Welcome to part 3 of:

'Ebichu steals a Financial Times out of the office smokers lounge so he can post funny articles about Sony.'

Today I have for you the following:



Sony sidelines man behind the PS3

By Leo Lewis in Tokyo

Ken Kutaragi, the maverick engineer who was behind all three generations of PlayStation games consoles, will today become the chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment.

The management reshuffle could foreshadow Sony's exit from video games hardware. The surprise move, though technically a promotion, removes Mr Kutaragi from the day-to-day running of sony's game division at a critical moment. With the PlayStation3 only just past its difficult Japanese and US launches, Sony is desperate to ensure its complicated machine triumphs in the holiday shopping season.

The comapny described the changes as "strengthening" it's management line-up. In the longer term the PS3 faces stiff competition from Microsoft and Nintendo, as well as a European launch next March for which some analysts fear it's not fully prepared.

Replacing Mr Kutaragi as Sony Computer Entertainment's global president and chief operating officer will be Kazuo Hirai, a veteran of SCE's US division. Investors see Mr Hirai as a slicker, more confident presenter then Mr Kutagari. he is also understood to have developed stronger working relationships with US, European and Japanese games manufactures.

Analysts said that Mr Hirai's promotion to a global role at SCE could mark a critical shift in management thinking, with Sony changing its emphasis so that the current generation of games console will be it's last as a hardware manufacturer.

"The appointment of Hirai could be the start of a shift from hardware to software," commented Yuta Sakurai, an analyst at Nomura. "I cannot now imagine a PlayStation4"


So in short: Ken got rubbed out of the picture by means of a "promotion". And analysts think there's a chance the PS3 might be the last console Sony will ever make.

Sigh, what's going on in those Sony boardrooms? :/

Nintendo, as well as a European launch next March for which some analysts fear it's not fully prepared.

From what I read, Sony wasn't prepared for the Japanese and US launches. Small anecdote: At my local Gamestop, I actually saw ps3 accessories still on shelves.


With the PlayStation3 only just past its difficult Japanese and US launches, Sony is desperate to ensure its complicated machine triumphs in the holiday shopping season.

Are they actually shipping more ps3's before Xmas? Because if they don't, it'll be kind of, well, impossible to "triumph" in any way.

""I cannot now imagine a PlayStation4."

that just sounds like "THE PLAYSTATION 3 IS SO POWERFUL WE'LL NEVER NEED A 4" to me.

Only time will tell...

I can't imagine the uproar this would cause in the Video Game community, though, if Sony did opt to discontinue in the console area. However, I could imagine the handheld area flopping anon.

i dont know. pre ps2 and during the ps2''s lifecycle (or whatever) i would have agreed with you, but between broken ps2's, delays, people feeling they have wasted their money on psps (ok. this is one person but he's also the only person i know who owns a psp so lool), the astronomical price of ps3 on account of practically useless hardware. etc. well, the only people i know who would be upset are sony fanboys tbqh. and that's how a lot of my friends feel, most of whom are very casual gamers.

well, to be fair i dont actually know any.sony fanboys. but personally i'd be quite happy to see the back of them. unless ps3 turns out to be totally rocksome, but i suppose thats what the whole thing depends on anyways, mir.

Are they actually shipping more ps3's before Xmas? Because if they don't, it'll be kind of, well, impossible to "triumph" in any way.

They've actualy been doing weekly shipments. Most stores have been getting a small handful up to 20. They sell out before anybody even knew they were there. A buddy of mine actualy got one yesterday and in minutes they sold out.

The PS3. Sony's last console?

If only.


They've actualy been doing weekly shipments. Most stores have been getting a small handful up to 20. They sell out before anybody even knew they were there. A buddy of mine actualy got one yesterday and in minutes they sold out.

Hehe. The Wiis are coming in droves of 50.

BUT I DON'T WANT ANY OF THEM THEY NEED TO SEND ME MONEY SOON

I hope it's thier last console. Sony are bastards, I've always hated playstation. They have so many shit games, but, they also hog the good ones. e.g. Tekken, Final Fantasy (the main series), Dragonball Z, Grand Theft Auto etc. If these games were with Nintendo, or even Microsoft, they would do a much better job of them.

Good.

Square-Enix needs to go back to strictly Nintendo anyway.

Heh. All Final Fantasy aside, I totally agree with Sarah. They are most likely thinking that with this new-super-top-of-the-line-kick-your-dog-in-the-balls-system they cannot accomplish more than what they have. Which is somewhat true since PSP and UMD discs are going downhill. Also, Sony tries too hard to entice fans with their "futuristic chips". That is exactly what bothers me, is that Sony Computer Entertainment doesn't go for top notch games that you will love to play. Instead they aim for games with top notch graphics that are pretty to look at for 5 minutes.
I will admit the Playstation 3's graphics are in fact superb. Don't believe me, go look up Gran Turismo 5.
Yet, that is all Sony has going for it. So with their current situation, Sony will most likely fail in the video game field by the next generation console launch.

