Slashdot Mirror
Sony Ships 2 Million PS3s, May Still Miss Goal
Despite the news (at Gamasutra) that Sony has already shipped 2 Million PlayStation 3s, Next Generation reports that analysts are still doomcasting Sony's early next-gen efforts. The Japanese investment firm Nomura is now saying they expect Sony to be able to ship approximately 4.5 million PlayStation 3 units by the end of the fiscal year in March. This is only 75% of the company's stated goal. From the article: "Despite early manufacturing issues and a subsequent European delay, Sony has maintained that it will still ship 6 million PS3s worldwide by the end of its fiscal year. The company recently said that it met its goal to ship 1 million units in North America by the end of calendar year 2006. NPD Group reported last week that the console sold 490,700 units in the US in December, with 687,300 sold life-to-date in the region." I think it's still a mite early to say what's going to be happening in March, but there are a lot of unhappy investors listening to these reports right now.
Sony needs to worry less about shipping PS3s and worry more about selling the ones that are already out there. If some really cool games don't ship this year the PS3 could just end up as another expensive game system nobody could justify buying.
That's OK. There are plenty sitting on the shelf at the local Wal-Mart that they could probably ship to less apathetic areas.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
So Sony's got a wii problem with their next-gen console.
[Insert pithy quote here]
I went to purchase the newest Warioware game for Wii last night and saw a half dozen PS3's sitting on the shelves of my local Best Buy.
Who really cares how many consoles have been "shipped" ?
Please stop reporting on the numbers that analysts pull out of their hats. It's not news, it's a guess. /dev/random would be just as good as these clowns at predicting sales numbers.
The mountain of 60 PS3's piled up inside the front doors of the local Best Buy for the past week tells me that shipping them should not be as high a priority as giving people a reason to buy them.
1 (short ton / firkin) = 89.1432354 slugs / keg
We are 9 weeks from the launch. Some perspective is needed.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
That sounds awesome. What level do I have to be to cast that spell?
I quit!
I'm amazed at how people still don't understand the concept of "shipped" units and how it pertains to sold. The vast majority of units sold will be sold through retailers using something called just in time inventory. They monitor how much of a product they have and how fast it is being sold and and use that to calculate when they will need to order more of a product and how much of it to order. If consoles are sitting on shelves then retailers aren't ordering any more from manufacturers. There is a small amount of lag there, but over the long term the method is plenty accurate (notice how nobody is comparing shipped PS2 units to sold PS2 units even though there are probably ten times more PS2's than PS3's sitting on shelves). The margin of error is negligible.
For console manufacturers shipped is sold. Since they have no control over the retail chain, their most accurate measurement of how consoles are selling is how many they are selling to retailers. This endless discussion over shipped vs sold is just plain ignorant. It's a perfectly acceptable method of tracking your inventory.
Yes, Segas two pronged attack of the 360 and the Wii seems to be having a great effect. It was very clever of the Sega to break up into two companies, Microsoft and Nintendo.
Heh, I loved the dreamcast as well, but lets not get away with ourselves here.
You might want to adjust your prize. Right now the defective unit replacement fee is $0. I bought a 360 at launch in November 2005. I think it was supposed to have a 90 day warranty. Last week mine started locking up after a few minutes of playing it. I think a fan quit. Anyway, I called Microsoft and they're replacing it for free even though it's over a year old. The phone rep said that they're currently treating all 360 units as if they were under warranty no matter when the unit was purchased. Maybe they have a design defect. Maybe they're just trying to compete with better customer service. Either way, I was happy.
I don't have a good "PS3 sitting on shelves" story, because I haven't seen any so I guess I wouldn't win the prize anyway. There really haven't been enough PS3s shipped to gauge demand. I don't think the PS3 will be the next Dreamcast. Even if there isn't enough demand at the current pricing levels, Sony will probably drop the price after doing some cost reductions. Still, I don't expect PS3 to reach the same marketshare as PS2. PS2's dominance of the market would be hard for any console to top.
I have a better idea. How about someone post one of these:
-A picture of an unsold Wii in a store.
-A Wii ebay auction (not buy-it-now, an auction) ending at or below retail.
-A PS3 ebay auction WITH ACTUAL BIDS ending above retail.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
You're the first person I've ever heard referring to Mario as "complicated". I will admit that it has gotten more involved and complex with the transition into 3D, but now the game itself tends to be broken up in such a way that you can accomplish small goals in ten minutes or less. That's why there are 120 stars in SM64, and 120 Shine Sprites and all those blue coins in Super Mario Sunshine. You get one, you save, you're done if you want. No level in that game takes more than ten minutes to play unless you get into the die-restart cycle.
And those die-restart levels and the more involved ones (Super Mario Sunshine's "Yoshi's Fruit Adventure", I'm looking at you...) don't have to be completed. You can finish the game without them. It's just more challenge levels for completionists.
The Wiimote is interesting technology but I don't think they will have a monopoly on the design/usage of a pointing wand for very long.
Given the number of patents Nintendo holds on the technologies and design elements of the Wii Remote, it could very well be a while before any other console has a controller that can match it.
And even if there eventually is one, I don't know that the first-to-market phenomenon could be overcome. Today, if a publisher wants to build a game around touchscreen input, they're going to target it to the DS. If they want a game focused on spatial control, it's going to be a Wii title. I don't know what kinds of incentive the competition is going to be able to offer publishers to get them to switch away from Nintendo for those types of titles.
That is why you are likely to see lots of inventory. I for one would love to get my hands on the PS3, and I shall, but right now I do not have the cash. Had it been available before Christmas, I would probably have rearranged my spending to be able to get one. I shall get one this year.
I am not much of a Sony fan, but I like their console. I like the fact that they have put that much effort into making the best all round console. Sales shall pick up, no doubt, especially with the inevitable price drops. The PS2 still sold strongly, and was the best seller over the holiday season. Next season, Sony won't be competing against itself, and then we will see the true picture. The lack of the library was a big issue for Sony, but next season, their library will be much more comprehensive.
I shall not be getting the gimmicky Wii, or the Xbox. I prefer the PS3 to the Xbox, and like the fact that I can also install Linux on it. Beat that Xbox. The Wii will be killed by its longevity, or rather lack of (IMO). Sony's PS2 has had extremely good legs, and has been the best selling console, well, since the Dreamcast launch. It shall pass the baton to the PS3. At least that is my prediction.