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Are Sony showing the competition too much respect?

Edit 11/10/18 @ 22:29 GMT

I think from the responses I've received so far, that my colloquialism may have caused some confusion as to what I actually mean. I know my cousins in North America over the pond and those down under in Oz and NZ might not use the same terms, whilst we're all part of the anglo-sphere when it comes to language.

When I use the term 'too much respect' it is akin to saying that you allow someone to get the better of you, to make themselves look as though they are better, or in a better position, when in truth, you appear to be in a stronger position but as a consequence of allowing that to happen and you do not action it, you get a negative reaction.

It's like when the under dog comes out on top after mistakes made by the bigger entity through lack of acknowledgement of progress or mistakes made. Perfect example, when Leicester City won the Premier League, they were complete under dogs. Nobody would have bet on them to win, because until their excessively good run of form that took them to the top of the highest level of play in England, they were previously fighting relegation to a lower division. The reigning champions Manchester City didn't think too much of it, but they let too many opportunities slip through their fingers and made some poor decisions and silly mistakes. As a result of this and the form of Leicester City, Manchester City suddenly were the under dogs and playing catch up to get to first place. Manchester City had the opportunity to put themselves back in front when they played Leicester at home in 2016 but they didn't turn up to the game, they made costly decisions that allowed Leicester to beat them 3-1, their form continued and they won the premier league, so one could argue that Manchester City showed them 'too much respect.'

Also, through the process of Leicester over throwing Manchester City as league Champions, it also comes with positive news and media. You suddenly see the uprising entity more commonly spoken about and praised over the other entity currently in pole position.

Or in another form of explanation, they didn't consider Leicester a threat until they had to action it as they expected their dominance to continue with little to no effort, they didn't action it and as a result of their negligent decision making, they allowed themselves to lose to the competition by giving them space to take the number one slot, when they could have put them out of sight a long time beforehand.

Maybe football isn't the best way to explain it but I hate both these teams, I'm claret and blue anyway. I hope it makes sense to some people.

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This is a complicated question that I've been thinking about for some time. From the launch of the PlayStation 4 in 2013, we have seen a dramatic turn in fortunes for Sony, going from near complete failure, to direct competitor to market leader from a console stand point. But this big Sony hype train seems to have stopped the engine and is running on cruise control until the next big thing... and I think in a way, they're showing the competition too much respect. Let me explain what I mean.

From used games to old games

Remember the really funny video with Shu and Adam that poked fun at Microsoft not supporting used games? (At the time of announcement that is.) Well, Sony built some pretty strong support from consumers by completely bucking Microsoft with their marketing which showed that Sony would continue to support used games. Which was great, it set them apart from the competition. Until the competition changed their policy and Sony couldn't use that as a selling point any more. But Microsoft would go one extra. As well as offering new and used titles, they opened up a whole back log with some great features. Not only for their previous generation console, but the console that was their initial adventure with their own console product in the original XBOX.

Pretty slick and in a sense, a much more achievable task than Sony have on their plate. Microsoft consoles have traditionally been incredibly close to PC architecture by design, they've all used an adapted version of Windows and the Direct X technology, so not investing into this feature would be a poor show when honestly, it's not easy, because honestly it never is. But if you compare that to Sony having to design a way to emulate the PlayStation 2 as well as the nefariously difficult PlayStation 3, you're talking mountain vs mole hill. The proprietary technology Sony created for their consoles ultimately is their down fall here. While it was new and amazing stuff in it's own unique ways, it's vastly complicated to replicate through software alone.

Consider the original 60GB PlayStation 3 used hardware emulation to run PlayStation 2 games, which meant there was effectively a PlayStation 2 SoC physically built into the PlayStation 3. I still own one of these consoles and it still works great, but even with the PS2 hardware inside it, not every game emulates perfectly. Leading up to Halloween this year, I'm replaying the classic Silent Hill 2, arguably one of the best games of all time and there are some pretty weird graphical glitches. James' left leg keeps disappearing and the fog has issues to name the two that are constant and consistent. So even hardware compatibility isn't 100% fool proof, putting a PS3 and PS2 SoC into a PlayStation console would just increase costs and may not offer a seamless experience. A software solution might be the only answer to this problem, but the PlayStation 4 clearly just doesn't have the raw horsepower to brute force emulate these past systems. Given that so many publishers and developers have come and gone and there are so many great legacy games yet to be played, perhaps Microsoft have tipped the scales here. Effectively it's Microsoft 2 - Sony 1.

