Analyst: Nintendo Saved Sony in the Console Wars

This generation of the console wars has been a rough one for Sony but the PlayStation 3 has survived and is finally poised to turn things around, thanks in large part to a surprising and unforeseen ally: Nintendo.

Sony's domination of the previous generation of the videogame market with the PlayStation 2 was absolute, but that all went out the window with the debut of the PlayStation 3. At $599, the unit was priced substantially higher than its competitors and Sony's attempt to justify the cost with the built-in Blu-ray player just didn't take flight. Sony took a first-to-worst tumble, slapped down by its mortal rival, Microsoft.

But while the situation was dire, predictions of the PlayStation's demise never came true, largely, according to DFC Intelligence, thanks to the Nintendo Wii. While the Xbox 360 was slapping around the PS3, the Wii was merrily pounding the crap out of both of them like an angry Newfie chasing down a couple of baby seals.

"The main danger Sony faced was that the Xbox 360 would become embedded as the system of choice. Instead consumers flocked to the Nintendo Wii," the report says. "The Xbox 360 had solid sales, but they have not been enough to give Microsoft anywhere near a breakout market position. In many respects, Sony was saved by the success of the Wii."

Now, with the playing field leveled and the popularity of the Wii apparently waning, Microsoft's inability to deliver a knockout punch may very well come back to bite the company in the ass. "The cards are in Sony's favor and now is the time to make the most of them," the report says. "The next year will be extremely important for PlayStation 3 sales and Sony's overall position in the marketplace. Now is the time for Sony to shine."

via: CVG

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Well, I may be getting a PS3 for christmas, so here's to evening the numbers!

yet another reason for me to hate the wii

The inability for a clear leader to emerge from the console scrum hurts gaming as a whole. Developers have to waste money on multiple ports rather than improove their content. I don't care who wins so long as some one does. The ony people who benifit from the console wars are porting and advertizing companies.

Yay Sony and Microsoft are fighting and now its Sony's turn to win some ... ok my statement to this is an awesome "ok, and?" neither company has enough to take the other out and since everyone is finally seeing that the Wii is nothing more than BS everything will no return to where is was when the just before and a little after the 360 launched, except reverse the rolls.

You know I was going to murder this article with a rusty spoon, but it makes a very good point.
I guess as a Sony owner I should pay my respects to Nintendo.

Now Sony; If you mess up this upcoming year I'm going to unleash the ultimate stink bomb (as seen in Ed, Edd, n Eddy) upon your conference room.

Malygris:
the Wii was merrily pounding the crap out of both of them like an angry Newfie chasing down a couple of baby seals.

Nice analogy there. So remember, everytime you're playing your Wii, to perfect that seal-clubbing swipe. :)

As an owner of a ps3, I hope they get stronger then ever and make lots of good games. Though a cheaper price for the games would be good too, lol. Still, uh...thanks Nintendo? I guess?

Actually Microsoft has the advantage going into the next cycle. They might not be as popular as the Wii, but they still have the PS2's advantage of nearly everything worth playing coming out for their system. Wii doesn't have that, and PS3 either has the same games but a lower quality, not enough extras, or just not at all. And the exclusives they do have are few and far between.

Honestly, Sony pulled the price drop too late in the game. Yeah the sales have gone up but Microsoft had a base set up before the other system entered the house, so any time a multiplatform game comes out, the player will buy the 360 version because they already have so much invested in that system it'll be hard to cross over.

Even though Wii is selling like crazy, the 360 is the "PS2" this time around. "Xbox" has for the most part replaced "Playstation" in mainstream vernacular, and you always see a 360 being played off screen in regular commercials (the same way you'd always see a Dualshock in commercials about 5 years ago).

Add to the fact that Sony pulled a LOOOOOT of bullshit and their public reputation to some gamers has been irreparably damaged.

