PS3 shipments blocked in Europe as LG wins preliminary injunction

@SpiderPrime

6/7-9/11. Sony, you know what to do.

@SpiderPrime I agree.

@SpiderPrime

Probably not. With all the money they have to invest in the NPG in marketing & manufacturing costs, Sony is on the verge of losing it all. Honestly, I may not like Sony's business strategy, but I would really hate to lose a major gaming powerhouse. If MS has no competition, they could take over the industry. Competition has brought us the things us gamers like the most in our consoles. I don't want ANY company monopolizing gaming. Sony, MS or Nintendo. They need to co-exist or gaming as we know it will change forever. :/

@Prboi

As much as I prefer console gaming, you can't have a monopoly and still have PC gaming. I mean, if it comes down to just Nintendo or just Microsoft, there will still be PC games for the foreseeable future.

If we end up with only Nintendo I bet you anything Sony will stick to the software business for awhile rather than lose all their AAA studios and franchises, and Microsoft will probably just migrate to PC gaming with GFWL.

If we end up with only Microsoft and the next Xbox I'm hoping Sony releases a third-party DualShock-style controller for it and continues to make software/games for it.

@Prboi
Sega leaving wasn't the end of gaming as we know it. It actually ushered in a new age of it.

Sony leaving wouldn't be the end of anything either and there almost certainly would be another company to sweep in to fill the third place spot which would probably be Apple (developing an actual gaming platform) or possibly Google.

But seriously, Sony is in no way of being in danger of losing its gaming business. It does more than gaming and even though their other areas are spotty atm, they still make money and they're still very popular in Japan.

Besides, LG destroying Sony is counter intuitive. They'd lose a huge base of money they make off their blu-ray patents especially if this contested one was ruled in their favor. Sony would like just owe them dues for their patents and LG and Sony would likely work out a way to make it work so Sony doesn't get hurt too much at once.

Also, to ring on all LG hate. That's stupid. This isn't patent squatting. They actively developed Blu-Ray with other companies. So, if their patent holds up it's due to them. Plain and simple. Sony isn't a prince when it comes to patents, either. No company is. Sony also is known to be underhanded in business partnerships, so if this is true then they definitely deserve it. Their corporate culture is just awful, though it's slowly modernizing and growing up.

@sonicspike41

Of course Sony will stick around & become a third party publisher. But that would really suck. They'll be Sega all over again, having their franchises tarnished & only able to put out a few franchises out

@sonicspike41

In the unlikely hypothetical situation where Sony gives up on hardware, they would probably sell their IPs. I bet you most of the exclusive IPs don't make a lot of money and Sony puts money in them to sell systems. Uncharted 2's production costs must of been a lot more than the average game. They figured it was good because they desperately need exclusives to sell hardware. It explains why Microsoft, with the exception of Halo and paying third parties for exclusives, are out of exclusive business. It costs a lot of money to pump into first party titles and you have a smaller market because you aren't selling the IP on other consoles. If Sony was in the lead, Microsoft would be putting more money into first party IPs.

@SpiderPrime @SpiderPrime Not a chance....devs are JUST starting to get use to the PS3....the PS4 is years off...at least 3 or 4....

they will just cut LG a check or look for more patents that LG infringed on....it will be more of a background thing after this point...

@Mmmmz

I never said gaming would end. I said gaming as we know it will end. Sure another company would move in & fill their spot but look at Sega. When they left, they pretty much lost all their franchises & was only able to out out Sonic ports to gamecube & new sonic based games. Sega was reduced to just Sonic. It could happen with Sony & they could be reduced to just a first party title like Uncharted or Killzone. Sony will always be in the gaming business, but it will be a very different gaming business. If Google comes in, then I can see them taking 2nd place or even 1st place, depending on what they decide to focus on. I would literally laugh if Apple makes their own console. It will literally be the worst console in history. But Apple fanboys will buy it just because they buy all of apple's over priced stuff. If they did come out with one, it will most likely only work with Apple TV's & only work with their products. But enough of that, Sony leaving would change gaming in a major way

@FriedConsole

I imagine that if Sony goes under their games would (hopefully) either go multiplatform to make up sales, or the studios would get sold to someone competent enough to run them. Actually, most of their big games have come from 2nd/3rd party studios, or studios that were once independent until being bought by Sony. They could just give (or sell) the IPs back to those studios.

