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Wii, PS3 Sell Big In First Week
Wowzer writes "Nintendo today announced the Wii sold through more than 600,000 units in the Americas in just its first eight days of availability. That's a rate of nearly one per second continuously since the November 19 launch!" From the article: "The company noted that, when taking into account first-party software and accessory sales, Wii sales have thus far amounted to an impressive $190 million. Nintendo also added that sales of the Wii's highly anticipated launch title, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, has already has achieved sales of more than 454,000 units in the Americas, a figure which it notes represents in excess of of 75 percent of all hardware purchasers." I couldn't find any sales figures for the PS3, just word that the company has sold all the units it shipped. Gamasutra is also reporting sales figures via Ebay for the two consoles. 15,000 PS3s were sold, while the Wii cracked 27,000 via the popular online auction site.
It's worth noting that 15,000 PS3 units could be as much as 10% of the North American supply. Given that we don't know the actual figures shipped, it's just as possible that 15,000 is 5% of the supply. Either way, it's a significant percentage of the PS3 consoles.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I know you're not to believe analysts, but earlier this week they were reporting that the Wii had 4 times as many units and that the PS3 launched with between 125,000 and 175,000 units ...
Until NPD releases its November numbers or Sony makes an announcement I think those are about as accurate as we're going to get.
Then Sony started lying out their asses about what the PS2 would be like and managed to spread the FUD so thick that people nearly quit buying Dreamcasts completely. (despite the fact that the PS2 was, in reality, only incrementally superior to the DC) Sega's marketing department failed to keep up, and the rest was history.
Point of the story being, the DC situation is unlikely to be repeated in this case. It sort of came out in a weird "in between" time, generationally, rather than this situation where the three consoles have all come out relatively near to each other. (remember, people think of the SNES and the Genesis as being of the same generation, even though they were separated by two years)
So what it's all going to come down to is customer adoption and games. Personally, I think Sony is at an INCREDIBLE disadvantage, one I'd be highly surprised to see them overcome. It's going to come down, I believe, to a slugging match between Microsoft and Nintendo in a war of prettiness and grittiness vs fun and fluffy. And I predict they'll end up at something of an equilibrium, maybe 40% market share each, with the PS3 taking the high-end business but little else.
Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
Sony has a built up brand, people want it... (I've normally only owned Nintendo systems, but I can appreciate that the PS1 and PS2 had HUGE markets)... but they can't get product out the door. To win the marathon, Sony needs to make as many sales as possible to people willing to pay high prices, and figure out how to get manufacturing costs down as they lower price to sell more units... first sell to everyone willing to pay $500, then $400, then $300, then $200, etc.
However, Sony will be able to keep selling units for top dollar, which will help them, because demand is so high... but they can't supply the market.
Nintendo appears to have figured out how to get units out the door. It doesn't matter that 2x to 3x the people want a Sony system as a Nintendo system if Sony can't get them off the line and into stores. Nintendo will sell there demand, and some will substitute a Wii for a PS3. Sony blew this launch BADLY. They may win this round, they may make money, they may pull off a lot (they have a LOT of Brand Value), but they screwed up manufacturing.
If Nintendo keeps manufacturing units and selling them, they will sell games and make money. Some third parties may sign up (if you want to launch a game for next Christmas, if Sony doesn't fix its manufacturing problems by mid-year, Nintendo may be a real option for them). The interesting thing is that Nintendo's system is SO different, it isn't straight ports that will work. Last generation, game companies could switch their target system around without much re-jiggering, but Nintendo's system requires a completely different approach because it is so unique.
However, Sony blew the manufacturing... marketing did its job, but they didn't get product out there. I expect Microsoft to be the BIG beneficiary of this, as Sony and Microsoft are much more substitutable (similar hardware, similar controllers, similar target markets), but Nintendo will find itself fighting in the normal market, not just a niche...
Interesting thing as well, Nintendo didn't overspec their system, they may have underspec'd it. That means that they may be able to get costs WAY down. If Sony's botched launch delays games (because nobody wants to sell games to a dead market), Nintendo may be able to keep moving systems and get the costs down fast. If that happens, expect Nintendo to start selling to hardcore gamers because if they can get a $200 package with 2 games out within 24 months, hard core gamers may pick one up to augment their Sony/MS gaming with Nintendo's unique offering.
Nintendo executed, Sony didn't. Kudos to Nintendo. Sony, get your divisions back in sync.
Alex
Actually from what I have seen online, the sensor bar is no more then a row of LED's that the wiimote "see's". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Remote
You are all a bunch of idots.
Hrm, considering that the hardware itself is no cash cow I wouldn't strategize at all on the hardware side. I'd want to get as much hardware crap out there as I can and establish the platform. Sony is sorta-kinda doing that. PS2s exceeded 360 sales even through the 360 launch (which is personally unbelievable). Sony sold 100M PS2s and the PS3 is majorly backwards compatible, now one could argue that the PS2 is $129 and the PS3 is much more at ~$600. But the fact remains that most people already are into the IP that Sony has. Of course one piece of that is GTA which isn't exclusive anymore (this is huge). That combined with the whole center-of-the-living room mess that the 360/PS3 is pimping it's going to be hard to compare the ps2 & ps3. It'll be interesting to see this thing play out.
There are 1500 ps2 titles listed on wikipedia and I'd estimate an equal amount of ps1 titles. So if they continue, you'd have 1500 * 3 platforms = 4500 titles (just listing quantity not quality). Not that it's apples to apples but the Xbox had about 700, the 360 has about 300 so far. Sony is an electronics and entertainment company first, whereas MS was (and is) trying to break into the market. That's just the reality of the situation.
I have a 360. But when FF13, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid and especially White Knight (assuming the videos aren't pre-vis) are released you better believe the demand will be there. Although the price is a bit steep and it's so much more complicated than the ps2 was. It's early, hard to say. PS2 launch was the same imho, all that is different is the pricey High-Def age. Tivo Series 3(HD) is $700, Series2(non HD) was $399 at launch. HD just costs a lot, ps3 is right in there. I'd be curious to know if anyone has any old HiFi (audio) war stories?
Sony loses $300+ per unit.
No. An analyst says that Sony loses $300 per unit. That is the same $900 / unit that analysts were talking about a year ago and was generally thought to be complete bunk. Just before the rootkit fiasco when everyone decided hating Sony would be the new cool thing to do on the Intertubes. Now when an analcyst spouts some bullshit numbers that ignore the fact that Sony owns the production lines for many of the PS3 components, people take it as god-given fact.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden