PS1/2 Why does Sony make shoddy hardware?

[duskfall]

Sony made some of the best products of all time, the PS2 being arguably the best of them all. But at the same time, their hardware was so shoddy. Why do you think that is? It can't be cost cutting because this is obviously costing them money to repair. I know that the inevitable argument will be "But these consoles were not meant to be used for 20 years". Keep in mind that the disk drive problems were occurring even then. Ask any repairman who was around at the time.

Here's some examples from my experience:

A) The Playstation 2 slim disk reader needs replacement for most consoles.

B) PS2 slim ribbon is at such a place that after a while it scratches the disk (horrible design flaw, it blows my mind how this was allowed even by sony standards)

C) The PS3 phat models have a design flaw that even if you never use the console, it will eventually brick itself once you play games. The console will overheat no matter what you do. Even if you leave it in storage for 14 years and it's brand new, it will still break once you try playing games on it.

D) Sony disk drives are universally the worst in the world, regardless if it's a console, a laptop drive or a DVD burner. I've had the first bluray laptop from the vaio brand and it sometimes wouldn't read disks it had written. And keep in mind this technology was co-developed by Sony themselves!

So, why do you think this is? Is it a designer problem, an engineer problem, or a manufacturer problem?

 

[Exidous]

Fourth option: planned obsolescence. Intentional, rather than a mistake.

Sony knows it's a content company. And like any other content company without scruples, it knows it would likely make more money from subscriptions to, rather than sales of, the same content.

Sony, ever the innovator in commercial depravity (but not in game design, of course), likely just projected that insight onto hardware. Sony can take more of your money by selling products that will cease functioning sooner, as long as you're foolish enough to keep buying Sony products.

 

[Kraken_X]

It can't be cost cutting because this is obviously costing them money to repair.

I think that's an incorrect assessment. It only costs them money to repair if it breaks during the warranty period and you get them to fix it under warranty. If it breaks after the warranty, you pay them to fix it and they make profit off that. If you fix it yourself or get someone local to do it, then it's profit neutral.

Realistically most people don't claim the warranty and just buy another console (especially in a situation like when a phat console dies after ~2 years and now there is now a slim version), which actually increases not just sales, but perceived market share which affects third parties deciding which platforms to make games for. The shoddy build quality is probably part of the reason why PS2 was the best selling console. I know I had two.

Side note: The rest of Sony's electronics outside of gaming hasn't been doing great for a long time. I wonder if their brand is becoming synonymous with shoddy hardware and so people avoid their TVs, receivers, etc.

Side Note 2: Aside from the heat controversy with launch PS5 models,which didn't seem to cause any problems, I haven't really heard of many issues with the PS4 and PS5, so maybe they fixed their issues?

 

[rantex92]

I think that's an incorrect assessment. It only costs them money to repair if it breaks during the warranty period and you get them to fix it under warranty. If it breaks after the warranty, you pay them to fix it and they make profit off that. If you fix it yourself or get someone local to do it, then it's profit neutral.

Realistically most people don't claim the warranty and just buy another console (especially in a situation like when a phat console dies after ~2 years and now there is now a slim version), which actually increases not just sales, but perceived market share which affects third parties deciding which platforms to make games for. The shoddy build quality is probably part of the reason why PS2 was the best selling console. I know I had two.

Side note: The rest of Sony's electronics outside of gaming hasn't been doing great for a long time. I wonder if their brand is becoming synonymous with shoddy hardware and so people avoid their TVs, receivers, etc.

Side Note 2: Aside from the heat controversy with launch PS5 models,which didn't seem to cause any problems, I haven't really heard of many issues with the PS4 and PS5, so maybe they fixed their issues?

Maybe youre right with their tvs but sony headphones are still rock solid especially wh-1000xm line

 

[vstar950]

Every PlayStation that I have ever owned has had nothing but drive issues. I even bought a brand new PlayStation 3 and as soon as I opened it up at home the disk drive made a huge bang sound and would not read any disc and it would not eject the disc that was in the drive. They replaced it with a brand new PlayStation 3 and it has had issues about a year after owning it. I agree. PlayStation has had the worst drives ever. PlayStation 2 is by far the best console they ever created but their disc drives are garbage. It would be nice if I could run an external DVD PC drive through USB to play their games.

 

[TVL]

I think the answer is Sony is evil.

With the PS2 you could get around it with HDLoader, which appeared right as my PS2 started struggling reading discs... worked perfect laying down, acting up standing up.

You rather have a non working system than having it horizontal though. Still have it, upright and with an old HDD.

I knew three people who ran their PS1 upside down to get it to read discs... How this was even common knowledge I don't know.

 

[codezer0]

Sony made some of the best products of all time, the PS2 being arguably the best of them all. But at the same time, their hardware was so shoddy. Why do you think that is? It can't be cost cutting because this is obviously costing them money to repair. I know that the inevitable argument will be "But these consoles were not meant to be used for 20 years". Keep in mind that the disk drive problems were occurring even then. Ask any repairman who was around at the time.

Here's some examples from my experience:

A) The Playstation 2 slim disk reader needs replacement for most consoles.

B) PS2 slim ribbon is at such a place that after a while it scratches the disk (horrible design flaw, it blows my mind how this was allowed even by sony standards)

C) The PS3 phat models have a design flaw that even if you never use the console, it will eventually brick itself once you play games. The console will overheat no matter what you do. Even if you leave it in storage for 14 years and it's brand new, it will still break once you try playing games on it.

