Acclaim: Sony must develop new PS3 business strategy

  • Posted October 27th, 2008 at 08:20 EDT by
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  • 55 Comments

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Acclaim CCO David Perry has observed that Sony has learned worthwhile lessons from its setbacks with PlayStation 3, but that the firm is "rapidly running out of time" to modify its approach.

"Regardless of the position Sony is in right now, I think the lessons are all learned and they have great hardware," Perry began. "I'm also very encouraged to see them open the digital distribution store for PSP."

"I guess that's the point, the PS3 hardware is there," he went on. "and there are plenty of opportunities for Sony to disrupt in other ways, via new business models."

In Perry's view, the PS3 lags behind both Microsoft and Nintendo's machines in certain key respects. "If they stick with status quo, it's going to be an incredibly tough time for them. Microsoft is ahead with their online strategy and Nintendo is ahead with sales."

"Besides great games, I think the lessons learned are that price and accessibility are key," he concluded. "So what are Sony doing about that every day now, and what new business models will they introduce on PS3? They are rapidly running out of time to make these decisions."

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  1. Dubya_T_F

    • 8:28am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    lol, "rapidly running out of time"

    what a moron

  2. SOLWAY

    • 8:34am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    the guys spot on, its just you fanboys dont want to admit you have been let down. wait till some of you discover girls then all this will just seem silly.

  3. princevegeta1980

    • 8:35am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    ps3 is the best hardware on the market, I'll say that sony are ahead and not behind!

  4. tanner1 | OB1K

    • 8:54am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    SOLWAY, yeah ur right the 360 fanboys have really been let down in every corner except for the low budget price of the crappy "arcade" system

  5. Wuffer | Fodkoen

    • 9:03am GMT - October 27th, 2008

     Well even though Sony has the best hardware (and software IMO) the price is vital. I think Sony needs to get closer to the Wii and Xbox pricepoint. 

  6. SpyroViper

    • 9:04am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    I think acclaim are the ones needing to know how not to go bust..  *cough*

  7. d3athscyth3 | natakou

    • 9:06am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    don't get me wrong i love having my ps3 n sony..but fanboyism aside they're right. While ps3 may be the best hardware system now, what system u think a average parent/relative whatever's gonna buy for their kid price wise? when was the last time u saw a really good ps3 add that made you say "hmm i think i wanna get that system"? i blame sony advert dept (a creepy crying baby that looks like it came from f.e.a.r hmm no) unless they get the word out "properly"..& not between us ps3 owners...we're gonna start losing games 2 crapbox & even nintendo..so hurry up sony cause i have no intentions of buying any other system

  8. LegendaryAim | LegendaryAim

    • 9:34am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    this guy isnt a moron and hes right Sony probably learned that even if they introduce the best piece of hardware by miles the average consumer is basically r etarded when it comes to knowing value.i remember a bunch of people b itching an moaning about how expensive a ps3 is and not even knowing whats in it and they chose 360 and lol they all got RROD

  9. LegendaryAim | LegendaryAim

    • 9:34am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    this guy isnt a moron and hes right Sony probably learned that even if they introduce the best piece of hardware by miles the average consumer is basically r etarded when it comes to knowing value.i remember a bunch of people b itching an moaning about how expensive a ps3 is and not even knowing whats in it and they chose 360 and lol they all got RROD

  10. RabidCuj0 | RabidCuj0

    • 9:36am GMT - October 27th, 2008

     hey guys lets all buy like 3 more systems to help sony out since everyone else is a cheap bastard and gets those other two unmentionables

  11. pulga

    • 9:43am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Well I really thought Acclaim was already dead, it seems they should try to change their business strategy. About Sony, around this time the console should be aroound $199. The thing is making the PS3 was to expensive and even worst now thirdparty exclusives are rare. From what I remember Tekken, Resient Evil, Final Fantasy XIII, I think GTA4 too were exclusive and now even MGS4 seem is going to go multiplatform. So people who bought an XBOX360 arent pushed that much to buy a PS3 (I dont mention Wii cause I dont take it seriously anymore it has become like a home appliance). The only exclusives are from sony and for my taste I go for sony and MS exclusives arent that many to make me want to buy it (actaully again cause that crappy 'sheet 'died with the RROD). And I feel that price has lot to do with it too, if YOU don't buy it on your own I doubt a parent would get a PS3 for his children as mentioned before. And I don't think @d3athscyth3 that sony will lose games and specially to Nintendo, what is going to be lost are exclusives and it is what has already began. I think that the next SOny system should still go with the cell and improve it to reduce the cost in its next system instead of doing a whole new research.  And now the only thing I can think about is price cutting. Other than that I am quite happy with my PS3 and I really havent seen in the previous system i owned  so many good games being release in a short period of time XD.

