Units decreased, 400,000 Sony PS3 available at launch in US |
With a rather phony “Uh oh” there could be another console crunch with the PS3 at launch in the US receiving 400,000 units:
Ken Kutaragi, president of SCEI, revealed the reduced numbers following the news that Europe would not see the release of the PlayStation 3 until March 2007.
European gamers most definitely are bummed, as are Sony shareholders who took it in the wallet on a further deterioration of Sony stock price.
Despite all the complaining about the PS3 pricing, 400,000 units will unlikely be enough to go around the entire US on launch day. I’ll be heading out on launch day like I do with every new gaming console launch trying to snag one and this is definitely unfortunate but not surprising news. Most console systems these days take months before the average Joe can walk into a store and buy one at random. Keeping demand higher than supply means Sony will get free press — most of which will probably be negative — for an extra 90-180 days.
With the advent and popularity of blogs, online media and the power of search engines, I’m not sure console shortages help manufacturers as much any more. Didn’t seem to hurt the Xbox 360. It will be interesting to see if the PS3 pricing backlash actually hurts launch demand. I don’t think it will because hardcore gamers like myself don’t buy based on popular opinon and there are enough PS2 fans salivating for the PS3 that 400,000 won’t suffice. I’m also curious how many will buy as a “cheap” Blu-Ray player.
The last video game system I was able to bag on launch day was the PSP, of which there were plenty to go around. Speaking of the PSP, Sony is playing catchup with Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade (who would have thought?) by planning to launch a classic game download service for the PSP (thanks darkmoon). The Nintendo Wii will be launching with its own classic games download system for snagging all those great NES, SNES and N64 titles. By adding minor changes to great classic games, similar to what Hollywood is doing with some films like Star Wars, they can keep selling the same games on every new system. Cha-ching.
One of the top searched keyword combinations for this blog remains PSP internet and that’s something that was resolved in late July 2005. Will Sony take advantage and fulfill this desire for online gaming? They better move fast as the Xbox Live Marketplace continues to gain marketshare.
If the PS3 online plans prove to be a mediocre offering, that could prove to be a severely damaging blow to the PS3. One of the few things Sony has going for it is support in the homeland and their RPG offerings. Still, they never could get their mammoth MMORPG property Everquest to take off on the PS2 and Everquest II on the PC hasn’t been able to compete against World of Warcraft.
The PS3 is expected to launch in the US on Sunday November 19, 2006 with 20GB model for $499 the the 60GB model for $599. Japan will get their PS3 fix on November 11, 2006. I’ll be trying to buy the 60GB model. Any readers planning to buy the PS3 on/around launch day?
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I love Sony. It’s still disappointing that the pricepoint is so high. When I finally bought a PSP, it was when the Core Pack came out for $199. PS3 is unfortunately going to be the same in my life although I love the RPGs Sony’s partners put out (especially Square Enix).
Whoever does their data for what people want in features, is pretty poor imho. PSPFanboy recently wrote about how Warner Brothers is releasing UMDs now at a $9.99 price point and increased their sales by like 100x or 1000x or something. Which should be a huge “ah ha” to Sony. Hopefully.
I REALLY want them to succeed. They haven’t disappointed with PS1, PS2, or PSP (the good lineup in games are finally coming out). I just hope that they don’t kill themselves before they get started with the PS3. Remember the PSX? This is the same deal, except PSX bombed out in Japan. I’m worried that the same will happen with PS3 launch.
Comment by darkmoon — September 7, 2006 @ 8:41 am PST
I’ve said it before, Sony makes beautiful hardware. They’ve made some terrible business decisions the last couple years and it’s catching up with them. You can only take so many self-inflicted wounds.
I liked the PS1 and PS2 a lot but became disappointed in Sony when it came to their position on console online gaming and what they’ve done to the homebrew crowd on the PSP. Clearly, Microsoft has taken the edge on both these fronts (the latter with the new XLA Game Studio express). Why Sony didn’t coordinate some online effort with the PS2 is a mystery to me. Microsoft knew right away with the Xbox that broadband console gaming was the future and it is looking more and more prophetic as time goes on.
When Sony finally started getting their act together on the online console front, it seems like too little too late and because of market pressure rather than because they wanted to please their customers. From what they’ve showed so far, they have something similar to the Xbox Live Marketplace in the hopper. I hope they don’t just copy that and instead do something new and different with it, however they did seem to copy the Wii’s motion sensitive controller … who knows.