Studio Growth and Acquisitions

Let it not be said that Sony have arguably the best first party development in the console business. Numerous game of the year awards, incredible and passionate developers who develop amazing games each year, with a great variety in scope, genre and ambition. However, to my knowledge, Sony have not made a studio acquisition this generation as of this post. They've opened North West Studio and Pixelopus, which is fantastic to see the investment, but they've not acquired studios that perhaps previous Sony management would have looked into. With the rumours that Quantic Dream are looking to move to a multi-platform future after creating three incredible games in Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls and Detroit Become Human, it appears as though Sony aren't looking to add this studio to their first party development team.

This I think, is a very odd move, especially considering that David Cage has previously stated that he's open to an acquisition by Sony and they love developing for the PlayStation console. They clearly have a market there. They have a great working relationship and Sony have always given them great support at big trade shows and advertised their products very well, sometimes better than their own produced content. I believe that letting them go would be a huge missed opportunity, but equally as much as not acquiring Supermassive Games. What an un-expected hit Until Dawn was and was incredible support they've shown PlayStation, in supporting PlayStation VR with their Until Dawn franchise, a new IP and a new way to play with Play Link. This is another studio who go far back with Sony to development on PS3 titles such as LittleBigPlanet. This studio clearly had an audience on PlayStation and they've moved onto multi-platform development.

Ready at Dawn, another developer with a long history as a Sony partner, creating two fantastic God of War titles for PSP and whether you loved it or hated it, brought us the visually stunning The Order 1886, which by all accounts was clearly an origin story to a franchise that clearly has been shelved. What a complete waste of talent and IP, especially when the future looked so bright. The limited game play of The Order was enjoyable, the story also and the visuals still wow me now. These guys have had mixed success with Deformers and Lone Echo... but I can't help feeling like they would have benefited the most by joining Sony as a first party developer.

Honestly so many developers have gone that would have been great acquisitions to add talent and depth to the brand. United Front Games who developed LittleBigPlanet Karting and ModNation Racers exclusively for PlayStation showed a relationship that was there but never strong enough to save them from the inevitable. A crying shame really.

However, Sony closed several studios leading up to the release of PlayStation 4 and during it's life span, meaning essentially it's first party line up has actually shrunk and not grown. BigBig Studios, closed. Evolution Studios, closed. Studio Liverpool, closed. Zipper Interactive, closed. Cambridge Studio, closed. And quite honestly, I think Sony Bend are incredibly lucky, because if not for their passion for PlayStation to create a great game, I genuinely believe that they would have been next. Ultimately Sony have trimmed the fat because as much as we love gaming, it is not a charity, it is still a business and it still has to be profitable. Having strength in depth and numbers is a great way to thrive, especially when you put a large focus on first party content. Profitable expansion opportunities seem to be slipping them by, however for Microsoft, it's very different.

This generation, they have acquired Mojang and one of the most successful gaming IP with MineCraft. The Coalition was formed from Black Tusk to focus on creating blockbuster first party games with the acquired Gears of War IP. Microsoft announced at E3 that they had acquired four gaming studios as well as opening a fifth studio called The Initiative, who I can only guess will be the equivalent of Sony Santa Monica studio, with an in-house team comparable to that of Sony's ICE team. Now the rumour is that Microsoft are on the verge of acquiring Obsidian Entertainment and that would bring their first party studio count to 13. Their goal to stand equal to Sony on numbers and quality may soon be a reality in two to three years time and with the amount of money Microsoft have at their disposal, I don't see why they can't invest in games equal in calibre to Uncharted, God of War, Spider Man etc.

Not only this, but it's clear Microsoft aren't afraid to invest in acquiring studios, regardless of their developmental history, as Ninja Theory have previously done lots of business with Sony and so it came as a big surprise seeing them acquired by Microsoft. While Microsoft have closed Lionhead studio, it still feels like 1-0 to Microsoft here as they're definitely building momentum.

One could argue they also lost a massive boon with the recent Square Enix announcement of all the Final Fantasy games set to go multi-platform. The best Square have will no longer be available on limited platforms. Excellent news for Square, one less string for the bow for Sony. And while I don't want to make it sound as though I'm against the decision the developers have made to pursue multi-platform development, I'm not looking at it from that point of view, I'm looking at it from an opportunity lost from Sony, from a position where they could have gained.

