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[Alebrije]

I'm not sure if this is a meme or if people really think Nintendo is invincible.

Buried in reams of financial data is the revelation that Nintendo have 812.8 billion Yen (£6.7/$10.5 billion) in the bank – enough for it to take a 20 billion Yen loss (£163/$257 million) every year until 2052. Then there’s almost 469 billion Yen (£3.8/$6.0 billion) held in premises, equipment and investments. When that runs out – we’re in the year 2075 by this point – they’ve got some of the most valuable intellectual property in gaming to sell off before the company goes out of business.

http://www.gamesradar.com/nintendo-doomed-not-likely-just-take-look-how-much-money-its-got-bank/

Obviously not invincible but if NX has the same faith as WiiU , they will try a couple of times ...

 

[spatenfloot]

Yeah Vue is already over 100,000 subscribers and is only getting better with each update to the program or addition of new channels. Hell they have been adding content and dropping the price which I find amazing but its also smart as I see them picking up a lot of people who hate dealing with cable or satellite and want a cheap, easy alternative. I even sold my parents on it because of all the issues they've had with their local cable companies which is amazing as they are not tech. savvy at all.

How do they like it?

 

[CosmicQueso]

Who's more doomed: Sony, Nintendo or Xbox?

Over the next 20 year period? All dedicated gaming console systems are "doomed". However, none of these gaming divisions are "doomed".

It's what comes after dedicated gaming consoles that matters. Nintendo is betting on a platform that favors portability, Sony betting on streaming services, Microsoft betting on PC, if you want to put into the very broadest of strokes.

All of them could work, none of them could work, some may work better than others.

 

[Lys Skygge]

Honestly with all the stupid decisions on pricing and missed opportunities with Walkman and the like I'm not entirely convinced Sony deserves to be saved . A lot of the bullshit that put them in this position still hasn't changed. Aside from PlayStation they seem to have no idea what they are doing anymore, not with films, tech or anything aside from that financial stuff they are good at.

You do realize that Sony is the #1 provider of camera sensors right?

 

[Ushay]

Who's more doomed: Sony, Nintendo or Xbox?

Xbox is not a company

As a videogame business: xbox

Who said it was?

Lmao. Only on GAF.

 

[Empyrean Heaven]

I'm not sure if this is a meme or if people really think Nintendo is invincible.

I wish people would stop with that mentality about Nintendo.

Actually, it's kind of true. Nintendo has 10 billion dollars in liquid assets in the bank. They stand to lose maybe 50 or so million on Wii U. According to Michael Pachter (who, I may add, is perhaps Nintendo's biggest critic financially), they stand to lose on NX about 500 million dollars in the absolute worst case scenario. That's 1/20th of what they have. Will that suck for them? Yes, but this is a company that will cut costs at every avenue to keep themselves alive (dropping press conferences for Nintendo directs, using cheaper components, meager marketing muscle on their games, the CEO giving HIMSELF a 50% PAY CUT (RIP Iwata).

While I agree that their shareholders will likely continue to push for Nintendo to move to other platforms as they already have done with mobile, it will take a loss of epic proportions for them to even consider dropping hardware. Hell, even if they did, they could drop gaming altogether and move to becoming a Disney-like film and theme park company, considering they have properties powerful enough to do such a thing.

 

[Sephiroth_VII]

Their TVs are good just way too expensive. Their cameras are good just way to expensive. Their smartphones are good just way to expensive. The Playstation is good and not expensive.


See a trend?

Sony is a stupid company

Their TVs aren't that expensive compared to others from what I've seen. At least not in Europe or Japan.

Isn't Sony Japan's leading insurance provider? (no joke) Maybe their electronics business rests on PlayStation, but one has to think they have that to fall back on.

Not leading, no. They're big though.

 

[Tapejara]

Really glad everything's looking up, I just wish Sony's mobile division performed better. Love my Xperia Z3, but there's nothing for me to upgrade to next year (the Z5 is out now, but in a year's time it'll be significantly outclassed).

 

[Wollan]

I think the #1 priority for Sony right now is to find ways to keep current Playstation owners from jumping to another platform. Console gamers are notoriously fickle and can be convinced to switch consoles after a new generation very easily.

SNES fans went to PS1, PS2 fans went to 360, 360 fans went to PS4, etc etc.

Their platforms need to be full BC for a start, i will be much less likely to jump ship if my games work on all future PS platforms.

