Lots of people vow all kinds of extreme things when they're pissed off, especially at giant corporations. Many come back for reasons of convenience or simply calming down. But a survey taken this week, reacting to the PlayStation Network outage, suggests that 21 percent of PS3 owners are considering selling their consoles and fleeing for Xbox Live.
That's a big threat to make. This isn't like, say, TV, where you get pissed off at a station and you permanently tune in to some other evening news. That costs no money because you still have the TV. Similarly, switching brands of fabric softener because they advertise with someone you dislike is just shifting your purchase. You get rid of a PS3 and go to Xbox Live, you're paying extra, both to acquire the console and then to access features that are free to millions of PSN subscribers.
The survey was conducted of 2,132 in the United States by the site CouponCodes4U, so this isn't Gallup, CBS News or the Zogby poll. It's not a stunt but it is promotional in nature. And respondents are "considering" selling the machine, not saying "I have sold it" or "I will." But if one-fifth of the PS3 owners they talked to are having these thoughts, it's indicative of the mainstream anger and disappointment Sony faces, attitudes which may be different from those of hardcore gamers.
One-Fifth of PS3 Owners Are Eyeing the Exit [The Escapist]