Making 2012 the Year of the PlayStation

joshuaboy
joshuaboy Members Posts: 10,858 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited January 2012 in IllGaming
Last year was marred with mistakes. Here's how Sony can rectify the situation.

With exclusives out the ? -- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Resistance 3 and so on -- 2011 was supposed to be the year of the PlayStation, but due to a number of mistakes and hurdles, that didn't happen. Now, the video game industry has another 365 days in front of it, and Sony has another chance to turn the corner and overtake the Xbox 360. For that to happen, this needs to happen...


Drop the Price of the PS3

The PlayStation 3 is on pace to outsell the Xbox 360, but it's been on that pace for a while. Rather than sitting and waiting for the event to happen, Sony should drop the price to $199 and hit the gas. Make headlines early in 2012, get the 5-year-old console cheaper than the brand new handheld, and then get to work on ? over Microsoft...


Play ?

Seriously, 2012 needs to be the year Sony fights back on the "exclusive content" front. Modern Warfare DLC comes to Xbox 360 first. The ESPN app is exclusive to Xbox 360. HBO Go is coming to Xbox 360. When the PlayStation 3 debuted, Sony reps said they wanted the device to be the entertainment hub of the living room. But while Sony was saying that, Microsoft was doing it. Sure, the PlayStation 3 has NHL Gamecenter and the vastly overpriced NFL Sunday Ticket, but pound for pound, Sony's getting trounced in this department.

Sony needs to make some moves. Xbox 360 was kept alive last year by multiplatform games, so it's in Sony's best interests to negotiate exclusive content for future third-party titles -- Max Payne 3 missions, BioShock Infinite content, Grand Theft Auto V stories. There are plenty of gamers out there who probably don't even know that Modern Warfare comes to a system other than the 360. Change that in 2012, Sony.


Be Smart with Your Exclusives

Last year was jam-packed with exclusives. It seemed like there was a major PS3-only title every month. Trouble was, no one bought them. Resistance 3 was the best entrant in the franchise, but only 180,000 U.S. copies sold in the first month (down 205,000 from Resistance 2's 385,000). Meanwhile, Xbox 360 had two or three major exclusives, and no one seemed to mind and the games sold well.

There's something to be said for not flooding the market. With a major 2011 release every month, Sony divided the PlayStation fanbase and made it make tough choices about where its money would go. There wasn't a chance to support a franchise you kind of liked as there was a new entrant in the franchise you loved just a few months away. Even Sony felt this pinch when it came to marketing. With so many games coming out, the advertising dollar could only stretch so far and games slipped through the cracks or didn't get adequate time in the spotlight.

The 2012 exclusive release schedule is a bit more spread out. Twisted Metal arrives in February, Starhawk will probably drop before or in the summer, and maybe -- just maybe -- we'll get The Last of Us in the fall. That's perfect. Let the games breathe. Give them big pushes. Get people excited and ready to buy on day one so that every game doesn't look like it's just so-so.

Make the PSN Matter

Last year was a rough one for the PlayStation Network with the whole "we got hacked and your personal information got stolen" thing, but that sucks even more when you consider how many awesome games got overlooked on the PSN. Explodemon, Sideway: New York, Rochard and Alien Zombie Megadeath were all awesome titles that came and went with little fanfare. That's an underlying problem with the PlayStation Network; great, exclusive games come to the PSN, but not a lot of people hear about them. The PSN is packed with good titles and Sony's supporting the developers making them. Now, it's on Sony to make the majority of PlayStation players care.

One of the best things that came from the PSN outage was the Welcome Back program. Suddenly, everyone with a PS3 or PSP had a reason to go online, download free games and see how easy it is to use the PSN. Why don't new PS3s come with a voucher code for $20 on the PlayStation Store? Once people see how the system works and the wealth of content that is there, they're going to use it. Sony just needs to show them it in a way that isn't an apology for getting hacked.


Promote the PlayStation Vita

The PlayStation Vita's Japanese launch has been a disappointment. Sales in the first 48 hours were less than the Nintendo 3DS' and the PSP's, and second week sales were abysmal. That's not the foot you want to start on -- especially as the only people paying close attention to those numbers are the ? fans the handheld is aimed at.

With the PlayStation Vita's western February release date getting closer by the second, Sony needs to squelch the negative news with facts and reasons why you have to own this device. We still don't know the 3G plan for the United States, we still don't have rock solid pricing on physical games versus digital games, and memory cards are still too expensive. Sony needs to fill in the blanks on these fundamentals, and then get to the good stuff. Games.

President of Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida has said that the first three years of the PlayStation Vita are planned and that the company has learned from the mistakes of the PSP. Good -- now quit telling us and show us. Game droughts were the big problem with the PSP. Months and months would pass without any new awesome games to play. If you bought a PSP and never played it, it's easy to understand why you'd take a wait and see attitude with the Vita.

