Is the Playstation 3's success the only thing Sony has left?

[Blu-ray San]

http://www.tech.co.uk/digital-home/g...ys-only-option

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray San

http://www.tech.co.uk/digital-home/g...ys-only-option

I think Sony sells a lot of stuff. They seem damn profitable for a company with only a massive loss game division between them and oblivion.

The fundemental tone of this piece seems rather anti-Sony.

"Sony is on the ropes."
"Without a successful PlayStation 3, Sony is left with a closed Gaming division, a suffocating high-def DVD format and possible annihilation."
"the business viability of Blu-ray discs is quickly being put into question."

The game division is a small part of Sony Corp. So is Blu-ray.

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray San

http://www.tech.co.uk/digital-home/g...ys-only-option

Quoting from the article:
With the battle heating up between Blu-ray and HD DVD, now is the time for Sony to step forth and solidify its format as the unequivocal choice for consumers. But a unilateral approach will not solidify the brand.

Instead, Sony must appeal to third-party software developers and swallow some cash by dropping the price on the PlayStation 3. With this two-sided attack, Sony would effectively accomplish two goals: regain control over the video game market and cement Blu-ray as the proven leader in the high-def format war.
Price cuts will lead to victory

The reason is simple: with a cheaper PlayStation 3 on the market, consumers will purchase more units and because of its integrated Blu-ray drive, consumers will naturally want to save money and buy Blu-ray movies rather than opt for an HD DVD player.

It's easy to see that Sony is currently in an unenviable situation.

With its current reliance on the PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray to carry it into the next decade, and with both products in dire straits, it needs to shift itself back into industry prominence. But by capitalizing on the PlayStation 3's Blu-ray drive and making the console more popular, everything should fall in line.


Translation:
a) I want more games!
b) The PS3 is too expensive!

Not a crazy article but it's mostly fluff without much argument or supporting evidence.

Oh, and the PS3 should have more games and be $399 max.

[CAB]

Hmmmm.

Sony is on the ropes.

With its current reliance on the PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray to carry it into the next decade, and with both products in dire straits, it needs to shift itself back into industry prominence.

Opinion piece with no numbers or supporting articles to back it up. I can't imagine Sony is losing as much money as Toshiba. Throwing darts at industry leaders shouldn't even be called work.

And before I'm called a Sony fanboy, I own zero Sony gear but I am looking very hard at their new ES receiver and 70" SXRD5.

[CptGreedle]

I admit Sony is not the powerhouse they used to be, but do not be mistaken. Yes they put a lot on the PS3, but I bet they haven't put all their eggs in one basket.
They are still strong in other markets and with the success of the Blu-ray, it will be a long time before Sony will be in any serious trouble.
It would be nice to see them gain some more ground again, and with M$ backing both of their competing products (i.e. XBOX 360, HD-DVD), they will fight it out to the end. M$ has nothing to loose from loosing HD-DVD, and little to loose if they lost the XBOX, their main sales come from Windows. M$ just has a mindset (which is apparent with their history of Apple and Quicktime) of not trying to overcome competition with better products, but rather trying to destroy competition through underhanded, dirty, and even illegal means. Monopolizing a market is what they do best. But with Apple facing off with M$ and holding their ground, Sony may have learned that M$ is all cash and no bite!

[cartier]

I love his logic, so if we expand this further that means that the xbox 360 is essential for microsoft staying around too. So with a 33% failure rate Microsoft is doomed, they will never recover. Oh wait they make software too, and moreover it is their core business activity.

[Pilam69]

Whatever, that's like saying that the Atlanta Falcons will fail because they put all of their faith in Mike Vick. (too soon?) Please.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Yeah this guy is pretty lame. The article is very poorly thought out and offers thin, if any, evidence to back it claims. Sony has quarterly revenues in the $75B range and growing at 13% per annum. Not too shabby. Also that few facts that he continually relies on are more opinion than fact. he states several times how the PS3 is drastically underperforming expectations while it has actually surpassed Sony forecast for the past 2 qtrs. He also says how it is losing ground so rapidly to the Wii and X-Box 360... 2 issues - as we all know, Wii isn't really next-gen and not truly a direct competitor; the 360's share of market is dropping the most rapidly of the 3 consoles and is showing lower year-over-year sales. He is drinking teh media-driven kool-aid as opposed to judging things fairly.

