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[LordOfChaos]

In an interview with Eurogamer, Layden described the PS3 generation as Sony’s “Icarus moment.” With the success of PS1 and PS2, its third iteration had to be even better. This led to the company using proprietary tech, most notably the Cell processor. While PlayStation’s first party titles reaped the benefits, third parties were left behind, and it was costly. A lot of lessons were learned, which paid off with the PS4.

“PS3 was Sony’s Icarus moment. We had PS1, PS2 . . . and now we’re building a supercomputer! And we’re going to put Linux on it! And we’re going to do all these sorts of things,” says Layden. “We flew too close to the sun, and we were lucky and happy to have survived the experience, but it taught us a lot.”

“We also learned that the center of the machine has to be gaming,” Layden continues. “It’s not about whether I can stream movies or play music. Can I order a pizza while I’m watching TV and play? No, just make it a game machine. Just make it the best game machine of all time.”

Layden also remarked how it took a very long time for PS3 hardware to be profitable. He mentioned Sony’s “vision” for the Cell processor and the hopes for it to go off-platform and become a competitor in the CPU market. However, that did not happen, which made a pretty negative impact. In comparison, he says the PS4 launch was “pretty much a non-loss product from day one.”

via https://www.playstationlifestyle.ne...cky-survived-ps3-struggles-says-shawn-layden/

The big PlayStation 30th anniversary interview with Shawn Layden: "It was a fight to get the Sony name on the machine - they didn't want to be associated with it"

Eurogamer's week-long coverage of PlayStation's 30th anniversary begins today with a very special interview: an extende…

www.eurogamer.net

I remember the plan for Cell to be in fridges and stuff and they'd all talk to each other. It was pretty wild dreaming and there's been nothing like it in console since. That it still comes up and can still spark a hot debate 18 years later is something.

 

[Calverz]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

 

[violence]

I remember hearing one dev say that the PS3 put half the industry out of business. The fact that it managed to beat 360s inflated red ring numbers at the end of the lifecycle was quite a... 180.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

It’s widely known to be the least successful PlayStation

Who was saying it crushed the 360?

Maybe in first party games for the second half of the gen

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The guy has not worked at Sony in I think 6 or 7 years.

Yet it seems whenever he gets face time, all he does is talk Sony like he still works there.

 

[ManaByte]

Tretton said in the Xbox documentary that he felt like the captain of the Titanic.

 

[Horseganador]

It was a mediocre launch but in 2009 with the PS3 slim at 299 plus Uncharted 2 they were able to turn the generation around.

 

[Imtjnotu]

In an interview with Eurogamer, Layden described the PS3 generation as Sony’s “Icarus moment.” With the success of PS1 and PS2, its third iteration had to be even better. This led to the company using proprietary tech, most notably the Cell processor. While PlayStation’s first party titles reaped the benefits, third parties were left behind, and it was costly. A lot of lessons were learned, which paid off with the PS4.

“PS3 was Sony’s Icarus moment. We had PS1, PS2 . . . and now we’re building a supercomputer! And we’re going to put Linux on it! And we’re going to do all these sorts of things,” says Layden. “We flew too close to the sun, and we were lucky and happy to have survived the experience, but it taught us a lot.”

“We also learned that the center of the machine has to be gaming,” Layden continues. “It’s not about whether I can stream movies or play music. Can I order a pizza while I’m watching TV and play? No, just make it a game machine. Just make it the best game machine of all time.”

Layden also remarked how it took a very long time for PS3 hardware to be profitable. He mentioned Sony’s “vision” for the Cell processor and the hopes for it to go off-platform and become a competitor in the CPU market. However, that did not happen, which made a pretty negative impact. In comparison, he says the PS4 launch was “pretty much a non-loss product from day one.”

via https://www.playstationlifestyle.ne...cky-survived-ps3-struggles-says-shawn-layden/

The big PlayStation 30th anniversary interview with Shawn Layden: "It was a fight to get the Sony name on the machine - they didn't want to be associated with it"

Eurogamer's week-long coverage of PlayStation's 30th anniversary begins today with a very special interview: an extende…

www.eurogamer.net

I remember the plan for Cell to be in fridges and stuff and they'd all talk to each other. It was pretty wild dreaming and there's been nothing like it in console since. That it still comes up and can still spark a hot debate 18 years later is something.