I'm going to print this comment page and then we can laugh at it in about 10 years time.

@sonicspike41

Possibly, but they would have to quickly garner them up before MS or Nintendo snatch them up. Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games, & Santa Monica Studios (All major first party devs for Sony) could easily be bought by MS or Nintendo (Most likely MS). Their franchises would be tricky since I don't know what sort of deal Sony has with their first party studios & if the studios own their IPs or if does Sony.

@SpiderPrime ... if Sony is forced to compensate LG for every PS3... well basically there wont be a PS4, will be lucky if there is a SCE.

@Pure Black World Tendency

I bet that's what fans of Sega said...

@Mmmmz .... the problem with LG here is that they really shouldn't have a case, because the PS3 has been out for some time now and I will bet that other devices have infringed on this patent... so basically one of the very basics of maintaining patents is by not allowing any infringements... because if you do and then suddenly when someone rubs you the wrong way deciding to sue you wont have a case. so yeeeeaaah LG is being a ding dong right there.

@stevo13344 ... if it looks like LG might win the'll prolly just settle out of court... which wouldn't be great for Sony but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

@sonicspike41

The Sony developers, if gone independent or bought, would never have the money they do now to make Uncharted and LBP high quality titles.

Why would Microsoft buy them? They don't even want to develop any IPs now except for Halo. Why invest when you got close to market saturation? Microsoft has the hard core at saturation and is only interested in gaining the kids and soccer moms now. If you don't agree, re-watch their last E3.

@FriedConsole

1 E3 & all of a sudden MS is all about the kiddies. Kinect was their main focus because that's their next product to get behind & make money off of. Sony wasted their time with he Move. If their not going to fully back up their product, why release it at all? MS released Kinect with their intentions of making a killing on it, which they did. Just because MS changes gears for a bit to focus on their product doesn't mean they have forgotten it. You said it yourself, MS doesn't need to have a lot of first party companies to make games for them because it's cheaper & more effective to pay 3rd party studios to make exclusives. MS would love to have more exclusives, by why waste money on something you don't need? MS is doing fine with major titles like Halo & Gears of War because they already make money from their 3rd parties & xbox live.

@Prboi

thinking sony is going to 'lose it all' over the NGP seems a bit silly, honestly.

@Pure Black World Tendency seriously folks. This is a 10 day injunction its a way for G to let Sony know they are serious and they want their due. Which they will continue to do across the globe.

@stevo13344

Dude....do you have any idea how long a court case of this magnitude takes to work it's way through the system? LG didn't just file this. This ball started rolling AGES ago.

@SpiderPrime

Are you guys serious?

A preliminary injunction and everyone, esp. Prboi, is screaming "Sony is doomed."

Last time I checked, the PS3 is under 4 million units behind the 360 (and outsold the 360 in 2010 worldwide) and still selling an amazing amount of software.

This is not the same situation as the Dreamcast, which paled heavily in comparison to the sales of its competitors.

On top of that, Sony owns/purchased Media Molecule, Guerilla Games, and Naughty Dog. Microsoft wouldn't just "buy" them out or its IPs that easily.

Only Sucker Punch and Insomniac have been private developers and could go multiplatform (Insomniac has already) in the future.

The talk about the crazy costs of all of Sony's first-party exclusives is also overlooked by the fact that Microsoft also spends a great deal of money, albeit on a different strategy altogether. They secure third party exclusive DLC for one, or timed exclusives, or a very ample marketing budget ($500 million for Kinect alone).

To say that Sony is a huge money spender and will tank because of those exclusives is ignoring Microsoft's expenditures. Different strategies people. And I for one, would take plenty of exclusives over little bits of DLC any day (see PS3 2011 lineup).

People seriously need to stop the whole apocalyptic, "the PS3 is failing" comments, and the desire for PS4 already.

@wquach

And yes, Sony will lose money should they lose the case outright, but to how much, no one knows. All these comments are just speculating that the costs are so outrightly huge that Sony will tank or have problems making more games. Wow.

And as other posters have said, Sony isn't going to just lay over and let LG win without a fight. And should they lose, they'll want to make some sort of settlement/agreement to lessen the blow.

