Ever since it revealed the PS3 Slim, Sony has been rolling out a new marketing focus, repositioning the system as a "total entertainment device." Sony's Pete Dille has been speaking to the LA Times, and he believes that the PlayStation 3 will "own" entertainment while still keeping a focus on games. I'm getting some real deja vu here.
"We have been a game company for years and we would never walk away from that, but research confirmed there is a larger proposition under our nose," says the senior marketing VP. "We wanted to reposition as a total entertainment solution. We felt like we can really own entertainment.
"A year or two ago, the idea of an all-in-one media hub was kind of a foreign idea among the mass market. Today thanks to new technologies like the iPhone, we've warmed up to the idea of products that meet all our multimedia needs."
Oh! That feeling of deja vu has just kicked in again, and I've magically remembered why this seems so familiar. This is the exact same marketing strategy Sony tried to pull when the PS3 first launched. You remember, the marketing strategy that failed? The marketing strategy Sony itself said had confused developers and consumers so much that Sony had to come out and explicitly state it was a game platform? Yeah, that one! The one that made people wonder what, exactly, the PS3 was supposed to be. This really isn't repositioning the PS3 at all, it's falling back on a failed marketing method and hoping it works better a second time around.
Well ... best of luck to them!
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
1:20 PM on 08.31.2009
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Do you remember the PS3 marketing campaign around it's launch? It was, well, absolutely fucking retarded.
Makes them look bad and for people who don't know any better (people who don't read gaming news, people who aren't in the industry, because while we knew what it was, the general public didn't and publishers didn't know who the market was), they'll be even more confused.
Or he just says stupid things in the hopes that alot of people will respond.
That strategy didn't work before because the console was expensive. Now the price is right and the moment although not exactly perfect it's a lot more appropriate because increasingly everyone has an HD TV at home.
That's why they are going after the older (30+) demographics who are more interested in blu-ray and non-game related media. Microsoft is reaching this segments through Netflix for example. Anyway, either you like or not Sony is in the game to make money and going through this route is undeniably the best strategy. You are a games writer anyway so I don't expect you to agree with this stuff.
The gamer audience, already know about the price-drop and probably also know all about the console and its exclusives. Advertising games on TV is fine to spike the consumer interest from time to time, but putting it along a price drop is like mixing oil and vinegar. It's a wasted opportunity.
But i hope it succeed, and Home becomes a hit and MS changes the Gold Subscription fees.
Oh, the dreams.
Also, are half of these people in the comments for real?
Stop hating on *insert console manufacturer here* and take *insert console manufacturer's* cock out of your mouth and just report the news!
And as was said before, A LOT of things will fail at a $600 price point that might see success at half the coin.
I mean, we could say Sony failed at selling SYSTEMS at $600 so why bother trying now?!
They'd be better off trying a 1950's esque commercial: "BUY the Sony Playstation 3, because it's FUN!" + picture of guy with smiles and thumbs up.
Now?
- $299 Price
- Tons of BluRays + HD-DVD Dead
- Tons of AAA, AA, A Games
- Slim
and honestly, their commercials are 10 times better than the goth crying baby. So I think this time they are going to kill on the holidays.
Here is a company that expects the onw trick to work every single time, without fail, without repercussion. I own all three systems for multiple differing reasons, and it seems that while MS and N want to change the game a little bit and evolve the industry with the changing times, Sony seems to be locked in this "glory days" kind of mentality that inevitably casts them in a rather pathetic shadow.
Seriously, all console manufacturers have faults, this is a known fact and very indisputable at that. However, Sony comes off as the "Uncle Rico" of the industry to me, and it makes me a little sad to see how they refuse to adapt there strategy as a company instead of just adapting their hardware and selling it under the same pretenses that worked almost a decade ago. Times are different, even if the game itself hasn't changed all that much.
If they keep showing ads like the recent ones this marketing stratagy should actually work this time.
