Provide a complete list of reasons why PS4 is so successful.

I can think of a few reasons why I think it's so successful.

• Hype
• Word of mouth
• Popularity (People want what's "in" and what their friends have
• Social media (lots of hate on the internet for Wii U and Xbone but none for PS4)
• Xbone's horrible reveal
• Don Mattrick
• Sony's amazing 2013 E3 (the shots fired at Xbone)
• PS3's highly successful 1st party (people expect the same on PS4)
• PS3's impressive end of its life compared to a lackluster 360 ending (momentum)
• Performance advantage over Xbone (not a huge seller but I'm sure it swayed some)
• RROD (even though the Xbone might be reliable, people may have lost trust in M$)
• Solid marketing campaigns coming from Sony this gen in high contrast to last gen
• Brand Name (PlayStation is a bigger and more trusted/respected name WW than Xbox)
• A reasonable entry fee ($400 compared to the $600 nightmare of the PS3)

I'll think of more as time goes on but go ahead and list your reasons.

Better price than xbone

More games than xbone

Sony delivers on exclusives and support

Best hardware on consoles

Everybody waking up to the fact that MS milk 3 franchises like crazy

It comes down to two things:

• Sony's focused and effective marketing, back when it was revealed all the way through to now, leading to popular word of mouth and perception
• Microsoft's poor and unclear marketing and messaging, going all the way back to when the Xbox One was originally revealed. Confusion about the Xbox One and misconceptions continue to persist, and it just has a bad reputation attached to it.

That's it. It's that simple.

Cheap. Powerful. Improved controller and online. Gets all the best 3rd party games and runs them better than Xbox. Will get awesome Sony 1st and 2nd party games. PSN gives away multiple free games a month.

It's basically the complete package, I can't see any flaws really, except that Sony's first party titles have been mostly bad so far but that will pick up in time.

@charizard1605: There's a lot more to it than that. You think it would be selling as well if it had PS3's price point, or WiiU's 3rd party support or online support? Not a chance.

1. Sony marketed their system effectively

2. Nintendo and Microsoft didn't.

This guy and swag

:P

Microsoft and the Xbox One

Simple as this... MS screwed up the launch and Sony capitalized. Now they gotta play catch up for the rest of the gen.

I consider price point to be a part of messaging.

Third party support and online functionality is not a factor here- Microsoft has equivalent points in those areas, so it cancels out. I am talking about the points that did make a difference, that tipped the PS4 into becoming the PS2 like success that it is today, and that has to do with Sony's great, and Microsoft's not so great, messaging.

This thread isn't about the PlayStation 4, that much is pretty obvious...

"Third party support and online functionality is not a factor here"? Um, those are both vital areas to get right. The PS3s shoddy/missing/years late multiplats, and poor network at the start of the 7th gen were huge factors. Even towards the end of the gen, PSN collapsed for weeks at a time and massive games like Skyrim were running like crap.

I don't deny Sony's brilliant marketing vs MS's disaster was important too. But no amount of marketing will sell a turd console, gamers are too savvy these days. A PS4 with no/crappy multiplats, a high price, and/or crap online, simply wouldn't be doing as well. It's important to back up the marketing with actual performance, I think the PS4 has both and deserves credit for both.

One thing I've always disagreed with on all sides of the console war, is blaming Don Mattrick in particular, for the XBone fiasco, and similarly, the lionizing of people like Phil Spencer and Jack Tretton for "fixing" the Xbox/Playstation. Same goes with blaming "Krazy Ken" for the PS3.

All of that is just industry politics. Microsoft made themselves look like colossal dumbasses, and somebody had to publicly take the fall for it. Same thing with Ken. Somebody had to be "fired" so that someone else could come in and clean up their "work". Its all just politics and public posturing. Phil Spencer was in the same boardroom meetings during the entirety of the Xbox One. MS is not stupid, they know EXACTLY what they are doing.

Don Mattrick was also around for some of the best parts of the 360's life. He was responsible for FFXIII, and the mass exodus of all of Sony's beloved third party exclusive contracts that everyone thought were untouchable. He was the guy who said that they had a whiteboard in the office of every playstation exclusive that people said would never make it to Xbox, and that they werent stopping until they were all crossed off of the list. Similarly, the lionizing by cows of Jack Tretton and Kaz has puzzled me, because both of those guys were responsible (specifically Jack) for some of the PS3's more fuckery producing ordeals. Jack was the one who said "find me a PS3 still on store shelves, and I'll give you $1200 dollars"

Also, Ken is the father of playstation, and had its hand in its best times as well.

I am not saying the PS4 (and Sony) doesn't deserve credit here. You are completely misunderstanding me (and possibly the topic itself).

The question is, what is the reason for PS4 selling this well? PS4's insane sales this generation have come at the expense of, and in direct opposition to, sales of its competition (unlike, say, sales of the Wii, where its success did not undermine the X360/PS3 market at all). The PS4 is selling so well at the expense of Xbox One.

Assessing and answering that question, then, one needs to consider exactly why that is the case- what does the PS4 have that the Xbox One does not?

Third party games? The level of support is roughly equivalent on both systems. Online functionality? Same, and in fact, it can be argued that going into this generation, Xbox had superior online functionality (though I do not believe that holds true any more).

