Market research could have improved PS3's image
Few people hate Sony as a company; it is just the PS3 -- as well as the DRM and exploding batteries -- that pull the brunt of the ire. In fact, many of their other products are beloved by consumers worldwide and aren't decried by the media. The biggest reason is Sony's Electronic Division's strong consumer research practices.
Sony's television and digital camera lines garner much consumer approval. This is helped in part by the creation of focus groups and people who actually listen to customer feedback. For example, when developing the Mylo device (a handheld WiFi device that allows chat-functions, Internet connectivity, music and a full QWERTY keyboard) they sent 850 of the devices out to determine the who, what, where, when, why and how the product would be used and made changes around the feedback gained; as such, the Mylo is poised to be another well-received Sony product.
The PS3 is a device that appears to have been developed in a vacuum; one where only the engineers built what they thought was the ultimate console. This is shown by the general user unfriendly environment the PS3 has built; symptoms of which are seen in major media publications. While most of the problems can easily be fixed with firmware upgrades over time, there are still aspects that cannot be fixed -- such as the lack of a scaler chip to allow for a simple one-and-done resolution setting when using various features -- without angering earlier adopters or alienating customers with confusing redesigns so early in the life-cycle. How different would the PS3 be today if the PlayStation Division took the same consumer research approach the Electronics Division does?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jc @ Dec 19th 2006 10:40AM
Don't forget about the rootkits...
serge @ Dec 19th 2006 10:40AM
SONY GO HOME! :)
Field Anony-mouse @ Dec 19th 2006 10:46AM
@#1
I think that's what he ment by DRM.
LumberjackOff @ Dec 19th 2006 10:47AM
Fan.. You are insane. honestly.. what games?
jeffe @ Dec 19th 2006 10:48AM
I've hated sony ever since my wife bought a sony mp3 player some time back that didn't actually play mp3s. You had to convert everything to some silly format and moving files around was really convoluted.
To be fair, I don't think it was billed as an "mp3 player", but probably as a "digital music player". Either way, I hate sony to this day for their evil transgressions against my music collection.
Aaron Martin @ Dec 19th 2006 10:52AM
if this is completely true then its really bad, as their competitor, i always thought microsoft(xbox 360) have listened quite well to its consumers. although saying that sony did change the controller back to the original ps controller, which i dont like but many did.
Grog @ Dec 19th 2006 10:59AM
Honestly, I think the only problem with the PS3 is that they rushed it to market. They would have been better off spending some more time fixing the little issues (like 1080i vs. 720p output) and building more units. As it is, it'll be popular with people who would buy a PS3. What fanboys tend to forget, however, is that this is a $600 gadget; whether or not you get a lot for your money, most people are not going to spend that much money on a console. Add in the negative reviews due to little problems, a small library, tiny shipments, and a side-by-side launch with a very popular alternative (plus a cheaper analogue released a year ago), and the PS3 would have benefited a lot from being released in 6 months.
Adam @ Dec 19th 2006 11:04AM
You talk a big game, but when Microsoft launched a half-finished, 50% defect-rate-a-ton, "scratch my discs and cook my eggs" Xbox 360, you had nothing but praise. I see similar behaviour with the Wii. Either Sony killed your puppies at children, or the entire Joystiq staff is jaded and out to lunch. The Ps3 has had fewer problems than BOTH the Wii and the Xbox 360 at launch, and this fact rockets the Ps3 to the cleanest launch of all the next-gen consoles. I'm just as pissed as the next guy at Sony for not shipping enough units, but you're making moutains out of mole hills.
Fred T @ Dec 19th 2006 11:06AM
The Wii is designed for instant gratification. Mainstream publications play with it for an hour, they get into it, like it, and then they write nice things about it. Never mind about the shortcomings (aside from Zelda, most wii games have bombed, esp. multi-console ports).
Mainstream publications play with the PS3 for an hour, dont understand it or the industry, and write it off as a bomb. Overzealous editors then write it up to garner more reader points.
