What If: Sony Say ‘We Quit’
The most upsetting question to date.Published 11/11/2009 at 16:00 by Gastos84
Gay OK On XBL [49]
Tretton Is AntiNatal [27]
Microsoft Announce “Historic New Decade” For Gaming [84]
Some of you may have noticed that Tuffcub stood in for us last week. The ‘What If’ microwave had a malfunction and we ended up running from T-Rex’s and dodging Pterodactyl’s, but we thought you wouldn’t be interested in hearing about that so we recharged it and now we’re back.
So, what question did we pose to our time-travelling cooking utensil this week? Well, considering recent news about Sony’s phenomenal losses, we asked: What if Sony said “We quit”? Raen and I were nervous to ask such a question due to the fact that we didn’t want to see a world without the Playstation, but curiosity got the better of us. With some flapping, some twisting and some kicking, we found ourselves in the not too distant future; April 2010, to be exact.
We appeared at the back of a Sony press conference and the buzz of the room was immense; almost as much as when the PS3 was launched. No one was really sure what was happening or what was being announced. Sure, there were lots of speculations flying about the room but none were prepared for what was to come. In short, Sony said that they were suspending all further development and support for the Playstation brand.
Immediately, the gaming world went into uproar. No more DLC, no more PSN and no more new games. God of War 3 had come out though so that’s something I suppose. Needless to say, PS3’s immediately began appearing for a fraction of their usual cost and Sony were taking all the money they could get from the system. Now gamers had only one choice in the next-gen world; the XBox 360. It didn’t take long before Microsoft started to see unimaginable increases in sales of…well, everything.
Due to Sony’s departure, previously Playstation-Exclusive developers quickly began changing their plans to the 360 and previously released exclusives were turned into 360 games; albeit with some major differences due to the lack of disc space.
But, in this fictional 2010, a major announcement was made by a console ‘noob’ about their plans to join the market. The company in question? Apple. At E3 2010 Apple unveiled their plans for a console which was due to arrive in 2012. This still left Microsoft with a major advantage. By late 2010, every gamer out there, bar a few die-hard fan boys, were now playing on the XBox. The additional revenue for Microsoft was phenomenal; not only from console sales, but also from the £25-50 online fee. But this also caused some major problems. Xbox Live started to face massive issues due to the shear number of unforeseen customers and Microsoft had to invest millions into the service in order to keep it up. As a result, they hiked the Live price and people had no option but to pay.
Games started to become stale as the lack of competition lead to no real original content coming out and the market place began to get flooded with games, and the majority of people couldn’t keep up with the financial strain of so many products. Less popular, or lesser-hyped titles, failed miserably and their developers slowly went under.
This situation began to depress Raen and I so we pressed fast-forward to see if and when Sony would get back in the game (pun intended). It was in 2015, after surviving the global recession and seeing business pick up again, that Sony finally revisited the Playstation brand. In an attempt to storm the market they re-released the PS3 slim at a cheap £125; but the big news came when they revealed that they had been secretly working on the Playstation 4 for a couple of years now.
But we couldn’t watch. Even if the consumers were crying out for a new console and more diversity, Microsoft had gained such a massive financial boost from their departure that even a PS4 would struggle to win people back, and with the fact that many developers had already made the switch to the 360, it would be a couple of years before the PS4 came into its own.
We left this horrible timeline with no regrets. We liked having a choice and we liked the diversity of our games. In short, we like the 360 and we like Playstation. The pair are necessary for a healthy balanced diet of games, even if you only own one.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
Person678 | 11/11/2009 16:03
BOOM! Headshot!
1794 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
Feels like this ended half way through… Would have liked to have known more about Apples console!
Oh well.
Gastos84 | 11/11/2009 16:05
Team TSA: Writer
3888 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
To be honest, I was a bit scared about the onslaught of comments I was going to recieve so I backed it off a little. Sorry about that!
Zuler | 11/11/2009 16:26
Team TSA: Writer
10499 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
How about a part two to this What If?
Michael | 11/11/2009 19:56
Team TSA: Development
2216 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Wimp.
Severn2j | 12/11/2009 09:26
Member
1553 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
My guess is that it fizzled out pretty quickly due to a lack of games available for it, and ended up being re branded as an expensive graphic design tool..
*ducks*
Anthony72 | 12/11/2009 10:00
Member
267 TSA Points | Member since: Jun 2009
But it still sold loads due to a nice shiny apple logo on the back. Ah the power of branding something cool even if its not that good imo ( Im now leaving the country)
Paranoimia | 11/11/2009 16:04
Member
481 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
I’d probably give up gaming.
