Mr eel

Sony is Not Crazy (pssssshhhht! ha ha)

Gosh, I’m getting into the awful habit of posting on here in response to articles on other sites. Oh well! It’s good fun.

By and large, Next-Gen is a good source for game industry news. I don’t however think to much of their opinion pieces. I’ve posted about them in the past and my opinion hasn’t changed too much.

Cue Sony’s Far From Being Whipped by Colin Campbell. The main thrust of his article is that despite the generally negative feedback from the press regarding the pricing of the PS3, Sony is far from out of the games business. On this point I agree totally. They still have an extraordinary brand and a fair chunk of sellable games lined up for the PS3. Bottom line is; Sony can’t be ‘out of the game’ since they haven’t even launched the console yet.

That said, the reasoning in the article is pretty shit really. It’s almost a troll in fact. I would think that if the article were anywhere by Next-Gen.

“Come on people. We all knew that PS3 would be expensive; Sony has been throwing hints around like confetti these last few months.”

Which in itself doesn’t justify the price. I mean, it’s pretty fuckin’ crazy. It works out to be about $900 AUD. Oooch. A negative response is to be expected. No one is gonna say ‘yay! 900 bucks! I love spending heaps of money!’.

“Even the doom-mongers accept that when you consider the inclusion of the Blu-ray drive, it’s a bargain. And what about the multi-billion dollar Cell processor? Surely this truly amazing piece of technology is worth paying for too?”

Ha ha ha ha ha! Firstly, most people don’t know what Blu-ray is, nor do they care. Punters are not clamoring for a Blu-Ray drive, Sony put it there because they do love pushing their favourite formats even when no one wants them. Sony Memory Sticks are a good example.

Secondly they don’t care what the Cell processor is either. The Xbox 360 has a PPC chip in it and as far as anyone at E3 could tell they both performed pretty much the same.

“The fact is that, if there were a way to accurately calibrate pricing against demand, that price will still be looking like a bargain six months into the machine’s launch, and maybe even a year. EBay will doubtless prove this point.”

Oh shit, I’m quoting huge chunks of this article. I can’t help it. It’s so stupid! Soz, but the price is not a bargain by any measure. Compare it to the 360 if you like. There is a disparity there hey? Doesn’t look like such a bargain to me, i.e. something comparative is selling for much cheaper.

“Consumers who want to enjoy a rare experience really ought to be expected to pay. It’s not gouging; it’s capitalism. Good luck to Sony.”

Damn straight it’s capitalism! The core of which is competition and you’re a fool if you don’t think price doesn’t matter. As for the rare experience; lol! Is it really all that different to anything else? It’s not virtual reality or anything. Just prettier graphics.

“after the installed base has hit 10 or 20 million, a price cut is almost guaranteed.”

One point to remember, is that the install base of the PS2 only jumped to where it is now after a price drop. Price matters! Sony may be able to make this quoted install base, but they’ve made it hard for themselves.

“This publication has argued for some time that many of the products this business sells are way too cheap, given the value that they represent.”

Seriously, FUCK OFF. Games have been getting more expensive all the time and the trend doesn’t look like it’s gonna change. Given that, I can’t say I’m getting more value out of them. If this argument where true, I’d expect to be spending more time with a single game now than in comparison to games in the past. Which is bollocks.

The reason they cost to much is because production costs are through the roof. Why? It’s the hi-res, hi-polygon, kitchen-sink circle-jerk so many developers are stuck in. The problem is that the market is small compared to mass-media like books or cinema. So all these high costs are getting passed on to a small group. So far the punters have sucked it up with a smile, but this cannot last.

One last quote;
“But Next-Gen is not a consumer site. We would love to see consumers wearing a higher price point for top notch hardware like PS3, based on its performance as a games machine as much as its perceived value as a disk drive”

Sure, sure every company on earth would love punters to pay though the nose for everything. Doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen. A higher price point does not mean more profit though. A higher margin does. Sony’s strategy is brute force. They hope to sell the most impressive hardware with a thin margin and make up for it with a large install base and software licenses. Everyone was saying Nintendo we’re taking a gamble with the Wii, but they look downright conservative in comparison.

Ok, sorry this is the last quote:
“Getting squished in the aisles by smelly oafs, bristling with free shit, is not the way forward.”

See, now this is what he really thinks of gamers. He’s happy to see Sony et al take their money, but he hates them.

Just a general comment about Sony and Microsoft’s strategy up to this point. It’s the same as last time really. Prettier graphics, more racing and war games. That’s about it really. There are a few problems with this though. Firstly, Microsoft in particular have said that they need to expand the current gaming market in order to make a profit. With the PS3 priced the way it is, Sony may be relying on the same thing. This would be a safe gamble if everything continued the way it is now. But markets change.

There is the danger of existing gamers leaving. Gaming is turning into an expensive and time consuming hobby. People have plenty of other demands on their time. I can imagine a fair few folks just giving up because it’s too much. So far game companies have leant very heavily on a small group of people in order to keep the market alive. In that context high prices are starting to look abusive.

Also game companies continue to churn out similar games. The only difference is they look a bit different, or they become more hardcore. It’s a turn off to see the same kind of games all the time. I’m sure some people stop playing games for that reason.

The other problem is that I don’t see too many new gamers being attracted with this stuff. The subject matter is tuned to a particular audience — hey white boys! — and is pretty narrow viz. war, racing, platformers. The games are full of intricate controls, and rely on unfamiliar conventions — how many non-gamers would look in the fucking crate for ammo? I’m sure there are plenty of people that just limply hold the controller in their hands the first time they play a game. Because of the current trend to make dense and complicated. It’s like everything is a big in-game. You have to know everything before you can get into it.

Think of it this way; chess is a fun game, but anyone can play checkers.

Didn’t mean for that to turn into an essay

Posted on May 21st, 2006 | There are 1 comment

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