Fair enough.
I will only say that console wars arent one in a day or even a year (or two). Im glad that Sony is pushing the bleeding edge... this strategy takes time to be realised, its not apparant immediately, and it certainly wont be apparent to mainstream pubs who have no clue about the industry.
So, get your licks in now. This time next year, things may be completely different. Devoid of any next gen competition, people predicted 360 to be a runaway success; a year later, it wont meet its 10 million sold target by end of 2006.
Skwurl @ Dec 19th 2006 11:07AM
It's not so much the actual Sony hardware that pisses people off - although the PS3 does seem to have some nagging issues - it's the arrogant attitudes from the execs themselves. Sony’s pumped this console as if it’s going to cure cancer when in reality it’s just a goosed PS2.
Too much rhetoric, and not enough product.
That said, I still like my Sony TV.
Pedro @ Dec 19th 2006 11:10AM
Adam
The 360 didn't have nearly the defect rate you claim. Many defects were caused by people using it in an improper way. Like putting it in a cabinet and allwoing it to overheat. Or moving it while in use.
And joystiq criticized the shit out of the 360 at launch. If anything they have been EASY on the ps3. The PS3's comparatively low defect rate is because it didn't ship with as many systems. The wii has over 3 times the number of ps3s out there, and the only defects were in the very initial batch.
And frankly, i am much more concerned with the eventual DRE that the ps3 will have, as well as the risk that like the PS2, turning it sideways will slowly kill it. Sony has the WORST track record when it comes to console build quality, and I would be very surprised if it didn't continue. Aren't they the ones who shipped controllers that randomly turn off?
DocR @ Dec 19th 2006 11:11AM
There is a core problem, and it's common to most large companies. We like companies to make good quality products that we want to buy. We don't like companies that attempt to make money by controlling the market, rather than making quality products.
This is what happens when Sony introduce propriety formats and use the success of the Playstation brand to leverage those formats. It's also what happens when Nintendo forced third-party developers into restrictive licensing agreements, and it's the model upon which the success of Windows is predicated.
We tend to forgive this kind of 'market control' behaviour when we view the quality of the product, it's desirability and cost in a positive light. This is why many people don't begrudge Apple the success of the iPod (despite the propriety formats and DRM), or MS the success of the 360 (which is pretty much succeeding on the strength of the product alone - market control comes next gen).
The price of the PS3, the general quality of the product compared to other alternatives, the stock shortages and the lack of decent games mean we are all focussing on the market control tactics Sony are using to try and succeed.
That's why we don't like Sony at the moment. In five years time we'll hate MS again!
nerbo @ Dec 19th 2006 11:12AM
Ok listen... you can pick apart Sony on PS3 all you want and yes they fucked up...
But you can NOT say Mylo is a good example of what they should have done and expect anybody to take you seriously. C'mon people... a F'in Mylo? Who do *you* know that has a Mylo or wants a Mylo, or even knows what a Mylo is? This thing is doomed from the start and anyone saying anything remotely otherwise has their head buried in the sand.
For that matter, are you for real? Sony's electronics division division is hopelessly out of touch. These are the same people that made the ATRAC Walkmans how many years too late? The people who forced memory stick down people's throats when they didn't want it? The people who spent how much money on SACD expecting it to go somewhere? How about Sony's brilliant web appliance running BeOS nobody wanted, or their new eReader bomb! Come on...
This post is a good laugh.
jc @ Dec 19th 2006 11:16AM
The PS2 really only did one thing well, and that was play games... and that was the reason I bought it (and 50 games/4 memory cards). Sure I watched movies on it, but in all honesty, the quality sucked. Sure I went online with it, but it wasn't that good either. I didn't even like the fact that I need to buy 3 extra controllers and a multitap adapter in order for my friend to join me in some NHL.
Aside from Zelda, Halo and KotOR (plus a few others), everything was on the PS2. The PS2 was a gaming machine, and people bought it because that's what they wanted.
