Not Even Sony Understands Why the PS4 Is Selling So Well

Because the PS3 was so poor for so long? It's shiny and new and we like to shop. It's also fairly cheap.

1. Die hard Sony fans
2. Lot of people didn't have a PS3
3. More powerful than the competition
4. Disappointed WiiU fans missing out on 3rd party games
5. It's exclusives
6. Cheapest next gen console
7....

I guess its because of how long last gen went on for. Alot of gamers were ready for the next gen a couple of years ago. It also helped that Microsoft alienated alot of there consumers at E3 2013. I was one of them. Also the PS4 looks great and is more powerful than its competition and the price was great too.

What Sony needs to do now to keep those people and attract even more is give us the games that really show us what the PS4 is capable of.

Its going to be interesting to see how well the PS4 sells this Christmas.

Good to hear they are happy with it but don't want to rest in their laurels.

Because PS2!
For serious. Lost of folks like me made up their minds about the PlayStation brand (which usually isn't prudent to do!) during the late PS1 days and we don't regret it. Japan went crazy for ps2 and how much better is 4 than 2 was! A thousand?

@charlesnarles @Punished_Boss Because Vita.

Price, unique titles now and known they control to come, and the online network for the price making it worth it with the monthly freebies and discounts. Also MS stepped in it, and kept stepping in it, and eventually even when they finally wiped the turd off their boot, the stench remained as did their higher price. MS is as much to blame in it as Sony is with all the bad moves those fools made that stick in peoples minds.

Also agree with the other post, disgruntled WiiU owners who want more than a Nintendo box only system in their home, of which I'm one.

Great marketing and MS going absolutely stupid. It can be argued that MS has the better lineup and I think this would be a much closer race had anybody at MS with a functioning brain cell stood up and said to Don Mattrick 'these policies are idiotic and $500 is stupid,' but that didn't happen. Sony hit with a crowded enough launch lineup, tremendous marketing campaign, good price and then just had to sit back and let MS do the rest because under Mattrick's direction MS was constantly shooting itself in the foot.

I think it has to do with the performance of the wii u. The people who arnt buying the wii u must be buying something and i am guessing its the ps4. Nintendo has a bad habbit of dropping support for their console a year or two before the next one is out. The ps3 had some of its best games come out in its last year as a current gen console, which was amazing.

It's simple. The PS4 is selling so well because it was cheaper, more powerful, and at E3 2013 told the consumers exactly what they wanted to hear after Microsoft's DRM crap.

An established first party backbone! Really? It's almost a year since the PS4 was released and it hasn't one killer game that separates this generation from the last one. Even worse it's looking like it could be 2016 until we get that game. The reason the PS4 is successful is simple... Microsoft messed up. Of the 10 million PS4 owners I'll wager a good percentage of them are disappointed with it. I haven't played a game on my PS4 since the Destiny beta finished. PSN is a joke, PS+ is in terminal decline and indie games dont sell consoles but it's ok Sony are investing heavily in market research. They must be the only company that can't use social media to gauge it's audience.

I agree with those saying that MS messed it up with style.

Personally I was an original Xbox and 360 gamer (though I had PS2/PSP) and when the PS4 was announced I really liked what Sony showed so kept an eye on it while waiting for Microsoft to show its hand.

At this point I was already a little underwhelmed at MS as their 'hardcore' stance of their earlier 360 years seemed to be making way for Kinect and casuals. During the later years of 360 I was looking over at PS3 owners with increasingly jealous looks due to the sheer number of exclusives while I mainly gamed on my Nintendo consoles due to a lack of games that interested me on 360.

When MS then announced the Xbox One I was already half back with Sony and they totally underwhelmed at their reveal with an emphasis on TV (which would be useless in the UK where I am).

Then came the final nails for me around E3 with all the anti-consumer policies, DRM and MS executives telling me to buy an Xbox 360 if I didn't like it! lol talk about patronising your fanbase and losing vision of who your customers are.

At that point I sold my 360 and bought a PS3 with the idea of catching up on the exclusives I'd missed (if I'd have known at the time so many would eventually be remade for PS4 I probably wouldn't have bothered!), with a view to then buying a PS4 later on. Which I have.

Microsoft annoyed me so much with so many missteps that they literally forced me by default to Sony's camp. At the same time Sony had such a strong showing and concentrated efforts on me, the gamer. I feel like they courted me even! This was the total opposite of what MS were doing.

Thing is I know I'm not alone. Many gamers felt so strongly about how they acted that there are countless ex-360 gamers on PS4 now.

For me that's the reason PS4 is doing so well - other than it being a great piece of hardware of course! There is also the promise of the eventual release of so many great Sony first party titles too.

