Eight Things Sony Needs To Do For The PS3 In 2008 To Catch Up
Now that the year 2007 is nearly over and with 2008 just around the corner we really need to think about something. If you are interested in the console war at all you may know the Sony PlayStation 3 is the most expensive console out there (yes the X360 Elite is $50 more than the 40GB PS3, but the 80GB PS3 is also $50 more than the elite) and because of this the PS3 is in last place in overall sales (there are also more reasons why, but this is one of the main reasons why). Now this does not mean that the PS3 is not selling anything at all, this only means that all of the PS3′s that have been sold from around the world have not been matched with the Nintendo Wii’s and the Microsoft Xbox 360′s. Right now the PS3 has sold 7.77M, the Wii has sold 17.07M, and the Xbox 360 has sold 14.07M (according to VGChartz). Now, if things keep going this way, t hey might lose this war. Another thing that is the cause of being last is that the PS3 has had many exclusives, but they lost most of them. For some of them Microsoft has paid the companies to go multi-platform, like Rockstar’s GTA4, but some had gone multi-platform because of development costs. Now, Sony may not have been able to secure those that went multi because of development costs, but they could have secured the exclusives that Microsoft had paid them to go multi. Sony has said before, “We do not pay for exclusivity like our competitors, we wait for them to come to us.”, but for them to stay in this game they need to get those producers to come onto their platform and stay exclusive and not go multi-platform. Now, there are more reasons why they are in 3rd right now, but lets get to the eight things Sony needs to do to get the PS3 caught up with the rest of the consoles next year, these do not go in any specific order.
1. Sony please release games that have little-to-no bugs, is playable, and is worth what you are about to fork over for it. Let’s think about this for a moment, games are now $60 for a brand new game that has just been released (if you have not noticed it has increased $10 because of development costs), if we’re about to spend $60 on a game, don’t we want a game that will be enjoyable, playable, and well worth the money that we spent for it? A game like Heavenly Sword may be fun and amazing, but with its short gameplay and no online mode/play to give it more hours of play time is just not worth the $60 you have to spend, don’t get me wrong, its a great game, but it is just not worth $60 for a couple of hours of gameplay. Now, a game like Lair, that was a great game at E3 2007, when it was released it looked great (except for the occasional framerate drop), the controls felt like they where just thrown in there so you can maneuver your dragon with SixAxis (although some people got into the controls after a while, most did not). Now, a game like this is well not worth $60, it may look good, but you need something to play, not to look at, otherwise it would be called a movie not a game.
2. No more SKU’s, please? First it was the 20GB version, then you canned it. That just left the 60GB version, then you canned it, for the 80GB version (although it is still sold in Europe, but hard to find now). Now you released the 40GB version, with no Backwards Compatibility. Are you going to can the 80GB or the 40GB now? The more you make the more your going to irritate your customers. Think of it this way, say someone just bought a 60GB version and then two weeks later you announced the 80GB version. Would you not think they would want the 80GB instead of the 60GB now because it has a bigger HD and a game included (Note: this is before the consumer bought this before they announced the 60GB price drop of $100 to
get rid of the remaining stock) and now they can not return it and wait for the 80GB? If you keep doing this you will only be hurting yourself in the long run, more consumers will just want to wait for the next SKU, as they know you will be releasing something new in a couple of months (not including bundles) and the longer they wait, the longer you will stay in last. Do you get it?
3. Exclusives, Exclusives, and Exclusives! You see the Xbox 360 having exclusives like: Bioshock, Ace Combat 6 (Yes, this is a times exclusive, but still counts as an exclusive until it is released on the PS3), Dead Rising, and much more, but do you see Sony having a lot of 3rd part exclusives other than MGS4, and Final Fantasy? Yes there is more, but those are the big ones. Now, yes Microsoft has paid for their exclusives and Sony has said they won’t stoop to their level and pay for them, but let them come to Sony. That may be a honorable thing to do, yet it is stupid. The game has changed from PS2 vs. GC vs. Xbox games are not that cheap anymore to develop, and because of this more companies are going multi-platform. So Microsoft, is paying companies like 2K Games to keep Bioshock exclusives and this makes up for the costs of not going multi-platform and in return it will just get Microsoft more sales of the Xbox 360 and more games and accessories will be bought from them and when this happens it becomes the main platform to develop for, now Sony do you really want this?