Personally, I don't think Sony will gain major support for the PS3 until they bring their focus back to gaming... and even then, they have an uphill battle.
BluRay / HD-DVD is a nice option to have in your console, but the reality is that if anyone is serious about home theater, they can get better stand-alone players... and will. Sony tried to do too much, and I think their lack of focus on games is really hurting them. (jack of all trades, master of none??)
FSK405K @ Dec 19th 2006 11:18AM
The last good Sony product I had: Walkman.
I just sold my PS3; no good games.
steve @ Dec 19th 2006 11:23AM
So, wait, now using market research to develop products is a good thing?
You realize that most great ideas are done by amazing people left to their own devices, not market researched into bland, uninteresting nothings. The Zune is a market-driven product; the iPod was designed by designers and engineers, then put on the market.
And what makes anyone think the PS3 wasn't market researched? Sony has mounds of data about console buyers. Whatever failure the PS3 the is has nothing to do with market research or a lack thereof and some of the issues brought up here by others.
Pete C @ Dec 19th 2006 11:23AM
I am also starting to get bored of the PS3 bashing, and I'm a 360 fan through and through. The PS3 as an overall system is well designed, offers good value, and is more powerful than the 360. In due time it will catch up, and surpass the 360 in sales. It's common sense. You can't keep a more powerful system with a more well-known brand name down for long. Supply will come, and eventually prices will drop. My ONLY issue with the PS3 is that the 07 lineup of games can't compete with the 360. I don't even think it is close. As a media system, the PS3 is a good buy even at its current price if you care about HD movies, but from a games perspective the 360 is the better system to buy. I don't see that there is ANY arguement for that now, or anytime in the next year...even after MGS is released. However in 08, once some more exclusives start rolling in...and they will...the tide may change.
MosquitoControl @ Dec 19th 2006 11:27AM
They bashed the 360 plenty. And got called Nintendo/Sony fanboys for doing so.
As for Sony, I still can't believe they were stupid enough to try to build the "ultimate console."
C'mon. The PS2 was far from the ultimate and it dominated. The PS wasn't more powerful than the N64 and it dominated. Power isn't really the determining factor (although the Wii may prove it needs to be comparable.)
When you go for that extra 5% power boos you need to use all expensive components, so that minimal power boost costs significant money. It isn't worth it. It's why Dell sells mostly sub-$1000 computers, and it's why the newest technology is limited to small boutique computer companies like Voodoo and Falcon Northwest.
Unless you have money to blow, that extra power jump is never, ever cost effective or worth it. It's for the fringe users. But consoles are for the masses.
It makes no sense.
DBX00 @ Dec 19th 2006 11:31AM
eh...I'm enjoying my PS3 and that's all that counts; mabye one day you guys will find a reason to enjoy one too, but it really has no impact on me.
I like the fact that consoles are flexible this generation and can add new features and more value as the console matures. So far, I've had a pretty good launch experience with the PS3; I didn't expect much in the form of launch titles, but PS1 downloads, demos, and the launch games will keep me happy until the mass releases in March. They really just need to focus getting these machines on the shelves to have people form their own judgment on the console instead of reading articles from people that haven't spent much time with it.
Alice Unchained @ Dec 19th 2006 11:37AM
Can somebody please explain to me why i need to buy a PS3? Are there any decent games on the horizon? NO. If there aren't any good games right now, why wouldn't i just wait a year or two and pick it up then? By then, the price hopefully will have dropped and the kinks in the system worked out.
I'm a 360 fanboy but certainly don't want to see Sony fail. Competition is ALWAYS good for everyone.
DM @ Dec 19th 2006 11:37AM
I think Sony is in need of a cleanup; and it needs to start at the very top.
That Old Chinese dude(Kutaragi)being brash and having a crew @ E3 that blew the presentation of an incredible system - The Sony PS3. I market and develop powerpoint presentations for a Real Estate coroporation; when the personnel is not in sync with the corporation, the product and the audience, the presentation is blown. The only thing that saves it is hiring someone specifically for Public Relations who's so talented that they can sell a block of ice from the other side of the world to an eskimo in an igloo.