The cell lead the way for most standard modern day multi cores.

IBM knew what they were doing but it should have nevwr touched a game console

 

[saintjules]

We already have a thread on this.

News - [Eurogamer] The big PlayStation 30th anniversary interview with Shawn Layden: "It was a fight to get the Sony name on the machine"

The big PlayStation 30th anniversary interview with Shawn Layden: "It was a fight to get the Sony name on the machine - they didn't want to be associated with it"...

www.neogaf.com

 

[SHA]

That guy can't talk without being emotional.

 

[VitoNotVito]

The power of the brand helped them. Microsoft didn’t have the brand to help them with their disastrous XOne generation.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

In all these years, I have never seen anyone even implying this.

 

[NickFire]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

Only reason 360 did not change things long term (market share wise) was piss poor decision making by MS in my opinion. Cheap solder and then they went all in on a love affair with Wii at the expense of their base.

 

[Topher]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

Don't know who would claim that when Xbox 360 and PS3 were virtually tied in sales at the end.

Of course, really easy to append all kinds of claims to what "some around here" supposedly say without quoting any of them, isn't it?

 

[Calverz]

Don't know who would claim that when Xbox 360 and PS3 were virtually tied in sales at the end.

Of course, really easy to append all kinds of claims to what "some around here" supposedly say without quoting any of them, isn't it?

You know who they are man. Come on quit playin. Just wait for the emoji reactions to my post. That will point you in right direction.

 

[Clear]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

No. Who's saying that? The factual truth is that despite the worst possible start, it ended up outselling the 360, and allowed Sony to exit the generation with better sales momentum than either of their competitors in the console space.

There most definitely were a few years though where they were suffering; not all of which were directly a consequence of the PS3, but fortunately for Sony MS squandered their early advantage and strangely enough repeated Sony's errors with the One... The honest truth is that had you told people back in 2009-2010 that Sony were going to dominate the next 15 years while Xbox's market-share would crumble despite billions in investment you'd have been accused of insane fanboyism.

 

[Topher]

You know who they are man. Come on quit playin. Just wait for the emoji reactions to my post. That will point you in right direction.

Eh...then you are just pointing to folks you consider warriors who may or may not have said anything of the sort.

Why try to make this a warrior thread in the first place my man?

 

[iorek21]

It had a rough start, but picked up the pace in a few years and ended up on a high note with great exclusives.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

He's clearly talking about the release of the console in 2006. By 2009 they had turned things around and by 2013 they surpassed Xbox 360.

One thing doesn't invalidate the other.

And "crushing" was never even mentioned. They outsold Xbox 360 by like 4 million consoles.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I will say all joking aside I do applaud Sony turning around the ps3, 2006-2009 ps3 was literally a different ps3 than 2010-2014 ps3, there’s no doubt about that.

Sony made a lot of money from this console after starting off really bad.

Sony embarrassed Microsoft with Blu-ray Disc.

Ps move, Sony’s response to the Wii’s motion controls were okay, at the time I ignored it, than years later I started “Sports Champions” it’s a different kind of Wii Sports, it’s got a bunch of games like frisbee and bow and arrow targets.

PS3’s accomplishments are fantastic, the depth of the exclusives and Sony over the last couple of generations have proven that exclusive depth makes the world go. Dominating the Xbox 360 later in that generation was a huge accomplishment, look at the last few exclusives GT6, God of War 3, Last of Us etc. Sony was committed to gaming. The beauty of the PS3 is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[RagnarokIV]

PLAYSTATION 3 - the greatest Sony console ever made.

A library spanning three generations. Some of the greatest games ever made, obscurities and hidden gems galore.

A beautiful machine to look at, and just as beautiful to use with the minimalist, fast and functional XMB.

Then they started to fuck it all up turning the console into a weak shithouse, slowing the shit out of XMB with a load of stupid bullshit and fucktarding the store to the point that in the later days it was barely functional.

Physically the console (and branding) was changed from being a sophisticated beast into being a wet noodle.

 

[yogaflame]

Gears and Halo was monsters for xbox 360 that time but Uncharted series, especially Uncharted 2 is the crowning glory of Ps3. It helped ps3 allot. The cell processor is a monster and revolutionary that time, it is even use in medical field that is how good the cell is, but it is also a problem because the design is very difficult for 3rd party developers. But I hope Sony stayed with there own custom, GPU and CPU especially cell processor because it really is an impressive technology.