  12. CSUPSU

    • 9:45am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    I'm a PS3 fanboy, and I have to say, most of what these guys say is true...mostly, the price is what deters parents/cheapskates from buyin' the PS3...and to be honest, most of todays market is comprised of "cheapskates"...or, what I'd like to call, Smart Shoppers...

  13. kalitos

    • 9:57am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Sony has a long term strategy, unlike microsoft that rushed their console out before it was ready; what did the consumer get? (I included) a poorly made product that brakes down at dramaticly vast count worldwide. Nintendo on the other hand is probably a good product but not appealing to such extent as the PS3 is

  14. gingo | gingo

    • 10:04am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    psn id: gingo.... the guy is right in the fact that sony must change their business model but i think they have plenty of time still to do it although the lagging behind of sales must be worrying for sony

  15. MikeDizzle

    • 10:05am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Man my friend has caught RROD 4 times.

  16. Whippy1988

    • 10:10am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Well you get what you pay for....and that says alot about the s**tbox 360

  17. mcwups1

    • 10:30am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Bought my PS3 in December of 2006.  Damn thing died on Friday.  I have to pay $150, and wait a month before I get someone elses refurbished crap.

    So, I bought another one, but it doesn't have near the options my 60 gig had.  Sony needs to do a better job with their hardware too.  Just like the PS2 having problems within a year with generic lasers, the PS3 looks like garbage as well.

    We pay all this money, and we get an inferior product.  Now, don't get me wrong....I had a 360, and got rid of it well before that piece of crap had the chance to die on me.  We deserve better.

  18. morrelli43 | ONEmanFIGHTclub

    • 10:33am GMT - October 27th, 2008

     no poop mr holmes

  19. IceShade | Ice_Shade

    • 10:36am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Haha! This advice coming from a company that hasn't made anything worthwhile since NBA JAM.

     

    @7: who the h3ll wants little kids to play the PS3 anyway? I think bluetooth headsets should be rated Mature themselves so whiny little 13 year olds can't scream in my ear while I'm trying to fight terrorism, save villagers, etc.

  20. Staticneuron | Staticneuron

    • 10:55am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Run out of time...... for what?

  21. tmac032986 | tmac032986

    • 11:19am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Acclaim makes crap games anyway... who cares what they think.

  22. Righteous

    • 11:27am GMT - October 27th, 2008

    i think Acclaim should worry about their business, rather than worry about other company's busnesses. from the looks of things their own busness doesn't look too hot

  23. sixfistsocko

    • 11:36am GMT - October 27th, 2008

     I'm not going to seriously consider this guy's opinion on console games when his company has never developed anything except online MMORPGs for pre-teens. Acclaim Games has nothing to do with Acclaim Entertainment except they bought the name for $100,000 in 2006.

     

    Maybe he's sad you can't play MyDivaDoll using the PS3 internet browser.

  24. FatherOfOne

    • 12:16pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    At #17. 

    I bought a launch system 60GB and mine also just died.  I have a bit of a different take than you.  My take is that Sony is going to repair my PS3 for only $150 when it is out of warranty and have it back to me (today).  It was a little over a week.  I "could" have gone out and bought another one, but why?  I considered $150 a great deal and 10 days isn't that bad.  Granted I wish Rock Band wasn't DRM'd, and because of that I "might" loose my save, but that isn't Sonys problem. 

    I do agree that the ONLY limiting factor with the PS3 that Sony can change now is the price point.  A $300 PS3 this Christmas would do a world of good for sales, but if it kills Sony financially to do it then that obviously doesn't make sense.

  25. Intervention

    • 12:20pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    I agree with the article, bought my PS3 on launch and til this day only own two games. Played all the demos and havn't found one worth buying. Only thing I use it for anymore is a Blu-Ray player.

  26. irg7620

    • 12:30pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Didn't Acclaim go belly up not too long ago?  What gives them the right to complain about Sony's business strategies?  And besides,  Sony is getting ready to start using the smaller Cell chip first of next year.  That's a money maker right there with less material to make and use.

  27. evilmonkey501 | evilmonkey501

    • 12:32pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    this article is legit....microsoft will stop at nothing to destroy its competition...what will sony do?  "Let it happen",  like its current strategy ? 