Seems like it has reached a point now that changing ecosystem is becoming too much of a burden. I suspect most of the 21 million PS Plus subscribers will want to remain within despite the lure of better competing technology from time to time (as the hardware platforms keeps outdoing each other).

PlayStation tripling down on original games, deals and services is their best move right now combined with the promise of future back-and-forwards compatibility. Netflix could have easily been a faceless streaming service amongst many at this point but they have tons of great exclusive content these days making them invaluable to me. Someone mentioned iTunes earlier but it's also important to remain un-bloated (ala Spotify) and keep the PS platform lean and mean going forward.

 

[NastyBook]

I'm not sure if this is a meme or if people really think Nintendo is invincible.

It's all about that Nintendo War Chest, breh.

 

[Backfoggen]

Their TVs are good just way too expensive. Their cameras are good just way to expensive. Their smartphones are good just way to expensive. The Playstation is good and not expensive.


See a trend?

Sony is a stupid company

The TVs are not expensive. They have plenty of good less expensive TVs, they just have issues. (Slow OS for example) Same could be said about the cameras. The one I have takes great images but the user interface blows.
I think if there is a thing Sony could improve on across the board it is user experience.

 

[Oersted]

And they just put a huge stack of chips on VR. I'm hoping it's the next Blu-Ray and not the next Betamax.

BluRay is not particular a great success

 

[Occam]

Not Nintendo. They can fuck up 10 more times like the Wii U and still be fine.

That's nonsense. Nintendo currently is in a worse position than ever before since entering the video game industry. If they can't turn around things in the next couple of years, they'll become completely irrelevant in the console space.

 

[timberger]

Good to hear, that means they know they can't afford any major mis-steps with the brand, which hopefully means the good times are gonna continue to roll on PS4 for a while yet.

 

[Darth Smurf X]

BluRay is not particular a great success

It beat HD-DVD at least. I'm just hoping VR is not the next Kinect.

 

[Lasthope106]

In my book, if the previous Playstation console lifecycles are any indication, the PS4 will go down as one of my favorite consoles of all time. With the PS4, Sony has managed to pull me away from being a pc-only gamer.

They deserve the success, and I hope they go on to PS2 numbers with the PS4.

 

[Mashing]

So basically Sony would have had to close up shop if the PS4 wasn't successful? That's a sobering thought.

 

[HStallion]

How do they like it?

It took some time but they were paying crazy amounts for their cable and had no luck with satellite networks because of where they live, in a valley in the woods where a light breeze or big cloud front would screw their feed. However the Vue interface is pretty simple and once I explained to them how to use it and the DVR they adapted pretty quickly. The big thing that through them off was not having channel numbers but once they realized you can have a list of your favorite channels that stopped being a serious issue.

They actually like how stream lined and simple the interface is.

 

[rothbart]

Some of us said the same thing about Vue. MS seemed to drop the ball with TV, TV, TV but Sony snuck Vue in with out a hitch.

Biggest difference is Sony didn't make Vue a main focus.

You don't think that's because Microsoft's take was "use our device with your antiquated cable box/satellite TV service that's probably not that cheap" and Sony's take was "here's a service to get TV shows without your antiquated cable box/satellite TV service that's pretty competitively priced"? I do. People prefer modern, on-demand, streaming options now... we still don't have ala cart pricing for only the TV stations we want, but it's getting better.

 

[Aztechnology]

That's nonsense. Nintendo currently is in a worse position than ever before since entering the video game industry. If they can't turn around things in the next couple of years, they'll become completely irrelevant in the console space.

The NX has to being back third parties for licensing and Nintendo has to start looking into a subscription platform. I don't want them to have to do the latter, but it seems inevitable.

I think they're going to try and sell the NX at a profit and it will be markedly underpowered for its release window again.

I can't say I'd mind them going third party as a software company, though I wonder if it's more likely they would just quit the business and switch to a mobile focus.

 

[Apathy]

Seeing how kaz made the PlayStation brand a pillar for Sony, we know they are in it for the long haul. It means they expect to keep pumping in money and expecting results. The division helped a lot in the financials so far and seeing how kaz is came from the brand, we know how much faith he saw in it.

 

[watdaeff4]

Over the next 20 year period? All dedicated gaming console systems are "doomed". However, none of these gaming divisions are "doomed".

It's what comes after dedicated gaming consoles that matters. Nintendo is betting on a platform that favors portability, Sony betting on streaming services, Microsoft betting on PC, if you want to put into the very broadest of strokes.

All of them could work, none of them could work, some may work better than others.