But, at the same time Nintendo has sold itself into a corner. How many of the 50-some-million people with a Wii actually play it regularly enough to justify a new system? I can bet you it's less than half.

As if the Wii took any customers away from the PS3 and 360. It doesn't compete with those, few people go "do I buy a Wii or a 360/PS3?", they go "do I buy a Wii?" independent of "do I buy a PS3 or 360?". That analyst sees nothing but NPD numbers, isn't he supposed to look deeper at the WHY?

Cool.
I still don't care what consoles selling more.
I are which ones producing the best games.
But that's just me, I'm crazy that way.

I just honestly don't see Sony surpassing Microsoft in number of consoles/product moved for this generation. Sure the PS3 is coming into it's own (and its about damn time), but I just don't see how it's possible for it Sony to cover so much lost ground in the 3 or 4 years this generation has left. Chances are if a consumer wants a PS3/360/Wii they already have one, (especially with the price drop) so where exactly is Sony going to pull in the millions of console sales they would need to surpass the 360?

Thats not even factoring that the 360 will keep selling at more or less the same rate it is selling at now, which furthers the ground the PS3 would need to cover. If it does happen well big props to Sony but I just don't see it as being possible without something crazy happening like 360 sales pretty much going down to 0, or the PS3 getting another price drop.

Edit: As far as Nintendo helping Sony I think thats a bit of a stretch. Nintendo's success is attributed to the large amount of nongamers they were able to pull in. These people wouldn't have bought a PS3 or 360 anyways, so you can't really say Nintendo stole consumers away from Microsoft. Furthermore when nongamers think of videogames they DO think of the 360...think about everytime you see a videogame in a mainstream tv show, chances are it's a 360 joypad/console that you'll see.

Then theres Microsofts giant marketting push behind the console and it's games. They've established the 360 as a household name, and lets be honest Sonys marketting efforts have completely sucked until recently. That certianly hasn't helped the PS3 at all.

...So the Playstation 3 was saved from a horrible beating by the 360 because they were both being horribly beaten by the Wii? Makes sense to me.

Sony has always stated that the PS3 was long term... take a few hits in the beginning and push it really hard later or something of that nature.

Well, go Nintendo then, that's all I can really say.

Well, the Wii-as the cheapest yet still profit making console out there- has the casual gamers on their side. For every gamer who games as a consistent hobby, there are 4 who buy the console to spend perhaps a few rainy days on.

This is why I love Nintendo.

williebaz:
yet another reason for me to hate the wii

I have found my nemesis!

go sony I have been behind you since the PS1 and I wont step back now!
anyway thats pretty interesting but I think wii will still dominate...

hamster mk 4:
The inability for a clear leader to emerge from the console scrum hurts gaming as a whole. Developers have to waste money on multiple ports rather than improove their content. I don't care who wins so long as some one does. The ony people who benifit from the console wars are porting and advertizing companies.

Oh.. and the consumers. You know, the people who actually have to pay for the consoles. Monopolies are never good things for the consumers.

KDR_11k:
As if the Wii took any customers away from the PS3 and 360. It doesn't compete with those, few people go "do I buy a Wii or a 360/PS3?", they go "do I buy a Wii?" independent of "do I buy a PS3 or 360?". That analyst sees nothing but NPD numbers, isn't he supposed to look deeper at the WHY?

Actually, I'd be willing to bet that he's correct. And no, the Wii didn't take away anybody from the PS3.. the 360 was doing that as the lower price-point console. Then the Wii came along. For those who were simply looking for the lowest-priced console, the Wii took sales away from the 360, thus preventing it from achieving total market dominance.. which is what the analyst said.

Bigeyez:
I just honestly don't see Sony surpassing Microsoft in number of consoles/product moved for this generation. Sure the PS3 is coming into it's own (and its about damn time), but I just don't see how it's possible for it Sony to cover so much lost ground in the 3 or 4 years this generation has left. Chances are if a consumer wants a PS3/360/Wii they already have one, (especially with the price drop) so where exactly is Sony going to pull in the millions of console sales they would need to surpass the 360?