D) Sony disk drives are universally the worst in the world, regardless if it's a console, a laptop drive or a DVD burner. I've had the first bluray laptop from the vaio brand and it sometimes wouldn't read disks it had written. And keep in mind this technology was co-developed by Sony themselves!

So, why do you think this is? Is it a designer problem, an engineer problem, or a manufacturer problem?

My own casualty list is as follows:

• 3 ps1's, all dead
• 3 ps1's. The last one still works because after #2 was brought in for repair, on the last day of testing before it was meant to go back to me, the DVD drive shattered to pieces. So the chip seller sourced an older one he was familiar with, and reinforced the crap out of it.
• On my 7th PSP. Incidentally, my first 1000 series model; also, the only unit I found with a working umd drive.
• On my 6th PS3, and Sony banned my account and 5th console. So, any remaining faith I had left was nuked clean with their attitude.

Given the literal HOURS of YouTube footage of people getting their consoles banned, I'm convinced Sony wanted digital only consoles entirely to automate the theft of locking one out of their games library as quickly as possible.

Given their decision to axe backwards compatibility as of the PS4, and them banning my PSN account? I've just not had a reason to even look back. God of war? Last of us? Bloodborne? Those have no appeal to me. Even if the franchises did have appeal in the past, or may have, they don't have nearly enough to warrant having to create a whole new online identity just for them to steal from me again.

 

[SylverReZ]

With the PS2 you could get around it with HDLoader, which appeared right as my PS2 started struggling reading discs... worked perfect laying down, acting up standing up.

HD Loader is like super old, and was commercial software. It came on a disc, so even if your PS2's drive laser was playing up, then you wouldn't be able to boot into it unless you had an exploit installed on the memory card or HDD with a copy of the software on storage medium. I'd prefer OPL but still I think HD Loader is quite good, too.

I knew three people who ran their PS1 upside down to get it to read discs... How this was even common knowledge I don't know.

Been there, done that. I have an SCPH-1002 that I have to tilt upside down as I cannot seem to get discs to read okay. Tried tweaking the bias and gain, readjusting the laser pot, still has the same reoccurring issue. But then again, the first revision PS1 systems had a flaw. The laser mechs inside used a plastic sled to glide the laser on, but because it's right next to the PSU, and the fact there is very little ventilation around the case, then this results in the sled to melt from the heat. Might have to resort to swapping it out for a PS1 slim (PSone) laser instead.

 

[TVL]

HD Loader is like super old, and was commercial software. It came on a disc, so even if your PS2's drive laser was playing up, then you wouldn't be able to boot into it unless you had an exploit installed on the memory card or HDD with a copy of the software on storage medium. I'd prefer OPL but still I think HD Loader is quite good, too.

Yes, if your drive was dead you were screwed until FreeMcBoot. Yes, I also prefer OPL, I wasn't sure what I was using, but looking at version numbers I know mine is on 0.9.2, I might not have powered that system on in over ten years.

 

[balemoc]

Not just Sony, but Microsoft, Nintendo ...SCUF and their shoddy stick drifting b.s.
Everything is like a monthly expense, I haven't been playing a lot lately, but when I had Monster Hunter energy, the stick drift b.s. pissed me off

Breath of the Wild, the joycons started drifting soon after I started floating (tutorial section?) - I still haven't replaced it still. Ha

PSP 3000, PS Vita 1K and PS Vita 2K still have yet exhibit stick drift, luckily

 

[hippy dave]

I had some joy-con sticks start to drift, but the limited edition DS4 that came with my TLOU2 limited edition PS4 Pro is the only controller I've had that came with drift already present when it was new out of the box. They were fine about replacing it, but still not what you need.

 

[cearp]

Side note: The rest of Sony's electronics outside of gaming hasn't been doing great for a long time. I wonder if their brand is becoming synonymous with shoddy hardware and so people avoid their TVs, receivers, etc.

Their OLED TVs are some of the best you can get (more expensive that LGs etc, even though they use the LG's panel)
Also my Sony camera and lenses are fantastic...
The Sony android phone I had was really good too, good build quality I thought.

I don't have any complaints about their gaming hardware, but of course they try to keep the prices down, that's just a thing you need to do when selling millions of something.
It would be interesting if they sold a $2000 PS5 that never breaks down / has perfect cooling / silent, but we all know that's too expensive for the vast majority of people and it wouldn't be worth it to create.

 

[Dust2dust]

I remember on my first OG PlayStation (bought on launch day, actually the day before launch day) there was a problem reading red book audio tracks on the disc. It seemed like every once in a while, the audio quality was really bad, scratchy sound. It happened maybe 25% of the time. When the game changed track, it usually got rid of the problem until it came back some time later randomly. Following revisions didn't have this problem anymore. One cool thing about the launch day version was that I could play Japanese imports by just swapping disc on the CD player screen. But anyway, considering the serious flaw reading audio tracks, I learned my lesson and never bought a launch day console again. Let someone else find the bugs.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

D) Sony disk drives are universally the worst in the world, regardless if it's a console, a laptop drive or a DVD burner. I've had the first bluray laptop from the vaio brand and it sometimes wouldn't read disks it had written. And keep in mind this technology was co-developed by Sony themselves!

Which is weird because, historically, some of their other consumer electronics with disc drives (namely CD players and blu-ray players) are among the best at what they do.
I have a mid-range Sony CD player from the 90s (CDP-211) in my setup that's really quite awesome. I also use a Sony AV receiver that I like a lot.