Sony's Sneaky Brilliance

Back in the late 80's, Nintendo was on top.  To most people, a video game system was simply "A Nintendo".  Atari was definitely feeling the burn, as years before their name was synonymous with video games.  Atari, as a brand, and Sega with their D.O.A. Master System, felt they had quite the case against Nintendo.  Rumors spread of Nintendo putting pressure on retailers to not carry competitors' systems, or be forced to go Nintendo-less.


So they sued.  And they won!  Nintendo was ordered to make a payout of $25 million to everyone who had purchased a Nintendo system, which they did with a $5 coupon for a Nintendo game purchase.  This, of course, resulted in an increase of sales for them.  Whether that sounds devious or not, it's hard to deny the genius.

Now, after Sony has been hacked to hell and back in an embarrassing show of ineptitude, they face a worse consequence than any court could dole out.  They face losing the respect and trust of their shrinking consumer base. 

Facing lawsuits and government investigation, Sony has made it a priority to make it up to us like an incompetent lover bringing flowers.  To this end, they're making available, for everyone's price of FREE, several of their best offerings.  Full games Infamous and Little Big Planet- two games that were easily worth the money when they came out some time ago.  While PS3 enthusiasts probably have both, many just didn't give them a fair shot.  Now they don't have a reason outside of laziness or complete apathy.  And as my high school years taught me, there's just no changing that.

I almost forgot to mention, these games also have recent sequels.  Hook, line, sinker.

But the most intriguing "gift" comes in the form of a free month of Playstation Plus, an enhanced PSN service which gives subscribers discounts on pretty much everything available on PSN.  Can you see, now, why I mentioned Nintendo's legal past?

There are many interesting titles on PSN, and with everyone now having trial access to Plus, I predict quite the increase in sales on PSN across the board.  The only problem that may arise is that many aren't going to trust Sony with their credit card numbers anymore, for very good reason.

But to those who do- or, like me, don't have much in the way of funds to steal from our checking account- this could result in at least one purchase that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Sony isn't entirely forthcoming with the hard numbers concerning their subscriber base- the clear reason being the numbers are very low.  Sony may actually downplay the exponential sales growth (God damn, you better not play smug again, Sony)  But I predict the the sales news will hit fairly soon. 

More sales = Sony wins.  At least for the moment.  The true battle is still regaining our trust, and holding off the rather persistent hackers.