Drop in Quality at Trade Shows

The E3 held by Sony from 2013 to 2016 were magical and have brought about some amazing memories and fantastic games that have helped launch Sony into the market leader position. For Microsoft it seemed like damage control throughout those years, building back the good will bit by bit and re-building XBOX with a real focus on gaming. E3 2017 for Sony was overall, disappointing for Sony and very much felt like a filler arc in an anime series. PSX of 2017 was forgettable also and you can forgive Sony because they did try their best to manage expectations by informing people beforehand that the event would be very different and what to expect but the only real noteworthy development was the announcement of MediEvil remastered with the promise that 'more news coming soon.' It's been ten months and we haven't heard a damn thing, so I guess that was another game announced way too early or possibly silently shelved.

E3 2018 was different again for Sony and whilst it was still enjoyable, it didn't really feel like it had that magic present in previous conferences. The Last of Us Part II looks nice but I don't know if I like the direction that we're heading in here. Ghost of Tsushima looks great, as do Death Stranding and Spider Man is now with us. The Resident Evil 2, Kingdom Hearts 3 and Ni-Oh 2 also look great but it just didn't really blow us away. Microsoft, while most of their games were also coming to other platforms, built a really good feel to their show and just made it feel like they were continuing to up the ante and deliver a great console experience. With no PSX confirmed this year and no show at PGW or GamesCom with Layden confirming himself that there is not enough to form a show to meet expectations, it does kind of feel like that hype train that's been powering ahead on all engines running has now run out of steam and is gliding along the line. Microsoft are having an end of year show and it looks as though they're looking to sprint towards the end of the marathon to run shoulder to shoulder with Sony, must like Sony did building the PS3 back up to compete with Microsoft at the end of the previous generation. Once again, it feels like Microsoft 1, Sony 0.

So what am I getting at?

You're still here? Wow. It's difficult to explain in a single sentence why I think the way I do, but also it wouldn't make sense without my reasoning behind it. I'm not looking at starting a console war, I'm not interested in which console is better but rather looking at the opportunities Sony have had to further dominate the console market and cement their position as market leader. As a passionate and enthusiastic PlayStation fan, it will always be my console of choice and my favourite place to play. However you can't argue that Microsoft have taken this lying down and that Phil Spencer hasn't done anything less than miracles to get Microsoft and the XBOX brand to where it is today.

The outlook of PlayStation over the coming year and into 2020 seems bleak in some regards, very possibly because it feels as though we are being left in the dark. We're seeing through the last of our promises but... what then? Sony have had their fair share of controversy this generation with things such as Cross Play, Backward Compatibility and you can't forget that Sony were still being fired at for the allegations about Quantic Dream and content within Detroit. Naughty Dog has the sexual harassment scandal... although this too has surprisingly faded into obscurity without our friends on another well known forum digging it out and providing a definitive answer as to whether it was the truth or not and generally doing their thing.

And why am I not talking about Nintendo? Well I guess you could say the reason is that Nintendo don't see themselves as competitors to Sony anymore. They have a great device that doesn't directly compete with a Sony product as the Vita is as good as dead and they're happy doing their own thing. Nintendo don't mind you owning a Switch as well as other consoles and they're cool with that. For Sony and Microsoft however, it's a more direct competition and they're always striving to be the market leader. This does add pressure though and means that you'll be very closely scrutinised, more than ever for any decision you make that is deemed anti-consumer or just unpopular amongst gamers.

If you've read this post so far, I just want to say thank you. I know that's odd but it's a lot to take in. My brain is firing a lot of different things to me right now and I feel as though if I don't properly explain my reasoning that the topic will fall on deaf ears and just become a joke thread.

All things considered I think Sony have begun to slow down, they've shown their competition too much respect and given them a chance to get a foothold in the market when honestly, they've had plenty of opportunities to ensure that it would be incredibly difficult to catch up. Would you say that this is a fair statement? Or do Sony present a different image that you're interpreting right now? A proper discussion would be welcomed.
 
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royox

Member
Holly fucking shit dude.
a9c.png



Will read tomorrow when I'm not sleepy...but damn that was big.
 

gspat

Member
With regards to backwards compatibility, they could release the specs on the chips inside the PS1 (faster chips than PSX), PS2 and PS3 and let emulator authors do the work open source (and give them the credit). Open source would mean no stupid backdoors get left in either.