In regards to the bolded part - do you mean PSNow being the core?

 

[Oersted]

It beat HD-DVD at least. I'm just hoping VR is not the next Kinect.

True that. But it is still not close to the market penetration DVD has. Which is a shame lol

VR gonna be interesting, given how fragmented the market is and there still being no breaktrough in sight.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

In regards to the bolded part - do you mean PSNow being the core?

Most likely yea. Psnow ,psvue and whatever else they come up with

 

[RibMan]

Interesting article. It's been said before, but PlayStation Plus is doing extremely well for the company. I wonder if there will be big announcements for the service at Gamescom/Paris/PSX.

 

[watdaeff4]

Most likely yea. Psnow ,psvue and whatever else they come up with

That's what I see too, but wanted Cosmic's opinion - (maybe you are as knowledge as him, no offense, jsut have read his posts before and like his insight)

I think so too, and mentioned that in the latest Sony/EA Access thread and got ripped to hell and back

 

[itshutton]

Wow, it even took over their mobile division. Playstation it pretty much Sony's bread and butter right now.

Still a very diverse company though. No risk of an over reliance just yet.

 

[DieH@rd]

Interesting article. It's been said before, but PlayStation Plus is doing extremely well for the company. I wonder if there will be big announcements for the service at Gamescom/Paris/PSX.

I hope they will add free PSVR games.

 

[Tankard]

No pressure.

 

[watdaeff4]

Still a very diverse company though. No risk of an over reliance just yet.

Exactly.

Insurance/PS4 are their cornerstones financially right now, but still have other options that have a chance to improve due to the first two.

 

[Rymuth]

Wasn't it the Insurance arm of Sony actually making the money?

Article is saying PS4's going to be Sony's leverage to get people into buying other products - VR, original programming (TV shows like Powers), etc

 

[harSon]

Video Games is probably the worst industry to have to lean on so I wish them luck

 

[LordofPwn]

will be interesting to see how much their imaging pillar improves over the next couple of years.

i think something like every vehicle made in the US starting in 2018 has to have a rear-view camera as a standard feature. camera sensors they make are already all over the place and this move could be great for them.

The playstation brand is clearly their tallest pillar at the moment but it's one that could come crumbling down if they make the wrong moves or even just not as good moves as the competitors.

Lately it's been a 3 person race where 1 person went the wrong way and one forgot to show up.

Kudos to Kaz though, he's really helped turn that ship around.

 

[RibMan]

I hope they will add free PSVR games.

I'm thinking along those lines: offering more free content to subscribers, both old and new.

 

[pixellated_man]

It's incredible that Sony were said to be on the brink of bankruptcy by many people at the start of this console generation. Yet, here we are only 2 and a half years later and the company looks in rude health. Playstation is once again the most valuable gaming brand and at least the immediate future is looking bright for them.

 

[Louis Cyphre]

Sony is very well positioned right now in console gaming but what kind of future is there in that market 5-10 years from now? I don't really hear much about Playstation Now and it seems like a wasted opportunity.

 

[HStallion]

Maybe Sony will branch out into cars and we can get the Playstation Vroom

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Here's hoping they don't make any Playstation 3-esque fuckups then.

I really think they've learned from the PS3 years. The Playstation brand made the company phenomenally successful, and the PS3 wiped out those profits and almost sank the whole thing. I think their attitude and focus with the PS4 demonstrates that they're a different company altogether, and putting Kaz Hirai in charge was probably the best thing they could have done for rejuvenating the company and putting Playstation front and centre.

 

[spatenfloot]

It took some time but they were paying crazy amounts for their cable and had no luck with satellite networks because of where they live, in a valley in the woods where a light breeze or big cloud front would screw their feed. However the Vue interface is pretty simple and once I explained to them how to use it and the DVR they adapted pretty quickly. The big thing that through them off was not having channel numbers but once they realized you can have a list of your favorite channels that stopped being a serious issue.

They actually like how stream lined and simple the interface is.

That's good for Sony then because these are the kinds of people that you have to win over for large scale adoption.

 

[thekiddfran]

Their TVs are good just way too expensive. Their cameras are good just way to expensive. Their smartphones are good just way to expensive. The Playstation is good and not expensive.


See a trend?

Sony is a stupid company

Ok Mr.CEO clearly you would turn Sony around

 

[qa_engineer]

its pretty much whats holding them together

Not really. Sony's CMOS camera sensor business contributes as well, as does their insurance business (I think). Their high end mirrorless and dslr cameras are top notch and their camera sensors can be found in pretty much all major smart phones.