Reggie is good for Nintendo PR. He's the Ceo that mingles and mixes with the people, the hands on guy. He'll do lunch with a competitor, be at the corporate meeting on time and execute the plan (nintendo's unique new vision) then run off to times square to lounge and Chill-Ax (Chill/relax) with some katt from MTV and then play the Wii with a gamer at nintendo world or toys r us. Nintendo hit a homerun in picking the right candidate for this position.
That katt with the beard and british accent reppin the 360 is a good look for MS. He'll entertain those invited to the boardroom or press conferences but that's as far as they go. Hands off with the public can sometimes work in your favor when you make the boardroom/press releases available to the public and force them; I mean give them a CHOICE to download and feel like they are involved in some way. It's talking to the people without physically being in front of them. They have also bribed; ummm....wisely used the Media (print and digital) to misinform ummm......reach the masses.
All Sony has to do is shuffle their personell and hire talented individuals with mass appeal who can deliver the message without being brash and have the ability to use their wit and battle the competitors fiercely into submission.
farmok @ Dec 19th 2006 11:48AM
It seems that sony is more interested in pushing the technology rather than the industry. Sure the system is very powerful and the Blu-Ray can hold alot of data, but in the end, they are more interested in getting as many Blu-Ray players out there to win that war, as well as getting the Cell Processor so that they can put it in more devices.
It also seems that they think that they will always have support from software companies as long as they put out something out that is an improvement over the previous product. That is an arrogant attitude and will cost sony alot. I'm sure they have already spent alot of money to keep MGS 4 on their system only because at this point, it would make more sense financialy for MGS 4 to come out on both systems.
I think Sony could have and should have waited a year for the PS3 (allow them to get Blu-Ray players out there first) and then by the time they launch, the tech would go down in price, and they will have a stronger launch lineup. Their method was way too rushed and seemed unorganized.
RGD86 @ Dec 19th 2006 11:50AM
I am always wary about buying Sony hardware. I'm surprised my Playstation 2 has lasted 4 and a half years, because of all the hardware failures reported over the years.
As for the Playstation 3, I think it's too much of a jack-of-all-trades machine. Sony could have reduced the cost for themselves and for consumers by sticking to a standard model with a regular DVD drive, built in Wi-fi, and a hard drive with at least 30 gigs storage.
MosquitoControl @ Dec 19th 2006 11:56AM
Why buy a PS3 right now? Resistence. It isn't worth $600 to me, but it looks more entertaining to me than GoW. I'm enjoying GoW co-op, a lot, but I want something to run around in a bit more.
As for Sony, would marketing research make them understand that saying things like yesterday's "No one will every use 100% of the power of the PS3" annoys consumers? When you contrast it with "We expect you to save for this" and "we felt the need to deliver the most powerful console on Earth..." why are they making us save for something so powerful if they never expect the power to be used? Couldn't a lesser, cheaper console do everything people will get out of the PS3?
It's just bad PR. Who says these things? As I said in the Kotaku thread on this topic, Nintendo and Microsoft say dumb things, too, but it's never on the level of Sony.
Evan @ Dec 19th 2006 11:57AM
"The PS3 is a device that appears to have been developed in a vacuum; one where only the engineers built what they thought was the ultimate console"
I believe Sony designed the PS3 to appeal to hard-core gamers who want the ultimate console. The XBox1 primarily appealed to hard-core gamers, and Sony knows they need an ultimate console to lure hard-core gamers away from the XBox. But in doing so, Sony sompletely ignored the mainstream market. I think Sony expected mainstream gamers to keep playing the PS2, and the PS3 to trickle down to the mainstream in a few years (Sony said they expected the PS3 would take several years to grow its market share and would last 10 years). Their mistake is, they are leaving their main market undefended - while Sony is battling over hard-core gamers, mainstream PS2 gamers are ripe for the pickings by Nintendo and Microsoft.