Pay a dollar and you get the emulator and Sony's proprietary bios - And you could feasibly play any game on a PS5+, either by Sony selling you a digital ISO of the game or putting your own disk in.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Sony has no reason to throw shade at Microsoft or go after them aggressively. These bigger companies know that maintaining their brand is more important in the long run than winning a single console generation. Sony has nothing to gain and everything to lose by acting like the loud-mouthed market bully. Those days are (thankfully) behind us.

Even though it was obnoxious to those of us who remembered Microsoft's behavior during the 360 and early-X1 days, Microsoft absolutely made the right moves to "talk the talk" and start rebuilding trust in the brand. They shelved the rhetoric, said nice things about the competition, and coyly turned very small things like cross-play, subscription services, and backwards compatibility into "game changers". Never underestimate Microsoft's ability to play nice when they need to.

Typically, movies let the box office do the talking. Directors and studios rarely call each other out. Why this sort of cat-calling is still a thing in the gaming market is because we're still growing up.
 

nowhat

Member
I'm not going to reply to that wall of text, although I skimmed through it, so I'll just reply to the subject:

no.
 

Codes 208

Member
Not to be that guy, but...um...

Tl;dr

I guess I would say no based on them still maintaining the highest install base this gen as well their good relations with other puns and devs. Honestly i see nothing to be lost by opening to competition this way, this isnt the sega does what nintendont days anymore.
 
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Foxbat

Banned
Pretty long post OP, but if you took the time to write all that, the least I could do was read it.

I'm not sure if "showing respect" is the right descriptor here. Sony as a business does what it needs to gain as many customers as it can, and to get those customers to spend as much as they can. Seeing the PS4 sell as well as it has this gen, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that they've done a good job. At this point. Sony is likely in a weird place. They've got enough market share where they now would likely see greatly diminished returns on any features or studios they add. They're at the point where there isn't many consumers left to attract. Yeah, there are millions, but developing new features, and aquiring studios won't pay off for them like it could for MS.
MS still have tens upon tens upon tens of millions of potential consumers out there. They can spend away on features, and dev studios, and it may pay off in the future.

The overall first party issue is a bit more complicated, and complex. Your points are valid though, and I believe will become an issue next gen possibly.

Like you stated, Sony have closed several studios, and opened only a couple. That's not something to inherently worry about though. I think the bigger issue is with the studios they have. If you look at how good the studios they have are, I think many of them are quite overrated. Guerrilla Games. Their portfolio consisted of several Killzone games that weren't very impressive. Kinda the same with Sony Santa Monica the last few years. These are now considered top tier devs because of HZD, and GoW. The problem I have, is that both of them are getting tons of help from other devs. Mainly ND. Almost all of Sony's first party devs are sharing engine, toolsets, assets, etc... with one another. That is great to an extent. Too much sharing, and all their games begin to look and feel alike. I believe Sony's studios have crossed that line. They are sharing too much. A R* game has a distinct 'feel' to it. A Dice game does as well. Same goes for most developers. We're beginning to see these distinct lines blurred with Sony's studios. We're already beginning to see comments thrown around, about 3rd person cinematic, and 'movie games'. There's a bit of hyperbole in much of it, but the root of it is based on some truth. At some point, if it continues, it may become a big problem as all of Sony's studios will become stuck in the same rut, because they will all be clones of one another.

MS has made several strides this gen, bit I feel that their brand still lacks awareness. I still see far more PS4 Comercials than I do for Xbox. MS should market their products more.

As far as the Xbox itself goes... MS has responded to all issues this gen. It takes time, but theyve done it.
•PS4 was more powerful.
°MS responded.
•PS4 had the advanced DS4.
°MS responded.
•PS4 allowed used games.
°MS responded, and included bc.
•PS4 has streaming with PSNow.
*It looks as though MS is responding.
•PS4 has superior first party.
*It looks as though MS is responding.

It seems that any strength that Playstation has, MS is quick to counter and exceed it. If trends continue, next gen should be something interesting.
 

bitbydeath

Member
I agree that Sony needs to acquire more studios.
They let Supermassive go by when they could have been a huge get.
They should be looking to purchase BluePoint as they have done amazingly with the remasters this gen. (Still lacking Warhawk though)
And I still feel that closing Evolution was a huge mistake given everything they had accomplished last gen.
 
