RSSSquare Enix Frustrated With PS3 Marketing
By Ed Oswald | Published September 7, 2007, 11:48 AM
Square Enix president Yoichi Wada took Sony to task Friday, saying the future success of the PlayStation 3 console may be in doubt "if its marketing strategy is not straightened up."
The PS3 was initially marketed as a home entertainment product, however pressure from game developers has caused Sony to market the device more as a gaming machine. The resulting confusion has some game developers upset, including Yoichi.
Square Enix is the game developer behind Final Fantasy, one of the most successful game franchishes on the PlayStation platform. If the company is not happy, it could easily port these titles to another platform, further damaging hopes of the PS3's recovery.
It would not be the first time that something like this has happened. Many developers who had signed up to produce launch exclusives for the PS3 instead decided to release versions for the Xbox 360 as well when it became apparent the console would be delayed.
While Yoichi has not come out and said that Square Enix would abandon the PS3, his comments sound like a stern warning to Sony to figure out ways to be more competitive.
Japanese gamers may finally be warming up to the PS3 -- or cooling off on the Wii -- if statistics from gaming magazine Enterbrain are any indication. In June, the console was being outsold six-to-one, while that number fell to four-to-one in July.
In the most recent survey for August, the figure has shrunk again to three to one. However, looking at the actual numbers tells a different story. In July, 91,987 PS3's were sold. Only 82,000 were sold this month. Thus, the falling ratio has more to do with less Wiis being sold than a broader interest in the PS3.
"With the competition in Japan being between the Wii and PS3, Sony's total decimation in the market isn't sitting well with third-party publishers that have major costly titles set up for the PS3," Alexander Sliwinski wrote for the blog Joystiq. "The PS3 may be doing better, but it's still not doing well."
At first glance this looks like a fresh batch of FUD, but if you look closely there are some legitimate concerns on the table here. If Square Enix, mighty as it is, should port FFXIII to the 360 (or crazier yet, dumb it down for the Wii using the same tricks I hear Ninty's Retro team pulled for 'Metroid Prime Corruption') then those who own the platform to which Final Fantasy departs to will follow it there and Sony will lose a truckload of customers.
Or worse, Square Enix will choose a platform for a new exclusive deal, thus completely breaking contract with Sony and the PS3 will be forced off the market not too far afterward with no reason leftm to live - and the damage to Sony will be in freakin' TRIPLICATE to the point where the company will be forced either to close or liquidate either its videogame hardware business OR IT'S ENTIRE FREAKIN' SELF.
In other words, if you thought Sony Corp. was in trouble already, you ain't seen nothin' yet. MARK MY WORDS: Sony's days are numbered. It's freaikin' over now. And if you ask me, I doubt even the storied Japanese electronics/media giant known as Sony can even survive THIS.
Heed my words, Playstation fans: THE END IS NEAR. And for Christ's sweet sake, PLEASE don't say I didn't warn you...
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"the company will be forced either to close or liquidate either its videogame hardware business OR IT'S ENTIRE FREAKIN' SELF."
I agree on the video games department is most likely through, but I doubt this very much for Sony as a whole.
Look at sega, they lost all grounds in the hardware department. But in software they are still alive and relatively well.
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Uh how is the Xbox360 looking so good isn't the Wii stomping it too?
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When Square left Nintendo for the Playstation platform, it helped devastate the Nintendo 64 console.
Where Square goes, so tend to follow other RPG developers, and RPG players are a very devoted group to their RPG developers. It wouldn't bother us at all to buy a new console just to follow them.
Personally, I'd love them to move the franchise back to Nintendo again, because the Wii platform is fantastic and perfect for some RPG innovation.
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Agreed. I believe Working Designs single-handedly saved the Sega CD (or at least gave it a new lease on life) with the Lunar series when that add-on seemed doomed to die a slow death. The extremely beautiful re-releases on the PlayStation were a testament to how popular they were... a real treasure for the loyal fans of the genre.