"Mainstream publications play with the PS3 for an hour, dont understand it or the industry, and write it off as a bomb."
What the Wii offers is instantly obvious to a consumer. What the PS3 offers is not obvious, and the burdon is on Sony to educate the consumer and media as to why they should want something that they don't even understand. Products where it is instantly obvious to consumers why they should buy it traditionally sell much better compared to products where the company has to educate the customer why they should by it.
DBX00 @ Dec 19th 2006 12:07PM
When did video games become about CEO presentation skills, PR firms, and financial statements? I don't care if they've got a dog running the firm as long as they produce good quality games and hardware. Everyone seems to think in this generation of consoles that everyone is meant to buy a console at launch. The fact of the matter is that the masses aren't early adopters and therefore won't pay the premium to be one. The fact is that the console price WILL drop, supply will improve, and the software library will grow.
Also, I never really saw the point of buying multiple consoles in a single generation. If you own a XBOX360, it should provide you with nearly everything you want in a console otherwise you may have made the wrong decision. This is my problem with the Wii; it's definitely a fun console to play, but it doesn't give me the FULL experience and XBOX360 just lacks the consistency with games.
The PS3 game library as it stands clearly represents a good launch lineup but not a group of killer applications. However, early adopters are people that expect and understand that. I personally really enjoy playing Resistance and Fight Night; it also helps that they've got a growing online store.
Steve @ Dec 19th 2006 12:09PM
I'm one of those people who hates Sony and therefore the Playstation because of its being a Sony product. Sony was great in the early 90s, and then their quality went to hell. They took Microsoft's approach to software and applied it to their hardware which means they make products with impressive features and style, but the quality is terrible. When when you need to get one of Sony's shoddy products repaired you'll find that the Customer Service department is incompetent. Literally.
I bought a 60" set that had a design defect that seemed to affect all of these sets. They arranged for a service center to pick it up and then a week later the service center called to tell me that they were no longer a Sony Authorized service center and that they'd be returning my set and then I would need to make arrangements for repair using another facility. I called Sony and I had to make the suggestion that they arrange for the new service center to pick it up from the old one. *I* had to give them that incredibly simple idea! Idiots! Oh, and at this time Sony's automated help line was still recommending the facility that was no longer an authorized service center. It took them 37 damn days to repair my set and I only had the thing for about 30 before this ordeal began!
I had already known Sony quality had gone to hell and their customer service was terrible, but it took this incident for it to really sink in. I no longer buy Sony products because I just don't have the spare time and energy needed to deal with their bugs and repair process.
Ocho @ Dec 19th 2006 12:19PM
I believe in ten years, we'll all look back and say to ourselves, "Man, I'm glad I spent all this time analyzing these giant corporations that I have nothing to do with."
Steve2 @ Dec 19th 2006 12:33PM
The Japanese arm of Sony makes all the decisions about Playstation. They don't even listento SCEA, they sure as hell wouldn't listen to focus groups.
But I still don't get the hating here. Sony is selling every PS3 they can make, why do people have this perception that it is flopping? Yes, it's expensive. Yes, the game lineup sucks. Yes, it's large. But all these things were no different for 360. I got my 360 first day and turned it off in mid December to wait for more decent games to come out. and I was lucky to get one at all! Yet 360 is doing well enough that people think it's going to kill PS3.
Why is there this double standard? Why do people already bury this unit which has shown no signs of sales weakness?
To agree with my namesake Steve, BTW, I had a 36XBR800 (excellent set, BTW) go out on me. It didn't go out immediately, but it did go out under warranty. Sony's system for repairing TVs and such is awful. They use local service reps, and most of them don't seem to know anything. I took my TV to two places twice each over 4 months and it still wasn't fixed. I eventually gave up and just bought a new TV. I did my homework, and the worst part was it only made sense to replace it with another Sony. Other companies products' had downsides and worse prices I didn't want to live with. This one has worked fine for me, but I just look at it and cringe thinking what happens if it breaks too. At least the big TV market has changed now, and if I were to replace this TV, there are plenty of non-Sony alternatives that I could avail myself of.
