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Sony Promises 1M PS3s This Year
Joystiq reports that Sony is still promising 1 Million PS3 units in North America for this year. This, despite much lower estimates as released yesterday. From the article: "basically, these numbers don't mean anything. Despite what appears to be gross incompetence to much of the gaming press and the hardcore industry watchers (that's you guys), the mainstream gamer is blissfully unaware of reductions in shipping estimates. To him, it will appear that the PS3 is the hottest thing this holiday -- just like the Xbox 360 appeared to be last year and the PlayStation 2 back in '00 -- and may have no problem waiting for the demand and/or price to go down. People are still buying PS2s today, remember? Just a reality check before the hype consumes us all." For more on this, 1up has analyst reaction to the release news, and comments from GTA creator Dave Jones on his reaction to the news.
And where are they getting these numbers? It's like they're saying look over here at these magically appearing numbers while over in the corner they sit and hope like hell that we're all entranced by them and we won't remember when no PS3's ship this year. You'd think after all the screw ups in the past they might just try telling the truth for once.
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So, I wish them luck in reaching their goal, but also, I am calling BS on them.
You heard me Sony... BS. http://games.slashdot.org/search.pl?query=sony+li
To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion...
For a price point that high, I don't see many parents buying this for their kids. Only folks with a disposable income will fork over the cash for that and the (hopefully decent) launch titles. They should have dropped the Blu-ray and come down on the price point to be in line with the Xbox 360 at least. The main competition will only be between the Wii and the 360 for some time coming until Sony decides it needs to take a hit in the wallet to move the product.
Shouldn't you be hoing for a surplus? A shortage means that they are selling all the PS3's that they are making. While they are technically losing money on each unit sold, they lose even more on each unit that doesn't sell. If there is a surplus of PS3s, that would be a deathblow to Sony's counsole dreams.
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
Sony made a decision to sacrifice the Playstation3 on the altar of Blu Ray. If they had released the PS3 with a standard DVD-ROM, it would cut their cost by about $300 dollars (it's estimated by Merrill Lynch that Sony's cost for a Blu Ray drive is $350 a unit). They could easily sell the PS3 for $350 taking less of a loss than they are currently taking per unit. They could have released it at the same time as the Xbox 360 and kicked Microsoft's teeth in. Instead we witness the delays and dramatically cut production. When most companies release a new product, they don't risk their bread and butter products that make their profits. Microsoft doesn't put the Windows franchise on the line in order to sell their music player (which will probably fail terribly). Nintendo didn't risk the DS on the release of the Wii. If the Wii fails, Nintendo will still have the DS as a profitable part of their company. If the Playstation3 is brought down by Blu Ray format, it will be a very messy situation for Sony. Sony has setup a situation where the Blu Ray format must succeed. No rational company does this.
What demographic are they aiming for?
Teenagers don't have this kind of money, and most parents won't buy it for them.
Adult gamers will prefer to Wii, due to their Nintendo roots, innovative design, and cheaper price.
Home theater enthusiasts will have a separate professional high definition player.
The only market I see is the 20somethings out-of-college with disposable income. But even then, the bulk of this market already has a 360 and may not want both.
Just don't see where the demand will be coming from.
Game consoles should use swapable optical drives so when the machine gets Disc Read Errors, I can just go to the store, pick up a slimline slot loading DVD drive or Blu Ray drive or whatever and pop it in there.
How much do online rumors, reports and criticism really effect sales of any particular product? We have folks on both sides of the argument saying how much it will or won't effect the PS3.
Obviously as more folks get more information from the web the effects will increase... I think the PS3 will be a great help in gauging where we're at, as far as online marketing.
We had one other big testcase this year with "Snakes on a Plane" and it seemed to boost ticketsales if just a little bit. However with the PS3 there are two differences... one, it's negative press instead of positive... and two, the videogamer crowd might be more prone to get news from the web, because they're slightly geekier than the movie-goer crowd.
I'm interested to see how it all turns out. Whichever way it goes, it'll probably be a lesson for the next generation of consoles.
In a way the high cost of the BD drive is a good thing - it gives Sony room to move. As more drives are made the cost will inevitably fall, and quickly - say by $100 or more. Having creamed the die-hards, Sony would pass some of the lower costs on in 2007. PS3s going for $349 next year?
Microsoft is the main fly in Sony's ointment, and what they're able to do with the 360's price and game set will make a big difference in this war. But they're going to hurt later on for not including HD-DVD built-in. Sure, it's available as an add-on but can they seriously expect major buy-in from a couch-prone consumer base? I doubt it. On the other hand they could've included it like Sony did but then they'd be in the same pricing situation as Sony.
Add to that the controller (blatant rip off from Nintendo, bless Sony's black little heart), and there you have it: PS3 has everything built-in, but is presently more expensive; 360 is cheaper but you have to buy extras. Game makers will have to produce to the lowest common denominator, which is going to be that much lower on the 360. A large game that's a single disc on the PS3 will have you swapping discs part way through on the 360.
I don't like Sony one bit, continually trying to foist their proprietary formats and DRM on us - but long term I still think they're generally doing the right thing with the PS3. Time will tell.