Analyst: Brand Loyalty Helps PS3 GTA IV

PirateThom - 56 days 16 hours ago

It's hard for the average consumer to be loyal to a company with 1 failed console they dropped support of without warning and 1 console which has been heavily criticised in the media for having the highest failure rate of any console before it.

Gamers have shorter memories than the general public do...

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kewlkat007 - 56 days 16 hours ago

have no Loyalties...They will go where the good games are. simple as that.

Yes the 360 have had issues but it's not every one or box. If your 3260 works fine then it works, and you enjoy the games.

Anyone can go out and purchase an ELITE console and enjoy the games, without having Loyalty or much problems.

I've gotten every console out since 1993, I just like games. It's a no-brainer Sony is a strong Brand. No one doubts that, but I hate Corporate fanboys.

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jadenkorri - 56 days 12 hours ago

i understand where your going, but if your thinking in the mind set of a consumer who does even the littlest of research, there gonna see 2 things, sony with its low failure rate, less games, and free online, compared to MS with a high failure rate, paid online, with a bigger library, is gonna chose the console that will not fail....Your not gonna walk into a car dealership and buy a car that breaks down a lot which is fully loaded compared to the other which won't break down and less features... This may be a bad comparison but its the way i look at it.. buts its an old argument of quantity vs quality.

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myabsolution - 56 days 15 hours ago

the only loser from GTA4 sales is the Wii... both 360 + PS3 hardware "win" from GTA4, no matter what your Sony hard-on tells you.

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calis - 56 days 14 hours ago

Wii sold 400,000 units the week GTAIV came out.

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myabsolution - 56 days 13 hours ago

400K according to vgchartz.

And imagine the number of consoles had the console had GTA4. Sure it may still sell like a beast, but it wouldve done better if it had GTA4.

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travelguy2k - 56 days ago

If it had PS3FIT it would have sold better....thats the whole point of exclusives, GTA4 was EXCLUDED from the Wii.

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myabsolution - 56 days 16 hours ago

well said edonus.

It seems like a lot of countries tend to buy according to brand... look at Japan for example. They wouldnt buy Samsung tvs (even when Samsung were selling them at a loss), probably because they were a Korean company and it didnt say "Panasonic" or "sony" on the front of the tv. Brand has some serious power...

for me, I go where the games are.

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cmrbe - 56 days 15 hours ago

Which car brand would you guys buy. A Kia or a Toyota?.

Ednous: There is a reason why people beileve in the Playstation brand more than the x360. Its not like suddenly people got brainwashed and just bought the PS3 for no reason. Sony earned the trust and respect of gamers for over two generation now. They have proven not only they deliver diverse games that caters for every gamer but also they support their console 100%. Saying that we PS3 owners got less quality because of brand loyalty is so wrong on so many levels. Last time i checked the PS3 dosen't have a 33% defective rate.

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myabsolution - 56 days 15 hours ago

Big difference between cars for me. When I buy a car, I really just look at price, gas mileage, size, and if it gets me from point A to point B.

Sure maybe the PS3 doesnt have a high defect rate but it doesnt exactly have as many games as 360 does at the moment.

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edonus - 56 days 15 hours ago

But this is more like a Toyota to a Nissan, its a liitle bit closer. But honestly that doesnt matter. I'm not against liking a specific company but call me old fashioned or naive but I like things to be fair. If someone is giving you something that they worked hard on even if you like what the other guys are doing its atleast a courtesy to see what they have to offer. What if all the ppl that bought SNES and Geneis decided not to give the PS1 a chance at all because it wasnt made by Nintendo or Sega....you liked your Ps2 right...well you would have never had it. Even though the Ps1 did have to go through some of that they actually came in at a good time. Sega had lost their trust and Nintendo didnt have anything (the PS was suppose to be the new Nintendo).

