison. 'The main reason why the Sony brand wasn't really used in the early marketing of PlayStation was not necessarily out of choice, but it was because Sony's old guard was scared that it was going to destroy this wonderful, venerable, 50-year old brand. They saw Nintendo and Sega as toys, so why on Earth would they join the toy business? That changed a bit after we delivered 90 per cent of the company's profit for a few years.'"

Comments

Taking over the market?

[SmallFurryCreature]

http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/04/march-2009s-top.html

Paints an intresting picture. Not one that should upset Nintendo, they are doing fine, but the 3rd part game publishers, well that is a different story.

Combined with a recent slashdot article that showed the Wii got the least playing hours, it seems the Wii has opened a new segment, the very casual, occasional game buying public. They got the money to spend and aren't afraid to buy new hardware/controllers but they just won't be buying a new title every month.

Nintendo loves this, they make money on their hardware sales so if somebody buys a Wii Fit set and NOTHING else EVER again, they are happy, they got their profit.

But for 3rd party "regular" game makers, that is not good. It means the install base is NOT the same as target audience size for your games.

That is the reason 3rd parties are not to committed for the Wii and continue to aim for the small install bases of the 360 and the Wii, few machines but more people who are into "real" games and will buy them on a regular basis.

It is in a way unfair to really put the three consoles in the same group. Really, you got multiple gaming markets.

1: Cheapo's. Free online games on the PC. Largest market by far with an install base in the hundreds of millions.

2: Hard core gamers. PC, willing to spend money, the land of the MMO's. Install base hard to estimate but tricky because of piracy, although games that don't have to worry about Piracy can make it big (just how much does WoW take in each month)

3: Gamers. PC, 360, PS3, somewhat willing to spend cash but not to much. The traditional gamer who is reluctant to pay a monthly fee and wants their games to last but also be traditional.

4: Mobile gamers. DS, PSP, mobile phones. Got money, but just want a nice game they can play on the go and that is fun and quick. Puzzle games do well, anything you can pick up and go and pause.

5: The non-gamers who just happen to use a gaming console. Wii. WiiFit and such are not really games, they are activities you just happen to use a game console to do. Potentially a huge market but there is a problem, they are by definition, unending games. You don't finish them. So you don't need to buy the sequel, or a clone, or even a different take of it. If you bought the Wii to keep fit, then that is the only purchase you will make for a LONG time. That is NOT the way the other markets work.

Sony made a mistake, not so much with the Cell as with the blueray drive they insisted upon. While DVD would NOT have been enough, Blueray was to much to soon. Either they should have waited or thought of a different solution.

However, I wouldn't count them out yet. The PS2 was called a failure to at the start, people always like to see the big guys fall, and many complained that it was to hard to code for. But look at the charts, PS2 games STILL sell and even make the charts. Where is the X-box or the gamecube or the gameboy advance? I have no idea if the PS3 has hidden depths but we know the limits of the 360 and the Wii. The race is not over until the next round has started. Will developers be able to keep the PS3 alive for as long as the PS2?

Will Microsoft, now even windows is not making them as much as it used to, be able to fund the next sequel in time? The X-box aged fast, how fast is the 360 going to age? Is the market going to want its sequel when the PS3 and the Wii will be cheaper and perhaps even just as good?

I wouldn't make to many conculusions yet about who won this round of the console wars. If there even can be a winner when 1 party has effectively said it is going to run a in a different race and another party is spending a fortune on repairing its consoles.