Is it possible Sony become a monopoly in the console market?

I mean let's say NX flop and then Nintendo goes 3rd party or Microsoft Sony buys Nintendo. Or Nintendo says but Microsoft leaves from console market because of low profit.

Then it's just Sony and Microsoft/Nintendo. I think someone else like Apple or Samsung would be very hard to join console market because they never made any console before, they don't have first party games and people don't trust them because they don't have any gaming history. Sooner or later it's clear that buying 2 consoles that 95% games are multiplatform games are not worth and they mostly buy Sony console because of exclusives and Microsoft is forced to leave market. And Sony becomes monopoly.

Do you think when Sony becomes monopoly, is it easy or hard to enter console market without first party studios? or is it even possible that Nintendo and Microsoft leave market? Nintendo is too poor and Microsoft too big for small console market.

I don't think that Sony will become a monopoly in the console market any time soon. Even with less sales than PS4, Xbox One is highly successful and Nintendo almost singlehandedly created the console market (NES came out during a time when console gaming was considered dead and it swept the world by storm). I doubt they would quit any time soon.

That said, it's important to understand that console monopoly hurts the consumer. Competition means more and better exclusives, cheaper prices and better service. Playstation 3 is my favorite console of the previous generation but I don't think it would be as good if it wasn't behind Xbox 360, Sony trying their best to catch up.

Let's hope not.

Not when software sales of games like mario kart 8, super smash bros, forza 6, halo 5 are in the millions

No and that's a good thing. 1 company and no competition is not good for anything or any product/service.

If MS, the realz for the gamers by the gamers leaves the VG biz, all hope is lost, I quit, game over man, game over. :P

Nah too many gamers don't want to play on PC. If microsoft gives up on those people (basically all my friends IRL) there would be a lot less people using windows in general they don't even own a PC.

Xbox was one of the only consumer products people liked from microsoft if they lose that market then they are mainly trapped in a PC only world which is like the wild west of gaming.

lol if Nintendo puts out another flop they very well could get out of the hardware business

No, The Playstation brand can be the MAJORITY, but it can never be a Monopoly as long as Nintendo is around with their High Quality Exclusives. Exclusives that Sony can't really maintain nor have the same brand power.

Case in point, Playstation All Stars versus Super Smash Bros.

Everyone expected Characters like Snake, Cloud, Spyro, Dante, Jill Valentine and Crash Bandicoot to show up in PS Allstars but people forget that those characters were 3rd party owned and were likely never to appear in a game like that, Square would have rather put a Character that has never had his Game on a Nintendo System on Smash than put him on a Game that had a Roster of a bunch of No Name Sony IPs that had no staying power. Seriously Parappa the Rapper is no Captain Falcon.

with that said, The Sony Brand is still pretty dang strong and can get the Majority of Gamers on board, but it can never obtain a monopoly.

That would be a recipe for disaster.

Probably not, Sony is not very good with business decisions, they are a copy company and lack innovation to become a monopoly.

You need to play some Sony games cause what you just said is just plain wrong. You have a point there about Sony keeping themselves from getting a Monopoly, but "A Copy Company and Lack innovation?" DID YOU PLAY UNCHARTED 4? DOESN'T SOUND LIKE IT

+1

No, i didnt play Uncharted 4. Im not really an Uncharted fan, i didnt like Uncharted 3. Its too focused on gimmicky graphics and stories. Im not a fan of story focused games either, i almost despise them.

Would love to hear about some Uncharted 4 innovations though, i love innovations. But to me, Sony is just another Blizzard, just not as good.

PS2 era virtual monopoly would be great.

I think Microsoft will combine Console and Windows 10 so it will end up Sony consoles verses PC/Xbox connect (as in upgradable parts) vs Nintendo.

They will all play to their strengths and still be here for years to come.

As will the fanboys and this forum, but will be Sony PSX v Nintendo silly name v Windows/Xbox connect.

It'd be like the ps2 era and it's a good thing but it won't happen anytime soon!!!

If they do, it's because the market will be pivoting away from dedicated-gaming devices toward multimedia hubs/PCs. But yes, it's possible.

If Microsoft keep killing their own studios and IP while Nintendo keep making gimmick boxes it might happen.

As much as I would like someone like Samsung to enter the market, I doubt it will happen. It's not just money you have to invest, you have to invest a lot of time into making exclusives for it to work. I don't think you can realistically go on a buying out spree now like Sony did with the PS1, they got incredibly lucky.

