My OperaOn PS3, Part 1
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 11:10:02 PM
The PS3 is destined for success, not because of its 1080p graphics, not because of it planned Playstation Network, or any other innumerable advantages it has. It will succeed based off of brand recognition alone, because in today's capitalistic world, sometimes it isn't always about creating the best product, its about getting the consumer to think of your product when they think of an industry.
For over 10 year, the Playstation brand has dominated the videogame industry. Just for comparison, in this last( or current depending on your view) generation of videogame consoles, the Playstation 2(PS2) has sold around or more than 100million units, compare that with the Xbox's 22 million and the Gamecube's 20.5 million. This is a sizable gap and the funny thing is, technology wise the PS2 was worst of the three, it produced the lowest resolution graphics, muddiest texture and worst sound, yet despite all of this it was able to outsell both the competitors, combined. This is an example of brand recognition winning, were the logo triumphs the technology.
A great place to start looking for how Sony has managed to edge out the competition is its excellent use of hype. Before the PS2 came out, they Sega Dreamcast(DC) was already released and already had many good games out for it, such as the canonized Soul Caliber. But Sony, knowing how much people valued the PSone, decided to announce that they would be releasing the PS2 soon, with the added bonus that it would be supporting the successor to the CD, the DVD. While this wasn't as big a deal in the United States, in Japan this probably is what made the Dreamcast die and the PS2 thrive. In the early years of the PS2's lifespan in Japan, people bought more DVDs than they did games, even though a couple years in people realized it was a horrible DVD player, but it had served its purpose.
The key difference with the launch of the PS3, is that the new supported format Blu-ray, is in competition with another format, HD-DVD. Also they are now competing with Microsoft and Nintendo, two companies that unlike Sega are not in their last throes or breathing their last breath. The hype machine, while still effective, will not work as well as it did in the past, especially with the near bottomless pit that is Microsoft's reserves. But back to the format wars, the last time Sony developed a major format for recording visual-audio was the Betamax tapes, and we all know how that turned out. (If you don't they ended up wasting a lot of money on a format that would end up being crushed by VHS).
The key difference this time is the number of high level companies such as Apple, Dell, Hitachi, and HP. The problem is the format Microsoft is backing is also supported by several other high level companies, such as Toshiba, NEC, and Sanyo. This makes some of the worst conditions for both sides because it is setting up to be a war of attrition, and the unlucky consumer left on the wrong side could suffer the consequences. This is were the success of brand name and the PS3 help Sony, the PS3 will be the main platform that will push forth the Blu-ray, it is $400 cheaper than the least expensive Blu-ray player and can do much more. On the other hand if the PS3 succeeds and somehow Blu-ray as a format doesn't catch on, then Sony is stuck out in the cold.
In the end though, the PS3 will succeed because of brand recognition, when people think of videogames they think of Mario, GTA, Halo and the Playstation brand, the other three are software, not hardware, and while in the long run software does matter, when it comes to selling hardware, there isn't a system right not that is more recognized than the Playstation brand.
For over 10 year, the Playstation brand has dominated the videogame industry. Just for comparison, in this last( or current depending on your view) generation of videogame consoles, the Playstation 2(PS2) has sold around or more than 100million units, compare that with the Xbox's 22 million and the Gamecube's 20.5 million. This is a sizable gap and the funny thing is, technology wise the PS2 was worst of the three, it produced the lowest resolution graphics, muddiest texture and worst sound, yet despite all of this it was able to outsell both the competitors, combined. This is an example of brand recognition winning, were the logo triumphs the technology.
A great place to start looking for how Sony has managed to edge out the competition is its excellent use of hype. Before the PS2 came out, they Sega Dreamcast(DC) was already released and already had many good games out for it, such as the canonized Soul Caliber. But Sony, knowing how much people valued the PSone, decided to announce that they would be releasing the PS2 soon, with the added bonus that it would be supporting the successor to the CD, the DVD. While this wasn't as big a deal in the United States, in Japan this probably is what made the Dreamcast die and the PS2 thrive. In the early years of the PS2's lifespan in Japan, people bought more DVDs than they did games, even though a couple years in people realized it was a horrible DVD player, but it had served its purpose.
The key difference with the launch of the PS3, is that the new supported format Blu-ray, is in competition with another format, HD-DVD. Also they are now competing with Microsoft and Nintendo, two companies that unlike Sega are not in their last throes or breathing their last breath. The hype machine, while still effective, will not work as well as it did in the past, especially with the near bottomless pit that is Microsoft's reserves. But back to the format wars, the last time Sony developed a major format for recording visual-audio was the Betamax tapes, and we all know how that turned out. (If you don't they ended up wasting a lot of money on a format that would end up being crushed by VHS).
The key difference this time is the number of high level companies such as Apple, Dell, Hitachi, and HP. The problem is the format Microsoft is backing is also supported by several other high level companies, such as Toshiba, NEC, and Sanyo. This makes some of the worst conditions for both sides because it is setting up to be a war of attrition, and the unlucky consumer left on the wrong side could suffer the consequences. This is were the success of brand name and the PS3 help Sony, the PS3 will be the main platform that will push forth the Blu-ray, it is $400 cheaper than the least expensive Blu-ray player and can do much more. On the other hand if the PS3 succeeds and somehow Blu-ray as a format doesn't catch on, then Sony is stuck out in the cold.
In the end though, the PS3 will succeed because of brand recognition, when people think of videogames they think of Mario, GTA, Halo and the Playstation brand, the other three are software, not hardware, and while in the long run software does matter, when it comes to selling hardware, there isn't a system right not that is more recognized than the Playstation brand.
