Topic: Hardware no more

Despite slowing sales of the Wii U, it's still fairly early for people to be calling for the demise of Nintendo. But I guess its popular to jump onto the biased bandwagon the press seem to have against Nintendo these days. Games are what sells a system, and its fairly obvious to all but the uninformed, that after this drought, sales will sky-rocket once the Triple A titles hit the shops. However all this talk about Nintendo not making hardware any more is just plain silly, especially with the games that will be coming out and the huge war chest of cash they have to spend. I own a PS3 & a Wii U, and I use the former mainly for streaming movies and watching Blurays now, since there aren't many games out that interest me, and the Wii U, being new and fresh, for Zombi U, Miiverse, Mario, Nintendoland, and recently Ninja Gaiden.

The way I see it, is the console race is heading towards a two man race between Microsoft & Nintendo, with Sony leaving the hardware business depending on the success or failure of the PS4, my reasons are below. Feel free to discuss:

Sony is more likely to drop out of the hardware business than Nintendo. There is only so long they can continue to keep making consoles and selling them at a loss, couple with the following:
It's lost its leadership in key areas of consumer electronics such as cameras & televisions, in the face of insurmountable competition from Samsung and other manufacturers.
Sony has suffered from four years of operating at a loss, and every area of its business faces stiff competition, with almost all of their divisions losing money. Sony can't afford to cut prices due to the non-existent margins on the Vita and the company’s long-term sales slump.
PS Vita is an expensive flop (sales are less than the PSP this year)
Sony has lost the last generations console race
Price of the PS4 whilst unannounced is more than likely, given Sony's track record, going to be extremely expensive.

So does Nintendo.

Different divisions. Do Samsung make game consoles too?

Source?

Which is why they cut prices today on the Vita in Japan.

Source that it is a flop?

Source?

How can Sony have lost a console race when

it hasn't even started yet
They got nothing but goodwill from the play station meeting
Microaoft hasn't shown their wares yet
The Wii U isn't doing so hot

Yeah I know it's hard for a Sony fanhead to agree with you but most of the time they're just too stubborn to realize that this will be a reality check in the next few years

You do realize that Sony's imaging and insurance division are doing really well. Its just at this point the TV divsion that needs an overhaul. The mobile division is doing questionable and despite it meaning nothing is third place when it comes to android OEMS.

Also who's to say the Wii U won't flop like someone in the premier league.

I'm not really close to being a Sony fanboy but never count anyone out in consumer electronics.

Simple google search will provide you with all the answers to your questions, but happy to do the legwork for you. As I said its a discussion and an alternative opinion to the Nintendo is doomed.

[quote=Hyrule]

3ds & Wii U first Nintendo in the long line of Ninty consoles to ever be sold at a loss. 3ds sold at profit now, Wii U sold at profit with one game. PS Vita still sold at a loss as is the PS3 (http://www.play-mag.co.uk/latest-playstation-news/sony-still-selling-ps3s-at-a-loss/)

I mentioned the other areas of consumer electronics that make up the rest of Sony business for example cameras and TV's, areas Sony was previous a market leader, whereas now it is a poor imitation of its previous self. These key areas make up the majority of Sony's revenue.

Check on bloomberg, credit rating set to junk status, over eight consecutive quarters of losses.

Japan only, smallest market in comparison to Europe & America. If it could afford to cut prices worldwide, why didn't it?

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/sony-admits-ps-vita-is-currentl...
Just an example

Edited, was talking about last generation Wii/Xbox360/PS3. Pretty sure the Xbox 360 has pulled ahead in terms of overall worldwide sales, correct me if I'm wrong.

It was pretty big news a little while ago that PS3 sales pulled ahead of overall Xbox sales. That may have changed since, but I know that this was still fairly recent.

That news was PlayStation 3 catching to Xbox 360, not surpassing it.

Why is there a post about Sony being doomed in the Wii U forum? Honestly I thought we were trying to minimise this kind of crap.

I'm pretty tired, so I really don't want to go into this in too much depth, but, if you look into Sony's business and cross reference with broad market trends for consumer electronics, you'll see that is is making the right moves.

It's pulling focus away from low-margin hardware sales and instead focusing on providing content. It's shifting the content conversation towards cloud, which is generally a better-performing business option for content providers. It has gone through the difficult transition to bring all of its business units and technology onto the same page, so they are now all leveraging off the once back end architecture - the SEN.

Transforming an entire business of the size of Sony from old business models to new ones is not a quick, nor cheap process. It's the underlying reason that Sony has struggled for so long financially. But the company recently posted a quarterly profit and its share price has risen overall so far this year, indicating the worst is behind it.

While I agree that the PS4 is critical for Sony, I'm not sure you have a deep enough understanding of corporate strategy and the technology industry to form a qualified opinion about Sony's future. I don't say that to be mean, but merely to explain that what's going on behind the scenes is different to the random links that you've provided here.

Why are Sony and Nintendo the only companies people see dropping out? I know Microsoft has a lot of money lying around but why is the next Xbox a gaurenteed success anymore than Wii U or PS4? Also if memory serves me then Xbox came in last by a little bit this gen.

Microsoft won't drop out out of the console industry because Microsoft has visions of Xbox being more than a game console. Microsoft wants the Xbox to be the 'Microsoft experience' in the home, and you'll see it build more and more features like video conferencing, non-gaming entertainment, online features and so forth into it.

It might not even be fair to call the Xbox of the future a game console, but it's going to exist. Microsoft has bet its entire consumer business on that brand.

I hate Doom and Gloom articles. Personally dont wish either to go under as it would just be bad for gaming in general.

I miss the 90s. Gamers were less vindictive with consoles back then. With the Wii U it's best to make a status call after April when the rest of the launch games comes and PS4 at least 3 months after release for similar reason.

how so? lets say this is sony/microsofts last console. will their 1st party devs just quit making games? no. it seems that it would be better for the consumer because that's 1 less console to buy because of exclusive content.

Well lets be honest, if Sony/MS call it quits who is to say that there would be 200+ million people by Nintendo/Steam consoles ? Where would the capitol come from for these developers if Sony/MS wasnt shelling out the cash ?

You dont have to own multiple consoles but the majority of us do. I for one will not be purchasing any more "next gen" consoles simply because I have a huge backlog going back to Saturn days and refuse to waste more cash on another round of consoles that require me to purchase more 60 dollar controllers that offer nothing over the previous gen.

I'll be honest, I have no clue about how games are financed. On your other point, if MS/Sony goes under I doubt their fans will give up gaming completely. They'll move on to the next system. And consumers will have any easier time deciding between 2 consoles instead of 3. I don't plan to buy another next gen console as of now but I know Quantic Dreams and Naught Dog's next gen offerings will be very tempting.

I don't know if Sony will drop out, but if they do, Nintendo's gone too. Now, modern society thinks a "gamer" is someone who goes "OMG OMG OMG HARDOCRE FRIK EVERYBODY WHO PLAYS MARIO GAMES FOR BABIES PLAY SOME HARDCORE COD! IF IT'S E10+ OR T, ITS A BABY GAME. EVERYBODY WHO OWNS A NINTENDO CONSOLE CAN GO FRIG THEMSELVES" which means that they will be forced to buy a xbox, which will not be good news for Nintendo.

@pntjr I can't say I agree with that 100%, but remember, if Sony drops out, then both Xbox AND Nintendo will get more customers. Either that or they'll just play PS3 games forever.

Sony will be fine. They've still got a big pile of George Michael money