 

[Badlucktroll]

that first couple of years game drought was EXCRUCIATING. i went and bought a 360 lol

 

[rm082e]

It was a weird generation. The PS3 launched at $600 with no compelling software, terrible marketing, and really bad messaging from the PR angle. I don't think they got how every word they said was going to wind up on a message board being fought over by fanboys.

But, they got the price down to $400 with the slim, they got some good games out like God of War III, Uncharted 2, and LittleBigPlanet. Right as they were getting their console into a better place, the 360 RROD was really heating up. Xbox was then on the back foot having to defend their console.

The real killer though was Kinect. Sony dabbled in the Move stuff, but they never went "all in" on motion controls. They kept making M rated games that most people like us cared about. Xbox however shifted their first party funding. If it wasn't Gears, Halo, or Forza, it was Kinect stuff. That was a real bummer for me and I spent the last 2 years of that generation barely playing anything on 360.

 

[SlimySnake]

Yep. Back when Sony was able to look back and say hey we fucked up. And make some changes.

Nowadays they look at Concord and say hey we are still all in.

 

[reinking]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

I think this might be an exaggeration based on people not agreeing that the 360 outright won that generation.



I am really glad Sony turned it around and learned some lessons from that generation. I only hope they remember those lessons and never repeat them.

 

[sainraja]

You know who they are man. Come on quit playin. Just wait for the emoji reactions to my post. That will point you in right direction.

Funny no one is even bothering to react to your initial post, lol.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Yep. Back when Sony was able to look back and say hey we fucked up. And make some changes.

Nowadays they look at Concord and say hey we are still all in.

The fanfic

 

[sainraja]

Yep. Back when Sony was able to look back and say hey we fucked up. And make some changes.

Nowadays they look at Concord and say hey we are still all in.

They shut down concord, which is a clear sign that they don’t take failure lightly. We haven't seen the aftermath of concord yet, so too early to claim anything right now.

 

[kruis]

It had a rough start, but picked up the pace in a few years and ended up on a high note with great exclusives.

The Xbox 360 ended the generation in disgrace with management putting all their bets on Kinect while at the same time turning their backs on the core gaming market. At the same time Sony was firing on all cylinders.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

They shut down concord, which is a clear sign that they don’t take failure lightly. We haven't seen the aftermath of concord yet, so too early to claim anything right now.

Not only they shut down the game, they shut down the entire studio.

There have also been news they aren't betting on GaaS titles nearly as much as they were like 2 years ago.

 

[sainraja]

Sony pulled ahead towards the end of the generation from what I have read and definitely learned the right lessons from how they launched the PS3 system. The PS3 gen is also one that I enjoyed the most when it comes to gaming though.

 

[Ainem Enamas]

And the Holy Trinity made it possible for them to continue until this very day
...I simply want to game, I personally don't need anything cinematic in games, make graphics - art - like a painting, when I look outside the window I already have 'realistic graphics'
It's such a wonderful thing to be able to 'play' something in this Reality

 

[SlimySnake]

PLAYSTATION 3 - the greatest Sony console ever made.

A library spanning three generations. Some of the greatest games ever made, obscurities and hidden gems galore.

A beautiful machine to look at, and just as beautiful to use with the minimalist, fast and functional XMB.

Then they started to fuck it all up turning the console into a weak shithouse, slowing the shit out of XMB with a load of stupid bullshit and fucktarding the store to the point that in the later days it was barely functional.

Physically the console (and branding) was changed from being a sophisticated beast into being a wet noodle.

Yep. I loved it way more than my PS2.

People were like PS3 had no games, and aside from Resistance and Motorstorm, I felt the same until August when Warhawk and Heavenly Sword came out. Then it was Ratchet and Uncharted to end the year along with multiplats like AC1 and COD4 and that was the end of the PS3 has no games feeling.

2007 was Motorstorm 1, Uncharted 1, Ratchet FoTD, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword
2008 was MGS4, LBP, Resistance 2, Motorstorm PR and Socom Confrontation.
2009 was KZ2, Infamous 1, Uncharted 2 and Ratchet
2010 was MAG, GOW3, Heavy Rain and GT5
2011 was KZ3, Uncharted 3, LBP2. infamous 2
2012 was Starhawk, Twisted Metal, Journey and PS Allstars. Their weakest year.
2013 was GOW A, Beyond, TLOU, GT6.

