What console maker tarnished their reputation the most this console generation?

[Kovlak]

All console makers have been shitting the bed in one way or the other. But what is the worst?


Xbox devalued their brand like crazy in search for large profit margins, but PlayStation took their console to $900, implemented dynamic pricing and one month DRM and didn't even had the grace to tell anyone about it. PlayStation took all the consumer trust they garnered all these 5 gens, threw it all into the bin, set it on fire and is standing there watching it all burn down.

Nintendo did its fair share of anticonsumer stuff (bricking consoles, pushing game prices up, hiking peripherals' prices, variable pricing, etc.), but PlayStation and Xbox are on a whole other level of skullfuckery.

 

[extermist]

It's Sony, Microsoft might have tried this in the past, but they backed out of it, and we're talking about this generation specifically.

Nintendo, as much as I'm not a fan of them; they didn't put a time limit on games you bought at run away with the money later.

I really want for this to blow up in Sony's face, back fire royally, like I mean really burn them in the most painful way as a reminder to not try this again. But that's just wishful thinking, corpos never learn anything as long as they can answer things with money.

 

[Antaeus]

With the recent 30 day license shit obviously sony is making a corporative suicide if the gonna keep doing EXTREMELY stupid decisions

 

[Boo Man]

i really dont like Nintendo or Microsoft but PlayStation takes the cake this time

 

[Blamhammer]

Sony. I have seen very little in output of unique releases from them for the past several years. Then there's all that money they blew on Concord and more.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

All 3 of them but nintendo has done it for 20 years now.

 

[Ikagura]

All 3 of them but Nintendo has done it for 20 years now.

While it wasn't perfect I really don't see how the Wii era did that.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

While it wasn't perfect I really don't see how the Wii era did that.

The wii was good but their anti everything and their sue this sue that and their never ever having sales on thier own games has been going on sense n64.

I love the nes och snes but my love for nintendo died with the game cube. Sutr i also like the ds but honestly i cared nothing abouy nintendo at that point.

But man all 3 of them seams to compete on who is the most ass.

 

[-------]

All three are who they are not always good but I think Xbox is currently in the worst position.

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

Nintendo is the lesser evil among the 3 when it comes to doing business nowadays.

But the 3 of is as greedy as heck this generation.

 

[Boo Man]

eventually the greed gets so bad people just stop buying the products and the company goes under.
beautiful irony

 

[BrawlMan]

MS and Sony are tied as far as I am concerned. Nintendo hasn't done major price drops since the Wii U era, but at least they bother to pace themselves with their exclusives and don't fire their devs at the drop of a hat. I know the new lady at MS has been trying to improve things (good on her and I respect for her on this), but it's too little and way too late.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

It's PlayStation and it's not even close. Xbox is basically irrelevant at this point and on their last legs. Nintendo, as much as I despise them in this modern era, are actually managing to do relatively well for themselves at the moment, and I predict that eventually they'll most likely be the last man standing so to speak when it comes to console gaming.
PlayStation are just actively trying to kill themselves at this point. Raising the price of an already rapidly decaying console (Which STILL doesn't have any standout exclusives even after 6 years now) and this recent announcement of the 30-day licensing shit from them, it really seems like they're going out of their way to be as anti-consumer as possible and speedrun their own demise. At this point; I say let them, lol.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I think Sony, because they had always presented themselves as the pro-consumer, third-party, lovable underdog that came out of nowhere, presented a challenge and actually won...

... But now they are so incredibly hostile towards their own users that I just can't see myself ever buying another system of theirs.

Three generations was one hell of a run (I literally never stuck around that long for anyone else), but I think this is where our paths split.

 

[Ikagura]

I think Sony, because they had always presented themselves as the pro-consumer, third-party, lovable underdog that came out of nowhere, presented a challenge and actually won...

I'm not sure we should qualify Sony as an "underdog" since they were still a fairly big electronics selling firm before they went for the video game industry.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I'm not sure we should qualify Sony as an "underdog" since they were still a fairly big electronics selling firm before they went for the video game industry.

I mean... Phillips and 3DO were just as much the heavyweights and both failed to crack a space for themselves in the videogame industry.

When Sony came into the picture, they did so as a third-party developer for Nintendo, hoping to ape the SEGA CD. Them trying to go solo and actually succeeding was seen as a shock by everyone. That's what I was getting at.

 

[Mopeybloke]

I think it's probably XBOX. They essentially announced they will no longer be competing for that same market as Sony and making a premium console (in this economy). They also bought like 1/3 of the industry for nothing, couldn't get many good games out, and went from the value console choice to increasing game pass price and announcing the most expensive console as their only option next gen.

When they bought 1/3 of the industry, they wanted to make everything exclusive, especially Call of Duty. It just majorly failed. Once CoD wasn't going to be exclusive, there was no point for anything else to be, not that they were going to release any games someone would buy a console for anyway.

Sony close more studios than released IPs this gen. All going swimmingly, but XBOX essentially has announced they're out, and it's doubtful many people will go for that premium price tag, so they've essentially announced their retirement from the console market. Just not quite.

 

[Vreeves]

Xbox is worst off right now because they gave up on the console race and decided to compete with PC vendors.

