Japanese Stores Lowering PS3 Prices

Kotaku is reporting that the 20GB PS3 is down by 20% the the Akihibara district of Tokyo. Reports from both here and in Japan would seem to indicate that PlayStation 3s are sitting on shelves, as gamers wait for price drops or new games. The Tokyo merchants are anxious, it seems, and ready to get their consoles out the door. From the article: "The 20GB version originally books at 49,980 yen (US $412), but is being offered for 39,980 yen ($329) in a sale ending February. The shop is knocking a flat 10,000 yen ($82) right now. Japanese bulletin board 2chan reports that this at other Don Quijotes as well. It's interesting to check out the PS3 vibe at 2chan; Reasons for not buying go from 'there are no games I want' to 'video stores don't rent Blu-ray movies.' Well, not yet that is."

Comments

The PS3 Has No Games

[miyako]

I think that the price doesn't have quite as much to do with the (lack of) adoption of the PS3 as people seem to think. The biggest problem seems to be that the system doesn't have any friggen games worth a crap.
I have a PS3, and I only have 3 games for it (Resistance: Fall of Man, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Genji:Days of the Blade), and two of them are absolute and utter crap (Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Genji:Days of the Blade), and one of those isn't even an exclusive (Marvel Ultimate Alliance). Compared to the Wii, which has been getting great games at a fairly good clip (Zelda, Elebits, Wario Ware, Metal Slug Anthology, Super Monkey Ball) or the 360, which has had a year to get some good games.(Kameo, Oblivion, Dead Rising, Gears of War- all system sellers)
I would like to see the PS3 do well (after spending that much money on it, I would say I have a vested interest) - but c'mon sony, not many people are going to buy these things just to be able to install Linux on it!

Re:The PS3 Has No Games

[miyako]

The thing is, the ps3 isn't competing against what the 360 had 3 months after its launch, it's competing against what the 360 has available right now.
Maybe the games I listed aren't doing great in japan, but the Wii seems to be pretty popular in japan as well as in the US, so something must have people there buying it (they have better virtual console choices than the US, so maybe that's it)
The PS3 has an anoerxic game library, and all of the big name titles that were system sellers for the PS2 are a year or two away, or no longer exclusive (Gamespot has rumors that MGS4 will be out on the 360).
Of course, early adopters are often willing to buy a console on the promise of what will eventually be available (I did)- but there is a large secondary market to consider. There are a lot of people who like games, and are interesting in getting a next gen system, but will make decisions based largely on their experiences playing the systems at their friends houses. When the PS3 doesn't have any games to offer up those experiences, then people will focus on the 360 or wii, which they have played good games on.

Re:The PS3 Has No Games

[miyako]

There are people who are interested in the PS3 as a (relatively) cheap development platform. The primary reason that I got one was to be able to play around with the Cell processor (Of course, I also quite enjoy console games). I know a few other people who got one for the same reason.
The problem is, as you said, it's a miniscule fraction of the market. These people don't help sony out at all (they take a loss on the system, and never recoup it in selling games/bluray movies) and it doesn't help the game publishers(it inflates the potential customer base. There are X ps3s in the wild, but only Y% of people who own PS3s will actually buy games).

Re:The PS3 Has No Games

[MeanderingMind]

Both the Ps3 and the Wii have anemic launch software IN JAPAN. There are no clear system sellers, and both are selling on potential.

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=7414

There are two Wii games, Sports and Play, in the top ten software sales last week in Japan. Both are approaching 800k. Additionally, there are another four in the top thirty.

For a system with an install base of somewhere between 1 million and 1.5 million, rank higher than games coming out for the insanely popular DS (with well over 10 million in Japan) and the old standby PS2 is incredible. In face, Dragon Quest is the biggest name in RPGs over there, and even though it came out more recently than Wii Sports the latter title is still the #1 seller from last week.

I think that's hardly anemic, especially with a slew of new titles coming out sooner rather than later. If you don't like what the Wii offers now, there's still plenty coming in a reasonable amount of time. PS3 owners are still looking at more than 6 months for most of their interesting titles, many of which were supposed to be coming at launch.