I loved 90% of these games. Genre defining, industry leading graphics that set up Sony for a massive success in the PS4 era.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

it was meme

 

[Calverz]

Funny no one is even bothering to react to your initial post, lol.

So funny yea.

 

[sainraja]

So funny yea.

Very funny yea.

 

[SlimySnake]

They shut down concord, which is a clear sign that they don’t take failure lightly. We haven't seen the aftermath of concord yet, so too early to claim anything right now.

The fanfic

Hayakawa also stressed that the failure of Concord doesn't mean that Sony will withdraw from gaming services. According to him, the company needs to have both types of positions in its offer, as well as classic single-player titles. This second type is much more predictable in terms of financial potential. On the other hand, the first category involves greater risk, but the potential financial rewards are significantly higher.

Sony's CEO Commented on Concord's Failure. Hiroki Totoki Explains What Went South and Pledges Lessons Learned

Important people from Sony, in an interview with investors, discussed the failure of Concord.

www.gamepressure.com

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Very Interesting. According to some around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

I had 4 360s’ cause they kept RRODing

I think it’s widely known that the 360 had some great exclusives and it was a great machine when it worked. It revolutionised online gaming.

I have never seen the PS3 crushing the 360 threads, it eventually caught up but had such sticker shock with that price that it was very difficult to get traction to the end user. The whole “second job” marketing was a bad look.

This is an interesting insight from Layden and shows how much of a tight margins game this is. You can live or die by a generation, Sony are in a healthy position now but that can all change quickly. Competition is always good to keep these corporations honest.

 

[diffusionx]

similar to Xbox One, their vision did not match what the market was at the time. Yet somehow they pivoted, released tons of great games, focused on what the market actually wanted then, improved their services, and set up a baseline to hit the ground running with the next system.

Food for thought.

 

[SweetTooth]

The guy has not worked at Sony in I think 6 or 7 years.

Yet it seems whenever he gets face time, all he does is talk Sony like he still works there.

Well, he worked with the biggest and most influential gaming brand in history.. of course he will be kept getting questions about that.

 

[sainraja]

Sony's CEO Commented on Concord's Failure. Hiroki Totoki Explains What Went South and Pledges Lessons Learned

Important people from Sony, in an interview with investors, discussed the failure of Concord.

www.gamepressure.com

I guess I am just being hopeful. I don't expect them to completely stop going after multiplayer GaaS-like games, but I do think Concord will have affected how much they go after it. Giving up after failing isn't what I would expect them to do, given how they handled the PS3 (turned it around).

 

[Aces High]

Yep. I loved it way more than my PS2.

People were like PS3 had no games, and aside from Resistance and Motorstorm, I felt the same until August when Warhawk and Heavenly Sword came out. Then it was Ratchet and Uncharted to end the year along with multiplats like AC1 and COD4 and that was the end of the PS3 has no games feeling.

2007 was Motorstorm 1, Uncharted 1, Ratchet FoTD, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword
2008 was MGS4, LBP, Resistance 2, Motorstorm PR and Socom Confrontation.
2009 was KZ2, Infamous 1, Uncharted 2 and Ratchet
2010 was MAG, GOW3, Heavy Rain and GT5
2011 was KZ3, Uncharted 3, LBP2. infamous 2
2012 was Starhawk, Twisted Metal, Journey and PS Allstars. Their weakest year.
2013 was GOW A, Beyond, TLOU, GT6.

I loved 90% of these games. Genre defining, industry leading graphics that set up Sony for a massive success in the PS4 era.

Yes, software library was insane.

Unrivaled quality. Naughty Dog on PS3 was apex.

 

[Wolves hunt in packs]

Yep. I loved it way more than my PS2.

People were like PS3 had no games, and aside from Resistance and Motorstorm, I felt the same until August when Warhawk and Heavenly Sword came out. Then it was Ratchet and Uncharted to end the year along with multiplats like AC1 and COD4 and that was the end of the PS3 has no games feeling.