That's like saying, Sarah's quitting and TK's taking over, Oh noez! We're not going to be a forum anymore.

Pfft. Give me a fucking break.

Yeah but these forums don't make shitty consoles.

SERIOUSLY PEOPLE THE PS3 IS THE BEST SYSTEM OUT THERE YOU SHOULD ALL GET TWO

Only time will tell...

I can't imagine the uproar this would cause in the Video Game community, though, if Sony did opt to discontinue in the console area. However, I could imagine the handheld area flopping anon.

Yes you're absolutely right.
Playstation Portable 2?
or Maybe an upgrade for PS3?
PS3v2

Yeah but these forums don't make shitty consoles.
Neither does Sony.

Allow me to correct myself. I like Playstation.
I hate Sony.

So it is mixed on how I stand on the quality of the Playstation 3 in general.

That's like saying, Sarah's quitting and TK's taking over, Oh noez! We're not going to be a forum anymore.

Pfft. Give me a fucking break.

If this happened, we probably wouldn't be a forum anymore, because I don't know the first thing about running a message board!

Neither does Sony.

Except for all the shoddy ones that don't work after about 3 years.

Except for all the shoddy ones that don't work after about 3 years.
Proof plz.

twilight my ps2 broken down and my ps1 broke down

my xbox didn't
my gcn didn't but i never play that

It's well-documented that a large number of PS2s fail after a couple years. You can probably dig up some more info on it with a simple search.

As for the PS3, I've always said that it'll probably be Sony's last console. It seems pretty obvious when you look at the development and marketing of the PS3. Look at how heavily Sony is playing up the whole future-proof angle. They wouldn't design a console to last ten years or more if they planned on ever making another. The question is why.

And here's my answer. Sony came to the same conclusion that I did prior to Nintendo's resurgence; the gaming industry is in decline and will be reduced to a complete niche market, almost totally inaccessible outside the relatively small established market, within a decade. However, their response to the dilemma isn't to try to prompt growth. They've chosen to accept a large immediate loss to keep their installed customer base and rely heavily on brand loyalty and their existing position as the industry leader to carry them through to what they see as the end of gaming as we know it.

Of course, whether they'll adapt to incorporate the Big N's moves into their long-term strategies is anyone's guess.

Mind you, this is all just speculation and I don't assert that it is absolutely true, but it seems feasible considering the exploitative nature of corporate policy.

*knock on wood* My PS2 is in great condition after all dis time, so while I guess their QC is pretty bad (quality control) not every single model off the line is total shit.

""I cannot now imagine a PlayStation4."

that just sounds like "THE PLAYSTATION 3 IS SO POWERFUL WE'LL NEVER NEED A 4" to me.



That's like saying, Sarah's quitting and TK's taking over, Oh noez! We're not going to be a forum anymore.

Pfft. Give me a fucking break.



64K should be plenty for anyone.

I know it sounds rediculous but how much more can they really advance gaming? Has technological advancements reached it's climax already? I mean what's coming next Supra HD?

I would think what's coming next is smaller stuff. Isn't everything these days going mini? The Playstation console is still relatively large, I think. I would imagine it would get shrunk down some.

*knock on wood* My PS2 is in great condition after all dis time
x2

Proof plz.
When I finally caved in and got a PS2 early this year, it didn't work properly. I traded it in for a new one, and yet, it had the same problem. It wasn't until I got the third one that the console worked as well as it should. Two of my friend's said that their PS2 stopped reading discs completely about a year or year and a half after they got theirs.

Not everything is better smaller, I mean GBC tried this and it wasn't really fawned over, it was like, "it's small but so what?". Plus I like big things for some reason, shows that it's more powerful but that's just me though.

Well, I know what you mean. I mean, if it's like a big-screen TV or something, or a computer monitor, then large, large, large can be good, good, good. But the console itself and the size of the discs it reads --- I think something like that could definitely end up getting smaller.

Plus I like big things for some reason.

Queer

My PS2 plays half the (new) games I put in it. It's only fours years old. We have a second ps2 my friend used to use but it just lies on the ground collecting dust as it won't play anything. My other friends ps2 requires 4 or 5 restarts before it recognises a new game, good luck with anything older. This is the one we have to use on a daily basis at university. I know 2 or 3 people whose ps2's don't work at all, or don't play DVD's. as well. In fact I don't think I actually know anyone with a fully functional ps2. And one of my memory card slots doesn't work.

My Dreamcast still works really well and it's older, and has been played at least as much not to mention knocked around a bit, haha.

Even if the absolutely excessive amount of not-working ps2's i have encountered is an irregularity, it's still really well documented. I've read about it a ridiculous amount of times, it's really common knowledge at this point. So why would I want to buy from a company who has only given me dodgy hardware in the past? Don't get me wrong, if they WIN the next gen and have all the good games, etcc I have no qualms about buying from them. But I'd really rather not.