I think it's pretty simple: they don't have to do any of that because their system is already the most popular one worldwide. The PS4 and its software is still selling. They don't have to buy new studios; these companies already develop for playstation, and Sony has one of the strongest first party lineups.

Basically, they've become a bit lazy. The most interesting thing they've done in recent times is PSVR, and that hasn't become the success they were hoping for. I think they're happy raking in the money while hardly lifting a finger.
 

WaterAstro

Member
I agree that Sony needs to acquire more studios.
They let Supermassive go by when they could have been a huge get.
They should be looking to purchase BluePoint as they have done amazingly with the remasters this gen. (Still lacking Warhawk though)
And I still feel that closing Evolution was a huge mistake given everything they had accomplished last gen.
Even after Microsoft got 5 studios, Sony still has more studios, and almost all their studios have pedigree dating back to PS1/PS2. Microsoft lost a lot of their pedigree. Even Rare has pretty much flipped all its staff that used to make good games.

Sony doesn't need anymore, especially when they have so many third party partnerships like Kojima, Insomniac, and loads of Japanese devs that aren't putting games on Xbox.
 
I appreciate the hustle behind that gigantic OP but your premise is wrong. This isn't basketball, "respect" is not something they could show since it's probably irrelevant. Sony doesn't have the budget Microsoft has and they lead the market easily. Aside from very loud 4chan shitposters, it's hard to find a PS4 owner that is dissatisfied with their purchase. Playstation in a lot of a ways is synonymous with video games like Nintendo was in the 80's to mid 90's and as such they don't need to buy studios, studios will continue to work with them like they did in the PS4.

What they should be aware of is a market change like Google becoming serious players in a different landscape hardware-wise that makes devices like consoles obsolete. When that happens the jig is up and they're BONED. It's funny that they're the least likely of the big 3 to continue to be relevant in the industry. They don't have IPs that are nearly as valuable as Nintendo or the other solid technological ground like MS. They have an incredible successful device, but if/when that device loses its purpose they're done. Until then, PS is the go to platform and will continue to be so unless they fuck it up somehow (which looking at their history is pretty damn unlikely).
 
the other solid technological ground like MS.

I agree with everything else but you're actually very wrong on that point: Microsoft started as a software company that was never specialised or any good at hardware until very recently while Sony has half a century of technological and especially multimedia hardware experience.

Sony understood from the very first Playstation how to make and build console, while it took Microsoft three generations after (so after 5th generation, the Xbox then Xbox 360) to release a decent hardware and platform.

And still there's the fact that MS video game culture and platform management is not quite at the highs of Sony or Nintendo, although they're almost there (adding Backward Compatibility was a big applause from me).
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
I think you are showing the competition too little respect.

No, you are wrong. Just like us, Microsoft and Sony hates each other and are at war!
/s

Seriously though, how can it be bad that a company shows respect to other competitive companies? This ain’t a war, it’s just business like everything else.
 
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Foxbat

Banned
I agree with everything else but you're actually very wrong on that point: Microsoft started as a software company that was never specialised or any good at hardware until very recently while Sony has half a century of technological and especially multimedia hardware experience.

Sony understood from the very first Playstation how to make and build console, while it took Microsoft three generations after (so after 5th generation, the Xbox then Xbox 360) to release a decent hardware and platform.

And still there's the fact that MS video game culture and platform management is not quite at the highs of Sony or Nintendo, although they're almost there (adding Backward Compatibility was a big applause from me).

That used to be the case, but he is correct. The "technological ground" he is referring to is likely the fact that MS has a cloud and server infrastructure that Sony doesn't. MS also currently has its Surface line of pc's... Does Sony still have a pc division since Vaio?

To add on top of all of that, the current consoles also have a gap as far as quality goes. MS's elite controller, and the one for people with disabilities is far and away better than anything Sony has on the market. Current XB1's have a UHD player, and adequate cooling solutions. The PS4 and Pro don't have an UHD player, and the fans are working overtime far too often.

What you said was maybe true 10 years ago, but not recently.
 
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Hudo

Member
Yeah, I was quite shocked at how respectful Sony were when Microsoft were launching the Xbox One.
 

WaterAstro

Member
That used to be the case, but he is correct. The "technological ground" he is referring to is likely the fact that MS has a cloud and server infrastructure that Sony doesn't. MS also currently has its Surface line of pc's... Does Sony still have a pc division since Vaio?

