Why are people buying their consoles? Nielsen survey results

[Emn1ty]

You're right. Shareplay exists today and X1 game sharing doesn't. I know they're not implemented the same way but if the overall goal is to allow your friends to play your games then Shareplay is part of the PS equation that lets people do that. You can stream your game remotely to a friend. You can allow your friend to play your game locally on your console when you aren't even around (say you're roommate or something) or you can allow your friend to play your game locally on their console when you're they're. Sure it doesn't have as many options as the X1 method but the X1 method required of regular "phone home" that the public isn't willing to accept. So it's likely as good as we're going to get anytime soon and it's certainly better than what X1 has to offer RIGHT NOW. Maybe MS will come up with an innovative way to bring game sharing back that is more palatable but for now it's just not there.

I didn't say X1, I said 360. That's a new innovation this generation and yes, both Sony and MS did that but Sony didn't copy MS. PS launched with that feature as well. Both companies did the same innovation there but that's in stark contract to your claim that Sony is doing nothing. Furthermore Sony NEVER planned to have a paywall for the web browser or streaming services like Netflix and MS did, they're dropping of the paywall was absolutely a reaction to Sony. They even dropped it on the 360 though which I give them props for. I'm really not trying to bust on MS here. I'm not trying to claim they aren't innovating, I'm just trying to refute your claim that Sony didn't try at all this gen. I think they BOTH tried and currently more of MS's attempts have failed. That said, again I'd like to say I'm not saying Sony's have succeeded, MOST of Sony's are still WAY too early to call a success and may very well fail as well but again the point is they ARE trying.

MS's solution is WAY more conservative and not at all revolutionary. You could have put a TV pass through on pretty much any console for the last few generations if you wanted to control TV. Sure it's free because it's just piggy backing on the existing cable service (which isn't free). Sony is trying to REPLACE the cable service so sure it costs a subscription, just like the cable service it's intended to replace costs a subscription. More and more people are "cutting the cord" can cancelling their cable service in favor of using streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, etc. and Sony is tapping into that trend. Those people don't have a cable box to hook to an HDMI in. With PS Vue the PS4 will BE the cable box for them. Again it may very well fail miserably but it's more of an innovative risk than slapping and HDMI in on a console and connecting it to your cable box. MS chose the safer route there, I'm not saying it was necessarily a bad idea the point here again is just to point out that Sony IS taking risks.

What things? What things has MS done that Sony didn't that are working RIGHT NOW? What have the DONE? X1 game sharing never even got off the ground, it was cancelled before the console even launched so they haven't DONE that. They were just 'planning' to and then they changed course. They did do the Kinect but that's a v2 of something, not something entirely new. BOTH Sony and MS did the shared PS+/Xbox Gold on the machine at the same time. The HDMI pass through I'd argue is less innovative then the PSX in Japan in the PS2 era and the PlayTV in the PS3 era so Sony DID do it, and they did it better (actually being a tuner and DVR not just a pass through) a generation or two before MS. Like the Kinect though it didn't really work so now they're trying IP TV but that requires deals with content providers that are hard to do. It's where the industry seems to be going but companies are dragging their feet. HBO Go is supposed to opening up soon so you can subscribe to it without having to have HBO on your cable provider. It's taking a while but it's not Sony dragging their feet, they're trying to be on top of where the industry seems to be headed instead of where it currently is or where it's already been like an HDMI pass through.

What features?

Sony's not the one who had to change course. Right now there isn't much the Xbox One can do that the PS4 can't. They're very similar. Sony is playing catchup on things like suspend/resume and media playback sure. I'm not arguing Sony is ahead on everything but that they ARE taking risks. Adding DLNA support isn't a risk. Last gen consoles did that. The PS3 plays 3D blu-Rays so adding 3D Blu-Ray support first isn't a risk or innovative (although technically Sony rushed that out first anyway once MS announced it was coming). PS Vue is a risk, Xbox has nothing to compete. PS Now is a risk, Xbox has nothing to compete. Morpheus is a risk, Xbox has nothing to compete. SharePlay is a risk, MS has nothing to compete. Heck putting the touchpad on the controller was a risk, you can't hardly tell a Xbox 360 controller from a Xbox One at a casual glance. Again I'm not arguing MS isn't taking risks though, just that Sony is too. MS making cloud compute free is a risk but it's not something Sony is even trying to copy. Bundling Kinect was a risk but it's not something Sony is even trying to copy. They BOTH took risks, just in different areas.

 

So much spin. Not even going to reply to this. It ignores and sidesteps reality.

[+Asmodai MVC]

Both have taken risk.

Then we agree, my point was just to refute Emn1ty's claim that MS did and Sony didn't.

Sony's risk taking was much more calculated and "safer".

I don't see how that's true.

HDMI pass through it's much "safer" then betting on IP TV.

Putting a touch pad on the controller is less safe then just refining your existing one.

Betting on gfx memory while not a huge risk was more than using DDR3 and ESRAM (itself an evolution of the 360's eDRAM)

Project Morpheus is more of a risk than Kinect 2.0.

