Discussing real possibility. Sony leaves the race, who covers the hole?

[Tony2077]

oh my fucking lord when will the insanity stop there not going anywhere

Thought this needed quoting.

Sony has been down for a week.

YOU DON'T PAY FOR THEIR SERVICE. No one is going to successfully sue them. And if people get hissy and refuse to carry on using the console because a service they don't pay for went down because they got hacked, Then they're a bunch of assholes. Assholes who're throwing their money away.

Sony will come back from this and 2 months from now, no one will remember or care what happened.

Especially if the rumour about them returning with crossgame chat and ingame video chat are true.

People won't care.

to be honest the only thing care about right now is when will psn be back up and when will these complainer and what not disappear instead of flooding escapist with this nonsense where has the escapist i liked gone too

 

[AugustFall]

A real possibility? Like f*ck is it! It isnt the end of the world, certainly isnt the end of Play Station. Chances are, it'll just change the Network security, maybe introduce more terms of service.

Sony is making a loss on the PS3 and this new thing could cost them billions. Honestly it may not be worth it for them.
I agree with this, I don't like it (PS1 was my first console and the PS2 was the best console) but the PS3 ain't doing great and with Nintendo entering the fray with their new console so early Sony will only fall further behind.

It's a sad day but TS makes a good point.

XBox will fill the gap, it's not like we need another similar console. When the PS1 and PS2 were around there really wasn't anything else to compete with, no one was making similar games. Now with Xbox we have 2 consoles essentially putting out the same types of games. There isn't a single game type on either the Xbox or the PS3 that wouldn't work just as well on the other, not including peripherals.

Sony are making a loss on the PS3? Pretty sure that Sony started making a profit as of the end of 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ps3#Sales_and_production_costs

Profit on INDIVIDUAL PS3s yes. 2 years later. Think about that. They started off making a loss of $300 per unit for 2 years and now they have been making a profit of $160 for the last 3. Considering that the first 2 years would have been when they most likely sold the bulk of their consoles with the launch and whatnot does that add up to a net gain?
I doubt it unless they really started to push those PS3 in the last 3 years. And even they would just barely be breaking even now.
Not worth it, not by a long shot.

 

[ronald1840]

Wow, in about one weeks time every Sony "fan" seems to have lost all faith in the company. We gamers are extremely fickle and will jump on anything that moves so we're definately not hard at all to win over. Just throw in some pretty pictures and your good to go. Once these 4 things happen everything will slide back into place as if nothing happened and we'll see how strong their PS3 hate is.

Just notice who Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark are looking up to. These four groups alone will real back the former PS3 fans, some Wii fans, and even a couple of 360 owners who're curious. Sony will be just fine,I mean come on are you really gonna abandon Playstation?

 

[Deacon Cole]

I don't think anyone needs to fill the void. Consoles are kinda on their way out, I think. If Sony decides to give up at this point, it would only prove this.

 

[SPARTANXIII]

It's basically a three way split. Bit hardcore games like Uncharted and God of War would have to go to the Xbox to still keep doing what they love, both with graphics and gameplay. Some lower down games would go to Nintendo to give them their fill, helping to resurface the gold castle on Mount Super Mario. Other's may just vanish into a void, never to return.

But as he said at the top, who know's what would happen if Sony games where to disband. The three main states that would happen are:
1: The investment into add-on's like the Playstation Move will be noted as a waste of effort.
2: Many major series (Ratchet and Clank, Killzone, Uncharted, God of War) will have to decide whether to move to Microsoft, Nintendo, third party games (App's, Facebook games) or vanish into obscurity.
3: The pressure against Sony will snowball further with more court cases, suing and possibly even Sony itself running aground.

Basically, if the PSN debauchery results in the Playstation becoming scraped, it will be very dark days ahead for Sony, worse days for developers to show their craft to the last two companies, and very bright but troubling days ahead for Microsoft and Nintendo, for they will be the only ones to fight against.

 

[artanis_neravar]

I would love to see apple put out a console, but it would be so expensive. It would probably look really snazzy, though.

Apple seems to be a company that only does really well when they are the first major brand out

 

[Shirokurou]

Resurgence of Sega?
Konami Kojima platform?
Square Enix?

Oh wait for it...

PHILIPS CD-I 2

Though I think Sony will stay. I mean, they had worser cases of law trouble with Panasonic literally suing for the tech used in PS3s.
They'll suffice.