 

[KingBroly]

I really think they've learned from the PS3 years. The Playstation brand made the company phenomenally successful, and the PS3 wiped out those profits and almost sank the whole thing. I think their attitude and focus with the PS4 demonstrates that they're a different company altogether, and putting Kaz Hirai in charge was probably the best thing they could have done for rejuvenating the company and putting Playstation front and centre.

The more involved corporate suits get involved, the more likely something to become fucked up. Look at how 360 started out and look at where it ended up and how Xbox One started because of a managerial shift organized at the top, which changed the focus of the brand.

 

[Goose_Se7en]

I can't help but feel that using PlayStation as the cornerstone for recovery is too risky a move in the long term. At the end of the day it's just a console that provides access to services which rely on a fickle user base.

Agreed. I think although this is good news it's more of an indictment of how Sony has failed to galvanize and unite all of its disparate departments and companies together to truly be a powerhouse.

Sony made the Walkman ffs. They also made PCs and make televisions. They own a movie studio, music etc. They could have been what Apple is now and maybe even more. Bravia, Vaio, Xperia, PlayStation...what could have been this awesome and inclusive ecosystem of content with film, movies, games and music is not what could have been.

 

[DarkConfidant]

The rest of Sony has been so toxic to PlayStation, I honestly wish they would shut more parts down, and focus on PlayStation, TV/Home Theater, and Cameras.

Sell off the services, and media divisions, which year after year product bad products, like their old "unlimited" services and photo managing software. Stop making phones and tablets, as they do better making parts for other phones and tablets.

They've come so far in getting rid of other mediocre parts, but really PlayStation is their best division, and needs to always be #1.

 

[HStallion]

The more involved corporate suits get involved, the more likely something to become fucked up. Look at how 360 started out and look at where it ended up and how Xbox One started because of a managerial shift organized at the top, which changed the focus of the brand.

This is a pretty ignorant take. Its because the right people at Sony are in charge, aka the suits, that the PS4 is doing so well. Shu Yoshida, Adam Boyes, and the rest are suits but they're down to earth suits who have their finger on the pulse of the industry and are reacting in timely and intelligent manners to the changes and things happening in the biz... well maybe updates to the PS4 OS could come out quicker but still, the suits are the very reason the PS4 and Sony are doing so well. I mean who do you think Kaz Hirai is? Some artist off the streets?

The rest of Sony has been so toxic to PlayStation, I honestly wish they would shut more parts down, and focus on PlayStation, TV/Home Theater, and Cameras.

Sell off the services, and media divisions, which year after year product bad products, like their old "unlimited" services and photo managing software. Stop making phones and tablets, as they do better making parts for other phones and tablets.

They've come so far in getting rid of other mediocre parts, but really PlayStation is their best division, and needs to always be #1.

I'm guessing you either haven't been paying attention to Sony or just don't have much of a clue. Kaz has been trimming the fat on Sony for years. They've sold off expensive properties in places like NY, they've dropped entire divisions like their lap top lines and are seriously scaling back on others that aren't performing well like their phone business. They have already gone through that stage and kept things that do work and sell well for them. Relying on one soul product or platform for your company works for some but a company as diverse as Sony its a waste and a very dangerous move.

 

[gypsygib]

They should ensure Neo is on par with Scorpio power wise then.

I would suspect they will have more or less the same GPUs.

 

[Loudninja]

The rest of Sony has been so toxic to PlayStation, I honestly wish they would shut more parts down, and focus on PlayStation, TV/Home Theater, and Cameras.

Sell off the services, and media divisions, which year after year product bad products, like their old "unlimited" services and photo managing software. Stop making phones and tablets, as they do better making parts for other phones and tablets.

They've come so far in getting rid of other mediocre parts, but really PlayStation is their best division, and needs to always be #1.

Hmm?
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=202111187&postcount=12

 

[sense]

Ok Mr.CEO clearly you would turn Sony around

I love armchair analysts

 

[orthodoxy1095]

These "Nintendo could lose X dollars for X years and be fine" posts really fail to think about how business exactly works.

 

[Birgitte2004]

It's not about being number one for shareholders. It never has been.

It's about being profitable.

For a company the size of Microsoft, it's not even about being profitable. It's about being profitable enough to meet other standards.

IE: No point in spending a billion to make a dollar if you can instead spend it to make a million. You can absord losses if it helps you in some other way, so it's not strictly a $ thing either.