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PS3 Missed Ship Targets, Loses Exclusives

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the man-these-guys-cannot-catch-a-break dept.

Sony's having a rough week. After shootings on launch day and a harsh review from the New York Times, Bloomberg is now calling Sony out as having completely missed its shipping targets. The analyst company says there may have been as few as 50% of aimed-for units available, and that the company may only get about 200,000 units to stores by the end of the year (something Sony flatly denies). PS3 fans now also have to deal with the fact that Koei is cross-platforming two previously exclusive titles. Fatal Inertia and Bladestorm are now in development for the 360 as well, marking the latest in a string of titles that have slipped away from Sony. There is some consolation for the company to take away from this week, though. They did better than Microsoft last week in Japan, with around 81,000 PS3s, 19,000 PSPs, and 16,000 PS2s sold to a mere 4,000 Xbox 360s and ... 4 Xboxes.

7 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Sony Style Store just had some by mihalis · · Score: 4, Informative

    I was just in the Sony Style store at 550 Madison Avenue (Sony's US headquarters) and they were selling PS3s. There was a line of about 15 people (ok, men) at the checkout, which is highly unusual in my experience (I shop there regularly) and the staff behind the desk had some PS3s sitting on the floor ready to be handed over. The boxes go out in a distinctive black bag with PS3 graphics on it.

    1. Re:Sony Style Store just had some by CelticLo · · Score: 2, Informative

      I was in the Hong Kong sony Style store looking for more games two days after launch. (They only had Tiger Woods and Genji only, no other stores had software.) I saw the same thing as you, people buying PS3s after the launchday, I went over to enquire to find out this was people picking pre-orders and using their credit cards to confirm identity.

  2. Re:Nice BS numbers from Japan. by Baldrake · · Score: 5, Informative
    Not to mention that the Japanese are very unlikely to buy an imported good that isn't from a Japanese-owned foreign interest anyway. I'm surprised that MS has any sales there at all.

    You mean like the iPod?

    Please, this constant repetition that the Japanese are xenophobic when it comes to electronics is terrifically boring, and worse, counter-productive. It's as bad as the auto makers who blame xenophobia for why they aren't able to sell the Chrysler Neon in Japan.

  3. Re:Nice BS numbers from Japan. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    >Why don't we get USEFUL numbers. Sony launches a console, Microsoft has a console that's been out for a year. Why do we expect Microsoft's console to sell as many?
    Wait, what about the PS2 number which is a 4:1 ratio with the Xbox/Xbox360's number? The PS2 has been out for how long, 5 years, why is it outselling the xbox360's number with a huge ratio still?

  4. Useful numbers from Japan by confu2000 · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.the-magicbox.com/topten.htm

    For 2006 through the end of October, 84,949 360s sold in Japan. 81,639 PS3s sold at launch.

    From what I can find, there were 100K 360s sold in Japan in 2005.

    So it looks like somewhere around 190K 360s vs 82K PS3s in Japan currently with Microsoft's 1 year head start.

    Value Japanese sales in the greater scheme of things as you please.

  5. Re:360 numbers in Japan are lower b/c of Blue Drag by JorDan+Clock · · Score: 2, Informative
    100,000 pre-orders filling up for a Japanese RPG in Japan doesn't sound that far fetched. From anecdotal experience, I've found Japanese friends to be big on bundles. They are equally big on Blue Dragon, mainly because of the creator. Hironobu Sakaguchi is bigger with the Japanese than John Carmack is with FPS fans altogether.

    Also, try not to explain away the numbers by using the idea that these people would try to save trips. The Japanese are more mobile than Americans. Going to the game store isn't going out of the way. It's just part of another trip.

    Oh, and according to Wikipedia:
    On October 19, 2006 all 10,000 Blue Dragon preorders bundled with a limited edition Xbox360 Core system were sold-out in Japan. 90,000 additional Xbox360 sold the same day.

    They want Blue Dragon badly. And they don't care what system it's for.
  6. Re:Well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    "they are only loosing more sales and aggravating consumers."

    First, losing. Second, how can they lose sales? They're sold out. They will stay sold out until the European launch (when importing becomes largely pointless), quite possibly even beyond that.