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Third and Fourth Console Curse

SMT

this show is not Breaking Bad why is it not Breaking Bad? it should be Breaking Bad dammit Breaking Bad
I don't believe in superstitious things like these curses.
I think if you have good software, combined with good hardware, a good plan of where you want to go, with good policies, your console will entice the hearts of many.

If you push something someone doesn't want, you're only putting yourself at a disadvantage, and alienating a fanbase.

Sony welcomes you to the new gaming era of PWNSOME.
 

Mindlog

Member
I've been hesitant to give the NA market to Sony simply because of the maturity of XBOX Live. Live is a very established community and those connections are real. However, I vastly underestimated Microsoft's ability to alienate that community.

Launch window exclusives may not be the stellar lineup we wanted. They rarely are. The rhetoric from Sony corporate seems to promote financial success through good relationships with developers and gamers. That's how you lift a curse.
next gen is "looming threat of cell phones"
My money is on CLOUD (services) vs Local Hardware (Oculus Rift and unknown friends.)
 

Eusis

Member
4th console is where it's at compared to the 3rd:

Sega -> Dreamcast - became 3rd party
Nintendo -> Gamecube - sold terribly

I hope the PS4 breaks the cycle.
The Dreamcast probably would've if they had been a bit more forward thinking and had deeper pockets. As Sony seems to be doing both AND is coming off a successful enough system they probably will shatter it. Though I imagine if Microsoft were a lot smarter here it really could've been their GC instead.

EDIT: In general the fourth console seems to be when they learn from the mistakes of the third and rectify them: Dreamcast was easy to develop for, very cheap, and marketed well so it gained traction in the US again, GC went to optical media as solid state was no longer practical for home consoles and was ALSO much easier to develop for, and Sony went with an easy to develop for, cheaper console, and technically already are marketing it way better. Makes Nintendo kind of look like the anomaly here, but even the N64 wasn't FULLY the product of hubris, part of it was just bad timing given that apparently CDs WERE considered, but RAM prices weren't favorable so they stuck with less even though they ended up being just fine apparently by the time the system was ready to produce.
How was the Nintendo 64 a failure??
Lost a lot of third party support, lost the top spot completely. It's basically the origin of the "you buy Nintendo hardware for Nintendo games!" mentality, because not only was the third party support lacking but their titles were among the finest and best remembered of the generation... even if most 3rd party games were rubbish.
 
NES-SuperNES-N64 = Yes
PS-PS2-PS3 = Yes
Xbox-360-One = Yes?
GC-Wii-Wii U = Yes?

Probably true.

281.gif
 

Eusis

Member
Nintendo hit an all-time low with their 5th console.
The console curses are about marketplace success, not whether YOU like them or not. Otherwise I'd be saying it's completely untrue and the Saturn/PS3 are amazing consoles I enjoyed a lot. Doesn't mean the Saturn didn't fuck up completely in the US and the PS3 didn't get off to a terrible start.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Edit: Misread, but whatever... I thought it was about a third console maker, not third console cycle for each maker. Whatever. Here's my original post anyway...

This is the longest amount of time in forever where there have been 3 console makers succeeding at once. In the mid-'80s to mid-'90s it was basically Nintendo vs. Sega. All other newcomers died off quickly and painfully. Then from the mid-'90s to the early 2000's it was Nintendo and Sony. Sega was killed off during that generation. Now we have Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo and all three sell boatloads of consoles. The third console curse is pretty much gone. Unless somehow Microsoft keeps digging a hole, I'm sure it'll remain a three console race for the foreseeable future. One of them would have to lose a heck of a lot of customers and money to even consider dropping out. There are more gamers now than there were in the '80s and '90s. More than enough for all three. Plus many people own more than one console.

Even if the Wii U is selling low now, they do have a lot of big titles coming. Even if it's not until the end of the year or next, they're coming. And they'll sell.
 