I was Microsofts to lose and they did exactly that in spectacular fashion.

@voodoo341 Wow if you're that unhappy why not sell it for an Xbone/Wii U?

I'm really happy with my PS4 and have so much to look forward to coming the rest of the year and 2015 I can't keep up. I'd imagine most of the 10 million owners feel the same and you are in fact the minority.

Think of it as a longer term investment then maybe you wouldn't be so disappointed?

I think the PS4 also appeals the most to casual gamers as a 'new gen' machine. The games 'look' new gen as in what you can't find them on last gen and do 'look' new gen whatever you think of the gameplay (xbone titanfall most advertised game you can find it on last gen too). The consle 'looks' beautiful and very 'high tech'. The controller is 'new gen' with speaker and touchpad which do enhance the experience and even the lightbar which is mainly cool as a new look. Its advertised as the most powerful console in the world. Etc

You know what I think? The whole Playroom nude stream incident brought a lot of teens over to the PS4 expecting to see more nudity.

1.they listened to developers
2.xbox royaly messed up ther console from the start
3.nintendo didnt promote the wii u(which is a great family console btw)
4.It was affordable
5.most powerful console
6 more variety of games

Thats just from the top my head

_{Language - get2sammyb}

@Doodoo This. Only that I didn't buy a PS3. I think a huge part of PS4 owners are alienated, former MS-gamers. MS has been losing focus during the later years of the 360, managed to alienate even more during the X1s reveal and sealed the mess-up during E3 with their original DRM- and Kinect-policies, so I got me a PS4, after owning the PS1 and 2 and loving them. That the PS4 was also cheaper and the more powerful hardware didn't hurt either, of course.

But I think Sony has to be careful. They've been riding on a huge wave of good-will that is in danger of crashing. The 1st party offerings up until now are not as good as many would like them to be and many, me included, didn't buy a 400,- € system for indy games. It's nice to have them, sure, but I want shiny, spectacular AAA-experiences that weren't possible on last-gen hardware. I found enough to keep me entertained until now and with Diablo 3 and Destiny, I'm sure I'll be good for this year until CoD AW comes around or GTA V, but Sony has to step up their game and at least stop to play their cards so close to the chest. Give us some more reasons why we spent 400,- bucks on a system.

Also, PSN is laughable when you compare it to Xbox live. It's true that PS+ is the better value on paper, but PSN either breaks down or is down for maintenance every month or so, which is unacceptable when you pay for a premium service and it's even obligatory for online gaming on PS4. In the online department, MS mops the floor with Sony.

Still, I love my PS4 and am very happy with my purchase. And I'm sure that I'll love 2015, games-wise.

@charlesnarles Isn't 4 a cursed number in Japan? Would be one reason why its flopping around.

@SimonAdebisi And thats all you need to say... Why am I mentioned?

The PlayStation brand and the Handheld PlayStation brand are separate beasts, if only someone knew that sooner.

They don't know? I would think its a multitude of factors already expressed in this comment section...

I think no one has mentioned third party support.

I think these comments sum it up pretty well, especially dodoo.

For me it was like dodoo said a long term investment. I figured I can wait a year or maybe even more and the price might drop a couple of bucks, but I was going to buy it anyway so why wait that long to save a little bit of money because it's allready reasonably priced.

Nintendo went to creative and MS went well beyond doing a single 180 they were spinning in circles for hours, in comparison to Sony who really didn't do anything risky and just played if safe with great advertising.

@SimonAdebisi

I think its the opposite, the PS3 had a very strong 2013 and the momentum carried onto the PS4... normally when you have momentum on your side your next console will sell well unless you screw up like Nintendo with the N64 or Sony with the PS3

I guess their marketing message hit home: "For the gamers." And that's exactly how I personally feel about my console. I do my work on a mac, my sport in nature and my GAMING, on PS4. Simple.

@Punished_Boss irony appreciation

@DualWielding that's what I'm talking about, it was so poor for so long, then it got very good and that's helped to keep and add to 'the players'

I think it's all about momentum and Microsoft's confusing messaging. Towards the end of last gen, when the PS3 became an affordable piece of kit, problably around the Uncharted 3 release, people jumped ship or atleast owned both. Then you have the PS+ factor. Some may criticise PS+ now but at the end of last gen it was all the rage equalling in a lot of hype. Then there is the power and price difference, which, though not huge makes a difference. Finally I think the most important part was the 'doubling down on the gamer.' To quote Greg Miller.