  28. Demobot

    • 12:57pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    I can't believe how blind you ps3 fanboys are. Are you not seeing how poorly the PS3 is doing compared to the PS2 and PS1. After a year on the market no one was buying a ps1 with the PS2 around.  And Sony Still hasn't learned to make proper support tools for game development like M$ has. Granted the PS3 is a marvel of forward thinking. But that alone can't save them. Making games isn't cheap and making them on the PS3 doesn't help either.

  29. ryuken

    • 1:08pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    wow, what a mo. Sony made their product to last I bet MS will come out with a new system in a year or so just to keep up with the PS3 or they'll make you buy add ons to make it even uglier. I'm sad about all the non-exclusive titles coming out and the (rumered ones) but I'm Happy about my PS3 and all the games out and about I've been very busy gaming lately! and their future is bright they have time to see whats coming. Also Sony doesnt need to make a cheap system for the holidays, those parents out there going cheap, I feel sorry for your kids getting 360's so so not cool.

  30. TekkenLord | HitMan00

    • 1:33pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    major r-tard, instead of talking about sony talk about how your company need to bring out some good games.

  31. marronthered | MarrontheRed

    • 1:50pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    stupid fanboy dlcks on this site!

  32. dj_sup3r1or | sup3r1or

    • 2:16pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    It is time you agree guys! Face the fact that PS3 sales are falling and they actually might loose this gen war. I have only PS3 but can see the disadvantages in their strategy

  33. jimimick | jimimick

    • 2:28pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    I agree with Solway the ps3 is the best 'hardware' on the market but doesnt have the amount of software 2 keep up! Sony has started to claim bck over the past recent months but now the realy need to start and push harder to 'crush the 360' ;)

    lol no but they do need to give it all theve gt!

  34. jocomat9 | jocomat10

    • 2:36pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    hope they surprise us with the SLIM PS3!

  35. jocomat9 | jocomat10

    • 2:36pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    ooops double post

  36. Arimax

    • 2:44pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

     You price isn't the only thing wrong. It's the fact that sony is marketing the thing as a all in one type system. Which isn't a good thing with the playstation sony just needs to focus on the core that's the games. 

     

    Price did play a factor in this as well to, and for those that call these people cheapskates look at how the economy is now in america. Some people can't afford things like they use to. People need the important stuff in life like food, house, clothes, books, other crap. 

     

    I can kind of tell that some of you guys that make these comments. You aren't old enough to understand that type of stuff just yet. 

     

     

  37. markwesker

    • 2:56pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    i have to agree aswell,everyone was saying sony can lose the first year to microsoft but not the second or they will be just too far behind.sony cant keep losing every year in sales and win its simple maths.they need a massive price cut or how long will it be till the exclusive games we got stop supporting the console with the lowest install base.as a sony fan i wanna see the install base rise to keep exclusive games and hopefully convince some more studio`s to develop ps3 only games.sony should watch the news and see there`s a world recession,people who have money arnt even buying expensive goods.

  38. Xandure | Xandure

    • 4:25pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    I can understand why price might be a factor in this gen considering the state of the economy, but w/e i work for a living and i live alone, i also have two ps3's one for my living room and one for my bedroom, ive had my 60gig since launch and it already failed on me once, well i also replaced the 60gig with a 320gig ,and as for my 80gig i switched it out with a 120gig, ive also managed to purchase most if not all of the ps3 games including the blu-ray and download versions, i know ive invested over a couple thousand on my home theater too, so i cant understand why everyone is complaing about price, if only your tiny little heads would understand the technology that you are getting when you purchase the ps3, they would probably explode, and for all of you fanboys, keep it up, im a fanboy too, i was a nintendo follower until the the psone came out then sony was my number one choice for home consoles, and i also own 3 psp's, the orginal, a slim and a 3000 model, so i guess im just saying before you dog the ps3 research it and find out what you can use it for, its a hi-def multimedia workhorse, if the browser was a little more improved id probably use my ps3 as my main computer, but i digress.  ADD ME

    Xandure

    say your from the psu forums

  39. iTHIZZ | gamesNmusic

    • 4:37pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    All Sony has to do is keep it's exclusive franchises exclusive. Imagine if Sony would have had the rights for GTAIV, RE5, FFXIII, DMC4, and now the rumors of MGS4. Sony would have left its competition in the dust.

  40. Limanima | Limanima

    • 4:45pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    He sure focus some important and true points there. Microsoft keeps winning battle after battler. It's time to make some big moves: price drop and PS2 backwards compability by software in all models.