2007 was Motorstorm 1, Uncharted 1, Ratchet FoTD, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword
2008 was MGS4, LBP, Resistance 2, Motorstorm PR and Socom Confrontation.
2009 was KZ2, Infamous 1, Uncharted 2 and Ratchet
2010 was MAG, GOW3, Heavy Rain and GT5
2011 was KZ3, Uncharted 3, LBP2. infamous 2
2012 was Starhawk, Twisted Metal, Journey and PS Allstars. Their weakest year.
2013 was GOW A, Beyond, TLOU, GT6.

I loved 90% of these games. Genre defining, industry leading graphics that set up Sony for a massive success in the PS4 era.

Best gen ever, i also look at it from multiplatform games, Souls games (hate them but can't deny their quality), Bioshocks, RDR + GTAV, Mass Effects and i can go on and on, endless waves of legendary games.

 

[TheKratos]

It's pretty crazy how Sony recovered in the PS3 era. 360 and Wii were fighting hard for the throne but somehow PS3 recovered and the PS4 performed amazingly.

 

[noob smokes]

Yep. I loved it way more than my PS2.

People were like PS3 had no games, and aside from Resistance and Motorstorm, I felt the same until August when Warhawk and Heavenly Sword came out. Then it was Ratchet and Uncharted to end the year along with multiplats like AC1 and COD4 and that was the end of the PS3 has no games feeling.

2007 was Motorstorm 1, Uncharted 1, Ratchet FoTD, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword
2008 was MGS4, LBP, Resistance 2, Motorstorm PR and Socom Confrontation.
2009 was KZ2, Infamous 1, Uncharted 2 and Ratchet
2010 was MAG, GOW3, Heavy Rain and GT5
2011 was KZ3, Uncharted 3, LBP2. infamous 2
2012 was Starhawk, Twisted Metal, Journey and PS Allstars. Their weakest year.
2013 was GOW A, Beyond, TLOU, GT6.

I loved 90% of these games. Genre defining, industry leading graphics that set up Sony for a massive success in the PS4 era.

Look at that shit man look at that 1st party line up i miss when sony had the balls to try their hand at every genre

 

[noob smokes]

The fat ps3 was the greatest entertainment system of all time play ps1/2 games cds blu rays dvds ran linux could do your printing aswell it did everything

 

[JackMcGunns]

Very Interesting. According to many around here, you would have thought it was a stellar success crushing the Xbox 360....

Made a correction there

Seriously though, Xbox had all the momentum , but then they handed the ball to Don Mattrick and the rest is history.

 

[SkylineRKR]

The PS3 is hooked up a lot in my home for a year or 2 now. I got some rekindled love for it. There are some really great games on there you won't find on PS5, and they are lost to time. Yesterday I played a bit of Sega Rally Revo, Outrun 2 SP, Dungeons and Dragons collection and Virtua Tennis 3. Its impossible to play those on PS5. Bar some performance on certain games its a really great system with actually quite a bit of experimental software and a lot of genres covered. Try to find something like Motorstorm, RR7 or NBA Street on PS5. You can't. Unless you play some PSP port. The console has this benefit of being HD ready, it works with HDMI, wireless controllers and built in HDD and modem. It functions like the consoles of today. Plug it into the HDMI socket, connect it to your wifi or wire, and go. This is why its also a very good PS1 player (again, try to load something like Xenogears or Parasite Eve on retail PS5), and PS2 player if you happen to have a 1st gen Fat. Its really one of the best retro consoles for this reason.

But when the machine came out it was full of stupid decisions. The price, the hardware, the fact many games actually ran worse than 360 versions. There wasn't, beyond Blu Ray, much of a reason to choose it. And we were on the brink of digital distribution anyway.

Sony's luck was that MS pushed Kinect so hard, which we all knew would be a fad. The Wii was already in decline at that point, blatantly tossed aside. MS still went all in. And Sony meanwhile positioned the PS3 as a gaming machine. This would pay off straight into the PS4 launch. They came off a great twilight year while MS had burnt all bridges and even continued Kinect for X1 lol.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Sony's CEO Commented on Concord's Failure. Hiroki Totoki Explains What Went South and Pledges Lessons Learned

Important people from Sony, in an interview with investors, discussed the failure of Concord.

www.gamepressure.com

"failure of Concord doesn't mean that Sony will withdraw from gaming services" is completely different to "Nowadays they look at Concord and say hey we are still all in.".

You clearly know that right?