I think another part of this is that the generation which grew up on the 360 and PS4 are older now, and the "Mountain-Dew-Bro-Box" image isn't nearly as appealing once you're out of your teens. Sony appeal to me as I'm in my early 30's and I like variety. I don't like sports at all and rarely play online, so I enjoy games which reflect that.
With Sony focusing more on Indies and having exclusives like The Last of Us (which is incredibly mature) at the forefront, they win over this audience easily. MS have championed the likes of Titanfall, which looks ok but lacks a coherent campaign, and FIFA, which has a huge audience, but is still a very polarizing game.

1. Cheaper than Xbone
2. More powerful than Xbone

Will be even better when my PS4 first of all matches and then surpasses all the features I bought a PS3 for - USB media support, MP3 support, DNLA, folders, etc.........

I think the reason is that people who are now in their early to late 20's now have jobs and can afford to buy it for themselves. I'm 26 and this is the fist console I've been able to get with my money. No more relying on mom and dad to come through for us at Christmas time. We are the video gaming generation and now that we have money in our pockets, we can get what we want

Another possible reason could be it resembles the ps2 in looks.... Sony certainly played this gen very well, sticking to proven marketing and prouction values. With new tech releases its a fine line between the new and unknown and also what we are familiar with and feel safe with ( habitual desires ).

On a seperate note my kids are just getting into games and I really couldnt let these formulative years be spent with a xbox controller , it wasnt how it was for me and it certainly wont be for them.

Bought them both vitas, now thats a different story....

I can't wait to see how small the PS4 slim version is going to be. I mean, the PS4 right now is quite small and it almost acts as a slim model. I wonder how small they can get this thing.

@Gamer83

What this guy said.

@voodoo341

Also, what this guy said.

@LDXD So the good looks, cheaper price, extra power, more and better first party games had nothing to do with it? Yeah Microsofts greedy policies played a roll in bringing xbots across (myself included) but any gamer worth his/her salts could see the PS4 was a much better system.

@LDXD I agree it has taken a while for both system to really show our investment but believe it or not this generations first year is loads better than the previous gens first year. PS3 was a lame duck for the first year of its life.

I did feel that Microsoft was screwing me around 18 months before next generation and E3 2013 sealed the deal for me.
Even if Microsoft didn't mess up I still would have chosen the PS4 as I knew it was a better system and I don't just mean power.

Next Christmas both systems we be alot better as both have alot of potential. Thats when I'll be getting an XBONE to sit alongside my PS4.

@voodoo341 You need to wake up and smell the coffee

@LDXD Your safe with Nintendo and PC but I don't think Sony will screw you over as they learned there lesson on the PS3 ie Over charging, lack of software and PSN getting hacked.
Im just happy that the games I've been waiting for are slowly starting to trickle out.

@electrolite77 He's just a troll pay no mind

@Reverend_Skeeve

I think saying Xbox Live mops the floor with PSN might be a little strong. For the majority of last gen, absolutely but in the last few years Sony has made nice strides in the online department (PSN still goes down too often on big releases but I'm hopeful over time that changes). But I do agree XBL is better. If I didn't have nearly double the friends on PSN I'd probably do most of my, rare, multiplayer gaming on Xbox but I just don't see the point in playing with random people, which is mostly what I'd do on XBL and I've had to deal with enough crap from that online community to last for 100 lifetimes.

@WARDIE a bit rich from the guy that couldn't work out 100%. Sony learned their lesson from the PS3 about over pricing and lack of games.... then repeated it on the PS4 you mean.

Microsoft are just the worst for bringing out new policys and angles over the years to squeeze money out the gamer so that cant help them either,thats not including the recent drm crap,they wher the first to implament console gamers to pay to play online,which forced other companies to do the same as they where losing out money,the more servers on xbox talk is all bull they would have already had the money to have these in place anyway,ea is heading down the same money grabbing path and wont be long till other companys have to follow suit and we get screwed out even more money, gaming is going to keep costing us alot more money in the future.

@voodoo341 You seriously talk out of your arse don't you. As far as the 100% is concerned we were both talking talking about different platforms. That was my mistake and not the maths.

As far as Sony making the same mistake as with the PS3 you are completely wrong. How did they get the price of the PS4 wrong and they've done a better job with the games this time. Your just to dumn to see that.

I think you either don't own a PS4 as you're a bum and can't afford one or you're an XBOX fanboy and just come on here to troll. Either way your an idiot.

When was pricing of the PS4 mentioned in my post? It's expensive granted but the bigger problem is the pricing of their games this generation. I won't reiterate it again as I've already proven it to you. Plus I think you'll find it's dumb not dumn.

Price i say. Perfect start off price & the games(& how strong the PS3 was to last year helped to) + A game is a game to me so the PS4 has had loads of games so far(more than you know who + Funny how no one moans about the lack of games on you know who's console, hmm)