Uncharted is an ND game, it might be exclusive to the sony platforms but it isn't really Sony. Its the same connection Microsoft has with 343 studios and what bungie used to be,

He's saying Sony wouldn't know how to handle a Sonly only territory properly.

There won't be a monopoly. In the real world, brand loyalty isn't really a thing when it comes to video game consoles. The Xbox didn't sell very well and wasn't on the market very long. The 360 launches and boom, problems solved. The PS2 was untouchable but the PS3 stumbled out of the gate. The Gamecube didn't do real hot but the Wii was on fire most of it's lifespan sales wise. No look where we are today. The PS4 is untouchable, the Xbox One is only doing OK, and the WiiU is already on it's way out. Video game companies cannot just rely on past success and brand loyalty to be successful. Each generation is proving to be unique. The PS1 to PS2 or NES to SNES are really the only exceptions. But no company has held things down for more than 1 or 2 generations.

Hopefully! Microsoft are irrelevant this generation and frankly they are the reason we have shitty practices like exclusive dlc, paying to play online and many other things, MS are not needed!

Nintendo are fine because they arent considered a normal gaming company, they are busy in their own little bubble with their pokemon and mario

They almost did wit PS2

• Buying DLC is a choice made by the customers
• PSN+ & Microsoft XBL gold accounts get you free games and discounts, the earlier features were not that great when the two monthly subscriptions first started though.
• Everything you listed Sony has done showing that Sony practices the shitty practice.

So Microsoft made Sony charge for PSN? Microsoft made pubs/devs make exclusive DLC content?

Microsoft is irrelevant?

Nintendo isn't considered to be a "normal gaming company?"

You must live on a different planet than I do.

It will happen just before the death of consoles. The end is near for consoles.

I hope not.

Somebody needs to keep each company in check.

There is brand loyalty and dislike though in everything consoles included. Say I buy something and it sucks like my xbox one. I am much less likely to buy another product from them. Say I buy a xbox 360 and it breaks or my xbox disc drive stops working I get mad at the brand not the console market.

There is brand like as well I go into restaurant i like and its good i go back there all the time.

So you telling me there is no brand loyalty in stuff is misinformation.

People stick with the brand for a lot that's why I think xb1 is doing as well as it is because of 360 owners who didn't want to try out playstation. I bet 99% of xb1 owners all had 360's so brand loyalty does exist more than you think in consoles imo.

It's possible that it could, anything is possible but I surely hope not.

@pug987: Magnavox started the console industry (if you don't count Atari's Home Pong).

Well I may have exaggerated a bit. There are people out there that are loyal to brands, yes. But there are just as many who want the best thing available. I personally flip flop on things like cell phones or cars because of what's available, what I'm looking for, and personal preference all the time. I own all 3 consoles, but If I could only have 1 this gen, it would be the PS4. Last gen it would have been the Xbox 360, the gen before that would have been the PS2. And the sales performance of the consoles since video games have been a thing support what I'm saying. The "leader" has changed so many times over the years. If brand loyalty was as strong as some think, Nintendo would still be riding off of their NES and SNES success. They fell off HARD in the N64/Gamecube days because of the new things being brought to the market. And the same thing happened when Nintendo launched the Wii. And how do you explain the Wii U struggle? Over 100 million people bought the Wii, but something like 13-14 million bought the Wii U.

I surely hope they don't. That would be awful for gaming. Nothing against Sony, but a monopoly on anything is bad. Competition keeps innovation up and prices down.

Well said. In no industry has a monopoly been beneficial to consumers in human history. Progress and innovation stagnates.

I'm playing and loving it. But what is innovative about it? The rope? (Indy's whip) The Jeep? Its Uncharted.

@zeeshanhaider: The day consoles die is the day gaming dies.

You're also leaving out the consumers that are new to the market though. Each gen has a % of people that never owned a console before. What that % is we don't know. But then what % of those consumers go with the same brand in the next gen? They have then become brand loyal to an extant.

Hopefully not. They need competition to keep them in check, so they don't get lazy and try to take advantage of the customers. Same goes for Microsoft and Nintendo as well.

The closest Sony came to a monopoly was with the PS2 and look what happened after that, they got really arrogant and the PS3 started off as a terrible console with no games, an insane price, hardware that was intentionally difficult to program for, and none of the innovation that the Wii and Xbox 360 were bringing to the table at the time since Sony thought after their dominance with the PS2, that people were just going to buy the PS3 no matter what. They were so arrogant at the time that they even publicly made comments like: "People will buy the PS3 even if there are no games" and "Get a second job to be able to afford the PS3".