So why exactly does the PS4 sell more than the Xbox One, which is a very similar system? Because Sony marketed it right- it's a simple, no nonsense gamer focused system, that was their vision, they stuck to it from day one, and they delivered on that message very effectively. The reason this is the deciding factor is because precisely Microsoft bungled its messaging so much- everything from what the Xbox One is (is it an iPad for the living room, or a gaming console? A part of the Xbox media ecosystem, or of the larger Windows one?), to its policies, games support (is a game an exclusive or not? How long is it an exclusive), everything has been confused. The marketing has been ineffective. The synonymity and ubiquity that Xbox enjoyed with third party games does not hold true anymore, because Sony's clarity of vision with the PS4 has made it a better, more powerful machines, and third party games are uniformly better on that system.

And that is it, ultimately- Microsoft fucked up the messaging for Xbox One, and it can be argued continues to do so. Sony got it right, and continues to get it right. That is the reason the PS4 sells, at the expense of the Xbox One.

@charizard1605:

The topic didn't say "At the expense of the Xbox One" though. It just asked why it sells, full stop.

Maybe you are just taking it for granted that the PS systems always have awesome 3rd party, but the WiiU and early years of PS3 show it is very possible to have a modern system with poor 3rd party. It was an important thing to get right and they did, and that deserves credit.

We are just talking past each other at different things though and I think we basically agree anyway, so meh. I've been up all night and don't know what the hell I'm talking about anyway :P

Lol dude, same. Haven't slept in 40 hours. Maybe I'm being stupid :P

While I agree with most of what you say, I think you have to consider the frame of mind of the casual gamer. You know, the people who are buying the console. Most gamers are casual gamers and don't know the politics or the finer details of this kind of stuff. That's why the stuff I touched on in the original post is stuff that a casual gamer would think. Things like popularity, word of mouth, social media, first impression, that kind of stuff. The simple fact that Xbone gets made fun of quite often online and in the media while PS4 doesn't goes a long, long way. Just think about it, the casuals see the PS4 as an untouchable system that's never received even an ounce of criticism for anything, ever. The Xbone and Wii U have gotten criticized to hell and back 5 times over.

It's the best console on the market and consumers see that. Pretty simple.

Because Sony didn't pull a PS3 again.

E3 2013 is all you have to say. Its like Don Mattrick’s Xbox division was secretly being run by a mole from Sony, lol. And on top of that, Sony’s press conference was very good like TC said.

^ ^ Pretty much this except the price part. MS is practically giving away Xbones now and still people don't want them.

The Order 1886

The only reason why Ps4 is so successful is because of better hardware and terrible Xbox One reveal event. People are desperate for higher resolution and more blades of grass. M$ shouldn't have come up with Online DRM and brick 2.0 that raised the cost of a their Console, with weaker hardware.

Brilliant point that I should have addressed in the original post. Kinect. Making it mandatory and in every Xbone SKU while also raising the price of the console $100 has to be one of the most boneheaded moves in gaming history, especially when going up against a more powerful $400 PS4. I'm sure that had a HUGE impact.

Its just a better system in every aspect. Its that simple.

Wait, didn't you make a thread about how the PS4 is getting unfairly bashed here at system wars?, or was that the other rabid cow who makes a ton of shit threads...

He's been making negative Xbox One threads the last couple of days, which if you actually look at his opening post this is really just another one. He doesn't want to hear why the PlayStation 4 has become successful, he wants to hear how the competition faltered to make that success a reality.

price

no mandatory peripherals

user friendly structure (no mandatory online, used copies, region free, etc)

good hardware design

finally a good Playstation controller

lots of dev support

it came first in some countries

• Developer friendly console
• Powerful console
• Start out as the cheaper console
• PS+ cheaper and better value than Xbox Gold
• PS4 has More games
• PS4 has more games coming to it this year
• PS4 the home of JRPGs ( Persona, dragon quest, disgaea, Tales, FF, etc )
• PS4 has more free to play games
• PS4 has more MMO's
• Sony is known for delivering more and better exclusives with great story telling
• Improved controller
• amazing social features
• Great recording features
• Word of Mouth of satisfied customers

Its just the better system this generation

Hype and advertising.

Commercially successful sure. However until it has games I want that I can't get anywhere else it is a failure in my eyes.

People are sheeple. They like to be trendy.

It's a better system, simple as.

Sony has always been successful with their consoles. Is this really a surprise?

Hype and a misplaced loyalty to a corporation with a very gullible fan base is all you need to know. :P

Why?

MS and Nintendo messing up

PLAYSTATION THREE.

PlayStation will always be more popular worldwide, MS had their Ps3 moment, it was cheaper and more powerful and Sony's marketing capitalized on MS's screw up.

The only way Sony could have a better advantage would be if MS sold Xbox brand to EA.

The world loves to hate Microsoft and Don Mattick didn't do anything to help matters at all. He told the world to "deal with it" the world told him to "**** off"

Microsoft and Nintendo fucked up.

The second half of the PS3 ended very strong with both 3rd and 1st party support. I think because of that people just trust the PlayStation brand more. Looking at the 360, it's dead. Only Tomb Raider 2 left and that's it.

Nah, Xbox live is still better and more stable than PSN and the Xbone is a far better TV changer plus it has USB drive support.

It's a better system yes, but not in EVERY aspect

@###

I support this list with emphasis on reasons #1, #2, #4, #5 and #6.

Only 1 and it's the most important.

By gamers FOR gamers coupled with the Live, Learn and Love philosophy.

Well Microsoft and Nintendo did a pretty good job at fucking themselves over. Sony honestly didn't need to do much.

Because Microsoft screwed up badly even before the race began.

I'll add to these, Brand. PS is the world wide favorite. There really is no other reason to list.

Microsoft fucked up. Sony took advantage of it. Thats it.

Its not like Sony really had or has been making much effort this gen.