[JTK]

Obviously we all know that there's a lot riding on the success of the PS3 and it's a long term plan and situation.

Beyond that general point, this is basically a FUD article.

[Maxell]

Sony is a huge conglomerate, bigger than all other competition. They make a huge variety of consumer products, from small electronics to LCD's, cameras, computers, laptops, PS3, etc. They also own Columbia Pictures, MGM, BMG Music Entertainment, and various smaller film and music companies.

Sony is going nowhere soon and have too much money vested elsewhere to keep any other part afloat.

[GarettP]

Sony just signed Dale Jr and Peyton Manning to deals, to tell us why we need HD in our lives, heck I wouldn't be surprised if we see a Dale Jr car next year with a nice big BD logo on the hood!

[vsbdtv]

Originally Posted by Pilam69

Whatever, that's like saying that the Atlanta Falcons will fail because they put all of their faith in Mike Vick. (too soon?) Please.

Not sure I understand your point here. Are you suggesting that Atlanta would have failed even with Michael Vick or that they yet still may succeed?

Although Sony has stumbled in recent times, they still have an incredibly strong brand in CE. Their digital imaging and television products lines have been re-invigorated, and even their motion picture holdings seem to be performing well (certainly better than some others).

I haven't checked recently, but a few months ago, financial analysts were very bullish on SNE.

[jamclaur]

The PS3 was designed to be the most superior game machine to date. Sony KNEW FOR A FACT that they would loose money with this machine.

Hopefully it goes better for them than it did for sega. Which I think it will since it's the best blu-ray player for the money.

I don't see sony, the PS3, or blu going anywhere. Pure propaganda you have there.

[FFObsessed]

oh please. Sony make billions off their TV sales alone. Ignore rubbish like that, tho there does appear to be more of it directed at Sony than anyone else.

Probably because the brand is so huge...

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by GarettP

Sony just signed Dale Jr and Peyton Manning to deals, to tell us why we need HD in our lives, heck I wouldn't be surprised if we see a Dale Jr car next year with a nice big BD logo on the hood!

That would be soooo sweet. And it would look damn cool too.

[Splinters]

Heh, 1 billion in profit in Q1'07 (ended Mar 31st, 07) even after losing almost 2 billion on the gaming division. That means if you discount the loss of the ps3 division, the rest of the company produced 3 billion in profit last quarter.

Sony is doing just fine, they just want to make 10's of billions of profit each quarter w/ the BD patents. This is profit we're talking about, not just revenue. Sony isn't in that bad of a shape at all.

Everyone is predicting doom and gloom for Sony after the Paramount/Dreamworks announcement, but come-on BD wasn't killing HD-DVD by the end of the year and HD-DVD isn't killing BD this year either. It's a format war, why does everyone feel like a side needs to win now?

-Splints

[jamclaur]

Originally Posted by GarettP

Sony just signed Dale Jr and Peyton Manning to deals, to tell us why we need HD in our lives, heck I wouldn't be surprised if we see a Dale Jr car next year with a nice big BD logo on the hood!

I don't know which racecar driver it is, but I am 99% sure the wii has sponsored one. And now his car is blue and white with wii on the hood...

So it's a posibility.

It would be bad ass to see a black car with the blu symbol on the sides and hood flying around the track.

[bryaaaant]

The only reason the PS3's behind Xbox is because X360 had a year headstart. A lot of people seem to forget to the X360 sucked during most of its first year. Seeing how the Xbox360 Elite still craps out (red ring of death), it won't take long til the PS3 beats them out.

And the Nintendo Wii experience to me is totally different and it doesn't really compete with the PS3 (or the X360, for that matter). You just don't get the same satisfying feeling you get from playing "conventional" video game consoles. (Yes, I had all three, but I ended up selling my Wii)

Besides, a powerhouse of games are set to come out on the PS3 next year (FFXIII, MGS anyone?) - combined with another possible price cut, it's gonna be unstoppable.

[jamclaur]

I think you mean FFXIII and Verses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CAN'T FREAKING WAIT!

[secret]

Put all three consoles at the same price - whether $200 or $600 or $60000 - and we'll see which console will end up selling more. Put all three consoles at the same price, and we'll see which console is really better.