The FUD Of Sony

Kotaku points to a GamesIndustry.biz article on the fog of FUD surrounding Sony and the PlayStation 3. I can't help but to point out the irony there.

I don't entirely agree that the fog around the PS3 is entirely of Sony's making. As I've pointed out, the blogosphere has a history of misreporting Sony during the lead up to the PlayStation 3. Microsoft often says that everyone likes to beat up the guy on top - and in this case ... it was Sony. Logic wasn't often applied where a good old kicking could be used instead.

Consider this: Sony's launch was virtually identical to the 360's. Except that to date, there isn't a flood of PlayStation 3's blinking red and refusing to work. Now compare articles between the launches.

Still, Sony shares a lot of the blame. Their PR has just been a complete nightmare. It's like they hired Dante, Atilla the Hun and the scientist from Robot Chicken to handle public affairs. I mean - fake blogs? Instead of talking about the PS3's features - they insisted everyone would want one because it's a "supercomputer".

I've seen supercomputers. The PlayStation 3 is no supercomputer.

Course, as often with sound and fury - this probably signifies nothing. The slings and arrows of the gaming media don't entirely represent the gaming population (as evident by the utterly contradictory "nobody wants this" and "kid runs into poll to get one" memes). The PlayStation 3 will probably have a similar launch cycle as the 360 (except, perhaps, Sony will be honest about their numbers). It's not going to resemble the quick success of the PlayStation 2.

And so, despite what the FUD says, the real problem is this: can Sony gather a compelling enough library, with sluggish sales, to accelerate the growth? It's a chicken and egg scenario. Studios want large demographics to justify large dev budgets - but you need flagship titles to draw in the demographics.






tagged: sony, gaming