In a short interview with Red Herring, Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, speaks his mind about the next generation of gaming. He makes the comment that he likes Xbox Live because it may become the "platform for the living room." With Live gaining more and more functionality, we're hard-pressed to argue. He further praises the Xbox 360 while simultaneously denigrating the PS3. When asked about Sony's strategy, he replies that "Sony shot themselves in the foot," and that "the price point is probably unsustainable."Bushnell believes that Microsoft's easy to use development tools and the extra money to be made on Live will ultimately be what separates the 360 from the PS3.
"For years and years Sony has been a very difficult company to deal with from a developer standpoint. They could get away with their arrogance and capriciousness because they had an installed base. They have also historically had horrible software tools. You compare that to the Xbox 360 with really great authoring tools [and] additional revenue streams from Xbox live... a first party developer would be an idiot to develop for Sony first and not the 360. People don't buy hardware, they buy software."
While we agree with many of Bushnell's points -- we are fanboys, after all -- we're not as eager to agree that the PS3 will outright fail. According to Bushnell:
"It would not surprise me if a year from now they'll be struggling to sell 1 million units. I think in the U.S. the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000."
Bold claims to make about a company with one of the largest brands on the planet. Then again, there may not even be 300,000 PS3s to be had.
[Thanks, Vic]
See Also:
UWink: Chuck E. Cheese for Adults
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-08-2006 @ 3:49PM
nick said...
I'll admit it, I've owned a couple of PS2s and a PSP. And I was looking forward to the PS3 until the price was announced. It's just a little much for me to fathom at one time. If the price were to come down, I'd seriously consider it.
But at $600 for the premium version, I'll be content with waiting and seeing... thankyouverymuch.
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11-08-2006 @ 4:21PM
Ninegauger said...
I totally agree with Bushnell on the success of the Playstation brand. They were in the right place at the right time and they're quick to pick up on ideas they should copy.
I don't know about his predictions of massive failure but Sony certainly deserves massive failure after all the crap they've pulled.
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11-08-2006 @ 5:04PM
Measure said...
"I think in the U.S. the number of early adopters you have is actually around 300,000."
It could be that Sony believes the same thing, which is why they feel it is ok to launch with so few consoles. They'll be able to keep saying "We're selling everything we can ship" for 6 months or so.
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11-08-2006 @ 5:26PM
Duscrom said...
I disagree, Nintendo is still the biggest brand in the world.. and we can tell how that helped them in the N64/NGC days. Nintendo is a name that IS video games. Almost anybody on the planet, you say "Nintendo" they thinkg Mario. There are still old folks who call all videogame systems "The Nintendo".
Brand recognition is HUGE, and no.. the PS3 isn't going to outright fail.. But seriously.... I mean, we all know how well Atari ended up... >.>
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11-08-2006 @ 6:39PM
AZ BORICUA said...
SETTING MY FANBOYism ASIDE, THIS MEANS A LOT COMING FROM SUCH A BIG(IN SOCIETY) GUY LIKE HIM. SOUNDS TRUE.
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11-08-2006 @ 8:39PM
bruce said...
i agree for the amount sony are adding to the price of the PS3 compared to the xbox360 i think ill stick to paying the £40 a year to get quality service from xbox live. And as this is sonys first atempt at xbox live style online play i think there are going to be alot of bugs first off that will delay the service, at least microsoft have done it before and know the dificulties.
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11-09-2006 @ 4:47AM
Tachyon said...
#4: Atari died an ugly death looooong after Nolan Bushnell parted with the company. In his hands, Atari was a massive success. YOu can hardly blame Bushnell for what the Tramiel family did to Atari.
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11-09-2006 @ 5:11AM
mr.truth said...
Price isn't musch of a concern to me if the software is there cause if you want something you make it happen,maybe not at first but eventually,but when bushnell said ppl buy software i went...some do.I have a pal thats gonna buy ps3 just cause its the "new playstation"
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11-09-2006 @ 5:11AM
mr.truth said...
Nintendo isn't that big anymore,the wii may change that but your example indicates ppl can identify mario,or mario with nintendo but not nintendo with video games.Older ppl usually have outdated views and they may not know of any system past the genesis,i mean rappers don't talk about 64s and gamecube in their cars,none of us may like it but they say.......playstation
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11-09-2006 @ 6:22AM
Reality Check said...
I will still be getting a PS3, if not for anything but the Blu-ray player (it will be the cheapest one out). I'm only counting on 2 or 3 games in the first year worth buying.
However, I do believe MSFT's video download service is brilliant, as is the xbox Live and the 360 in general.
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11-12-2006 @ 9:20PM
Broken_Speed said...
People don't buy hardware, they buy software.
I couldnt have said it better myself.....the guy knows what hes talking about. Having a cell processore wont mean jaCK if they dont have games like Halo & GOW.
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