Sony is a huge company folks, who have been in the gaming business for 15+ years. This isn't the first time they've had legal or patent issues, and it certainly won't be the last.

@wquach

In all fairness not all of us were saying "Sony is going to go bankrupt!" or anything of the sort. I was mostly just responding to such comments from other people with my own speculation about what would happen if such a scenario were to occur.

In other words, I don't think Sony will "go under", but, if they did, my previous comments indicate what I think would happen in such an unlikely scenario.

@Jack Kevorkian
LG let them know they were serious when they brought the suit in the first place. This is a world court saying that there may be merit to LG's claim. That is very different.

@Prboi

I couldn't agree more.
Competition makes them make the pricing of consoles and fees for online service appealing.
But if there weren't any competition, companies would start to raise the price of consoles, games and also paid online services and thats what users definitely do not want.

@sonicspike41

I understand that you were entertaining the idea of Sony going software only, but I think its a bit premature to go about fancying the idea. I was responding to the plethora/outnumbering amount of other comments which seem absolutely ridiculous, or simply WANT Sony to go under. Quite a bit of Sony haters.

I was also trying to address the thought of their IPs going elsewhere even in the case they went software only, which again, would not happen because like you said, most of their big exclusive pumping studios have been bought by Sony.

@Prboi

That's what I'm thinking

This is great! If Sony is breaking the law then they deserve consequences. Same would apply to any other company including Microsoft and Nintendo.

@Prboi

I wouldn't worry to much about it, it seems more of a scare tactic to tell Sony 'look what we can do' and to back off from our mobile group. Im sure they'll make a deal and after the ten days it'll be business as usual.


but only time will tell for sure.

@Architecture

The model is the model of the PS3 Slim's Blu Ray drive (Basically every console on the market).

@Architecture
He's paraphrasing from the article linked by the Guardian.

@Truant "It only does patent infringement" or "It only ONLY does everything (but European Customs)". Hope this doesn't affect US too soon. I need a new PS3 asap!

@Roxas560

The 'heat' as you kindly put it, should NEVER be off that jockstrap smelling person they call GeoHotz.

The guy is a nerd beyond belief, with no sense of achievment other than to annoy the masses.

I admire some hackers, but this guy - is not a hacker, he is a thief.

@DigitalFortress well said

@DigitalFortress
apparently so is sony, anyway what do i care if you downvote me 50 times, i can say whatever i want. Sony is going about sueing geohot and other hackers stupidly, and everyone knows it.

@DigitalFortress

I wouldn't mine Geohotz so much if all he did was hack it. Instead he hacked it and used the opportunity to grab as much media attention as he could get going as far as accusing Sony of suing him not because they may/may not have legal grounds to do so, but doing it simply because he made them mad.

He seems to associate all giant corporations with preschool kids who get mad over any little thing. He's also treading on areas of the law that haven't been defined yet and is acting like he's done nothing wrong.

@DigitalFortress Theft is taking something. He has taken nothing. Enough of this bullshit about defending these billion dollar corporations against some nerds wanting to open up the system. Don't put any blame on him for Sony's problems.

@NIck PSN ID Rattlehead91

They gave people the opportunity to pirate. They should be punished for that.

@LEONLEONLEON
You mean like how gun manufacturers give people the opportunity to commit crimes?

...I'll give you a minute alone with that one.

@DigitalFortress

if he's a thief, then tell me, what did he steal?

@NIck PSN ID Rattlehead91

OK. So let's say I gain knowledge all your personal information.
Social Security Number, Credit Card Number, Bank Account, passwords and such, and I don't use them for myself, but I post them on the internet for other's to do as they please.

Are saying that I'm not liable at all?

@sonicspike41

Exactly my friend, he is a media whore - not doing things for the good of the scene, but for personal attention.

The guy is a knob-jockey.

@Roxas560


AMEN..,Totally agree.

And the lawsuit goes deeper than the PS3's,Sony's high end TV's are also includedhttp://www.cn-c114.net/579/a579247.html

.This doesn't look good at all for Sony,we talking about Sony's biggest money makers.You can be a Fan or not,but it is what it is.

Oh,lets not forget, other countries may follow too.

@DigitalFortress

"The guy is a nerd beyond belief, with no sense of achievment other than to annoy the masses."

You mean, he's a Joystiq commenter?