The Sony PS3 had a great year in regard to games, but with lackluster sales of the PSP Go and the coming motion control -- I can't help but think their next business moves seem rather ill-conceived.
I don't claim to know what it takes to maintain a billion dollar technology company. I will never understand the ins-and-outs of how to get consumers to buy high, and possibly overpriced goods. However, this will not stop me from telling Sony, "You had a great year, now don't screw this up with oblique commercials and overpriced products!" Let's be real, Sony still isn't making money off of the PS3, but the gaming division of Sony is in a much better position than they were last year. Well, that is until I look at how well the PSP Go is selling. If this message makes it in front of the eyes of Kaz Hirai or Jack Tretton then feel free to pay me for this tidbit of advice. While I am at it, you know that Arc or Wand or whatever the hell you're calling your latest attempt to grab the Wii audience, its okay if you didn't. What I mean to say is, this isn't your fight. Stick to charging us users a dollar or two more on just about anything available on the Playstation Network, like you have been doing for the past couple years.
Is that a new hentai downloadable background? Why not pay five dollars for that?
What room do we have to complain? The online network you shoddily supply is free. Free for now at least.
As users, we get it. We know that your televisions and phones haven't been flying off of the shelves. Most of the home & tech power you wielded in the 90's has all but left your old brittle hands. Your focus should be on movies and games. On the software front, Sony has had an amazing year. Critically, your games steal most journalists heart. So you will be forgiven for Haze and Resistance 2 trite and completely forgettable plots. Graphically we still have issues, but hey didn't Killzone 2 look sweet? Its no secret that game developers are looking to use the Playstation 3 as the lead developing console in the future. Unfortunately, this could be because developing for PC & Xbox 360 is so much easier. Multi-platform games still have a ways to go on the PS3, but improvements have been made and I tip my hat to the B. We don't need to look at Ghostbusters and Bayonetta is quite fresh in our minds, but hey...Burnout: Paradise is still awesome.
Multiplayer worked out great for Uncharted 2 and Infamous did great things for both Naughty Dog and your console as brands. Sure this letter is filled with snark and anger, but you need to hear this: Stop selling the PSP Go. You can either drop the price like you should have prior to December '09, or you can watch pirating and the general gaming public turn up their nose when you introduce that PSP2 with UMD capabilities later this year. I thought you liked making money Sony? I thought last year would have taught you a thing or two, but then you hit me with that controller tech-demo at E3. I mailed a letter to Jack Tretton to smack all of his friends in the head, because clearly they like pulling nasty and very expensive pranks on him.
Let Nintendo have their shine, they innovated with a device that makes the average person look quite silly jumping up and down in their living room. Let Microsoft experiment with Project Natal this year, it could either succeed or fail based on its line-up and you, honestly, don't have an answer for a device of that caliber. Oh wait you do? 3D gaming? That's so cute. Don't let the success of Avatar cloud your judgment. People still hate most products in 3D. Chances are, they will probably hate yours too. No matter how good it is, alienating people who have epilepsy is one thing, but to further divide the market by introducing the concept of: "Do like you games? Do you like crappy 3D? Well buy another television that's more expensive and play our games the way they were meant to be played! Be the envy of all your friends when you show up to school with soon-to-be broken 3D glasses."
I will give the lovely minds at Sony all the credit in the world. Your advertising campaign no longer sucks and the price of your console is making you more broke than the consumer. The games you have slated for release this year are pretty heavy, granted 'if' they actually come out when you say. Gran Turismo comes out when? I mean, I could have sworn it was supposed to come out in January correct? Last year also marked the swan song of the PS2, which thankfully the PSP is finally outpacing [a win over your own product is still a win damn it]. Sony, you're doing it, not real big, but you are doing something.
As a PS3 owner, I am pretty psyched for this year and the plans that could either result in an amazing corporate comeback or a hilarious 'Iggy Shuffle' into obscurity. Its no secret that Wii's sales have slipped and the Xbox 360's exclusive line up for 2010 is still questionable. However, according to that bar graph that I didn't make, those companies need not do anything of worth and could still hold their ground thanks to Sony's ability to trip over their own products in the handheld market. I love technological creativity. I also understand the 'need to be first' and barring Blu-Ray, Sony has been playing catch up with the casual community for the past couple of years. Sony lackeys, I am a fanboy of all systems and none at the same time. I got high hopes for the independent games market on PSN and though I am baffled by the people who spend money in Home, I am glad you found a base that seem to be blindly supplying that project. This generation has a ways to go and mistakes are unavoidable in the tech business, you have to be able to predict what the people want years in advance. Sony, if you think people want magic wands and 3D glasses playing on televisions more expensive than their cars, then I beg of you to prove me wrong.
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