Bilbo_bobbins | 11/11/2009 16:47
Member
1406 TSA Points | Member since: Jun 2009
thats what I would do I think. Good excuse i think lol
BalramRules | 11/11/2009 19:26
Member
98 TSA Points | Member since: Jun 2009
I’d give up gamin too, depression to da max mate =-(
Im sad just thinkin bout it, i HATE ms and nintendo.
bajere | 12/11/2009 08:12
Member
1067 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
i would quite gaming aswell…unless Apple bring out a console
waddo_89 | 11/11/2009 16:04
Member
493 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
What a horrible thought! :O Although probably quite possible unfortunately, Sony are still playing catchup and need to start leading the race pretty soon if PlayStation is to surive!
3shirts | 11/11/2009 18:09
Member
2487 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
“Quite possible”? I hardly think Sony are struggling to make the brand a success. It might not be selling as well as xbox but Ferrari aren’t selling as well as Ford, there is room in the market for more than just first place
Severn2j | 12/11/2009 09:27
Member
1553 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
Good point. Plus, the PS3 is finally getting the market share it deserves (while I queued for MW2 the other day, the PS3 line was quite a bit bigger than the 360 one), so would seem a bit strange to dump the brand now..
gnipper | 11/11/2009 16:14
Member
709 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Apple iStation sounds like a go-er
Gastos84 | 11/11/2009 16:20
Team TSA: Writer
3888 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
I can see it happening soon
But imagine it…You could dock your iPod or iPhone into it, it would work seamlessly with iMac and MacBooks and, knowing Apple, it would be the sexiest thing since Scarlett Johansson. 
MaxJCT | 11/11/2009 17:01
Member
416 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Meh, Scarlett Johansson doesn’t really do it for me so I might give this one a pass.
mynameisblair | 11/11/2009 16:24
Member
3876 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
That was depressing.
I don’t think sony COULD fail, but if it did, I’d be very sad.
mynameisblair | 11/11/2009 16:26
Member
3876 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Well, I know what it was like living without my PS3 for a week, can’t imagine living without it for 6 years D:
Sympozium Necropolis | 11/11/2009 16:37
Member
1648 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
I couldn’t live without it for a day……….
Sympozium Necropolis | 11/11/2009 16:36
Member
1648 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
Its like Microsoft succeeded in there evil anti competitive ways probably the most terrible fate to video games what would really happen to Sonys 1st party devs they’d probably quit or join Apple which would be great for them
rht992 | 11/11/2009 16:39
Member
2860 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
sounds like one of the signs of the world ending soon
MF6465 | 11/11/2009 16:45
Member
116 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
This is a scary scary thought…. No Killzone 3!!! aghhhh its to much.
TheRook21 | 11/11/2009 17:06
Member
583 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
“In an attempt to storm the market they re-released the PS3 slim at a cheap £125; but the big news came when they revealed that they had been secretly working on the Playstation 4 for a couple of years now.”
You would also have the added problem of people no longer trusting the brand, if they turned there back on one console why would people think they would’t do the same for the next if things ‘got tough’
Ditching a console is a killer, in a way this problem would have been faced by Sega should they have gone to make a successor of the Dreamcast considering its ’short’ support lifespan.
Interesting world of possibilities
Zebza | 11/11/2009 18:08
Member
211 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
I think if Sega were to make a come back i would pick up the console (anything to prevent misrco$oft getting richer) but only if they marketed heavily and convinced me that its worth it, i kinda have a short memory span….
jackshiels | 11/11/2009 17:06
Member
56 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
*depressed*
gazzagb | 11/11/2009 17:07
Master of speling mitakse
2760 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Its weird to think that i would then have so free time, i wouldnt know what to do with it!
BadBoyBoogie | 11/11/2009 17:08
Let There Be Rock
2689 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
I don’t like that time line…just think, no Uncharted 3.
lewis815 | 11/11/2009 17:09
Member
730 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
My enthusiasm for gaming would be really stinted, I may be forced to become a proper adult.. No.. No.. Please God.. No.
Jumping Monks | 11/11/2009 17:29
Legend
1102 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
I don’t like that future.
Quinlank | 11/11/2009 17:44
Member
661 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
To be honest, during that horrendous first year for the PS3, I fully expected they would have ‘gotten out of the game’ by this point, but fair play, they’ve seriously turned things around this year.
If the PS3 did go bye bye I would be a bit gutted as it’s my fave console, but seeing as most of the series I like on it would simply migrate to 360, I’m sure I’d get over it. Only question would be how many studios would survive a sudden death like that? Guys like Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Sucker Punch… It’d be no guarantee they’d all make the transition intact. I doubt Polyphony would survive, what with them never releasing any bloody games(Arguably no real loss) and there being no need for a Gran Turismo on 360 thanks to Forza.
I still wonder if Sony will have it in them to release a PS4 though. Even if it doesn’t happen for another 4-5 years, will they recover enough to be in a position for another major home console release? Especially without the ‘PS2 safety net’ they had going into the PS3.
BetaGhast | 11/11/2009 18:50
Member
552 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
I guarantee that if MS were offered to buy Polyphony they would drop Turn 10 in a heartbeat.
Also, Naughty Dog, Insomniac and Sucker Punch would all go 3rd party.