MS has been trying to deliver a system that the world say they want, but had to abandon the 1st one because the brand loyalty and mostly timing of their system release. They had the better console its just Ps2 already had position, they could have never made a profit or a difference in the industry with contued support of the original Xbox (casualty of war). The 360 that you mention had a 33% failure rate had to rushed to avoid being release when Sony would have used the same brand loyalty to cripple them out the gate. It wouldnt have mattered what the 360 could do. With out its own time to shine it would have gotten swept under the rug because of brand loyalty. And they know the issue with RRod was unfortunate so they made it a policy to fix them. They made a mistake while trying to survive in a dirty war.

Since they did deliver on what the system is suppose to do I can forgive them for that, its like they had to break their arm to win a fight.If the system didnt have such a stellar game library and amazing features and all around the best next gen experience since its release i'm sure the public wouldnt have so forgiving. Oh and they have fixed the RRod they cant come out and say because it would give leverage to ppl that would try to sue them. Dont believe it GTA4 just came out , that an alot of consloes being played along time, we havent heard about any mass RRod problems. RRod is something the anti MS hold on to because with out that the 360 is clearly the best gaming option available.

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Bathyj - 56 days 14 hours ago

Exactly cmrbe. The haters like to think we just follow like mersmerized sheep and have no will of our own when honestly it just that we prefer their product and treatment of us as customers.

Theres a reason Brand power is powerful and it cant just happen overnight or be bought like M$ does with everything. Its about having a good name and a history of delivering. When you do the right thing by people for 12 years then you EARN trust and dedication. And dont tell me piddly crap like Sony lied about this and Sony delayed that. Fanboys record every little detail like they're wait for Sony to be taken to court and they might get call as a character witness. Yeah good luck with that.

I'm talking about the important stuff like delivery a variety of games that cover everything. They grew this business from something that was thought to be just for sweaty little nerds to a billion dollar empire that overtook Hollywood. M$ would never have even made a console if Sony hadn't paved the way because the thought of anyone challenging Sega or Nintendo was unthinkable at the time. They saw not only how big a piece of the pie Sony had, but also how big the pie itself had become.

But the day I walked through Kmart and saw Wipeout running I said "What the hell is that?" and my life had changed. Anyway, getting abit of track here, but that why brand loyal is and should be to some people. If someone keeps treating you well why wouldn't you keep giving them your business, just like you wouldn't spend a cent on a company that keeps crapping on you.

But just so you know this GTA thing isn't all about Brand, consider this. People buying consoles are obviously the people who dont have either console right now. And they are choosing PS3. Maybe they were PS2 diehards maybe not. I just think PS3 is the better buy right now and thats not brand loyalty, thats just making an informed decision. The price difference is negligible. It shouldnt even come into it, cos its so close people arent going to get a console they dont want to save a little money. Hell what is it, one years worth of XBL? You save that straight away on PS3. Sony should be plugging that more.

But XBox has so many games right? Well people dont buy a console to play year old games. If you buy a console you look forward, not backwards. The buzz is all gone on those games and though you would still buy them cheap you wouldnt choose a console for them. Besides the Xbox libary isn't all its made out to be. There are plenty of must have games on both systems but XBox has a lot of crap too. I dont care if they have 200 games when I'll only be buying 3 or 4 with my console. I bought so many crap XB games the first year just because it was the only next gen machine and I wanted anything to play on it but truth be told 2/3rd's was dross.

So a Next Gen virgin goes, "Well I can get a PS3 and play GTA, GT5P, MGS, FF, LBP and so on etc. Or I can get a XB and play GTA and hmm its been that long since M$ released a game I care about I dont even know. I'm actually having to think about it. NG2 I suppose, but then I'd rather have God of War. Gears of War 2 at Christmas then. Probably the only game on XBox I'll buy this year. Oooo, Fable 2, I just remembered.

My point is XB doesn't have much thats that interesting to me or probably to Joe Noconsole till the end of the year, while PS3 is about to be so spoilt for choice, we were all actually HAPPY that Killzone got delayed (wrong word since it never had a release date,) announce to release next year.

If I had to by my first console this gen right now, the choice would be easy and it would have nothing to do with Brand loyalty.

