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Old 2006-06-13, 14:00   Link #25
Radd
Just Married, Oct. 28th!
 
Join Date: May 2003
Age: 45
The PS2 was successful for a number of factors, actual power was not one of them. First, the Ps2 had name recognition. Sony was already well established as a console maker with the PSX.

Second, the PS2 had a hype machine like nothing before or since.

Third was cost. The PSX was a full hundred dollars less than the $400 Sega Saturn. The Saturn was incredibly expensive for a game console, and people were not willing to spend that much, especially when there was a less expensive alternative. The PS2 was also competitively priced, not straying beyond what gamers were willing to spend.

Finally, market saturation. Because of the name and the hype, plus a year head start, Sony had a large share of the market already wrapped up. Developers go where the money is, above and beyond any other factor. Since the majority of people owned PS2s, developers made more PS2 games than anything else, giving the PS2 a huge library of games, and the compeition without.

Actually, developer support should count twice, since there's another reason Sony has enjoyed developer support...when they first arrived on the scene, Nintendo was treating their developers like dirt, and Sony wooed them away with sweet deals and incentives.

Graphics power has never been the biggest factor in developer support.
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