As I listen to pundits compare the 360 to the upcoming PS3, one criticism keeps coming up that puzzles me.
One of the real advantages people see for Xbox is their online component, Xbox Live. There are hopes for a PS3 equivalent but very little faith that Sony can pull it off, as they have "no experience with online" in games. Moreover their attempt at an online music store, Sony Connect, bombed.
No experience? This comment, oft repeated, really confused me. Everquest was a huge gigantic online game success (until WoW reset expectations). As far as I can see, Sony has a ton of online gaming experience.
As I dug a little deeper, it turns out that Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) is the American division that handles console games but the division that makes EQ is called Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). And SOE is a division of Sony Motion Pictures not the game division. What?!
When you look at Sony's annual report, the online game division isnt even a footnote in the Movies division so it appears that the game division does indeed have no experience with online content.
This is the sad old tale of huge corporations that have grown so large, they cant even tell what their own company is doing, let alone reap benefits from it. With Vista, Microsoft seems to have corrected its own similar problem and is giving their PC games the Xbox treatment.
Sony ought to consolidate all of their game groups into a single division and kick some online gaming arse. Given the number of articles about Sony's problems, one wonders if they ever will.