Grabbing "Gaikai" and injecting it with steroids and getting PS-Now, is a risk but not life threatening even to Sony. If PS-Vue doesn't pan out, once again they take a hit, but they could and will survive.

What exactly has MS done that is "life threatening" to MS? Xbox One could fail miserably and it wouldn't be life threatening to MS. The entire Xbox division is a bit player with respect to MS's bottom line. If PS4 fails it IS "life threatening to Sony". They're breaking up and selling off most of their company to focus on PlayStation. If you judge a platforms risk by how much it's failure would result in the company failing the MS has ZERO risk and Sony has A LOT. That's a VERY odd metric to use however.

Sony's risk smaller and calculated, they chose infancy, to bring these features in barebones, and grow them. Microsoft just wanted to give you its features full throttle, and most couldn't grasp what is/was going on.

I don't think they CHOSE infancy. I think they didn't want to be a year behind MS again like last gen so they released what they had and they're building it as fast as they can with their limited resources. They don't have MS's $$$ and stable of software developers backing them up. I'm sure they'd much rather have given you its features "full throttle" as well but it's not like they made all this stuff up to "catchup" to Microsoft. It's all been in the plans since before MS announced the Xbox One and it's just taking them time to actually implement it.

[Showan]

Then we agree, my point was just to refute Emn1ty's claim that MS did and Sony didn't.I don't see how that's true.HDMI pass through it's much "safer" then betting on IP TV.Putting a touch pad on the controller is less safe then just refining your existing one.Betting on gfx memory while not a huge risk was more than using DDR3 and ESRAM (itself an evolution of the 360's eDRAM)Project Morpheus is more of a risk than Kinect 2.0.What exactly has MS done that is "life threatening" to MS? Xbox One could fail miserably and it wouldn't be life threatening to MS. The entire Xbox division is a bit player with respect to MS's bottom line. If PS4 fails it IS "life threatening to Sony". They're breaking up and selling off most of their company to focus on PlayStation. If you judge a platforms risk by how much it's failure would result in the company failing the MS has ZERO risk and Sony has A LOT. That's a VERY odd metric to use however.I don't think they CHOSE infancy. I think they didn't want to be a year behind MS again like last gen so they released what they had and they're building it as fast as they can with their limited resources. They don't have MS's $$$ and stable of software developers backing them up. I'm sure they'd much rather have given you its features "full throttle" as well but it's not like they made all this stuff up to "catchup" to Microsoft. It's all been in the plans since before MS announced the Xbox One and it's just taking them time to actually implement it.

What I mean by safer is this (and this is my view only)... Sony looked at the PS3, 360, and Wii... They took some (not all) of the best features of each one and integrated them into their original ideas. Now don't get me wrong everything that Sony does is a risk considering these financial hits they've been taking in recent years.

I look at the new DS4 (best controller Sony ever made), touch pad is nice but if not used, no one would care (like six-axis on PS3) sure it would suck to not be able to use features if it's there. But ok. Not keeping rumble during the PS3 early days was a bigger risk than touch pad on the PS4

ipTV and HDMI pass through are both low risk features. On pass through, your not confined to a cable box (even though that was the intended purpose). And with ipTV, Sony could of went 3rd party, just as MS is doing with their Sling partnership. If Vue doesn't work, they can hop on with someone else just like they did in regards to dumping their own Music Unlimited for Spotify.

Things that threatens MS aren't always financial. MS sure took a huge reputation hit. I believe Xbox is Microsoft's most popular consumer focused product. Look at the rebranding of so much of their products Zune Music, now Xbox Music, Xbox Video, Xbox Live. Even Windows 10 (is Xbox'ie now) is getting a big push towards consumer focused features.

Sony's risk as far as Playstation features go are well calculated, and they chose a safer route to start (which will grow into an entirely different animal once matured).

But Sony as a whole betting almost the everything on Playstaion is a HUGE RISK.. Especially since they cut loose of a lot of their other departments

[compl3x]

I don't think Sony have taken many risks with the core PS4 hardware, and that is exactly what they needed to do. Another console like PS3 and it would not be selling like it currently is. It would mean taking a risk which could do more damage than losing the console war.

 

I agree. I think Sony had to be pretty conservative about the type of console they wanted to make. They went back to the basics: It's going to play games! Good games! Great games! The games you want to play!

 

However, the One's appalling introduction was like 3 or 4 own goals for Microsoft. Sony didn't have to seem revolutionary or particularly customer friendly, they just had to be not as bad as MS. Having said all of that, I think there will be an eventual equilibrium (if there already hasn't been) and the consoles will be on similar footing.

[soniqstylz]

Things that threatens MS aren't always financial. MS sure took a huge reputation hit. I believe Xbox is Microsoft's most popular consumer focused product. Look at the rebranding of so much of their products Zune Music, now Xbox Music, Xbox Video, Xbox Live. Even Windows 10 (is Xbox'ie now) is getting a big push towards consumer focused features.

 

Not to mention Cortana and Porject Spartan.