Sony
What you’ve heard
Sony wins E3! It doesn’t even have anything to do with games, it’s the fact that they respect the gamer. While Microsoft was off telling us how they are going to spy on us, control our games, not let us resell, and not let us play used games, Sony told us what we wanted to hear; that they respect us as gamers and are not going to do that crap. Sony understands! They have promised us that we will own our disc games and they are never going to do anything to restrict our ability to play them. That’s all we needed to hear!
Except
Sony? You know you’re talking about SONY right? Look don’t get me wrong, they were the clear favourite of E3 and they said exactly what they needed to capitalize on how poorly Microsoft has given the message of the “always on” Xbox One, but … SONY. They got a standing ovation for saying the PlayStation 4 doesn’t have any hard stop on playing used games, which is great until you remember that neither does the PS3, which is why all Sony games have online passes PREVENTING YOU FROM PLAYING USED COPIES OF THEM. And although they said they would discontinue that practice in the future, they hadn't said that when the ovation happened. This is the company that told us we could install any operating system we wanted on the PS3, and then changed their mind a year after release with an update they forced on everyone, breaking a lot of people’s PS3s in the process. This is the company that spent millions of dollars putting someone in jail because he restored that feature. This is the company that installed root kits (for the non-computer people, the absolute worst type of virus) on our computers to spy on us and see if we stole music. I could go on and on. Sony has been given a lot of opportunities to do right by the customer in the past and at every point they have chosen to screw them instead. They are a world leader in DRM investment and implementation, the driving force behind DHCP (a DRM technology for TVs) and were the first big gaming company to change their EULA so that you can’t sue them as a class action … after a hack leaked the user information of over 40 million people and resulted in 37 days of down time. Not to mention by the end of E3 they had already said they lied about two of the things they got applause for; the $399 PS4 is not necessarily the “base” model and 3rd party publishers can lock used games out of the PS4 if they want to. Oh and you now have to pay $5 a month to play games online. Oh and we said “disc games”, you totally can’t trade any digital games you buy and they have DRM locking them to your system. Champions of gamers' rights, Sony is not.
So what’s the deal?
Microsoft REALLY blew it, to the point where gamers heard what they wanted to hear and ignored the reality; Microsoft and Sony both don’t give a danm about gamers. That’s not how corporations work; they are there to make money doing whatever it takes, and in a world where 7 million people bought Skyrim (the most successful game sales wise in a long time that’s isn’t Call of Duty) while Wii Fit sold 40 million between it’s 2 skus, that has very little to do with appealing to the “core” gamer. Microsoft was very in your face about this from day one; it is very clear the Xbox One is being built for non-gamers, while Sony is doing a much better job of hiding this fact.
Microsoft (take two)
It’s OVER. The next generation war has been decided and Microsoft is out of the picture. No one is going to want an overpriced hunk of junk that can’t even play used games. No one wants a 24 hour check in. Why even bother putting this system out, it’s already lost.
Except
Microsoft stock is up 2% after E3, because what gamers saw and what investors saw was very, very different. While gamers are upset Microsoft is changing all the rules and are convinced it doesn’t have what it takes to compete with Sony for the core gamer (which may even be true), what investors saw was Microsoft positioning to compete with Apple, Google, and Steam in the only market that is going to matter in 3 years; content distribution. Imagine a world where games don’t cost $60, they cost $40 at most. A world where by waiting a few months you can pick the game up for half price, and maybe even 75% off on special sales. A world where if you really hate a video game after playing it you can return it for a refund. This is the all-digital world of Steam, and it’s fantastic. What if Microsoft had shared this vision with you, then tried to explain that it can only happen in a world where you can’t resell your used game (or buy used games) but it was worth giving that up. I think we would have been a bit more forgiving, seeing as tens of millions of people buy Steam's non-tradeable games right freaking now.
So what’s the deal
Instead of talking about this brave new world, they opened the conversation by screaming YOU BITCHES CAN’T SELL YOUR GAMES ANY MORE, SUCK IT and for this they deserve the backlash they are getting. Bottom line however, digital is the future and Microsoft has a digital strategy that works. We as gamers don’t like it much with good reason, but that’s mostly because everyone hates change and the change in this case is the core gaming no longer being the focus of a games company. Microsoft knows this, and isn't concerned. E3 doesn't really have an impact on the overall success of a system - and even if it does and Sony is the first to sell out, this isn't about the first million sales or even the first 10 million sales. In 8 years, it's going to be about who was the first to 40 million sales (The Xbox 360 hit 10 million sales before the PS3 hit 5 million, but today they are neck and neck at about 70 million each), and who is able to deliver more product to the installed base while keeping as much of the profit as possible. Microsoft has shown investors how it's going to do this; interactive TV, digital distribution, and true innovation. Sony showed them the 15 year old disc based model they hope is going to do them another 10 years.
Nintendo
The Wii U has NOTHING. Sure, we say a incredible line up of games, but nothing until late 2013 and most of them were games without a release date coming next year at best. What are they thinking! There is NO reason to buy a Wii U right now, and that’s not changing any time soon up to and including the critical holiday season. This is just stupid! How could they not have their own games ready by now, they have had 4+ years to develop them. Nintendo is DOOOOOOMED.
Except
No, that’s pretty much accurate. Except the last part. Look, the media just doesn’t GET Nintendo, and it’s easy to show why.
So what’s the deal?
Bioshock: Infinite was one of the best games ever made, with ground breaking advancements in first person game play, some of the best graphics we have seen to date anywhere, a orchestrated score on par with anything you seen on the big screen (and some licensed music to boot), advancement in AI, and a truly epic and gripping story. It was a true pinnacle of both art and gameplay and as video games go, its doesn’t really get much better. It wasn’t cheap though, with its estimated cost to market being around $150 million including promotion. Still, it paid off; only 2 months in and before any sales, DLC, or price drops it had sold 3 million copies across its 3 SKUs (PC, Xbox, PS3). Wow, big success right? Meanwhile, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a Nintendo game that cost less than $10 million to make, features graphics out of the GameCube era and mostly 16 bit music, and gameplay consists of walking around town collecting bugs and rocks. Sometimes you go fishing. It sold 4 million copes on its opening weekend in Japan alone (before it’s North America release) and is responsible for anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 3DS sales. The NA release has 200,000 pre-orders. This is not a rare thing for Nintendo. New Super Mario Brothers Wii sold 27 million and Mario Kart Wii sold 37 million despite being the exact same game everyone who bought them already owns. Nintendo simply has, and always has had, a license to print money as they need it. In fact, for global sales numbers going back to NES days, the first 15 slots are owned by Nintendo and number 11 is freaking Nintendogs (which outsold titles like GTA on the PS2 and any single call of duty Sku.) This allows them a bigger liberty when making triple A games; they can deal with a few months or even a few years of failure and slow starts, funded by the fact that they can release the Wii Fit board at $100 and sell 40 million of them, with a total development cost less than what EA spends on most trailers. I think they are going to be A-OK.
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