While it's nice that PC gaming benefits the most from all this, having both Sony and MS fumbling everything is one way to a more homogeneous software offering across the board. Proper competition inspires creativity with new and exciting games. They don't have to make original or reinvent the wheel all the time but when most first party games are just "Over the shoulder Action adventure" or "Hyper realistic Racing sims" it becomes a problem that spreads even to PC.

 

[Ikagura]

most first party games are just "Over the shoulder Action adventure"

You've pin pointed my issue with modern AAA.

 

[BrawlMan]

When Sony came into the picture, they did so as a third-party developer for Nintendo, hoping to ape the SEGA CD. Them trying to go solo and actually succeeding was seen as a shock by everyone. That's what I was getting at.

Yes, but it started out of spite.When Nintendo pretty much ditched Sony and embarrassed them on the E3 stageof that year. I still wouldn't call them underdogs though. What made them succeed is that they pretty much studied under Nintendo, and knew what to do. The other two console manufacturers were either out of touch or really didn't have much of a marketing strategy, outside of making an expensive console.

You've pin pointed my issue with modern AAA.

Third person action games have always been around since 3d started. Whether it was over the shoulder or not. Yes, more OTS started coming up after RE4 and Gears, but I don't know why any of you are shocked, or surprised by this.

Before this complaint, when it came to large games, there were people complaining about:

• Too many FPS games/cover shooters. Games copying Gears and COD in either gameplay, tone, or all the above.
• "Live-service" oversaturation.
• Too many God of War clones. Yes, it was more than a few gaming critics crying about this back during the seventh generation.
• Too many open world games for 8th gen.
• Too many collect a thon 3d platformers in the 90s/early 2000s.
• Too many fighting games during the 90s.
• Too much forced stealth after MGS1 made it big on the scene.

These cycles always come and go.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

The other two console manufacturers were either out of touch or really didn't have much of our marketing strategy outside of making an expensive console.

I think the true tragedy is that they tried to turn both systems into half-baked multimedia machines to appeal to the parents, when all they really needed to be was a good CD player — I can't even tell you how much time my friend and I spent jamming by the PS1.

 

[BrawlMan]

think the true tragedy is that they tried to turn both systems into half-baked multimedia machines to appeal to the parents, when all they really needed to be was a good CD player

I wouldn't call those two much of a tragedy considering my brother and I didn't even know the CDI existed until about 2003. 3DO we already knew about and how horrible it was.

— I can't even tell you how much time my friend and I spent jamming by the PS1.

All of it at a much cheaper price too. We got our PS1 in 1997 and got it for Christmas. The price was $189.99 on sale at the time.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

All of it at a much cheaper price too. We got our PS1 in 1997 and got it for Christmas. The price was $189.99 on sale at the time.

Nice! I got mine at a bargain bin's price because I got it waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy after the fact. Heavily used, but with a lot of life left.

 

[shaggi]

Xbox seems to leave console war. Nintendo have their nuisances, but being lesser evil a the moment. PlayStation try to shatter peoples trust at the moment with their outrageous decisions. So the award goes to Sony PlayStation.

 

[Princess Viola]

their never ever having sales on thier own games has been going on sense n64.

I mean this part just ain't true.

Like it's fair to point out how Nintendo nowadays doesn't permanently drop the prices of their games anymore (RIP Nintendo Selects/Player's Choice, you will be avenged) but they much very do put their own games on sale.

Anyways to the answer the topic, it's gotta be Microsoft. Sony's fuckery with the very short online check-ins for digital games is too recent to say how it will affect their reputation. And look, let's be honest here: most of the fuckery Nintendo has done is stuff that almost nobody is even aware of or cares about outside of specific internet communities. Not saying that to excuse some of the stuff they've done, but 'they've issued C&Ds to emulators/filed lawsuits against pirates' isn't something that the average person really cares about and I think the most notable thing they've done that people would notice is increase the price of the OG Switch models + Switch 2 accessories before those came out.

But Microsoft? What have they done this console generation? Spend billions of dollars buying up other companies? Do a whole advertising campaign to tell people that 'anything you can play Xbox games on is an Xbox' (implying that they don't actually need to buy the actual Xbox consoles themselves)?

The only market they've ever had a stranglehold on is North America and, while they have recently dropped GP prices, that doesn't change the fact that the Xbox Series S/X are more expensive now than they were at launch and they've sold much less than the Xbox One (IIRC it was stated that the Xbox One - all versions - sold over 58 million meanwhile the most recent sales data we have for the Xbox Series S/X is a combined 28.3 million). Xbox has just become a brand that people don't care about, really.

They already had basically no brand power outside of North America and even within North America, whatever brand power they had for being the video game console from all the way back in the Xbox 360 days was already severely damaged by all the fuck ups from the Xbox One generation (which was probably the worst generation to lose imo) but nothing they've done this generation with the Series S/X has turned that around. And seeing how it seems their next hardware will literally just be a gaming PC (meaning that they'll be doubling down on what enthusiast fans they have left instead of trying to attract new people to their console)...yeah like. God it really is Microsoft/Xbox.

And it's not even that people are now hating Xbox because of all the fuckery they've done and how much MS has mismanaged the brand, they just don't care anymore.