To add on top of all of that, the current consoles also have a gap as far as quality goes. MS's elite controller, and the one for people with disabilities is far and away better than anything Sony has on the market. Current XB1's have a UHD player, and adequate cooling solutions. The PS4 and Pro don't have an UHD player, and the fans are working overtime far too often.

What you said was maybe true 10 years ago, but not recently.
Sony does have cloud service and obviously has servers for gaming purposes. MS Azure is just for any kind of service, but Amazon Cloud shits on it.
Sony dropped the Vaio long ago because it is a losing market, and the Surface is losing. Surface sales are not good.

Meh about Microsoft's asymmetric controller. It's always terrible to me. Good for them about the disability controller, but as far as hardware goes, who cares. It's all about the games, which Microsoft lacks.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
one thing I think Sony has shown a lack of respect for is its own user base, lack of backwards compat , cross play amongst a couple of other things when the coipition is doing it and doing it well.

they have turned that around a bit with fortnight and hopefully go forward from there
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
With regards to backwards compatibility, they could release the specs on the chips inside the PS1 (faster chips than PSX), PS2 and PS3 and let emulator authors do the work open source (and give them the credit). Open source would mean no stupid backdoors get left in either.

Pay a dollar and you get the emulator and Sony's proprietary bios - And you could feasibly play any game on a PS5+, either by Sony selling you a digital ISO of the game or putting your own disk in.

The full manuals for the Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesiser in PS2 and for the CELL CPU in PS3 (including a cycle accurate simulator made by IBM/STI which was available many months before PS3 launched) are already available and ... out there :).
 
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Paracelsus

Member
You see, Sony knows they can do that because the PS360 generation completely destroyed the mystique of Killer Applications, there is absolutely not a single game on earth (even Half Life 3) which would change the tide. It did help them that Microsoft's own first party juggernauts started suffering from franchise fatigue. It's no longer a war with games, it's a war of marketing. I would say we no longer need three consoles: Nintendo takes spot one, your guess as to which one the other should be. Having two Playstations (Sony and Microsoft) has become redundant.
 
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NahaNago

Member
I think it isn't respect but more not taking Microsoft seriously. Sony got lazy this gen with the improvements /changes/adapting to the market. Sony is almost like Nintendo where they create the games they want to create instead of trying to go after the more popular trends. It works to an extent but you don't see the same hunger for success that you get from EA, Ubisoft, and Microsoft. For crossplay and bc I don't really give Sony a hard time because it is more of a business decision. All three console makers definitely needed more studios. Nintendo needs it the most, Microsoft next , and then Sony. I know folks say that Sony has plenty of studios but games take longer to make and folks seem to forget that the first year of the ps4 was rather lacking. As someone mentioned earlier Sony definitely needs to work on building mascots for it's console and not forgetting them after the gen is over.
 

FranXico

Member
They see what the competition offers and have been working towards fixing their own crap. Of course they respect them enough.
 

120v

Member
read the whole OP and still not particularly sure what you're getting at. kinda but not really

gist of my response though is sony is the market leader, the ball is in their court and they can essentially do whatever they want. have they made mistakes? sure. are they making stumbles into next gen? probably, you never stay on top in this business, and it's looking like it'll be MS and Sony one upping themselves until amazon/google/whoever carve their presence. but i don't think they're doing anything outright "wrong" in a business sense
 
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Elenchus

Banned
Sony does have cloud service and obviously has servers for gaming purposes. MS Azure is just for any kind of service, but Amazon Cloud shits on it.
Sony dropped the Vaio long ago because it is a losing market, and the Surface is losing. Surface sales are not good.

Meh about Microsoft's asymmetric controller. It's always terrible to me. Good for them about the disability controller, but as far as hardware goes, who cares. It's all about the games, which Microsoft lacks.

Can you provide us with the authority you are relying on to make these arguments? Because I cannot find a source suggesting that Surface sales or Azure revenue are declining.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.th...4-2018-earnings-cloud-services-surface-gaming

https://www.google.com/amp/s/ventur...ure-up-89-surface-up-25-and-windows-up-7/amp/
 
Sony are playing it well and should maintain their lead as we head into the next generation. You’d have to be stupid to jump ship unless Microsoft manage to get a dozen or so top exclusives which will never happen.

I think sony need to strengthen their ties with japanese developers and get some exclusives out of them. I really think sekiro should be a ps5 only title as the fanbase isn’t really on the xbox imo.