4. Help developers develop games for the PS3. Seems like some developers are having a hard time developing games for the PS3 *cough* EA *cough*, even though developers like Infinity Ward, developer of Call Of Duty 4, say “developing the game on the PlayStation 3 was easy” (View News Post). Now we can’t jump to any conclusions, maybe Infinity Ward developed the game on the Xbox 360 and thought it was a PS3 (
I couldn’t write that with a straight face!), and the developers that can’t develop a good of a game as CoD4 then can’t you call them lazy? Now, its not Sony’s fault that these developers can’t take the time to learn a new system, it is their fault and Sony should not have to help them, but if Sony wants to win this console war also, well they need to do something to get rid of the crappy games from the 3rd party developers and get them to develop good games.
5. Advertising is key. Yes, Sony has released a new ad campaign called “Universe of Entertainment” (View the ads here) and those are great ad’s, but to advertise you need more than TV commercials. You need billboards, in-game ad’s (I am not endorsing annoying in-game ad’s, I am endorsing in-game ad’s that are in the right place and those that make the game looks more realistic), ad’s in magazines, and ad’s on web-sites. The more people that see ad’s the more they will notice it and the more you will know a kid will be asking their parents for one if they see it!
6. Innovation in games. Yeah we rarely see innovation now in games, but with LittleBigPlanet it is different, it is innovative. To be next gen you can’t just improve on what you had last gen, like you can’t just improve the graphics in a game and release it on a new console, you need to put something in there that will make people want it. Lets take Lair for an example, the developers had a great idea on how to move the dragons with the SixAxis controller, but with the way they incorporated the controls it failed. It is a risk kind of game, innovation either works or it does not, and that is why shooters has been basically the same for a long time on consoles.
7. Release Home! As many of you know “Home” is a service from Sony that will be releasing for the PS3 next year (For more info. click here) and that is going to be the supposed “Xbox Live Killer.” With the PlayStation Home you will have a thing called Trophies and Trophies are given when you do something in a game that is like an achievement, just like Achievements on Xbox Live. You can design your own home, walk into other people’s homes, talk to other people, throw party’s, and play games in the Home Arcade. It is going to be cool, but for the world to see it first hand without someone showing them Sony needs to release it and it might actually give Xbox Live some competition.
8. Fix-up and polish the PlayStation Network! Now, the PSN is going to get some help from “Home”, but Sony needs to do more than that. Yes, it is free, but it can’t just be left the way it is right now. A thing that you can do is redesign the PlayStation Store. The PlayStation Store needs a redesign and to make it fit in with the PS3, why don’t you make it xmb just like the PS3 and PSP’s menus? I have seen many concept designs on this idea and now I just want it as it seems to fit in more with the PS3′s menus more than a website design. Next, have a “PlayStation Network” sign on the box of your games just like the Xbox 360′s “Xbox Live” and the Wii’s “Nintendo Wi-Fi”, show that this game has online with it, yes this is not important, but who cares it makes show online is there.
Now, there is another one, that does not go with the main 8, but I will post it anyway’s.
9. Shut your Public Relations team up. Yes they are there for a reason, but if they are going to be stupid and talk about things that they don’t know then why have them at all?
Now that I have posted what I think Sony needs to do in 2008, do you agree or disagree? What do you think Sony should do in 2008 to catch up? Post your views in the comments here or in the MicroTechXP Forum Discussion which can be viewed here.
Soon MicroTechXP will have these following story’s, “Things Microsoft needs to do to regain its lead in 2008″ and “Things Nintendo needs to do to keep its lead in 2008″
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