Sick of It, v.002: WTF w/ PSN?
by G.A. Golembiski IISo, Sony Computer Entertainment is aiming to sell 11 million more Playstation 3 systems between now and next year? Great!
But how are they going to do it with a Holiday line-up full of stinkers and no word of a price drop?
That’s not to say every PS3 game coming out this Holiday season will bomb. I’m positive Insomniac will bear the burden of carrying Sony through the Holiday season for a second year with Ratchet & Clank Future Tools of Destruction. Uncharted, or Pitfall 2K7 as a friend mockingly referred to it (I prefer Dude Raider, haw!), could be good; but I’m not a fan of Naughty Dog’s games so I’ll refrain from commenting.
Why the concern?
Because honestly the Playstation 3’s future looks pretty bleak. Sony is backing all the wrong horses, Lair and Heavenly Sword to name a few. Mediocre to terrible games from development teams with spotty track records.
Meanwhile a fabulous game experience like Warhawk languishes with no marketing push, no hype, nothing. It’s merely a great game that will be buried under a landslide of hype for inferior PS3 software.
But I digress, I’m here to discuss how Sony could in theory sell 11 million PS3 systems by this time next year if they put forth some effort.
How can you sell a $500-600 console with little quality software?
How about leveraging your massive assets to make the PSN a more attractive purchasing feature for consumers?
That’s crazy talk, right?
No. Not really.
The most egregious oversight on the part of Sony is their inability to leverage all of the entertainment content they own as a part of the Playstation 3 sales strategy. Microsoft is just a massive software company, but yet it’s managed to create the Xbox Live “service”, position it as a salable product, and provide gobs of content - which it does not own.
Why in the world does Sony not step up to the plate? They wouldn’t need to fork over more money out of pocket because they already own:
Film
- Sony Pictures Entertainment
- Columbia TriStar
- Sony Pictures Classics
- Screen Gems
Television
- Sony Pictures Television
- AXN
- Animax Japan
- SoapCity
- GAME SHOW NETWORK
- Movielink
Music
- Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Labels include: Arista Records, BMG Classics, BMG Heritage, BMG International Companies, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive Records, LaFace Records, Legacy Recordings, RCA Records, RCA Victor Group, RLG - Nashville, Sony Classical, Sony Music International, Sony Music Nashville, Sony Wonder, So So Def Records, Verity Records - Sony/ATV Music Publishing
- Music Choice
Why is none of this content available for download via the Playstation Network?
This is ridiculous!
The Playstation Network is free and accessible to every Playstation 3 owner, and subsequently folks that own a PSP as well. So in theory I could say - purchase an episode of The Boondocks on the PSN, download it to my PS3 as media server, and share it with my PSP for whatever iTunes or Xbox Live charges for an episode.
It’s my belief that by leveraging these assets as a sales feature, Sony could appeal to a broader consumer base. I don’t have cable. Thus I don’t watch cable, but I buy DVD copies of movies and television shows. I would love to just be able to download the latest episode of Rescue Me the day it broadcasts to my PS3 and watch it for a fee.
Content on demand baby!
How about updating the PS3 firmware so we can have custom soundtracks in games, like XBL? Only unlike XBL, Sony could also offer sales of music from the artists on their labels via PSN that you could listen to on your PSP, playback in game, or perhaps even dump to the MP3 Walkman Sony also makes.
How about movies on demand like Netflix?
I’d gladly pay $4.99-9.99 a month to be able to stream movies to my PS3 and watch them without having to wait for them to arrive in the mail, or buy a VGA cable to hook up my PC to my HDTV, etc.
What I’m getting at is Sony needs to stop wasting it’s time on trivial glorified IM / Social Networking fluff; and dedicate more time to enhancing the Playstation 3 / Playstation Network experience so that it becomes more attractive to consumers.
Sure quality software needs to be present and accounted for; but a good damn content on demand service courtesy of the Sony corporation’s massive assets would be the proverbial icing on the cake. All available at no extra cost until you’re ready to make a purchase.
If you’re not going to drop the price any time soon, then at least sweeten the pot.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just some schlub in a dead city.
Na razie,
G.A
References:
Sony Pictures
List of Companies owned by Sony.
Stumble it!