Risette

A Good Citizen
Lost nearly all of 3rd party support and completely obliterated by a competitor? Nintendo consoles sold the most for 2 generations straight and then boom, N64:pS1 1:3.
The N64 was also outsold by the Saturn in Japan. It was pretty dismal for Nintendo.
 

speedline

Banned
I would hardly consider PS3 a failure unless you are comparing it to PS1 and 2 sales. It did fine this gen, but Sony worked extra hard to turn it around imo. Sony put forth a hell of an effort with PS3 all the way until the end, unlike MS and Ninty this gen.
 

onQ123

Member
okay, name me a good 3rd console that didn't have a big mess surrounding it, i'm curious

Obviously there is no actual curse, but there has been a high frequency of companies failing [comparatively] on their 3rd console releases.

Sega -> Saturn
Nintendo -> 64
Sony -> PS3

If MS "fails" with the One, it's safe to say that it's a reoccurring theme.




I'll just post what I posted the last time someone was claiming there is a 3rd console curse


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=61390749&postcount=1390


So what is this Curse?



NES ~ 61.91 million , SNES ~ 49.10 million , N64 32.93 million just a steady decline as the competition got tougher & the 4th console the Gamecube sold ~ 21.74 million continuing the Nintendo decline.



Master System ~ 10–13 million , Genesis ~ 40 million , Saturn ~ 9.5 million curse of what? not being the Genesis? because every other Sega console sold around the 10 million mark even Dreamcast ~ 10.6 million


PS1 ~ 102.49 million , PS2 ~ 155 million , PS3 ~ 80 million & going it's going to end up right around the same numbers as the PS1.
 

Eusis

Member
I would hardly consider PS3 a failure unless you are comparing it to PS1 and 2 sales. It did fine this gen, but Sony worked extra hard to turn it around imo. Sony put forth a hell of an effort with PS3 all the way until the end, unlike MS and Ninty this gen.

Not really seeing where the PS3 has failed. Dodgy start mind, but it is at least as successful as the 360.
As noted it did worse than PS1 and PS2, and for that purpose it fits: if we look only at US released consoles Sega rose to be relevant next to Nintendo (and still faltered) only to fall to a distant global third place, and the N64 did well globally but not anywhere near Sony's level. So, yeah, a lot of it has to do with relativity, as otherwise I THINK the PS3 outsold the NES and SNES anyway.
& the Nintendo Color TV Game

block_kuzushi_01.JPG
I don't think I'd count something you can't even stick other media into. Otherwise we branch off into Game & Watch and that Duck Hunt project thing.
 

Ding-Ding

Member
I wish 'console curse' wasn't used to describe a downturn for a company. When you think of curse, you think of misfortune and something that attaches itself to the victim.

When it comes to console manufacturer's, the term curse misses the mark as its normally self-inflicted. All because some twat in a suit has a brain fart every couple of generations.

In Nintendo's case, they thought an underpowered gimmick would see then through again.

In Microsofts case. Its a brain fart with a follow through and a total failure in arse muscles to jam the tide.

Sony seem to be the only ones not suffering, as the PS4 is the air freshner to their brain fart the PS3
 

jtb

Banned
there is no curse. it's just poor decisions and in an industry where there are usually only three players max... well, there's always going to be two losers.
 
there is no curse. it's just poor decisions and in an industry where there are usually only three players max... well, there's always going to be two losers.

That's becausr Microsoft isn't even supposed to be in this industry. No other companies could have taken the atrocious losses they were taking in their first eight years and continue plodding on.
 

Nocturno999

Member
Sorry TC but I hate the term "Third Console Curse". It's just superstition and "the curse" it's nothing but a bunch of bad decisions made. The PS3 may even reach Wii sales in their lifetime when all's said and done.
 

Eusis

Member
there is no curse. it's just poor decisions and in an industry where there are usually only three players max... well, there's always going to be two losers.
Well, this is half true: curse is convenient shorthand for a pattern commonly observed, and as I stated I suspect it's really more a rise followed by either hubris or at least a notion you can keep doing the same thing (or just do ANYTHING) and still have the same success. In the case of Nintendo it seems usually "stick with what we do" blowing up in their faces as cartridges undermined the N64 and "quirky gimmick with underpowered console" worked amazing for Wii but not Wii U. Meanwhile Sony and Microsoft seem to have operated under the mentality of "we can do whatever the fuck we want now," and it blew up in Sony's face and has to some extent in Microsoft's, we won't know HOW deeply until the systems have been out a few months.

