CS Console War Battle Plan: Sony

I’m disappointed in you, soldier. I see the doubt in your eyes. You thought we had given up on the CS Console War Battle Plan didn’t you? “Hey” you say, “What happened to the Sony version? Club Skill must be bias anti-Sony fanboys!” Well you’re wrong. The truth is soldier, that we have been planning so many other goodies for you here at HQ that the Battle Plan was put on the back burner as we prepare. But here at Club Skill we do not dwell on the past. So suit up, private. Sony needs our help and we’re going in guns blazing for our final hurrah.

Sony’s Playstation 3

It’s like the Death Star of the video game consoles. The Sony Playstation 3 is a technological powerhouse: Blu-ray player, HD next-gen console, and multimedia center. On the surface, the PS3 promises to be the next big thing in electronics like the PC or MP3 Player. Announced at E3 2005 at the same time as Nintendo’s Wii console, the Playstation 3 showed off flashy (If pre-rendered) movies with fantastic graphics, notably the talk of the show: Killzone 2. With the champion’s belt from the last round, Sony is sitting in a nice position going into the console war. So much has happened since that E3. Will the Playstation 3 be a runaway success or a catastrophic failure?

 

What They’ve Done Right

You sitting there reading this article. You know that those amazing videos from E3 2005 were not actual gameplay. You know for a fact that those were CGI, pre-rendered, target videos. You know this because you are a hardcore gamer. Casual gamers don’t know this, and therefore Sony wins.

The Playstation name is a brand now because of the enormous success of the PS2. Casual gamers were the reason for that success. Millions of people around the world bought the Playstation 2, and half of those bought it because it was “The Playstation 2″ and that first holiday when it launched was utterly insane. That is where us hardcore gamers come in. We’re the ones who create the mass shortages and initial millions of sales at launch, after that we’re done. The casual gamers are who control the industry. The people who buy consoles for their kids or themselves, but don’t really follow gaming with a passion. As far as a casual gamer knows, that Killzone 2 trailer is the PS3. That’s what it’ll look like. Sony doesn’t care that you call bull on their trailers, because frankly in the scope of things, you don’t matter. David in 7th grade who showed all his friends the “awesome graphics of this new Playstation” is who matters.

That, and the fact that to the casual consumer, Sony is the main reliable company of the big three. Most casual gamers see Nintendo as too kiddy and they don’t know too much Microsoft since they’ve only just grown into their gaming company pants. Unlike the hardcore, casual gamers don’t factor stuff like quotes from executives or durability of product when purchasing. Hardcore gamers look at buying a video game system as an investment into the company. Most casuals know simply that they had a PS1, and they liked the games. Then they got PS2, and they liked those games. The Playstation 3 is their default console for the next-gen.

Most gamers look at Sony’s antics and scratch their heads. The fact is, Sony believes that your money isn’t what they were looking for in the first place anyway. Come November 11, 2006, the people who they want to buy a PS3 will not believe that Sony copied Nintendo’s controller, will have no idea who Kaz Hirai is, and could care less if Sony copied Xbox Live. That’s something that you wouldn’t know from internet message boards. The truth is, the way you think the industry is is completely wrong if you judge it by what other gaming fanatics on the internet think. Sony knows this.

 

What They’ve Done Wrong

The problem with Sony’s logic here is that they’ve catered to the casual gamer so much now that they’ve alienated the majority of the hardcore. Everyday all a gamer is pounded with is more bad news or quotes from Sony.”Sony’s control now named PooS”, “Problems with Sony’s Cell Processor”,”No Rumble feature with the controller.” There has been more bad news then good when it comes to the PS3 ever since the announcement of the price.

Ah yes, the price.

This is where Sony’s strategy fails. When I said that Sony believes that the casual gamer is more important then the hardcore gamer, I was right. Sony is trying to use their strategy from the last generation to win this one, and that’s hooking the casual consumer. They’re confident that this will get them on top. The difference here is that the PS2 wasn’t $600. It was $300 ,and even though that was still a pretty penny at the time, consumers didn’t have high costs of living like they do today. People were ready to take that next leap, not only in gaming, but also in digital media in general with the jump from VHS to DVD. People aren’t as ready for the leap to The Playstation’s Blu-Ray. There is no outright demand, nor noticeable growth in Blu-ray as a medium like there was with the DVD surrounding the PS2’s launch. The $600 PS3 of 2006 is not as a desirable item as the $300 PS2 of 2000. Sony doesn’t realize that going into the $600 mark is an investment, and most casual gamers aren’t going to make that investment.