View all posts by G.A. Golembiski II
4 Responses to “Sick of It, v.002: WTF w/ PSN?”
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I totally agree! Pushing it back is bad and good. Bad because everyone’s been waiting for it. Good because they can sharpen it up and give it more added value to the PS3.
I disagree on your comments about the games. While the games quantities are small in numbers, I think that Warhawk, Heavenly Sword and even Lair pretty much defined the direction Sony needs to go with the system. They are all beautiful games that could have been made even better with some more content and in the case of Lair, and option to niche the motion controls in favor of analog.
Another issue is that their supposed killer apps, MGS4 and FFXIII won’t be out until next year. FFXIII is vaporware as far as I’m concerned because we haven’t really seen anything new since the announcement.
Time will tell. Microsoft selling 1 game that’s more than half the US installed base isn’t helping. Right now 360 is on everyones mind. 2 of my friends bought 360’s to play Halo 3 and it shocked the shit out of me. What an attach rate. I also had another friend who had a Core go out and get a hard drive AND xbox live account to play. These are the things Sony should be looking at. With a free service like PSN, they could be killing MS in some areas. It seems that people don’t really mind that Live is $49 a year. I think it’s because when you compare it to other services, like AOL and Cell Phone bills, it’s nothing.
I agree with some of your comments. Sony can definitely improve the value of their PSN by adding more content. With all the media they own, this should be a cinch. Why they haven’t done this and broaden their consumer’s interest is beyond me.
Now, Sony plans on releasing a 40GB PS3 for $399. This is a catch 22 for them. It’s a great idea to launch this before the holidays, but why didn’t they just keep the 60GB and lower that to $400. The system will sell, but how many millions will Sony lose by releasing another PS3 SKU? The fact that the 40GB PS3 may not include the WiFi, Card Reader or Chrome facing doesn’t help it either. Unlike the 60GB PS3, this version will only be about 85% B/C. Will this price drop be worth it when the competition’s game systems are still lower in price?
As for the games, the PS3 have some great titles on the horizon, but most of the meaty offerings won’t come out until next year. Warhawk was good, but without a single player campaign, it’s not great. Lair was a total bomb. Not being able to use the analog stick with this game pretty much killed it. Heaven Sword looked and sounded awesome, but the game was a bit too repetitive and extreme short for hardcore gamers (6 hrs?). Uncharted looks like a beefed up Tomb Raider clone, but I still like ND’s game. The demo was decent and this title will be worth a purchase this holiday. Ratchet & Clank is a must buy. UT III got pushed back to 2008. Haze was delayed as well. So what’s left for the PS3 this year? Not much. With GTA IV coming out next year as well, there’s not many good reasons to run out and get a PS3 in 2007.
Sony must turn things around next year if they’re going to keep up with the Jones’. They have a great lineup of games for 2008 (GT5, FFXIII, MGS4, DMC4, Socom, etc..). Can they recover from a dismal 1st year? Only time will tell.
Though I agree with both of you TD and XZ. One must exclude GTA IV and DMC4 and UT III because they will all be on the 360 either at the same time or within a reletively close time period. I’m sure Sony will recover eventually, but by that time they may be an hour late and a dime too short. Even with virtually no real games to be had(by real I mean with a distinct beginning middle and end and plenty of stuff to do inbetween) the Wii will either be on top this holiday season or it will tie with the 360 for top honors. well that is my opinion anyway.
Though I agree with both of you TD and XZ. One must exclude GTA IV and DMC4 and UT III because they will all be on the 360 either at the same time or within a reletively close time period. I’m sure Sony will recover eventually, but by that time they may be an hour late and a dime too short. Even with virtually no real games to be had(by real I mean with a distinct beginning middle and end and plenty of stuff to do inbetween) the Wii will either be on top this holiday season or it will tie with the 360 for top honors. well that is my opinion anyway.
Now what do you think would happen if Microsoft, in an effort to further boost sales of the xbox 360 during the holiday season, discounted the 360 arcade or what have you by $50.00 or more maybe for just a weeks promotional sales… say maybe a black friday style sale that lasts a week. One could only imagine the kinds of sales that would bring. Then again, unless the individual store did it themselves, that would probably never happen. Personally though, I don’t care who wins as I own all three consoles and wouldn’t have it any other way. Video Game Collection FTW!