As for "two losers"... that only really applies if we go by strictly "who sold the most consoles?" when in reality it could go by many metrics and thus only a few consoles were out and out losers: did they mainly lose money that generation? Did they have large marketshare? Did they have larger MIND share? I think only consoles like the Jaguar and to lesser extent Saturn and Dreamcast really count as losers, as Jaguar gained no traction and was Atari's pitiful swan song, while the Saturn and Dreamcast did OK, but not enough to stay relevant or at least not fast enough. And this gen REALLY throws the whole idea for a loop: Nintendo's won the market share angle, but Microsoft is possibly now third place for console sales yet has the greatest MINDSHARE it seems and the healthiest software sales, and the PS3's kind of in the middle there in all regards (but closer to 360 by far.)
That's becausr Microsoft isn't even supposed to be in this industry. No other companies could have taken the atrocious losses they were taking in their first eight years and continue plodding on.
True, Microsoft forced themselves in, they definitely wouldn't be around still if they didn't have the resources, and they may yet have fallen out anyway if they didn't have the keen sense to understand the industry ENOUGH to carve out a stable niche to grow from. If they had no sense there and just went "We made a console, play it" it probably would've been the Kin.
 

Ding-Ding

Member
That's becausr Microsoft isn't even supposed to be in this industry. No other companies could have taken the atrocious losses they were taking in their first eight years and continue plodding on.

Thats probably the reason why the Xbox One is designed the way it is with all the shit policies. Its done to turn as much profit as they can squeeze from it to appease the shareholders.

Lets face it, the xbox brand has never been a favourite child from the MS family with the shareholders. Its quite well known that after the RROD fiasco, they were told to return money to the shareholders or else.

Thats why I think if MS gets off to a sluggish start and doesn't recover fast, it will be cast aside. MS shareholders are not known for mercy
 

Eusis

Member
Thats probably the reason why the Xbox One is designed the way it is with all the shit policies. Its done to turn as much profit as they can squeeze from it to appease the shareholders.

Lets face it, the xbox brand has never been a favourite child from the MS family with the shareholders. Its quite well known that after the RROD fiasco, they were told to return money to the shareholders or else.

Thats why I think if MS gets off to a sluggish start and doesn't recover fast, it will be cast aside. MS shareholders are not known for mercy
And honestly, even without the shareholder angle it's kind of what makes sense period. It's not a vital part of their business, their plan was to force themselves in yet they only got a tepid return, if they can't actually follow through on their stated goals getting in the console business then WHY stick around?

Though come to think of it, someone probably said this before in some corner of the internet, but what if instead MICROSOFT went third party? They still have some valuable game IPs, or at least they have Halo, and they can probably continue to milk that on Sony/Nintendo platforms along with Forza, maybe Fable, and some other junk.
 

Cartman86

Banned
Confirmation bias. Can't decide that the console that Sega dies on is suddenly the curse when they had failures before. You could say the PS3 was the failure of this generation, and yet sales wise they are really close. I mean the Gamecube did fairly poorly, but so did the N64 compared to the NES and SNES. Espanding it to third and fourth consoles as the curse just gives you a greater degree of being right, because obviously no one can stay in first forever.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Let's not forget the original 3rd console curse guys...

Pong
2600
5200

5200 to Coleco shares many similarities to XBONE to PS4.
 
The curse is real.

But seriously I actually think there might be a correlation in the way that 1st=building the foundation, 2nd=cultivating the brand/becoming a success and 3rd=arrogance, downfall.
 
You can say Ninty was arrogant coming off NES/SNES and Wii, you can say Sony was arrogant coming off PS1/PS2. What's Microsoft's success story? kinect?
 

D.Lo

Member
There's no such thing as curses.

Curses are 'observed' by humans desperately looking for patterns to make sense of a world they do not understand.
 
Wait...are there some people in this thread who seriously believe that people are using "Curse" in the literal every day "magical" sense?

Da fuq?!
 
There is absolutely no way Sony will fail at all with the PlayStation 4.

It really is the return of the King. I expect sales somewhere in between PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Many Xbox 360 players are making the switch to PlayStation 4.

I'm not sure if the console market is still big enough for that.
 

EvB

Member
How was the PS3 cursed, it was massively successful?

Anyway, couldn't it just be that Phil Harrison is Jinxed?
 
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