As far as moving back to Nintendo, that would be nice. The Wii would be a fun console to experience Final Fantasy on... but I'm betting they probably have some high hopes for some serious HD graphics which the Wii simply can't offer, sadly.
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But I could see some serious fun watching people try to pull limit-breaks (ala FF8?) by frantically waving the Wiimote around. :)
360 is the likely candidate for Square if they leave Sony. Or perhaps they'll go multi-platform, and develop a (slightly) different game for each console. :P
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Well at least the PS3 would make a really nice looking headstone.
I remember before the PS3 was first released Sony made the announce (can't remember what venue) and people were upset at the way they did it. Sony realized they started to dig a hole for themselves so instead of changing tactics and fixing it, they bring in some loaders and excavators to help dig the hole. I knew then this was going to be good.
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When the 360 was released didn't they say something like
"The next generation doesn't start until we say it starts"?
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Yep, they did, and that's what's happening. Since Nov'06, Sony have erroded 50% of 360's marketlead.
Sales of the 360 have pretty much stalled. They did 10 million in the first year, and how long has it taken to get to 12 million so far?
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conveniently didn't mention the Nintendo Wii
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You raise an interesting point. You are absolutely correct. Sadly the Ps3 is only doing half as good as the 360 :'(
http://www.vgchartz.com/
It looks like the PS3 will struggle to get even 5M units its first year...
And don't even get me started on the wii. The wii will have the same number of sales as the 360 AND PS3 combined in half a year, IMO.
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Ways to be more competitive, COME OUT WITH SOME GAMES!
thank you that is all...
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Great idea! The problem is that a good game can cost tens of millions to develop. Game companies are not willing to make such a huge commitment unless it's for a well established gaming platform. At the moment the PS3 does not fit the bill. That's not even taking into account the fact that the PS3 is more complex and difficult to program games on than the Xbox360 or Wii.
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Hence the demise of the Sega Saturn. Who cares how revolutionary or powerful the system is for its day and age? If software developers are frustrated with the hardware or the development tools for it, it's over. About the only developers that knew how to efficiently code for the Saturn were Sega's own in-house development team, and they struggled with it. I see the same thing happening here.
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I wasn't a big fan of the Sega Saturn. I was still a Nintendo kid at the time. Now the Sega Dreamcast, that was a beautiful machine. I still play Grandia and Bomberman on my Dreamcast sometimes. :P
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I think i also read somewhere that Nintendo was shifting production to make more for the USA, which would account for lower Wii sales totals. Let's face it, the Wii owns Japan. The rest of the world is still up for grabs, although the Wii continues to dominate the sales everywhere.
But still, bragging that you are only getting outsold 3::1 is pretty bad!
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Why would it be lower wee sales totals? The Wii is still selling out in the USA whenever it becomes available.
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Wii sales totals in Japan
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I am REALLY curious to hear the response on this one...
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FUD FUD FUD
;-)
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"In July, 91,987 PS3's were sold. Only 82,000 were sold this month. Thus, the falling ratio has more to do with less Wiis being sold than a broader interest in the PS3."
LOL
Even with their fire sale their numbers are low, sad....
Man, Sony is royally fu(k!ng up this time around. I'm still willing to buy one of these things, but that damn lack of games is holding me back. Entertainment center my as$, I'll stick to my 360 with HD-DVD for that.
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Dave? You there? Hello...Dave??
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Dave is not, but ill chime in....i think things are alright for Sony right now....they are still making a buttload of money on the PS2....games are now coming out for the PS3 and the no games excuse is becoming less and less accurate....
Blu-Ray sales are looking good, and they still hold a significant lead in HD format sales which will help the PS3....I dont think Sony is worried one bit
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But the hardware required for the next FF game requires that of either the xbox360 or ps3, not sure if the WII could handle it or not.
Square is the ones who are worried not Sony, so it doesn't matter if Sony is worried, IF Square decides that Sony has failed and leaves its going to push ps3 down further into obscurity.
