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Article : Sony Needs New Blood

vanguardian1 said:
Quite interesting perspective on Sony's current scenario, thought it might be worth posting here (it was mentioned on the super-banned site)

http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/43458

(No quotes attempted because I can't find the NeoGAF rules to dealing with copying articles)
Click to expand...
Ugh, you're too lazy to make a thread like this.
You're meant to post a link and then quote a few important paragraphs bolding the notable sentences and then offer an opinion on it.
 
Given that there are really no new players (meaning fresh blood from the outside, bringing new ideas, new energy and new ways of getting stuff done) in key roles since the debacle called PS3 occurred, why should anyone have confidence that Sony can magically transform itself into a flexible, customer-focused, software-driven organization? Answer: They shouldn't.
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Yeah but just wait until MGS4.
 
rehrenberg2.jpg
 
I think Sony need good first party content, and they've got it coming. Phil Harrison is top of his game when it comes to that. They're also starting to get some third party exclusives again, so no problems there.

The only new blood they need is in their marketing departments.
 
ok, the quoted and the quoter's opinions are... well it's their opinion.

I think Sony needs a price drop, and to continue to deliver the good games.
 
The suggestions in the Forbes article are nice, but they would do absolutely zero to alleviate Sony's current woes. Like it or not, the PS3 is here to stay, which means they're going to have to make that kit as attractive as possible for the life of the console.

Also, as the article said disrupting Nintendo would take a massive corporate shift that Sony will not undertake. If they didn't do it with the iPod, they won't with the Wii.
 
DeaconKnowledge said:
The suggestions in the Forbes article are nice, but they would do absolutely zero to alleviate Sony's current woes. Like it or not, the PS3 is here to stay, which means they're going to have to make that kit as attractive as possible for the life of the console.

Also, as the article said disrupting Nintendo would take a massive corporate shift that Sony will not undertake. If they didn't do it with the iPod, they won't with the Wii.
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That, and right now they probably can't make any turnabouts. It's not that long ago that the company decided to put someone who has understanding of the western market in the position of the executive officer of the main company, and that caused, along with the immense transition to the PlayStation 3, a major shift already. I don't think Sony would have any financial means at this moment to alter their philosophy again, not with the costly PlayStation 3 out right now.

Also, I think Sony can, and will, cater to a large enough market of their own. After all, it was them who came with the EyeToy and Singstar, two products immensely popular with the 'mainstream'. If they can come with a follow up for the EyeToy Play series, which will make excellent use of the new PS Eye, and make the price a little more affordable for the 'regular' gamers, I think the system will sell not as good as the PS2, but in the end it could come close.

After all, right now Sony is catering more to the hardcore market, as they've done with the original PlayStation and the PlayStation 2. I expect them to market it towards the mainstream a lot more within a year or two.
 
THe whole article smacks of 'short termism' and doesn't take into account the 'long game' nature of the console biz at all.

pswii60 said:
I think Sony need good first party content, and they've got it coming. Phil Harrison is top of his game when it comes to that. They're also starting to get some third party exclusives again, so no problems there.

The only new blood they need is in their marketing departments.
Click to expand...


Agreed.

I've said in the past that when it comes to Sony and their hardware, games or even their ambitions for the PS3 in general, my motto is "Don't tell me, show me". And, to their credit, that's exactly what they've done lately.

The thing I love about Sony this gen is that they are really ambitious. From their massive first party titles like Heavenly Sword to their plans to have smaller, more causal titles be sold alongside larger games on PSN.

These are the things that Sony need to communicate to the gaming public.

A friend of mine who's a PS3 owner was recently raving about how the PS3's upscaling of old PSOne games to 1080 res bllew him away. I just feel that Nintendo has done really well in communicating the Wii and it's appeal to the consumer. Sony need to do that.
 
Sony has the blood, they were just too damn busy nourishing the mother
PS2
rather than the fetus
PS3
.
 
Busty said:
THe whole article smacks of 'short termism' and doesn't take into account the 'long game' nature of the console biz at all.




Agreed.

I've said in the past that when it comes to Sony and their hardware, games or even their ambitions for the PS3 in general, my motto is "Don't tell me, show me". And, to their credit, that's exactly what they've done lately.

The thing I love about Sony this gen is that they are really ambitious. From their massive first party titles like Heavenly Sword to their plans to have smaller, more causal titles be sold alongside larger games on PSN.

These are the things that Sony need to communicate to the gaming public.

A friend of mine who's a PS3 owner was recently raving about how the PS3's upscaling of old PSOne games to 1080 res bllew him away. I just feel that Nintendo has done really well in communicating the Wii and it's appeal to the consumer. Sony need to do that.
Click to expand...

Good point, and I agree with the fact that communication is key. Tell people what they can expect of the next update to the firmware or the PlayStation Store. Be more forthcoming about these issues because that's what's supposed to blow people away.

Although I do like to be surprised every once in a while, I'm just hoping that we know what to expect in the future a little sooner than one or two days ahead. Bring in more people to keep the gamers, both hardcore and mainstream, updated. And yes, the fact that you can upscale your old PSOne and PS2 games adds a lot more to the value of the system.