Jason @ Dec 19th 2006 12:33PM
i heart flame wars.
Bowler279 @ Dec 19th 2006 12:37PM
All I have to say is the next GTA is an XBOX exclusive title. Goodbye PS3 you'll be missed.
The Intangible Fact @ Dec 19th 2006 12:46PM
@ DBX00
"XBOX360 just lacks the consistency with games."
???????????????????????????????????????
WHAT GENRE? Jap RPG's? Just because 360 doesn't have the type of RPG's that have the big eye little kids taking turns fighting pokemon on steriods doesn't make it a bad console. Some of us like to to play grown-up RPG's like Oblivion.
nabisco @ Dec 19th 2006 12:48PM
I think that the Playstation 3 is an excellant system with a future of groundbreaking games. It is very expandible for the hardcore gamers entertainment needs. My problem with it is that I don't think I would never use any of those high tech features on it and with old exclusives on the 360 now, I hardly see the point in getting a ps3.
The only games I want to play on the ps3 are FFXIII, MGS4, and Resistance. That's it. The 360 will get Halo 3, Halo Wars, Bioshock, Lost Planet, and the next installment of Splinter Cell all to itself. I just don't have a 360 because I refuse to pay more than $300 for a game console.
diskoboy @ Dec 19th 2006 12:49PM
"Few people hate Sony as a company; it is just the PS3"
I've hated Sony since before they even dreamed of entering the video game market. It all began with the Sony Discman D-350 portable CD player.....
ihavenoideawhatisgoingon @ Dec 19th 2006 12:51PM
nabisco,
Go to Microcenter or Toys R Us. at Microcenter, you can get the premium 360 with a $100 rebate. If you go to TRU, you can get the premium, and get a $100 TRU Giftcard!
Steve @ Dec 19th 2006 12:51PM
11. Pedro wrote:
The 360 didn't have nearly the defect rate you claim. Many defects were caused by people using it in an improper way. Like putting it in a cabinet
----------------------------------------------------
A lot of people place their home electronics in a cabinet. I think it's the fault of company, not the user, when a product that cannot withstand use in the real world.
Microsoft may have placed the warning in their manual somewhere but that doesn't excuse failing to make a piece of home electronics that can't deal with reality. It's not like users were playing with their 360s out in the rain.
I'd really love to get a 360 to satisfy my craving for HD gaming, but the system just isn't reliable. I may reconsider in 2007 when they start using the smaller processors that will produce significantly less heat.
TheGogglesDoNothing @ Dec 19th 2006 12:54PM
@ 35, very true. I thought everyone hated Sony :S
In fact their statement is completely the opposite with me. I despise Sony as a company, but love my PS and PS2.
Aaron Martin @ Dec 19th 2006 1:02PM
no, its not an exclusive title, it will release at the same time as ps3 on xbox, it supposedly has exclusive content to download tho.
T @ Dec 19th 2006 1:21PM
The stupid thing doesn't even have an IR receiver on it. The most commonly used feature of any electronic device is IR. Now I can't integrate it into any of my customers home theaters. A little market research would have fix that huge mistake. Sony dropped the ball big time.
Adam @ Dec 19th 2006 1:24PM
Pedro,
The Xbox 360 launched with a paultry 350 000 units on launch day. The Ps3 had about 200 000. The disparity there is not apparent to me, especially when mere hours after launch, hundreds and thousands of people were launching complaints about bricked systems...whereas the Ps3 has had no such thing happen at all. Screw your "OMG not enough units to tell". Going purely on initial shipments, I wouldn't be surprised if the defect of the Xbox 360 was higher than 50%. I know I couldn't get my hands on a single system for several months after, because the Best Buy's and Future Shop's were handing out ALL of their excess stock to people who brought back the defunct units only a couple days after buying them. This was until Microsoft and retailers realized this problem was becoming pandemic, and retailers would no longer hand out extra units to people because of Microsoft's goof.