You sound like a fanboy Jim. Careful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIKZxDirQ-E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL1xTcQwu-8
no backwards compatibility for PS2
no option to install another operating system
no netflicks or other movie deal (as far as I know)
it's not just funny that they are going back to their old marketing strategy, it's funny because that old marketing strategy doesn't apply anymore. it is so much LESS than "do everything" now then it was in the past.
honestly, a PlayStation 3 add should be a 10 second back-end of a PS3 exclusive title commercial. If they had learned anything from the past, it should have been you don't advertise a console like you would a TV or a computer. You advertise it on it's games.
No one "doesn't know" that PS3's play Blu-Rays or PS3 games. It's obvious. What people need to know are about the games that are coming out for it. PS2 could skimp on that because it's list of exclusives and mascots were much more well-known. There was a long-line of banner carriers for the PS2, so Sony just took that for granted.
Now, flash forward to the PS3. Who are the banner carriers? Kilzone 2? There's no *character* there. Ratchet & Clank? They could be. Watch the trailers, and it's the sort of thing that could easily draw the Pixar crowd. But sadly, they aren't getting the push. Uncharted/Infamous? Maybe, but not really distinctive enough to give the sort of instant recognition that is needed for the job. Anyone else up for the job?
Sony needs to find a face for the console or as far as gaming consoles or it'll always be third in line. It needs someone that can stand next to Halo, Gears, and basically the entire Nintendo cast. People need to know why they are buying the system, i.e. the games that define it. If you buy a 360 you are a Halo fan. If you buy a Wii you are a Nintendo fan. If you buy a PS3.... what?
"It does everything..." aka you are one of those people who buys cutting edge technology even if it going to be minimally supported for the foreseeable future and will become dramatically shorter in a not-too-distant future.
Which is EXACTLY what people who bought a launch PS3 did. They bough cool tech, with minimal support, that has suddenly become dramatically cheaper. This market is much smaller and typically not overlapping the gamer market. And apparently, this is the market they are still going after.
And it's not like there is no truth to it. Stretching it? How much stretch depends on how much you like the product. But yes, there is some stretching involved. That's also the nature of the marketing game.
As for streaming entertainment, the PSN interface is crap by any objective standard, and features little more than played-out, bad B-movies from Sony-owned studios.
Jim's right about this one. It's a gaming device, and a decent Blu-ray player. It's good for nothing else.
If Sony marketed the hell out of Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank, Assassin's Creed 2 and the God of War collection this holiday would that change your mind?
The moment of the ps3 being the "affordable" multimedia option is gone.
if I wanted to upgrade to bluray, what compelling reason would there to be to buy a 300 dollar ps3 over an 80 dollar bluray player?
All Sony can use multimedia functionality for now is to give sony fanboys ammo to fling when they need to prove the "superiority" of their console to every other offering on the market.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10825995
Fuck off.
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDPS500-Bravia-Theater-Blu-ray/dp/B001NK9EPS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=tv&qid=1251759386&sr=1-4
Prices are falling, idiot.
Seriously, though. I use my PS3 as a "total entertainment device" and it is awesome. Just take the USB cord to my external hard drives and plug them into the PS3 and BAM! Full HD movies, television shows and music for free from the magic internet. It has more than paid for itself.
"Sony needs to find a face for the console or as far as gaming consoles or it'll always be third in line. It needs someone that can stand next to Halo, Gears, and basically the entire Nintendo cast."
Kratos.
Boom, commercial 1. Done.
Next commercial, shows all of the exclusive games only. Lots of video clips of gameplay. Then at the end, have that quick little list of all the stuff it does. Y'know, the Blu-ray etc. Everything bit.
Bam, commercial 2. Done.
Here's an extra one that I didn't need to even get paid to think up.
Number 3, combine 'em both. These systems don't have this, that and the other thing, look at all the flashy lights! CHEAP! WOOOO!
Commercial 3. Done!
Watch the fucking sales climb.