It’s almost like Sony got to be #1 and did what every other #1 company tends to do: got lazy. Microsoft has done that before but because they aren’t #1 in gaming they have had to scrap and claw as the hungry underdog. They have made mistakes though too with not releasing enough Live Arcade titles. They’ve been trying to rectify that criticism over the summer with the Xbox Live Wednesdays promotion. More titles every week, or almost every week, will grow their legion of fans and every week they release a new title before the PS3 arrives is yet one more reason to buy a 360 instead of a PS3. Sadly, a shortage of consoles is going to make the Xbox 360 a victor this holiday season, which means Sony won’t really compete with Microsoft until Xmas 2007. By then we should see how this thing really shakes out.
Meanwhile, Nintendo keeps making fun games. A lot of them are kiddy games, but man, I probably never will get too much of Mario.
I’m actually looking more forward to the Wii than the PS3 at the moment but that all could change when the consoles are plugged in and compared and when I spin a few of those sweet looking Blu-Ray movies. Hate to admit this but after seeing recently a movie I’m looking more forward to the Blu-Ray movie capabilities than the games.
Any specific games are you looking forward to on the PS3, darkmoon?
Comment by TDavid — September 7, 2006 @ 9:40 am PST
Sony’s hardware does have a pretty exterior, but in the past 5 years they’ve just been going downhill.
PSP was a great idea that while it hasn’t bombed out quite yet, is constantly losing market share to the DS, and for good reason.
Sony’s having their batteries recalled by dell, apple, and toshiba
Sony’s TVs these days are priced higher for the name more than the quality.
Can anyone spell rootkit?
I’ve actually seen gran tursismo HD playing on a ps3 back in may at E3, and honestly, the graphics were good, but PGR3 on the 360 looks better.
Comment by Joe — September 20, 2006 @ 11:32 am PST
[…] Personally, I don’t care how much money Sony loses on the PS3 launch, I’m stoked that the price decrease might come across the ocean to the US launch as well. So far, it is only a Japan price drop but they’d be crazy not to extend the deal to the US too. They already shafted their homeland by cutting the number of PS3 units available at launch, so this seems like their apology. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Sony lowers PS3 price in Japan, will lose over a billion dollars on launch, may still be #1 — September 22, 2006 @ 12:28 pm PST
[…] To say 2006 has been a year Sony wants to forget would be a huge understatement, and the torture isn’t over yet. They announced they were scaling back the number of PS3 they forecasted to be available between launch next month and March 2007, hitting Japan the hardest, but now it appears they are having production problems which may lead to even more PS3 scarcity: Sony Corp., which slashed its profit forecast yesterday, said it may not reach this year’s shipment target for the PlayStation 3 game console because of a parts shortage in the Blu-ray high-definition disc drive. […]
Pingback by Sony having PS3 production problems, might not make shipment goals » Make You Go Hmm — October 20, 2006 @ 2:55 pm PST
[…] Maybe because they’re only making 400,000 of them? […]
Pingback by DreamHost Blog » How to get cheap PS3s! — November 10, 2006 @ 2:18 am PST
[…] I’m not going to get suckered into any hype about how successful the PS3 is going to be based on launch day in Japan with a mere 80,000 units, nor what happens here in the US with 400,000 PS3 or less. Let’s revisit that discussion around tax time 2007 when, just like the Xbox 360, I think most regular people, myself included, will be able to walk into the store and buy one […]
Pingback by Obvious: 80,000 PS3 gobbled up in record time in Japan » Make You Go Hmm — November 11, 2006 @ 5:09 pm PST
this is a perfect example of how cold facts (and nothing is colder then numbers) can be spinned and misenterprited by charizmatic people to make it look different then it actually is.
compare it to VSI (vertical speed indicator) of an airplane. the rate of descent (so not to insult you with word “drop”) may have decreased by 50% from 10M/s to 5M/s but this still means the plane is going down, albeit slower. and if that is of comfort to you, be my guest
same here , the rate xbox gaining ground on PS3 may have decreased but it is still gaining ground (since is sold more units). i understand you might not like it but you should have realised by now (being of age it is possible to operate a PC) that in this life stuff that you don’t like WILL happen to you no matter what.
that said, i personnaly don’t give a sh…t about console war. it is just a game which somehow got way overrated. not going to own either, my XBMC box is working way better.
Comment by Roma — September 4, 2007 @ 4:27 am PST
I have always preferred Sony hardware over the competition. Xbox just look ugly in comparison. It seems Sony is continues to lose out to rival companies however, the ever popular Playstation is losing momentum and 2006/7 has not been good years for Sony compared to previously successful years.
Comment by Jason Falk — October 3, 2007 @ 10:34 pm PST
Great to find this old image of the PS3 joypad that we were all shown at E3 the year before the PlayStation 3 came out. It almost looks comical seeing it again and I for one an really happy they saw sense and switched back to the original design, ‘cos if it aint broke, don’t mess with it!
Comment by Jim — August 16, 2008 @ 11:06 am PST