Sega should develop exclusively for sony too as should namco and more importantly square.
 

Foxbat

Banned
I can't really argue with any of your points, so I'll just praise Sony because that's my shtick.

Good to know. Thanks for agreeing with me. MS's hardware as far as gaming goes is generally considered superior to Sony’s. I get that your thing is to sell the Sony brand, but you're just gonna have to take the L on this one.

•Sony's network infrastructure isn't on the same level as MS's.
•Ain't nobody buying adapters for their xbox controllers to be more like the DS4.
•Surface is a successful line of pc's. Vaio is a failure in every sense of the word.

These are facts. Your opinions don't change them.
 

nowhat

Member

WaterAstro

Member
Good to know. Thanks for agreeing with me. MS's hardware as far as gaming goes is generally considered superior to Sony’s. I get that your thing is to sell the Sony brand, but you're just gonna have to take the L on this one.

•Sony's network infrastructure isn't on the same level as MS's.
•Ain't nobody buying adapters for their xbox controllers to be more like the DS4.
•Surface is a successful line of pc's. Vaio is a failure in every sense of the word.

These are facts. Your opinions don't change them.
Oh facts?

Microsoft Surface devices fail on reliability: Consumer Reports
Microsoft's Surface Pro turns 5 amid rising competition and faltering sales
2019: The year that Microsoft quits Surface hardware

Not the kind of headlines you see if successful.

Sony's network is on the same level as MS in terms gaming while handling double the player base, and since Sony is handling more players than Microsoft, you could say it's doing a better job.
More and more PC players are preferring the DS4 over the XBox controller, so much so that Steam (via Big Picture Mode) and various developers (AssCreed, Ni no Kuni 2) have added native support with overlays. Your claim of people buying adapters to use Xbox controllers has no ground or data backing up your "fact".
 
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deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
first: there's no such thing as "too much respect"
Second: the hype train stopped because we know that the next big Sony game is comingo as soon as in two years, and people alreadu know that the next console is arriving shortly after that
 

Pallas

Member
I think both companies share a mutual respect for one another as rivals/competitors, such as Coke and Pepsi share. I don’t think they respect one another too much though.
 

Foxbat

Banned
Oh facts?

Microsoft Surface devices fail on reliability: Consumer Reports
Microsoft's Surface Pro turns 5 amid rising competition and faltering sales
2019: The year that Microsoft quits Surface hardware

Not the kind of headlines you see if successful.

Sony's network is on the same level as MS in terms gaming while handling double the player base, and since Sony is handling more players than Microsoft, you could say it's doing a better job.
More and more PC players are preferring the DS4 over the XBox controller, so much so that Steam (via Big Picture Mode) and various developers (AssCreed, Ni no Kuni 2) have added native support with overlays. Your claim of people buying adapters to use Xbox controllers has no ground or data backing up your "fact".

Consumer reports and opinion pieces don't disprove my point in any way. You can find negative articles on every single piece of hardware. MS would stop making them if they were unsuccessful.... Like Sony did.

Sony's network is not on the same level. Look at any poll, and Xbl is regarded as being superior. Despite all the "stability" updates that PSN has, XBL has proved to be more stable. More players has nothing to do with it either. PSN doesn't have twice the player count either. I'd find it hard to argue Sony on this point anyway considering Sony rents it's servers vs MS owning theirs.

The xbox controller has been the go to controller for pc players for years, and continues to be. A few games adding native support doesn't change the fact that more pc users prefer xbox controllers to DS ones. Many people buy adapters to install xbox thumbsticks on DS4 controllers. They even make Playstation controllers that have the xbox controller layout.

Look, you can make shit up in your head and think it's true. You can even make shit up and post it on Internet forums. Just don't get salty when people correct you.
 
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makaveli60

Member
Nice OP. I don't agree with everything, but I'm seriously planning to buy an X One next to my PS4. I think it's rather because MS is stepping it up and not because Sony slowed down.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
The sales figures for the 7th-gen are pretty well known and agreed upon. The most favourable reading gives the 360 a small lead over PS3 at the last round of official PR, but given that Sony's 80mil statement was given in late 2013 and MS's 84.4 million figure was in mid 2014 its clear that there's a whole holiday quarter's worth of disparity and then some. Factoring in PS3 reached that point despite launching 12-18 months later than 360, its evident that per calendar year Sony was always shifting more PS3's globally, a fact especially important when bearing in mind Sony's platforms tending to still accrue sales after the next generation is launched.