The Xbox 360 launch was a complete disaster, and the system itself was complete and utter failure up until a few months back when bricked systems were dying out...though don't put it past Microsoft to release another XBL update that will brick even more systems. Face it, Microsoft is the defective product this generation, not Sony.
Jackson Pritt @ Dec 19th 2006 1:30PM
Mylo is a terrible example of a good SONY product.
Mylo is ugly as sin, and doomed. I've never seen one "in the wild" and I live in San Francisco so I should be seeing products like that around and about.
Their TVs and digital cameras, however, are totally top-notch. I also really loved the Aibo. The fact that they made such a weird and impractical thing as a robot dog made me like them for reasons I can't explain. Killing that project, having batteries explode everywhere, the PS3, and now this PSP nonsense has made me develop a strong distaste for the company. And don't forget those awful "bean" MP3 players they made. GOD what ass-ugly failures. Every time they try going for a hip image they fail.
I don't like them any more, but I still RESPECT their TVs, digital cameras, and audio equiptment. Overpriced, but incredibly well-built.
tack @ Dec 19th 2006 1:31PM
The major problems with the ps3 is that it is a stupid purchase. There are 2 better gaming platforms available for alot cheaper. The 360 for the gamer and the wii for the not much of a gamer. Maybe in the future that'll all change, but with the 3 year development cycle and requiring 120 dutchmen, I worry for the ps3's future.
Robotic House Plant @ Dec 19th 2006 1:37PM
I'm not sure it's a fair assessment that the PS3 and/or DRM and the problem with batteries are alone in drawing ire from customers.
I know some people that never buy Sony car audio products. I also know people that absolutely dislike their digital audio offerings. Just as there are those who avoid their home theater receivers. Like any company, they have their share of supporters and non-supporters for any of their products.
Playstation is one of Sony's more highly visable and widely used brands, which based on the sheer volume of users, is bound of have a percentage of those who are dissatisified.
It's one thing to sell 100 items and have 1 dissatisified customer. It's another to sell 100,000,000 of the same item. Your percentage of dissatified customers grows exponentially.
The problem with Sony is partly it's size and being unable to react quickly to the market, it's partly what is perceived to be non-cooperation between departments and other Sony businesses, and it's partly Sony's unwillingness to embrace standards or listen to customer requests.
Did anyone really ask for Blu-Ray? Did anyone really ask for Memory Stick? Did anyone ask for MiniDisc? Did anyone request UMD? Were customers asking for ATRAC?
It's great to innovate, but at the same time, I think you need to be customer focused. Sometimes it appears Sony is more focused on providing the customer what Sony wants.
Anonymouse Rep @ Dec 19th 2006 2:26PM
@Adam - "The Xbox 360 launched with a paultry 350 000 units on launch day."
Well, no - actually the Xbox 360 launched with right at 1,000,000 units on launch day - 400,000 in the U.S., 200,000 in Japan, and 400,000 in the ignored market of Europe.
And the U.S. launch numbers for 360 alone are STILL higher than the 'world-wide' launch numbers for PS3.
"Going purely on initial shipments, I wouldn't be surprised if the defect of the Xbox 360 was higher than 50%."
Then how shocked are you going to be when I tell you that the actual defect rate for initial launch units was right at 7%? And I'm not pulling that figure out of thin air, either - I've been told that by MS VP's. (And before you question THAT, yes, I know more than one Microsoft VP.)
What you DID have was a very vocal group during the 360 launch. People were sticking the 360 on their carpeted floors, blocking the air vents, and then wondering why they overheated. You're not dealing with standard stereo components anymore - you're literally dealing with a high end computer system that needs the air flow (or water, if you're into that) for cooling.
The PS3 is the same way. When they first started to put the thing together last year, it'd melt. As it is, if you block any of the vents or reduce the airflow in any way, the fans rev up and it sounds worse than any 360 ever did.
