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Wal-Mart Talks Next-Gen Console Onslaught
simoniker writes "Wal-Mart game buyer Steve Perry discusses the U.S retail giant's approach to stocking both current-gen and next-gen consoles, including pricing, launch supply flow, and the availability of demo units for Wii and PlayStation 3. Perry also updates on what's been hot in Wal-Mart stores this summer: 'We've been really successful with Madden, that's been really good. NCAA has been great. Guitar Hero's been on fire. The new DS Lite, the colors came out a few weeks ago, those have done really well.'"
to buy games for Wal Mart?
who'da thunk!
(Yes, I know, same name, different people, I just found it amusing).
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This Q&A felt like a Wal-Mart commerical for some reason.
- No real information about the PS3 launch, basically just "I think we'll have it this fall"
- Plenty of plugging for The Apprentice, but why? Who cares? I sure don't.
- Basically just said everything everyone already knows about the console wars.
- Stop the press!! This just in: Wal-Mart is a business. Amazingly, they'll stock products if those products will sell.
I read all three pages and was left with a sense that I just wasted a piece of my life. Sometimes I wonder how these stories get through the submission process (ok, a lot of times).
Meh, maybe someone got something useful out of it.. somewhere...
TLF
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
...if there will be enough game systems to satisfy everyone, he merely replied "some will win, some will lose, and some were born to sing the blues..."
Dude, I thought we said no more Journey psyche-outs!
"You will pay for your lack of vision..." - Emperor Palpatine to Ray Charles
How much money will you save buying them at Wal-Mart? I'll admit, I buy shave cream and razors there but I prefer almost any other store to Wal-Mart.
Regular Meta Moderators are not more likely to get mod points.
Regarding the PS3 price drop, the Wal-Mart buyer says "We'd certainly like to see parity on pricing, but we have not had that conversation with them yet."
That should be read as "Sony will drop the price to Wal-Mart, or else."
Bear in mind that this is one of the very few people whose position on price really matters. The PS3 is crucial to Sony. Wal-Mart doesn't really need to carry it at all, let alone give it much shelf space. In fact, the PS3 is a rather high-priced product for Wal-Mart. They can move PS2s at $129 (and that's the new slim-line PS2) in volume. The PS3 will be a niche product to Wal-Mart until the price comes down.
That slim-line PS2 is worth watching. That's a mid-life kicker for the PS2, and the first time that's really happened in the videogame console market. That could be the killer product for this holiday season. The Xbox 360 and the PS3 get all the press attention, but the downsized PS2 will generate the profits this season.
Did the interview come off extremly steril? Wal-Mart has the best supply chain in the business, and they are obviously taking that route with their game devision. I just have a feeling that this putting into focus everything that is going wrong with the gaming industry. Less focus on passion, more on lean manufacturing.
When Steve Perry was asked about E3, he said: "Well, for us it was a big event, it was crowded, it was noisy, and you really couldn't accomplish anything. It was just more of a show in terms of accomplishing anything other than seeing the new game systems." ...And I say, "Hm, just like your stores during Christmas..."
I was just at a game store the other day, and their used bin was about half Madden. What a racket.
In the beginning of this year, analysts were saying that this year would be a slump. It seems the total opposite has been happening so far. Games are in fact doing pretty well. Major titles and consoles seem to be flying off the shelves.
GBA:SP Backlit screen, new form factor, still in stores today? Massively successful upgraded successor.
DS:Lite Brighter screen, new form factor, still in stores today? Massively successful upgraded successor.
Where you may say "That's a mid-life kicker for the PS2, and the first time that's really happened in the videogame console market" it certainly isn't the last. I'm not sure which came first, GBA:SP or PS2 slimline, so let us not argue that point, unless someone wants to go look that up?
Ahm... Wal-Mart isn't getting Wii interactives anytime soon. GameStop and EB Games will be getting them exclusively until after fourth quarter. This is due in part to the totally free-standing nature of the controller. No tether. No cord. The only thing stopping you from walking out of the store with the controller (aside from, you know, the law) is that the stores will likely require you to submit a photo ID, credit card, or your shoes as ransom while you are trying out the system. A huge pain in the ass for sure, but with the high demand for these systems and controllers it's the only logical alternative--aside from Nintendo wising up and just using a tether on the controller like with the DS stylus's, although that leaves open the problem of tripping, using the cable to strangle someone, etc etc.
As for PS3 interactives, Sony doesn't likely have enough production systems to spare for that right now. Between the 3000 Wal-Mart stores, 4500 GameStop/EB Games stores, 750 Best Buy stores, 1300 Target stores, and other retailers, that's about 10,000 systems or 2% of their entire launch production. No doubt by the end of the year there will be a PS3 interactive at each of the aforementioned locations, but I am not anticipating seeing them until at least November or possibly the last days of October.