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Sony is far from alright. The losses on the PS3 are so bad it is swallowing any profit that they have made in another division. They were making pretty good money on their TVs' and now those sales have dropped off significantly. Their battery division is probably losing as much or more than the PS3! The only thing that is actually doing well in Sony right now is the PS2. They might be making a little money on camcorders or something small like that. But there is no way they are making enough to make up for the losses elsewhere.
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Square will adapt without hesitation if they have to... when Nintendo announced that N64 was going to be cartridge based instead of CD based, they were pissed and left for Playstation.
What Wii may lack in raw power, Wii makes up for in sales, games, and innovation.
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True, but man the screens for ff13 for ps3 looked like a reason to maybe finally buy one.
It would be a shame to lose how beautiful it looked.
I am sure with some tweaks it would be ok on the xbox360. The Wii though, I dunno, the experience probably better on the wii but the graphics might not be as good.
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"I dont think Sony is worried one bit"
Really? Because, if I were them, I would be. Their hottest newest piece of technology, which was supposed to be the new backbone of the whole company, that they expected to be selling hotter than crack on "buy one rock, get the second one free" day, sits on shelves. Add in the fact that they dropped the price and killed two SKUs in less than a year... Yea, Sony should be worried.
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Yes i am here HAL
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I can't argue with you on that point. Either way, between Xbox 360 and Wii, Square-Enix will be on the winning side.
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"It would be a shame to lose how beautiful it looked."
If Square Enix decided to release it on the Xbox 360 instead, I'm sure it would only look better.
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not based on any game on the 360. the graphics for killzone and ff13 are crazy and have yet to see something close with the 360. gears is about where it topped up.
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The graphics on most 360 games are impressive, especially compared to the over-hyped graphics capabilities of the PS3 (a testament to the "cutting edge" GeForce 7800-based GPU it uses).
To even remotely entertain the notion that the same game on both systems couldn't look better on the 360's superior GPU is quite humorous.
There are several examples to be found. Here's a couple:
http://www.gamespot.com/...ures/6171831/index.html
http://www.gamebrink.com...eenshot-comparison.html
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well the first link proves my point thanks. did you look at the comparison shots? the 360 is nice a blurry im sure 360 owners dont mind that tho... because its most hyped series is going to have another installment with breathtaking graphics right? ... guess not.
as well the first link says the shots were done in 720p, ps3 was designed to output in 1080p with hdmi.. the 360 is the one designed for 720 so the differences could have been even more noticable.
the second link does not compare the same games... sure same scenery but not the same games.
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What the balls does 1080p have anything to do with this? Both systems are capable of it, and apparently since all the 360 needed was a firmware upgrade (which came out almost a year ago), it was designed for it also. Almost all games are released in 720p, on both systems... a benefit to Sony, to be sure.
The second link proves that you're clueless. Your idea of "blurry" is called "proper anti-aliasing and HDR lighting" by educated individuals, which the PS3's GPU does not do properly (or at all) without a performance hit (just like its PC counterpart). Hence, the reason why a majority of games will be released in 720p. All 1080p would succeed in doing for the PS3 is show off the jagged edges more clearly, because of the PS3's insufficient bandwidth and memory to run at that resolution with full effects enabled.
Almost every single PS3 game in those comparison shots (especially Spiderman 3) showed clear examples of that... jagged edges galore, and even missing textures! The PS3 is using an outdated last-generation GPU, which was left behind on the PC a year ago. That's what Sony gets for procrastinating and tying NVIDIA's hands behind their backs. They had no choice but to accept an outdated GPU to meet launch deadlines.
Traditionally, next-generation consoles have always touted the absolute latest in cutting-edge graphics technology, usually followed by the PC industry a few months later. Just the opposite for the PS3.
No wonder they're trying to market the console as a home entertainment unit instead of a game console. It falls short in that area.
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