Speaking of fans - just exactly what is it that Sony has to hide with their kiosks that you see in GameStop or EB? You know, those stand up kiosks? The 360 and Wii units that you see in the case ARE the units that are running. The PS3 you see in the case is a dummy. The actual game unit - with a BIG fan blowing on it - is down below. Why is that? Maybe Sony realized that if they put the PS3 in a case it'd melt - not like most of the kiosks aren't already dead due to bad PS3's and overheating.
DEEZNUTZ @ Dec 19th 2006 2:41PM
No IR Receiver... WTF were they thinking? Earlier post made a good point. SONY marketed the PS3 as the center of an overall entertainment system. How do I control this "center" with my high-end universal remote if it doesn't even accept IR (or even RF) signals?
Way to go SONY!
Spence @ Dec 19th 2006 2:54PM
You don't think they focused tested the PS3? I find that pretty hard to believe.
By the way, there is a "one and done" resolution setting fix, which was sent out weeks ago. Most people never even had that problem.
Compare that to the shoddy design of the 360, with its overheating battery pack, its tray that would eat your discs, etc. I'd say the PS3 launch hasn't been bad at all. Their number one problem is that it's getting upstaged in the media by the Wii. I don't think you're finding people who don't like the PS3, there are non-gamers in the press who prefer what the Wii offers, that's all.
My PS3 runs great. It's always quiet and relatively cool.
hohoho @ Dec 19th 2006 2:56PM
hehehehe, the comments from those self-claimed geniuses here never fail to amuse me. Keep 'em coming! hahaha
Jeff @ Dec 19th 2006 3:01PM
"But I still don't get the hating here. Sony is selling every PS3 they can make, why do people have this perception that it is flopping?"
Because blogs and web sites can live in just as much of a vacuum (or, alternatively, bubble) as the engineers that design the products they report on. And so can many of their readers.
Online communities develop organically but they then become self-sustaining. Personally, I rarely visit more than a couple gaming sites a week, though the ones I do visit, I visit several times per day. I think that's not uncommon. It's easy for POV's to get skewed when you've got that kind of usage pattern, and a kind of groupthink develops. As that happens, those who don't follow the group ideology eventually just leave, which just hardens the overall viewpoint of the community. And that viewpoint can end up being completely at odds with the mainstream.
But this is not really a new phenomenon. It happens around every console launch. Heck, it's entirely possible to insulate yourself inside a group of like-minded individuals for as long as you want. We could come back here in four years and *still* find people hating on the PS3 regardless of how many units it sells or how many games it has at that time, just as we're finding plenty of people here hating on both the PS1 and PS2 despite having sold 100 million units each. (Because as we all know, the last 80 million PS2's were all sold as replacements for broken consoles, right? Oh, and anyway, that's the number of systems SHIPPED, not SOLD. There must be at least 75 million PS2's just sitting on store shelves by now.)
Anyway, there's also a real tendency for gamers to assume that the way things are at any given time is the way things will always be. It's probably mostly the younger set that does that because they have no frame of reference, but then there's no age requirement for most online communities. So if one company is getting some bad press, or if a console is priced at some ludicrous amount, the assumption is that will be the case forever. Well, the fact is a lot of companies get bad press around launches (including Sony five years ago) that end up having pretty successful systems. (The reverse is also true.) And prices drop. New games come out. Developers rise and fall. Things change.
But tunnel vision, a lack of experience and an insulated community can all lead to some pretty wacky prognostications and some pretty extreme views that don't at all match up with what consumers are actually doing.
Todd @ Dec 19th 2006 3:15PM
"But tunnel vision, a lack of experience and an insulated community can all lead to some pretty wacky prognostications and some pretty extreme views that don't at all match up with what consumers are actually doing."
Kinda like what Sony engineers did when designing the PS3??
ZING!
BTS.WRKNG @ Dec 19th 2006 3:26PM
Who told you that the Mylo was "poised" to be "well-received?"
I'm pretty sure it's already been forgotten.