Sony needs to show us why waiting is stupid if it wants to dominate at launch. Sure, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with Uncharted: Golden Abyss, but that title alone isn't enough to sell 500,000 people a Vita a launch -- especially with the black cloud of Japanese sales hanging in the air. A Call of Duty game was confirmed when the PlayStation Vita debuted, there's a BioShock game in development, and I doubt that there isn't a Vita ? of War up developer Ready at Dawn's sleeve. Tip your hand, Sony, or the Vita's just something people will continue to sleep on.

Comments

  • KillaCham
    KillaCham Members, Moderators Posts: 11,417 Regulator
    edited January 2012
    Who wrote this article?
  • joshuaboy
    joshuaboy Members Posts: 10,858 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    KillaCham. wrote: »
    Who wrote this article?


    IGN :rolleyes:

    ..............
  • Wild Self
    Wild Self Members Posts: 4,226 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    IGN is filled with Sony stans. Plus, they lost whatever chance of winning America at this point. It's 6 years in and M$ killed them in 3rd party games. Sony won 2 generations already.....
  • playmaker88
    playmaker88 Members Posts: 67,905 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    Ps3 been running ? since 08 as far as quality exclusives..
  • focus
    focus Members Posts: 5,361 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    joshuaboy wrote: »
    Seriously, 2012 needs to be the year Sony fights back on the "exclusive content" front. Modern Warfare DLC comes to Xbox 360 first. The ESPN app is exclusive to Xbox 360. HBO Go is coming to Xbox 360. When the PlayStation 3 debuted, Sony reps said they wanted the device to be the entertainment hub of the living room. But while Sony was saying that, Microsoft was doing it. Sure, the PlayStation 3 has NHL Gamecenter and the vastly overpriced NFL Sunday Ticket, but pound for pound, Sony's getting trounced in this department.

    There are plenty of gamers out there who probably don't even know that Modern Warfare comes to a system other than the 360. Change that in 2012, Sony.


    Be Smart with Your Exclusives
    no one bought them. Resistance 3 was the best entrant in the franchise, but only 180,000 U.S. copies sold in the first month (down 205,000 from Resistance 2's 385,000). Meanwhile, Xbox 360 had two or three major exclusives, and no one seemed to mind and the games sold well.

    Sony felt this pinch when it came to marketing. With so many games coming out, the advertising dollar could only stretch so far

    Same ? I be saying.
  • Bcotton5
    Bcotton5 Members Posts: 51,851 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    Wild Self wrote: »
    IGN is filled with Sony stans. Plus, they lost whatever chance of winning America at this point. It's 6 years in and M$ killed them in 3rd party games. Sony won 2 generations already.....

    Didnt PS3 sell more than 360 3 years in a row now?
  • Wild Self
    Wild Self Members Posts: 4,226 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    Didnt PS3 sell more than 360 3 years in a row now?


    But 360 is still ahead in America (the biggest market) and its software sales are through the roof. PS3 Uncharted ain't selling like MW3 for the 360. And then you got the hacking issues....Japan ain't what it used to be in market share anymore.


    But compared to the PS1 and PS2, the PS3 underperformed in units sold.
  • funkdocdamc
    funkdocdamc Members Posts: 3,786 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    Wild Self wrote: »
    But 360 is still ahead in America (the biggest market) and its software sales are through the roof. PS3 Uncharted ain't selling like MW3 for the 360. .

    My dude, NO game is selling like MW3 regardless if it's on PS3 or 360. 360 MW3 outsold all 360 exclusives easily, same as PS3 version. Matter of fact, aside from Halo 3 (11 Mil) the PS3 version alone has outsold all 360 exclusives, and it's known as the inferior version.
  • KINGOFDAARCADE
    KINGOFDAARCADE Members Posts: 4,379 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    Wild Self wrote: »
    But 360 is still ahead in America (the biggest market) and its software sales are through the roof. PS3 Uncharted ain't selling like MW3 for the 360. And then you got the hacking issues....Japan ain't what it used to be in market share anymore.
    .


    LOL@this nimble minded fool.


    360 is ahead in USA... so what? The Euro is far more powerful than USD and that's where Sony is winning.

    The ONLY reason 360 has more consoles sold is because it's been out for a whole year longer. It has lost in sales for the past 3 years straight. and games wise....ps3 has been ? on it
  • focus
    focus Members Posts: 5,361 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    360 winning with only two regions. Sony had and entire country headstart and still lost.
  • Alkindus
    Alkindus Members Posts: 1,677 ✭✭✭
    edited January 2012
    I thought the European/EU market was the biggest nowadays? anyway, ? that 'spreading the exlusives' ? , the ? do we need 3/4 exclusives per year for? Keep that ? coming and start hiring better marketing and sales managers lol, don't hold out on the games. They should keep them exclusives cominggggggg