The Sony Blunder Time Line
While I’m not posting this as a stab in the gut to Sony or there fan-boy supporters, I think it’s all so very intriguing to see all of the mishaps Sony has either caused to themselves or has had be fallen on them. I repeat, this is not an attack on Sony.
If you’ve read my thoughts on Sony at all, you’d surely know that I have not been happy with them in the least over the last year and change. All of the shenanigans they have pulled are beyond infuriating. To make matters worse the people out there that make Sony the current leader in the video game market haven’t a clue as to any of this happening. At the same time I can’t continue to believe that everyone is as “hardcore” about this stuff as most of the people who read this. I do understand that the overwhelming majority of people who would call themselves even in the least bit a casual gamer don’t care about anything happening in the video game industry outside of whether that Tetris clone works on there mobile phone or not.
The passion I have for gaming and/or technology is certainly not what the average joe is even aware of. While I go about my every day life with tons of interest and intrigue about what’s happening around me outside of my corner of the world, 99% of us are happy just going about there live’s living in a box they have unknowingly made for themselves or not. I would hope that everyone would be like me and wonder why things are the way there are. Imaging myself going through life with that never ending question mark of why this or that is the way it is, is not the way I’ll see myself ever live.
To bring this back to gaming, I would just like to make it known that it’s very disappointing that people will continue to be cows grazing on whatever they see first without any question as to whether or not there is something out there better or just simply a better choice as compared to “What do we always get? Oh, PlayStation. That’s it! I’ll have one of those since that’s what I always get”. Simply banking on what was good to you the last time around is the complete definition of staying inside the box. That sort of mentality is what cause’s publishers like EA and many other’s to continue to offer up the same old stale franchises that we complain about today, but still buy time after time. Look no further than the movie industry for what’s coming for the video game industry if we don’t start making our voices heard with our wallets. How can a company not break your trust after constantly disappointing and delaying time after time. What does it take for someone to turn the blinder’s off?
Check after the break for the Sony time line from hell. While Microsoft has there issues as well, this timeline shows the world of hurt Sony has been in the last year and change.
Originally posted on the Gamespot Forums, this time line is sure enough to open some eye’s. At least I hope it does.
Now that we know Sony cares about us, lets move on to the PS3…
Feb. 27th, 2006 – Sony misses it’s Spring launch date
May 8th, 2006 – Sony holds it’s E3 conference announcing the pricing of the PS3 at $600/$500
May 8th, 2006 – New PS3 controller will have six degrees of motion, but no rumble feature. Sony’s Phil Harrison states that rumble was last gen and no longer needed.
May 31st, 2006 – Sony’s Phil Harrison denies copying the Wiimote and states that the PS3 will replace the PC
Sept 6th, 2006 – PS3 is delayed in Europe until March 2007
Sept 6th, 2006 – PS3 launch shipment is cut from 2 million to 400,000 in the US (100,000 to Japan)
Sept 8th, 2006 – Sony’s President admits that the company’s hardware is in a current state of decline
Sept 26th, 2006 – PS3 first-party titles announced to be the same price as third party titles, at $59.99
Sept 26th, 2006 – Square Enix will not exclusively support Sony’s PS3 as much as they did with the PS2.
Sept 29th, 2006 – Sony’s President Ken Kutaragi states that his company does not care about the Xbox 360 and Wii competition.
October 12th, 2006 – Sony Exec calls the 360 and Wii “too expensive”
October 19th, 2006 – The infamous spec sheet comparison and how Sony claims the Xbox 360 requires HD-DVD to play games
October 20th, 2006 – Announced that Sony may have to replace your PS3 controller for you after it no longer holds charge
October 24th, 2006 – Sony sinks Lik-Sang
October 26th, 2006 – Sony’s Q2 profits decrease by 94%
October 28th, 2006 – Sony president Ken Kutaragi said he expects the PS3 to be capable of running games at a stunning 120fps
October 30th, 2006 – PS3 will push Sony $1.71 billion into the red
October 31st, 2006 – Japan launch of the PS3 is cut to 80,000 units
Nov 8th, 2006 – Sony ships without update. You must update your PS3 out of the box in order to use PlayStation Network
Nov 9th, 2006 – NBA Live 2007 is cancelled on the PS3
Nov 9th, 2006 – Oblivion is pushed back from launch title to Jan 2007
Nov 10th, 2006 – Sony’s Phil Harrison states that he can no longer confirm a March 2007 launch for Europe
Nov 11th, 2006 – PS3 launches in Japan and rewards few
Nov 11th, 2006 – Sony unprepared for Japan launch
Nov 14th, 2006 – Sony will miss 400,000 unit target for the US. Approx 150k to 200k will be shipped for launch
Nov 14th, 2006 – PS3 has backwards compatibility problems
Nov 16th, 2006 – PS3 downscales 720p games instead of upscaling to 1080i
Nov 16th, 2006 – Sony’s Jack Tretton comments on the PS3 BC problems and states that the Wii has 0 backwards compatibility
Nov 20, 2006 – NYT not impressed with PS3
Nov 21, 2006 – PS3, PSP Rainbow Six held till ’07
Nov 23, 2006 – Saving Sony, one console at a time
Nov 26, 2006 – More PS3 exclusives head to 360
Nov 26, 2006 – Bloomberg: Sony missed PS3 ship targets
Nov 30, 2006 – Sony shuffles senior execs
Nov 30, 2006 – Analyst: “I cannot imagine a PlayStation 4”
Dec 4, 2006 – Sony Australia: Wii “More Fun” than PS3
Dec 8, 2006 – Court rules for Immersion; Sony to pay up
Dec 11, 2006 – Industry watchers weigh in on “record-low tie ratios” for Wii and PS3 and other results from the month of the new systems’ debut.
Dec 19, 2006 – Time says PS3 was a bust
Dec 21, 2006 – Virtua Fighter 5 dukes it out on Xbox 360
Dec 21, 2006 – Sony filed a patent for wiimote style hand-held controller
Posted on December 31, 2006, in Playstation 3, Sony, Video Games. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
The Will Effect 
your time line is false, as none of that is true.
You should find quotes where Sony would say in one week that PS3 was on track and in that same week they would delay the console. lol
It continues to amaze me how they haven’t picked themselves up. In less than one year from 100% guaranteed conqueror of the next gen arena to laughing stock of the hardcore and in increasing numbers, the mainstream press. Wow.
Although I’ve been a Nintendo faithful since ’85, I will not go so far as to say that Sony has done a poor job. I can recall COUNTLESS But the release of the PS3 had more careless mistakes and
OOPS… Sorry. Connection issue. Let me re-iterate.
Although I’ve been a Nintendo faithful since ‘85, I will not go so far as to say that Sony has done a poor job. I can recall COUNTLESS events that I was having a blast on a Sony Console. The PS3 was exciting and very intuitive. But the release of the PS3 had more careless mistakes and overlooked issues that brought about just the opposite, i.e. issues being brought to light and mistakes being made public. That’s what fuels a company’s correction process. Sony has done everything in its power to correct the issues. And they’re doing a bangup job. But now I have to say this… GO Wii!!!
I’ve had tons on fun with PlayStation in general to, but their string of mishaps is pretty long in the tooth. I’ll have to update this list sometime. As for Nintendo, I don’t think I should go there without a book publishing deal in place. 😉
I all the time emailed this blog post page to all my contacts, because if like to read it after that my friends will too.
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