 

[DoctorPhil]

If Sony's games department disappears (wich I really really doubt will happen). I would predict that the majority of western gamers and third party developers will move to the XBox, while the Japanese third parties and gamers will switch to Nintendo. Microsoft would seize the western style game market and Nintendo would get eastern style games. For example, for FPS, you'd buy a microsoft console, for JRPGs you'd buy the Nintendo one. There'd be little competition since western and eastern style games are kinda different markets. There'd basicaly be two monopolies. This is all in theory though, as Sony's not giving up.

 

[Tony2077]

Resurgence of Sega?
Konami Kojima platform?
Square Enix?

Though I think Sony will stay. I mean, they had worser cases of law trouble with Panasonic literally suing for the tech used in PS3s.
They'll suffice.

i forgot about that they survived that i have a good feeling they'll survive this

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Apple. Hell they have their hands in everything else, Why not?

They tried before with the ill fated console called the Pippin. Since they have the Iphone/Ipad already functioning as handhelds spending out cheap apps, I don't see what their insentive would be.

 

[Snotnarok]

SEGA clearly, it'd be their big come back with the Sega Genesis MK2/Mega Ultra Drive. It'd be a flash cartridge based system. Three years later they could add a BluRay disc add on that requires an extra power brick for extra power! Yeah!!! Genesis does what Nintendon't!

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

simply because of the amount of time, they'd be working against Xbox and Nintendo, both of whom have more money, existing market share, and existing reputations with both consumers and game manufacturers, both of whom know what the consoles can do, and what they want from them.

Replace the word Xbox with Sony and you have Microsoft before the release of the Xbox. One gen later and many people prefer the 360 to the PS3, even plenty of self-proclaimed PlayStation fanboys have made the jump, myself included.

This is true but the first xBox had a one up on both of those consoles in xBox live. The online on the original xBox was like nothing we had seen before except on PC.

Done first on Dreamcast.

OT: No sony are not going to go bankrupt they have many other electronic branches. Will they pull out of console race? Magic 8 ball says "My sources say No"(joke). I don't think they will either. This will damage them for awhile but not irreparably. The 360's shocking hardware failure rate didn't stop it did it?

 

[k-ossuburb]

I dunno...

Google?

 

[artanis_neravar]

I dunno...

Google?

YES

 

[Chris646]

What do you mean the third front? Last I checked, since '85, it's only really been Nintendo or Nintendo and someone else. The Xbox was the first time a third group really succeeded in squirming its way into the console market, and that's only because Microsoft had the advertising of 'it's like video game Windows.'
And if Sony leaves, I don't think anyone will be brave enough to try and enter.

 

[Busdriver580]

It's always just been a matter of time before Blizzard builds their own console

 

[Kadoodle]

Microsoft would have a hardcore gaming monopoly, unless nintendo started publishing games instead of toys.

 

[Kadoodle]

Resurgence of Sega?
Konami Kojima platform?
Square Enix?

Oh wait for it...

PHILIPS CD-I 2

All toasters toast--spaghetti! Mah boi, this--spaghetti--is what all true--Baowzah--s strive for!

And youtube poop was reborn.

 

[The Random One]

I doubt Apple would join, this is my ownly certainty. Apple has shown over and over again it actively dislikes games.

That said, that's pretty much the only thing I'll say. Investing in a console is hella expensive and I doubt any company would have both motivation and assets to go for it. The only one who did was Microsoft, which already did. This hole might just not get filled, especially since affordable PCs and other gaming outlets (smartphones, etc) are becoming more and more ubiquitous.

I agree the most likely source would be a large hardware and/or software company, like IBM.

EDIT:

we'll see how strong their PS3 hate is.

Yes, because the only reason to discuss a catastrophic hypothetical after a major crisis is if you hate the company in question. That's why I'm sticking needles in this PS3 voodoo doll, see? Because of all my hatred! This hatred clouds my reason and stops me from comprehending hypothetical scenarios, so I assume anyone talking about such is prophezing a certainty.

 

[RheynbowDash]

Apple. Hell they have their hands in everything else, Why not?

They tried before with the ill fated console called the Pippin. Since they have the Iphone/Ipad already functioning as handhelds spending out cheap apps, I don't see what their insentive would be.

There is always the one big incentive:

Spoiler

No mater how much money you think someone is making, they are always plotting as to how they can get more.

Money is like boobs, you can never have too much.