Sony definitely needed to be humbled at that time and thankfully there was competition to humble them. After they started getting their ass kicked for a few years and lost half of their market share to the competition, Sony became less arrogant, started working harder, and turned the PS3 into a good console in the second half of the generation which all gamers benefited from. I don't ever want to see the day where Sony or anybody else even gets close to a monopoly again since history shows the monopolies are always bad for the customers.

The problem is I don't know if Nintendo and Xbox can compete or even are trying.

The WiiU is a laughing stock and everything we heard about the NX has been bad. We saw leaked controller that looked "odd" we hear its less powerful than the current consoles.

They didn't even make a 3d traditional mario on the WiiU like they put out two for the Wii!

Xbox is doing even worse they haven't been competing at all. On the exclusive front this generation my excitement for owning the console is at all time low.

Sometimes companies do need to crash and burn if they put out bad products. Uncharted 4 needs competition and games like quantum break aren't it.

When Sega was competing with super nintendo do you remember all the exclusives and advertisements they were putting out?

Sonic games, this system does what nintendont THAT was competition what xbox one and wiiU is doing against the ps4 isn't competition! They are in their own worlds and its hurting consumers cause their only choice is the ps4 now until someone actually steps in the ring against the ps4.

Xbox one needs games like uncharted 4 and less games like quantum break. Nintendo needs hardware like the ps4 not like WiiU. They need to run ads saying PS4 is garbage it can't do this game etc and the game is 10/10 etc instead of look guys uh we exist.

Honestly i think people here really don't have a clue what they are talking about, no console is even close to a monopoly.

The only place this could happen is with NVIDIA / intel and AMD, AMD is on a really steep up hill battle with desktop CPU's, hopefully ZEN brings them back to relevence.

GPU wise NVIDIA still sells WAY more than AMD, though AMD have being producing high quality GPU's ever since the HD 4k series.

There i sno monopoly and we are not even close to seeing one happen, MS also has WAY too much bank to be defeated that easily, check OG XBOX.. a beautiful machine, it never won the race it never needed to.

>Xbox one needs games like uncharted 4 and less games like quantum break. Nintendo needs hardware like the ps4 not like WiiU. They need to run ads saying PS4 is garbage it can't do this game etc and the game is 10/10 etc instead of look guys uh we exist.

They don't need to do that. Sony does it because they can get away with it. Also commercials like that tend to look bad when looked back at, like the commercial about how easy it is to borrow a game from a friend on the PS4... They ended up making a commercial that looks completely stupid now because you can also do it on the xbox one and well, now they just look stupid in the commercial.

that'd be awesome, the best generation ever (6th) was when Sony had a virtual monopoly. M$ doesn't bring anything positive to the table and Nintendo would be better off making happy meal toys and mobile games.

console hardware, their mobile platforms are very successful.

The lack of innovation has nothing to do with games. I think he's talking more hardware. Sony never believed in online play until this gen. Thats why it was free last gen, they didn't think people cared about it. They made the move to copy the Wii's success, PSVR to copy oculus and rift, and the list goes on. They are always behind on even the most basic things like changing your PSN ID or folders for your game library. They didn't invest in having dedicated servers because again, they didn't think people cared about online play. MS took a big chance with it back in 2003 when it started XBL and it's paid off, but it took about 5-6 years before it really hit it stride, sony doesn't take those risks and they kill things off in 2-3 years if it doesn't work (move, Vita, etc)

No. Console market is too big. If Microsoft or Nintendo bows out, somebody else will step up. Probably something from an existing large scale company like Amazon who can enter the market at a better price point to undercut who ever is left.

brand loyalty is a thing. even with the 360 being successful, it still got it's butt kicked by the PS3 in every territory other then NA. Every territory that isn't NA is always sony land due to brand loyalty. The difference is NA where people tend to be less loyal and just pick what the think is best. 360 dominated PS3 in NA but still only outsold it by a couple million at best world wide in the long run. This gen PS4 is outselling XB1 2>1 but they are about even in NA, the rest of the world sony is dominating. The PS2 came out and it's only competition was the game cube and nintendo has been seen as a "for kids" brand PS2 ran unopposed for more then half the gen until the xbox launched but it was a new brand and PS2 was already in the 100+ million sold at that point. impossible for xbox to catch up. Do a little more thinking next time ;)

That's when I stop gaming we all know the prices will go up we all know Nintendos IPS are better we all know it won't happen 3ds says hi if Nintendo has a handheld it will always have a console