I have to add that only recently Sony has begun to understand the importance of said communication. While Microsoft was already under way with their Major Nelson and Nintendo marketing like crazy for both Wii and NDS, Sony was truly lacking behind in that department.
 
I don't think they need new blood throughout, they need strong centralized leadership.

However they structure it, they need to build a COE around the Playstation product, then put a person (or people who are undoubtedly like-minded) that are given absolute control on defining the focus of every aspect of their hardware.

The problem isn't marketing, it's that the PSP and PS3 aren't marketable products. Technological swiss army knifes without a clear primary use case have never been raging successes. They could go a long way with just adding focus and purpose to the feature set, even if it means cutting back R&D in some hardcore-pandering areas like horsepower and high-end home theater settings.

If they want mass market adoption, they need a product that immediately gives the masses a reason to buy it. PSX had it: affordable access to a huge library of accessibly games. PS2 had it, as all the do-all features were imaginary PR speak. Given how inane the mission statement for the PS2 was from the top, it's no surprise that the PS3 by following through on the PS2's promises is not (yet) a focused product enticing the masses.
 
ForzaItalia said:
Funny how fast things change...seems just like yesterday that Nintendo was involved in these type of articles...
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My post above applies just as well to Nintendo. I wrote an editorial in 2002 saying the exact same thing about their direction. They lost focus because of a lack of distinctive salable features in their products.

Sony's lack of focus in the PSP/PS3 isn't due to a lack of features, it's due to the same lack of salable features. As HD adoption increases (and it will, regardless of Sony's game division), the salability of the PS3's features will increase for free, which is why their ten year plan includes hopes that the competition won't undercut the PS3 with a new hardware release once it's finally relevant in 2010.
 
Sony can't (and won't) market the PS3 to the mainstream market. The PS3 was built ground up for the "hardcore", the PS3 was designed when "mainstream" was 17-21 years old. From the design of the console as a black monster, to the highest of specs and finally to the price. The PS3 is designed for a very specific crowd. Even with Singstar and EyeToy, they're more of a bonus, no 30 years old women will buy a PS3 for SingStar, unless she's a mother for a 17 years old boy bugging her about this new toy.
Even if the price went down, there's design, there's the problem of the high tech (not many have HD and a lot of people I talked to didn't even know what HD is).

PS3 is not doomed though, it'll sell well to it's niche (much like the Gamecube). but as I see it, there's no chance the PS3 will come out on top, with the opening of the market due to Nintendo and the 360 (kind-of) success. I think Sony just needs to keep making what their niche likes, market it to these people and they'll be okay, Market share isn't everything, even in gaming (To their credit, that's exactly what they're doing).
 
pswii60 said:
The only new blood they need is in their marketing departments.
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The irony is, that's where they already have their newest blood. Everybody loves David Karraker after all, right? :lol

I don't think the Seeking Alpha author really has much of a clue about what Sony actually has in terms of new blood or old blood to really sell the argument. Kutaragi is out, a westerner is in charge of the company overall so the old guard has already been replaced in some key areas. Lower level there's engineers who have previously worked on XBL working on PSN, expanding 1st/2nd party partnerships with fresher blood like Guerrilla, Media Molecule, ThatGameCompany, Ninja Theory, etc.
 
vanguardian1 said:
Quite interesting perspective on Sony's current scenario, thought it might be worth posting here (it was mentioned on the super-banned site)

http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/43458

(No quotes attempted because I can't find the NeoGAF rules to dealing with copying articles)
Click to expand...
I think this article is silly. I say let Nintendo do their thing. Most Wii owners are owning the wii plus another system or so it would seem from the what systems do you have posts on neo gaf.

I say Sony should stay the course and not give in to the gaming for everyone thing Nintendo is doing. If they did it would really hurt the character of the video game industry. I for one have no want for wii fit nor any other sort of game where i have to swing some stick around widly to play. When I want to work out I hit the gym not play a video game.
 
doesnt do MS any harm.

the 360 "success" is the biggest marketing job since Britany Spears being a star.
 
Sony doesn't need "new blood." They just need price cuts. They've got a great game library coming that is extremely appealing, they just need to keep aggressively lowering the price so more people will want to jump in. I don't see why people keep trying to make it more complex than that. Obviously they'll learn from their mistakes next gen, and they don't need analysts to tell them how to do so. This gen they just need to lower the price. Whatever some people say, the PS3's game library isn't in serious trouble, it's just too expensive for people who would otherwise love to own one. Period.
 
kammy said:
doesnt do MS any harm.

the 360 "success" is the biggest marketing job since Britany Spears being a star.
Click to expand...

Well, Britney is bald. All she needs to do is join the marines and then we can blast her into space.

But you can't argue that she sold millions of albums, just like the 360 is selling millions of games. It's easy to market a console when it's moving software. And this Holiday looks like it's going to shape up to be their best period yet. All the bad news, flubs, and PR mistakes go away easily when you can put up numbers.
 
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