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Can the PlayStation 2 Sustain a 10-year Lifecycle?

All signs point to yes

http://biz.gamedaily.com/features_new/ps2_lifecycle/

The talk began at this year's Game Developer's Conference, where Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) executive vice president Andrew House stated that the success of the original PlayStation, approaching the 10th anniversary of its release, had convinced the company that fully two-thirds of potential sales for the PlayStation 2 were still to come.

...

Bottom line, does Cole think the PS2 can achieve a profitable ten-year lifecycle? "Two-thirds (of PS2 sales still ahead) might be a little optimistic." he answered. "The thing about the PS2 is its going to places that have never been gone to before, having sustained such a high price for so long. Historically it's at under a $150.00 price point where most of the sales occur, where the current PS2 installed base has been built at a price point above that. That would seem to indicate that they have at least 50.0 percent of their sales ahead of them."
 

B'z-chan

Banned
I can see if they get the PSX or another model PS2 out in a few years that it could be very successful for the remainder of its life cycle. Just gotta keep the good games coming and at least Innovate every once in a while, with something fresh kind of like the eye toy, as it sold extremely well.

I'll be waiting to find out the outcome.
 

Nicco

Member
One of the main reasons why I think that the PS2 is meeting its saturation point prematurely is because innovative and original games end up being ignored on that platform. The success of Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Super Monkey Ball, and Viewtiful Joe show that people are more willing to accept original games on GCN whereas the performance of Ico, The Mark of Kri, and Rez on PS2 show much to the contrary.

If Sony plans for the PS2 to have a 10 year life cycle then commercially successful innovative games are a must. Otherwise, they are catering to the same audience as the PS1.
 

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Nicco said:
One of the main reasons why I think that the PS2 is meeting its saturation point prematurely is because innovative and original games end up being ignored on that platform. The success of Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Super Monkey Ball, and Viewtiful Joe show that people are more willing to accept original games on GCN whereas the performance of Ico, The Mark of Kri, and Rez on PS2 show much to the contrary.

If Sony plans for the PS2 to have a 10 year life cycle then commercially successful innovative games are a must. Otherwise, they are catering to the same audience as the PS1.

<thinks about the PSOne's library>

WTH are you talking about?

Did the SNES' lifespan suffer because of the NES library? They may representing the same genre's in each generation but the graphic upgrade is noticeable... it's not like (contrary to hater opinions), you're simply playing spruced up PSOne titles on your PS2.
 

Teddman

Member
Backwards compatibility is the main reason why PS1 software continues to move. So yes, PS2 software could have a (diminished) 10-year lifespan if it is playable on the PS3, but the PS2 hardware will not continue to sell at competitive numbers that long.
 
Teddman said:
Backwards compatibility is the main reason why PS1 software continues to move. So yes, PS2 software could have a (diminished) 10-year lifespan if it is playable on the PS3, but the PS2 hardware will not continue to sell at competitive numbers that long.

For the 2002/2003, weren't PSOne hardware sales were greater worldwide than the GCN & almost more than the Xbox? I know they sold/shipped 10 million combined over that time. Those seem like competative numbers to me.
 

dog$

Hates quality gaming
Nicco said:
The success of Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Super Monkey Ball, and Viewtiful Joe show that people are more willing to accept original games on GCN
lol
If Sony plans for the PS2 to have a 10 year life cycle then commercially successful innovative games are a must. Otherwise, they are catering to the same audience as the PS1.
And in this manner of catering to the PS1, they have a system that's been alive for ten years.
 

Nicco

Member
DarienA said:
WTH are you talking about?
Sony needs to attract new audience (read: new demographic) to the PS2 if they are expecting it to have a 10 year life cycle. Simple as that.
 

dog$

Hates quality gaming
Well I'd sorta say so. Specifically for Viewtiful Joe, Capcom did state the sales of the game were dissapointing... and all four of those games sold 500-600K top worldwide, right? Which means Halo outsold all of them combined, I think. Sure the titles weren't blatant failures but I really don't think Pikmin sold magnitudes better than Rez did, for example.

Anyways
Sony needs to attract new audience (read: new demographic) to the PS2 if they are expecting it to have a 10 year life cycle. Simple as that.
No they don't. They need to retain the PS1 audience and will have just as much success.
 
dog$ said:
Well I'd sorta say so. Specifically for Viewtiful Joe, Capcom did state the sales of the game were dissapointing... and all four of those games sold 500-600K top worldwide, right? Which means Halo outsold all of them combined, I think. Sure the titles weren't blatant failures but I really don't think Pikmin sold magnitudes better than Rez did, for example.

Anyways

No they don't. They need to retain the PS1 audience and will have just as much success.


Pikmin and Animal Crossing sold over 1 million copies worldwide (and I believe AC was close to 2 million) . That's magnitudes better than Rez I think.
 
You must consider the fact that the market is changing more now than it ever did so to compare it to that of last gen or even further back doesn't prove much any more, imo. With MS pushing to shorten their console lifespan to that of 4 years (or less) till it's predecessor releases potentially forcing its competitors to act prematurely may see the overall average (extended past next gen) lifespan of the PS2 to shorten. I highly doubt we'll be seeing PS2 software still releasing in the year 2010.
 

jarrod

Banned
FitzOfRage said:
Pikmin and Animal Crossing sold over 1 million copies worldwide (and I believe AC was close to 2 million) . That's magnitudes better than Rez I think.
MonkeyBall also cleared a million worldwide. Joe is probably around 500-600k ww though.

By comparsion Rez probably hasn't cleared 100k the world over (on both DC & PS2 combined).
 

Nicco

Member
dog$ said:
Well I'd sorta say so. Specifically for Viewtiful Joe, Capcom did state the sales of the game were dissapointing... and all four of those games sold 500-600K top worldwide, right? Which means Halo outsold all of them combined, I think. Sure the titles weren't blatant failures but I really don't think Pikmin sold magnitudes better than Rez did, for example.
NEWSFLASH: Halo sold more than 99.5% of the games released this generation and I swear I'm not exaggrating. Halo outsold Pikmin, I guess Pikmin was a failure. :rolleyes:.

Look, Pikmin and AC actually sold better than some established franchises worldwide--both going platinum globally. VJ was "dissapointing" only because Capcom's expectation were too bold. You can't expect a 2D side scrolling platformer to exactly make waves in this industry. It sold 200k in the U.S. and they should be happy with that considering how much money they saved coding it (3D games are more expensive to make than 2D games). And here is something to chew on: Rez didn't sell 50k in the US.

No they don't. They need to retain the PS1 audience and will have just as much success.
Sony is already successful with the PS2 audience. If they want to keep that success going for another five years, then they best start churning out some new content.
 
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