Thats not even factoring that the 360 will keep selling at more or less the same rate it is selling at now, which furthers the ground the PS3 would need to cover. If it does happen well big props to Sony but I just don't see it as being possible without something crazy happening like 360 sales pretty much going down to 0, or the PS3 getting another price drop.

Edit: As far as Nintendo helping Sony I think thats a bit of a stretch. Nintendo's success is attributed to the large amount of nongamers they were able to pull in. These people wouldn't have bought a PS3 or 360 anyways, so you can't really say Nintendo stole consumers away from Microsoft. Furthermore when nongamers think of videogames they DO think of the 360...think about everytime you see a videogame in a mainstream tv show, chances are it's a 360 joypad/console that you'll see.

Then theres Microsofts giant marketting push behind the console and it's games. They've established the 360 as a household name, and lets be honest Sonys marketting efforts have completely sucked until recently. That certianly hasn't helped the PS3 at all.

Hard to say. Sony has made no secret that it designed the PS3 to last for a long freakin' time, and we are finally starting to see a more robust developer community forming behind it. At the same time, the 360's growth rate is slowing down. If you look at the standard S-curves in sales, the fact that Sony's been able to stay in the game this long suggests that if they're just getting up to the high slope, there is a chance they'll surpass the Xbox -- especially as gamers start to demand the more data intensive games that Blu-ray can provide. Microsoft's marketing push has been going on for years. It doesn't seem to make near as much difference as releasing the next Halo does for them. Microsoft took a bit of a risk in jumping ahead of the pack when they came out with the 360 a year earlier than the others in the hopes of becoming the next PS2 -- basically the sole console people thought of. They failed at that, and I agree with the analyst, in large measure because of the Wii. Now with the PS3 starting to hit its stride, we'll see how much that risk will have cost them. I think assuming 3-4 years as being all that's left in this current generation is cutting the PS3 life-cycle way short. Probably for the 360 and the Wii.. but for the PS3? I dunno.

Ugh Console wars. I don't really care who saved who. Aslong as we can just say " I bought the one I wanted the most"

I have both the PS3 and a Xbox 360. The xbox doesn't have anymore dust on it cause its phisically impossible, the only readon the playstation doesn't is because I didn't really get it for the games but for the blu ray player.

... Anal-ysts: Full of shit as usual. (Pun intended) Nintendo's audience isn't the same as Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo isn't stealing gamers from them. It's tapping a previously untapped audience: non-gamers and ex-gamers. So many times said, so many times ignored.

And seriously, how many times will we hear this "PS3 will shine" or whatever thingy? As long as Microsoft and Sony are directly competing each other, it will remain a vicious cycle that will be difficult to break. And since multiplatform games continue to sell better on Xbox360, that also doesn't look too good for Sony.

Just because Sony's ass was saved for now, does not mean it has the advantage.
Only time will tell, and from what Ive seen, the 360 and the Wii (though not so much anymore, it would seem) stand the greater chance for success.
I know that Ill never get a PS3, because of the crap they have pulled so far
I also know that Im not alone on that matter, though Im sure some people who honestly prefer the PS3 (and not fanboys, mind you) will play that instead...
heres to hoping that the 3 will calm the hell down, and play nice with each other for a change

This actually makes good sense. Because of this, Sony isn't out of the little console dispute yet.

They're not gonna be a breakaway success anytime soon, but they're in the game. And hey, that's good.

I've been a Sony playstation gamer basically my whole life.

I can easily see sony rising back to the glory days of the ps2 in the next few years.

Got a ps2 right now, will be getting the ps3 real soon.

TheTygerfire:
Actually Microsoft has the advantage going into the next cycle. They might not be as popular as the Wii, but they still have the PS2's advantage of nearly everything worth playing coming out for their system. Wii doesn't have that, and PS3 either has the same games but a lower quality, not enough extras, or just not at all. And the exclusives they do have are few and far between.