“It prints money.”

What Sony is doing is banking on the casual gamer to win them another round, and thus alienating the hardcore. And there’s the rub. They don’t realize that this is not the “PS2 2006″, and there’s a good chance that casual gamers won’t even buy this console at this price. Hardcore gamers know what it is and what it can do, so some of them may feel comfortable spending that $600. So not only are they beating at a dead horse in the mainstream market, they’ve also managed to shoo away the only people who had a chance on buying it.

It doesn’t help that The Three Stooges at Sony have something stupid to say nearly every day. Ken Kutaragi, Phil Harrison, and Kaz Hirai, all Sony executives, are the main reason for the die hard consumers loss of faith for the Sony brand. I’ll let you decide. Ken Kutaragi’s best: “The PS3 is not a game machine .“ “The PS3 will instill discipline in our children and adults alike. Everyone will know discipline.” “Microsoft shoots for the moon. Sony shoots for the sun.” Phil Harrison: “The PlayStation 3 is a computer. We do not need the PC.” “When we brought the PlayStation to the market in 1994, we introduced real time 3-D graphics for the first time.” And my favorite, Kaz Hirai: “Every time we go down a path, we look behind and [Microsoft's] right there – we just can’t shake these guys. I wish that they would come up with some strategies of their own, but they seem to be going down the path of everything we do.” “The first five million [people] are going to buy [the PS3], whatever it is, even if it didn’t have games.” Everytime Sony opens their mouth a fan somewhere dies.

What They Need To Do

Hire a PR who knows how to speak English. Please. For all of our sakes.

Show gamer’s what we’re paying 600 smackers for. Line-up games and say “This is why you should buy our system” instead of “Buy our system because it’s a Playstation”. The Playstation 3 has just as many third-party titles in the works as the Micrsoft 360, but Microsoft is so much better at letting their gamers know what’s coming up down the line. You’re not in the position to just show us a little at E3 and then makes us wait until November for more info. The mystery scheme works for Nintendo because they have an inexpensive system and consumers know enough about the games to take a chance, no one is paying $600 for anything unless they know exactly what it is they’re getting back.

The Blu-Ray Disc: Will make or break the PS3.

Get Blu-Ray out there immediately. Electronic stores need Blu-Ray setups next to DVD setups do people can truely be wowed by the features. Many people could justify purchasing a PS2 because not only were the games promising, the image quality increase from VHS to DVD was so impressive they were literrally wowed. Most consumers have never seen Blu-Ray movie. Put Blu-Ray players in stores, even if they don’t sell well. Put the Blu-ray movies next to the DVD’s on the rack so people know it’s there. Do it now and that’s about three months you have to get the consumer associated with this new media. So when the PS3 comes out, people can say “Hey, it’s a Blu-Ray player too!” instead if “Oh, it plays these Blu-Ray things too”. If Blu-Ray is really as amazing as you make it out to be, proper exposure could make the PS3 huge.

Stop being so cocky, it comes across badly. Nintendo and Microsoft are both much improved from the last generation and can easily take you down if you continue with your attitude. Don’t underestimate your competition. Microsoft for example, instead of belittling the competition they instead support cooperation between the big comapnies. This may be unrealistic and they might not even mean it, but it still helps public image. Nobody likes a jerk.

 

Final Analysis

That price is a hard sell Sony, even for your loyalists. But you can pull it off if you do it right. Give the consumer what they want. They want games with mind-blowing graphics, movies with mind-blowing visuals, and an ultimate media center for their homes. If you can make all that come together with a little bit of flair, $600 won’t seem so expensive after all.

---

Well that concludes the Console Wars Battle Plans troops. It’s been a ride. Microsoft’s crew is already out in force on the battlefield taking defensive positions. Link is edging up his blade with the Nintendo Army. Sony’s battallion and mega-weapon is looming above. It’s madness soldier, and if anyone tells you they know who’s winning this war they’re lieing. The only thing I know for a fact is that it’s going to be one amazing showdown, and it’ll be great watching the whole thing unfold. Club Skill will keep you locked and loaded allthe way private. From me and the rest of the gang at CS, see you on the frontlines.

---

CS Console Wars Battle Plans
Microsoft – Nintendo – Sony