Sony came to the same conclusion that I did prior to Nintendo's resurgence; the gaming industry is in decline and will be reduced to a complete niche market, almost totally inaccessible outside the relatively small established market, within a decade.

Really? Just wondering what the reasoning behind this is, I didn't have a clue the market was shrinking or whatever, in fact i was under the impression it was getting bigger. D: i'm not saying i am not wrong, i am pretty uninformed about stuff like this so, yeah.

My fat PS2 died during the summer so now I have one of those sexy slender ones.

I dont think ive ever had any problems with my PS2. It still works as well as the day I bought it.

udö --- note that Prak said that was before Nintendo's resurgence. Actually, it was my general impression too that the gaming market is expanding. I mean, those people that grew up playing video games are adults now and they're introducing them to their kids and stuff, so it seems to me like it would only be getting bigger.

Agent, according to sales figures around the time significant news of the PS3's development started coming out a couple years ago, the industry's revenue was definitely declining and studies repeatedly showed that the industry was becoming more and more pigeonholed into specific demographics.

Also, adults who play games and introduce their kids to them generally don't spend any more on games than they would for themselves. They just spend that same money a bit differently in some cases. If they continued playing games later in life, then the industry could eventually surge a bit when their kids also have some disposable income, but that's still a very limited form of growth.

Hmm, very interesting. Okay, so that was around a couple years, ago, though. What specifically are the sales figures saying now though?

I don't have a very clear picture of what it's like now, but I do know there has been some growth, mainly in the handheld sector.

Although there was a dip in sales a couple of years back, it was more of an irregularity than the norm; as a whole, the industry has been increasing in value at a steady rate since the release of the NES 20 years ago.

Video game sales are going through another rough patch at the moment, due to the emergence of the current-generation consoles. More and more people are putting off buying games in order to possibly get a new console; when the Xbox 360 came out, Xbox game sales died significantly. This is unlikely to happen with the PS2 (much bigger installed base, and not enough PS3s to go around), but it will happen over the course of the next year or so.

So, people will be buying games for their PS3s, Xbox 360s and Wiis; but because the games for those systems are more expensive, people will be buying less. I'll use an example from Australian prices; New PS2 games range from AU$60-$80, while new X360 games cost AU$90-AU$120. PS2 platinum games cost $30-$50, while pre-owned games and games on special go for as low as $20, or less. The cheapest preowned X360 game i've seen is still AU$80, and i'm only seeing specials on 360 games now (and they're still AU$50) a year after release.

Higher cost means least units shipped, and higher development costs means less profit. So, for companies, this means that they'll be losing money; Ubisoft announced that they were happy with their takings for this quarter, because they didn't lose as much as they thought they would thanks to Red Steel and Rayman: Raving Rabbids.

Anyway, i'm rambling on a bit, so i'll be brief; we're in a transitionary stage at the moment. Until all three consoles have been out together for a substantial amount of time, it's impossible to predict where the market is going to go. By Christmas next year, there should be a clearer picture.

Although there was a dip in sales a couple of years back, it was more of an irregularity than the norm; as a whole, the industry has been increasing in value at a steady rate since the release of the NES 20 years ago.

This is more of an assumption that actual fact, just as my own view on the matter is. We can't be sure it was an irregularity instead of an emerging pattern because of the significant changes the market has undergone. Of course, by the same token, I can't prove my own theory either.

My Sega Mega Drive works better than my third PS2 (third because the first two stopped reading games, dvds, and even cds)

Higher cost means least units shipped, and higher development costs means less profit. So, for companies, this means that they'll be losing money

keep in mind that this happens to some degree in everything that is marketed and sold...there is an initial hit during the release of a new product, and eventually (with successful launches and proper marketing) the company either breaks even or goes green
the question is, how big of a hit would a company take?

in this case...it looks like they put too much faith in their launch, and when it tanked...they axed the those responsible

i'm at school at the moment...but i'll be sure to post up the estimated amount that Sony is losing per unit shipped...i think it's somewhere around a couple hundred
keep in mind that it's losing for every unit sold, add that those that fail during the assembly process and you're looking at a huge loss

i'm at school at the moment...but i'll be sure to post up the estimated amount that Sony is losing per unit shipped...i think it's somewhere around a couple hundred
keep in mind that it's losing for every unit sold, add that those that fail during the assembly process and you're looking at a huge loss

We're not talking about hardware, we're talking about software. What you say is correct for hardware, but software is what is intended to make the profit. Why do you think that it costs $50 for a game that costs $2 to manufacture?

The difference is that games for next-generation consoles are more expensive, so more copies of games need to be sold before the company breaks even.

Hardware, to an extent, is never usually intended to be a profit maker; even when they become cheaper to make later in their cycle, they never recoup the original losses. (The Nintendo Wii is an exception to this). It is in the best interest of games companies to sell as many copies as possible, which is why you see games going for $20 years after release; they are still making an $18 profit for every game sold.