Re:The PS3 Has No Games

[justchris]

The thing is, it only takes one breakout game to push a system past it's competitors. For the SNES, it was Street Fighter, for the PS1 it was FFVII, for the PS2 it was GTA3, and right now, for the Wii, it's Wii Sports in Japan (and Zelda in the US). However anemic you may think the launch of the Wii is, in NA Zelda has sold to over 80% of all Wii owners, which is a massive, massive attach rate for a game, even at launch. In Japan, Wii Sports (which doesn't come packaged in like it does in NA & EU) has sold to over 75% of Wii owners. How can you figure it's not a system seller with an attach rate like that?

In comparison, the highest selling PS3 game (the one Gundam game, I forget the exact name) has sold to just over 20% of all PS3 owners.

I don't recall the 360 launch numbers just off the top of my head, so I can't really compare them, but I know for certain the DS didn't have a single game at launch with an attach rate greater than 45% in Japan.

Right now, the Wii has won the first battle of the 'console war'. There's still a war to be fought, and between the recently released Wario Ware, coming Sonic, Mario Party & SSX, Nintendo seems to be brining the big guns. Sony only has VF5 and Gundam Musou going for it (which, admittedly, Gundam Musou is going to go over like Gangbusters in Japan, that will probably be the consoles first major system seller there).

Yes, price dropping rapidly.

[Animats]

Yes, check out eBay prices. The 20GB units are now selling below retail.

Remember, price is not what the seller is asking. The price is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller. When it won't sell, the asking price isn't a real price. eBay makes this so obvious, but it's also true in retail; if there's a huge stack of unsold stuff, the price is going to drop.

Ah, schadenfraude

[spun]

Leave it to the Germans to come up with a word for "Pleasure taken in witnessing the deserved suffering of others." Most of us are genetically programmed to find fairness and justice pleasurable. When someone gets away with something unjust or unfair, it hurts us a little. Conversely, when their uppance comes, we get a little thrill of pleasure. This isn't actually a bad thing.

Re:Ah, schadenfraude

[badboy_tw2002]

I'm sorry, how is Sony making a video game console and selling it for a high price unfair or unjust to you?

Re:Ah, schadenfraude

[spun]

It's not. Them fucking over loyal customers, lying, acting arrogantly and still expecting us to buy their overpriced console is unfair. That's why it feels good to learn that people aren't buying.

Of course, this all hinges on whether you think the things Sony did were unfair. One person's schadenfraude is another person's callous mockery.

Re:Ah, schadenfraude

[badboy_tw2002]

I guess it is someone's opinion whether they feel screwed over, but I still fail to see how Sony setting the price high on their next console is screwing over previous customers. Its not like they're disabling your PS2s and _making_ you buy their expensive new console to play your old games. People with monopolies do screw you over with pricing - I'd definately see your point if you were talking about Microsoft losing out to Linux or something, but at the point where you can say "No thanks, I'll get a Wii or 360 or upgrade my PC for the newest and greatest games" I don't see how they've treated you unfairly. But to each his own I guess.

wow

[joe 155]

$329 is cheap, that is pretty much the same as what a wii costs here (in the UK a wii is £179), if only I could get one imported here at that price it might be a cheap way of getting a blu-ray player (and of screwing quite a bit of money out of sony in the process) but they don't seem to like the idea of consumers being able to use the free market to their advantage.

As I understand it though Sony must be losing about $100-200 on each one of these... I think that they might have made some mistakes

It Might Sell if...

[Rev Jim (AKA Metal F]

they had some #$@# games worth playing on the thing. I saw a mountainous stack of PS3s the other day at Best Buy. I thought of the $600 price tag, then I thought of Resistance:Fall of Man and then I couldn't think of anything else but $600. What kinda nut is going to pay that and not have anything to play that is worth a #$%@ If they would have just got half a dozen or so exclusive titles that all were of a calibre equal to Resistance:FOM or better they wouldn't have to drop the price cause the games would move the system. Why they haven't realized this is indicative of just how out of touch they've really become with their market superiority they've enjoyed for nearly a decade. And after recently finishing FFXIII and FFIII - I'm neck deep in Zelda:TP, Okami, Bully, Castlevania:POR, Gears of War, and NWN2 (among others) - I barely have time to get them completed let alone go 'gee, I really need to play Resistance:FOM for $650 - I don't think so...it's just not a good time to get a PS3 and they have no titles.