Topic: A world without Sony...

[couchmonkey]

The other week I read an article in the newspaper about Sony having financial problems.  It looks like the company is in a fairly weak state, and it got me thinking, what would the game industry be like if Sony vanished?

Of course that isn't likely to happen, Sony is a big company and the Playstation is probably one area where I'm sure it's still making a lot of money, but still, what do you think the game industry would look like if Sony went out of business?

[nickmitch]

I think that Sega would make a come back and then it'd be just like it was before Sony.

[Ian Sane]

I figure if Sony dropped out of the market today the market would be split pretty much dead even between Nintendo and MS.  Nintendo would obviously be the king in Japan and all of the Japanese devs would support them.  MS would be big in the US and would have most of the North American support.  This would result in a SNES/Genesis like scenario where MS would be doing better in the US but would lose worldwide to Nintendo due to the Japanese factor.  American gamers who like Japanese games would go with Nintendo while the rest would go with MS.  MS would get most of the sports games, first person shooters, etc while Nintendo would have most of the RPGs, platformers, and other popular Japanese genres.

Though there's also the possibility of MS completely dominating the American game industry thus making American titles the only games that sell here.  Importing from Japan would become essentially the standard among the hardcore crowd.

I would prefer a Nintendo/Sega industry myself.  Experience shows that it's a swank scenario.

[Bill Aurion]

"Though there's also the possibility of MS completely dominating the American game industry thus making American titles the only games that sell here."

Where do you think the Final Fantasy series would be?  As much as I hate it, Americans still love that trash...

But I agree, a one-on-one scenario would be far more interesting...

[nitsu niflheim]

If Sony never existed, we would never had had Beta VCR's, Sony did fail at something, they couldn't compete with the VHS format even though their Beta format was out first.  ahahahah

[ghostVi]

Don't forget about good old Europe, where MS still doesn't have it the way they want With the exception of UK, of course, which seems to be more a part of US than EU...

[nickmitch]

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I would prefer a Nintendo/Sega industry myself. Experience shows that it's a swank scenario.

I think that if Sega made a come back then that would more than likly wipe Microsoft out of the game.

[Shift Key]

Well if Sony vanished then my discman and TV would vanish, along with my PS2. ;_________________;
I don't think they're going anywhere, they just may have to reconsider their various divisions if the problems persist. It would take a major financial problem ala Enron to bring down a multinational company like Sony.

[Caillan]

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I think that if Sega made a come back then that would more than likly wipe Microsoft out of the game.

I disagree. MS picks up the cool kids with their 'high-tech' system design and 'mature' games. Even a lot of Sony's market seems to trend to this, and games overall are slowly going this way as well. Ever wonder why retro has become som popular with the hard-core crowd, yet flys over the head of casual gamers? The first time I played Megaman was a week ago; I hold no nostalgia in it. Yet it's the first game since Ikaruga that lept up and caught my attention. Anyway, my point is that nintendo and Sega both have an unshakable reputation of producing 'old-style' games, no matter how much either of them deserves it. If the the cool kids want to play Halo, Halo 2, and DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball, their interest in old-school games will probobly be minimal.

But yeah, if Sony vanished then MS would dominate the North American games market. As a gamer, I went from seeing Sony as the new kid ruining the industry in the 64 generation with their awsome FMV, to now seeing MS as the new kid ruining the industry with their awsome games - well, game - that promotes little more than gore and some basic reflex skills. At least in ye olde days the twitch games were forced to vary gameplay instead of just graphics. Now it's just like a fast-paced graphical adventure: point, click, point, click, point, click, point, click, point, click.  

[couchmonkey]

All interesting thoughts.  I think Nintendo would obviously take Japan, but it could be a real fight outside.  I think Microsoft could wind up with N64-like status, but it could just as easily wind up with Sega Genesis status.  Probably it would wind up somewhere inbetween.

I don't think Sony is going anywhere, it's a huge company and if it did "die" it would be over the course of years or even decades, but it's interesting to imagine what would happen if the dominant hardware company in the videogame industry was suddenly taken out of the equation.

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

I wish Sony would vanish altogether.  Then no one would have to put up with their defective products.

[Cube_King]

I think if Sony left then Microsoft will dominate the indusry, maybe not in Japan but overall, because the Xbox is starting to develope that 'cool' image that Sony has. That's the thing that attracts the masses. If Sony went then a majority of their fanbase will favour MS.  

[Termin8Anakin]

Tired generic sequels that add nothing but graphical upgrades are coming out with such retarted regularity that no one seems to be getting bored of them.
But I think people are actually starting to see things the way we see them though, with the onslaught of crap that Atari have gotten with Driv3r (Driver 3).

What Nintendo is doing seems to be more than ever something that seems to be vital to liven up and 'save', if you will, the flailing industry.

I think that with the elimination of Sony, those companies that do nothing but follow trends are going to move to Xbox, seeing that it will then be the 'cool' console. By that time though, people will HOPEFULLY realise that those kind of games are nothing special, and would make the move to Nintendo, especially with the flak that Driv3r got.

[bonestormer]

If Sony left, someone new would rise up and take their place. They wouldn't dominate, MS and Xbox is in the best position right now to make a move at Sony's spot, but some other manufactur out there would see Sony leaving as opening a spot for them. Maybe the Apple iGame...

[Draygaia]

Well if they pulled out of the race now and totally stopped I wouldn't mind because I prefer a company that actually makes games.  I mean anyone can make a powerful ass machine.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Sega-Sammy would probably make a console and a pachino machine as a 2 in one lol.