Its hard to understate the fact that the PS2 shipped over 50mil units after 2006, crazy considering 360 launched in November 2005. Which isn't to say that PS3 has sold similarly well, just that those sales were to a large extent "invisible" to what we consider the 7th gen competitive picture to be.
 

Akuza89

Member
No they're not showing respect, whats happening when PlayStation have a bad E3 and don't really bring anything, is that people are looking for another reason this could have happened, instead of just seeing it as a bad E3... the fan boys need a higher excuse.

Same with it all pretty much...

Sony never show any respect, as shown in this whole "cross play" debacle, they claimed for ages it's not possible due to their architecture, then because of security, then they caved in on one game and were praised as if they were the second coming...
 

Elenchus

Banned
Oh facts?

Microsoft Surface devices fail on reliability: Consumer Reports
Microsoft's Surface Pro turns 5 amid rising competition and faltering sales
2019: The year that Microsoft quits Surface hardware

Not the kind of headlines you see if successful.

Sony's network is on the same level as MS in terms gaming while handling double the player base, and since Sony is handling more players than Microsoft, you could say it's doing a better job.
More and more PC players are preferring the DS4 over the XBox controller, so much so that Steam (via Big Picture Mode) and various developers (AssCreed, Ni no Kuni 2) have added native support with overlays. Your claim of people buying adapters to use Xbox controllers has no ground or data backing up your "fact".

The 1st link is to an article from Aug. 2017.

The 2nd link does not work.

The 3rd link is to an article from Oct. 2017.

The two articles I provided to you were from July 2018 and report record growth in MS’s gaming, cloud, and Surface divisions.

Do you have any sources more recent than July 2018?

Please advise. Thanks.
 

Elenchus

Banned
The sales figures for the 7th-gen are pretty well known and agreed upon. The most favourable reading gives the 360 a small lead over PS3 at the last round of official PR, but given that Sony's 80mil statement was given in late 2013 and MS's 84.4 million figure was in mid 2014 its clear that there's a whole holiday quarter's worth of disparity and then some. Factoring in PS3 reached that point despite launching 12-18 months later than 360, its evident that per calendar year Sony was always shifting more PS3's globally, a fact especially important when bearing in mind Sony's platforms tending to still accrue sales after the next generation is launched.

Its hard to understate the fact that the PS2 shipped over 50mil units after 2006, crazy considering 360 launched in November 2005. Which isn't to say that PS3 has sold similarly well, just that those sales were to a large extent "invisible" to what we consider the 7th gen competitive picture to be.

Can you provide us with a link that supports your position that PS3 outsold 360?

No one else appears to have any actual evidence of that.

Thanks.
 

SonGoku

Member
Sony wont shot themselves in the foot, they know the importance of respect
I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the japanese public, after hearing about Sony disrespecting their competition, is not going to want to purchase PS4 system, nor will they purchase any of Sony's games.
 

CJY

Banned
Also agree with the sentiment of “showing too much respect” being the wrong phrase. I think what you’re getting at is basically saying Sony became too comfortable in their success, resting on their laurels and not taking their main competition seriously enough.

Having said that, I don’t agree with much of what you’re saying because you haven’t taken into account much of the great things Sony has done in the last few weeks and they are clearly gearing up heavily for the next generation. PlayStation also changed their management too and moved corporate HQ to the US.

They will come out all guns blazing next gen and then we’ll really see. Second half of PS4 has no doubt been a transitionary phase for PlayStation which can be perceived as being a bad thing in the short term, but solidifies them for the long term.
 
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Vawn

Banned
Sony's clip ripping sharing games worked because almost everyone was already pissed at Microsoft at the time. Even diehard Xbox people were happy to have a voice to call Microsoft out on those types of things.

Right now, Microsoft seems to be doing a lot right (despite a lack of quality exclusives). Calling them out now would come off as petty and would have a more divisive effect.
 

Cranberrys

Member
Sony understood from the very first Playstation how to make and build console, while it took Microsoft three generations after (so after 5th generation, the Xbox then Xbox 360) to release a decent hardware and platform.

Sorry but aside the fat Xbox One, Microsoft did an excellent job. The OG Xbox was an excellent console, the 360 was an amazing machine and Xbox One X is also amazing and Xbox One S is fine. Xbox One fat was their only real mistake.
 
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