PS
I used to buy twice as many games on XB than I did on PS2, all my multiplats but I didn't see a need to stay loyal once M$ started sh*tting on everyone. And I've started buying old stuff like Pop and FSW for PS2 again because I still like them but my XB isn't even plugged in so its easier to play on PS3.

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dcbronco - 56 days 14 hours ago

It must be one with a hell of a engine. And a great design. It rides smoothly over those bumpy frame rates the Toyota struggles with. It has better acceleration to load screens. It has a special coating on the windows that allow you to actually see more colors then green and brown. It may take some maintenance, but it comes with a three year power-train warranty. If your Toyota gives you problems, you're ass out. It has all those games...I mean extra features that your Toyota doesn't. Nobody wants to work on your Toyota, it's too complicated. The parts on the Kia are easy to work with. And on top of that it's cheaper. So go tell the cheap used car salesman, Mr. Pachter, who sold it to to give you your money back. He violated the lemon laws. I've never heard a honest word come out of his mouth. Let him acknowledge one mistake Toyota has made and I would have some respect for what he says.

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cmrbe - 56 days 11 hours ago

You guys just live for the moment. If you believe that the PS3 will be trailing the x360 in amount of games forever then you are sadly mistaken. You do know that Sony have the most internal studios right?.From the outset of this console war i bet most PS fans knew that the PS3 will always have most games they like. I look at long term like most people. PS3 was built to last.

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Fallen_Angel - 56 days 3 hours ago

Its actually really sad that the only thing keeping the ps3 goin is brand loyality. I have on but I didnt buy it cause of brand loyality I got it cause I thought it have great games on it. needless to say I've been very disappointed by my ps3 and it doesnt look like it going to change anytime soon.

As for sony earning its brand loyality I find that to be the biggest joke ever. the ps 1& 2 broke down all the time. Who can forget the ps2 famous DRE problem (fanboys obviously). Did sony do right buy it customers then ? They knew about the DRE problem before they ever ps2 ship but they ship it anyways to meet their deadline. What they do for the customers that got these defective ps2 ? Did they replace them for free did they offer to repair them (at a price) no their answer was simple buy a new ps2 if yours is broken. Sony customer service didnt improve till they lost a class action law suit involving the DRE (btw ever point I brought up was in the law suit). Then the court had to order them to fix their problem.

MS spent over a billion dollar to fix their problem and take care of their customers. Without the courts steping in and making them. MS also gaving everyone a free game when xbl wasnt working right for a few days. The psn has had issues for a lot longer mostly with CoD4 and GTA4 and what has sony done for its customer ? or to fix it for that matter ?

What was sony answer to the issues with GTA 4 and the 60 gb ps3 ? To buy a new ps3.

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pabadamus1 - 55 days 19 hours ago

I have both systems and it is interesting what triggered either purchase. I bought the 360 a full year after system launch when GOW arrived. I decided to ignore the growing reports of hardware instability and I took the plunge. It was a must have app that forced my hand. I bought the PS3 4 months after system launch with absolutely no promising software in sight. I made the purchase in expectation of great things to come.

The Sony purchase was a lot easier because there is a history of quality, stability and innovation associated with that brand. I was a lot more pensive with my Microsoft purchase because after a year it was still an “unknown quantity” and there was nothing truly compelling me to buy it.

It is true that brand loyalty plays a big role in any transition or hardware iteration. I believe both companies are depending on that—more so in the next hardware introduction. We shouldn’t be quick to point fingers and label others as “blind followers” when making the accusation itself lends to an air of blind loyalty and bias. We can decry the failings of both companies but where does that get us. We should be loyal only to our personal enjoyment.

I do agree with Bathyj that the back catalog of PS2, XBOX1 and even the older titles in the 360 lineup will play very little part in acquiring new business (not so much so for Nintendo’s virtual console offering). Consumers are more likely to purchase in anticipation of upcoming titles or titles that piqued their interest within a prior 4 month period.

game on

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travelguy2k - 54 days 23 hours ago

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