That is starting to change to be honest, as focus is turning onto the PS3, the sales of each system have levelled out I believe (feel free to correct me) and the PS3 having stuff like free networking makes it the better proposition for people buying online games such as the dreaded juggernaught that is Modern Warfare 2.

Also with bad ports, Far Cry 2 is better on the PS3, so devs are starting to understand it more, also if Far Cry 2 which uses a modified CryEngine is more capable on the PS3 then I would hazard a guess that Sony's black box will be the console of choice for CryEngine3 games.... and you know what CryTek are like when it comes to pushing the technical boundaries with their huge volumetric soft shadowed stiffies.

Even though people only end up owning all of em. Not like people can only have one, nor should they. Its more hardcore to own a PS3 AND 360 than just one. (Wii too)
I will eventually most likely own one. Its practically inevitable. Would be sooner if I liked Sony. (I hate PS3 supporters (Sony itself included) more than the actual system, a theme I apparently have)

Ori Disciple:
I know that Ill never get a PS3, because of the crap they have pulled so far

This has to be the dumbest post I've read all week.

Congrats dude, way to fanboy it up.

There's a little point that will NEVER come up in a Sony board meeting. This whole generation could be seen as a comedy of errors.

Microsoft had a year's lead and failed to capture the market because they stuck solely to the crowd they already had. Their only gain was slightly more polished games from experience developing for it. Only well after it proved to not be enough they started retooling (or at least repackaging) to be more open.

Sony completely tripped out the gate costing way too much and trying to justify it with a library infested with lackluster titles that poured everything into graphics. By the time real quality started churring they were way behind.

Wii started off great, burning so hot it's plauge of lazy shovelware couldn't marr sheer fun value. BUT 3rd parties never got the hang of it, they neglected their hardcore fans, and all efforts downshifted to resting on their laurels between hot titles until the mass public tired of their offerings.

We're about to start this generation's 4th year and in terms of really taking the industry crown it's still anybody's game. All three could turn it around with the right titles.

hamster mk 4:
The inability for a clear leader to emerge from the console scrum hurts gaming as a whole. Developers have to waste money on multiple ports rather than improove their content. I don't care who wins so long as some one does. The ony people who benifit from the console wars are porting and advertizing companies.

When i have to pick what i think will be the most likely winner, i'll pick the platform that was presumed dead about 4 times now and is still around after fighting in every single console war up till now.

Some should point out that this doesn't suddenly mean that the Playstation 3 will rise from the ashes like a proverbial Pheonix and dominate the proverbial battlefield that is the console wars (simply being alive doesn't mean you're winning a fight).

The PS3 needed to be saved for a reason (before anyone says anything it wasn't a bad console and I'm sure it had it's fair share of good games), it costed too much and some of the features were either done better elsewhere (for example, Xbox Live) or were simply not as good as people made it out to be (Bluray wasn't much of a step up from DVD).

The big thing that was going for the PS3 was the graphics, sadly for them not everyone cared.

We'll see what year 2010 will bring us in terms of exclusive titles. My bet PS3 will kick 360's ass in that ground. Anyway PS3 will outlast 360, no doubt about it.

Frank_Sinatra_:
Now Sony; If you mess up this upcoming year I'm going to unleash the ultimate stink bomb (as seen in Ed, Edd, n Eddy) upon your conference room.

The El Mondo Stink Bomb? Hell yes.

The PS3 can catch up to the 360 in 1 or 2 years, but we will have to see.

Also im curious to see what will happen in the next generation, Sony wont make the same mistake twice im sure of that.

Good to hear. I would hate to see Microsoft gain a monopoly over h-core gamers that can't afford/use a computer. But seriously, Sony's recovery is a good thing for gamers everywhere.