  41. Darkstorn | Bronze_Panda

    • 5:16pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    #1, Sony DOES have limited time to implement a new strategy. M$ is outselling Sony 2 to 1 in Japan of all places, and since this gen will is already halfway over, it will be hard for Sony to catch up. The important thing is that Sony CAN catch up, but first needs to stop letting the exclusives go multiplat, and then drop the price. It's all a matter of money.

  42. ohshutyourmouth | ohshutyourmouth

    • 5:21pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Acclaim is right and so is No. 40, and 42. Drop the price and dont let exclusives go away! Sony needs to PAY to for people to PLAY!!!

  43. matt554 | matt554

    • 7:02pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    i agree with d3athscyth3, and so many people i know r going to get 360 just because its cheaper, and they dont really care about the extra stuff ps3 has/ dont know so i think sony needs to do something soon...

  44. edward_moffet | edd

    • 7:39pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    i don't agree with this guy at all, i never have. i think sony needs to change some things (more aggresive marketing mainly) but as far as online goes i do not think MS is ahead really at all, we have more users (because it's free) theres not as much lag (because it's not P2P)  and we have basically the same features and integration, if sony flaunted what they have and showed more people whats ahead then sales would rise. Again the price would seem cheap to most people if they new about half the things the ps3 offers. Sony needs to start talking about psn, how bluray and cell benefit games, their exclusive lineup, their first parties and why they are important, hardware quality. if they did all of this the 399 for it would be alot more appealing. educating the masses about what sets it apart from the competition would garner alot more intrest and sales than just a price drop

    To those of you saying the 360 still has the software, you sound like complete tards, can you tell me what exclusives MS has going in to 09? (and no DLC and timed exclusives don't count) we have,

    Heavy rain, Infamous, Killzone 2, White Knight Chronicles, The Agency, Ratchet and Clank Future sequel, DC universe online, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Gran Turismo 5, Jak and Daxter The Lost Frontier, MAG, WarDevil, Twisted Metal, Demon Soul

    and thats just so far, we're barely to the end of 08  and for the end of this year we have LBP, R2, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, Valkyria Chronicles, and Socom Confrontation theres nothing wrong with saying ps3 is going to fail but at least give some (real) proof to back up that statement its funny all of the MS fanboys have gone back to the "ps3 has no games" rhetoric.

  45. ladellb

    • 7:48pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    Sony is waaay too stuborn to admit their having serious problems, but still doing biz as usual. Question is, when will they pick themselves up and do what's best for the company and PS3.

  46. SpikeDX

    • 8:45pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    i honestly dont see why the wii is even a factor. the wii is a casual gamers console. sure the games may be selling but who do you see spending 6-8 hours playing the wii for any game of that matter? i attempted playing zelda at my friends house and after maybe an hour or two i got bored and turned it off. wii just isnt for me, sure you have the charecters animations in your hands but thats it. there are no big storyline driven games on the wii except for zelda and maybe no more heroes. zelda is all nintendo has for Nintendos definition of a hardcore gamer.

    the battle is basically Ps3 vs 360, 360 is in the lead only because of Live. Live is the only leading factor the 360 has right now. but give the psn till Q2 of 2009 and we'll see them both on par.

  47. Alpha2

    • 11:18pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    No the guy is a moron because all he's trying to say is "PSN should cost money" and if he's selling that, then I'm not buying.

  48. TheWorldEndsWithMe | DonovanTheICEMAN

    • 11:29pm GMT - October 27th, 2008

    When I bought a game at Best Buy for my PS3 this 360 fanboy was like "You should ditch that and get a 360" and I'm like "No way, it's got no games"

    MS has higher sales, ok, but how many are due to failures? Many people don't want to wait, or don't want a tuned-up machine that is bound to RROD AGAIN and have to buy another or the games they own will be worthless (as if they already werent) All they can cling to now is Halo spinoffs and Queers of War. The lame attempt to grab RPGs has resulted in some mediocre Squeenix love. Bottom line: Sony will still MAKE more money this Gen because they won't have spent it all stealing exclusives, advertising bombs, bribing reviewers, and fixing consoles. To those of you whose PS3 died, you are in the unfortunate 2% fail rate, 360 boasts a massive 33% at least.

  49. ChildOfIllusions | FirstAmongEquals

    • 12:36am GMT - October 28th, 2008

    Im to lazy to serch but what acclaim games are on the ps3? if not many and not many that are doing very well im going to chalk it up to bitterness. Im sure a developer like Insomniac would have other things to say or even media molecule. And dont give me your they might as well be first party crap they have games on the system that are selling amazingly.

  50. 51titles

    • 5:08am GMT - October 28th, 2008

    more adverts on telly would help but not the crappy ones they have now!

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