Is the PS3 a sales dud?
Does anyone want a PS3?
Last week, American Sony bod Jack Tretton responded to queries about the lack of PS3 sales by suggesting that he'd pay a 3x premium on the price of any console that could be found sitting on a shelf. In a fit of hilarity, Penny-Arcade went out and found multiple consoles just in their street, declaring themselves thousands of dollars richer. So it seems that the PS3 isn't exactly selling like hotcakes in the US, now that the pre-order honeymoon is over.
And it seems like even the pre-orders may not be taking off over here, with multiple reports of stock, well, not selling. Last week, Play.com put up pre-orders for the PS3 and said that it would take the item off sale once all its pre-order allocation was gone. That was a week ago, and there are still consoles for sale. Ditto Amazon, where you can still buy the console this morning, despite a week's worth of pre-orders. The full amusingness of the tale has been told over at UK Resistance, where they have a list of gaming items hilariously outselling the PS3.
In a bid to contradict these reports, Eurogamer went and talked to a couple of retailers, who claimed that the PS3 was selling well. Of course, the quotes they had weren't exactly convincing. Woolworths said that it was the best selling console it had seen on its website (because, obviously, gamers all buy from Woolworths, and its awesome website) and Argos said it was the most successful pre-order campaign it had run so far (since, clearly, gamers all pre-order from Argos).
Tellingly, neither said that they'd sold out of consoles, and you can still buy bundles from Woolworths for not-so-bargainous prices. So either Sony has fixed all its manufacturing issues overnight and the PS3 is now incredibly easy to produce, as opposed to two months ago when it was a nightmare, or the tiny little numbers Sony is producing are not even managing to sell. Take your pick.
As a contrast, stocks of the Nintendo Wii are still difficult to get, despite the console's release before Christmas, and the fact that millions of consoles have already been sold. Nintendo's problem is supply, not demand. Sony's problem, it seems, is demand. Of course, lots of people would be happy to have a PS3, we're sure. But at five hundred pounds? It doesn't look like a great deal, especially when other territories - such as Japan - are paying as little as 60% of that in their own currency.
Let us know your thoughts on the issue over in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyThe only people that will buy a ps3 will be dedicated fanboys - publishers have seen this coming and have started to move thier franchise games away from sony (Guitar Hero for example)
TBH, sony deserve the PS3 to flop - over pricing, forcing blu-ray upon us, naff launch titles, abuse of consumers (rootkit, alliwantforxmasisapsp.com), and a massive "we are the market leader ego."
Having said that, my bruv, who is a self-confessed Sony fanboy has said that he won't be buying a PS3 - he doesn't have a HD TV, and doesn't want to fork out over £500 for a console plus games.
All PS3s sold in the UK initially will be the 60Gb models only...
But i will be the first to when the price drops by £150 as sales stagnate.
I think it's had an unfavourable response over here because of what people have already said -- how poorly Sony have treated their consumers. Especially the "delay the EU" launch to better accommodate the Japan and US markets.
However, what i would like to know is, isn't there a regulatory body here that stands up for us and says, "Hang on - how come it's 60% more expensive in the UK than <country> ?" Just because our ££ are stronger than the almighty w@nky $$ doesnt mean we should pay more. Does it? >:(
In other news:
The days of Playstation total dominance are over though. Sony's snafu's paired with Microsoft's establishment of the 360 as a solid competitor (that actually excels in some areas) means that unless Sony *really* drops the ball, the two will likely split the market. Now, coming off the massive domination that was PS2, one could consider PS3 to be a failure in that respect. But under those terms PS3's "failure", would be market share beyond nintendo's Wildest dreams. So it's all relative.
It's expensive, there isn't much reason to own it right now, so it's not gonna sell to the mass market. It is playstation though, so once the good games come (and possibly a price drop?) the sales will pick up.
Aggies
It could be that plenty of stock left means they're not shifting. It could equally be that there is simply more stock available than, for example, the Wii.
Oh, and a near-launch console that doesn't have 10 'must have' titles?? Who'd have thought it? Because of course on the 360 there were... erm... and on the PS2 there was... oh no, I can't think of more than one or two. It's not like there is much to get excited about on the Wii beyond Zelda and Wii Sports with nothing on the horizon until late in the year but I don't see people applying the same logic there.
I did have a play of Motorstorm last week, and I genuinely thought it was fantastic btw.
One other thing, genuinely hoping for the failure of MS/Sony/Nintendo is pretty retarded. Without competition there is nothing to push product development forward, so even if you'll never buy anything Sony/MS/Ninty then the presence of them in the market is still doing you good.
It seems pretty clear that Sony aren't going to do as well as from the PS3, and I think it's a good thing. Nothing like a bucket of iced water in the face to refocus a company, and if they do then we'll all benefit.
This time round, Xbox360 has a one year start and Wii has a unique offering. This means it's not all plain sailing for Sony, something which they haven't really experienced for the last 4-5 years.
at any rate i can't afford any of the consoles right now, but I'm looking for a flat panel monitor that has the additional requisite hdtv inputs so that I could hook up a next gen console to a monitor, as my college self is way too poor to afford a hdtv and a new monitor
But since I have my C2D and my 8800 I keep my money.
Regarding the total cost (PS3 + LCDTV), if you are going to be serious you have to spend money for 1080p LCDTV. For less you can get the Dell 30" 2560x1600 (£884) and still plug it on the PS3.
Normally people buy a console because they love the games but a fully functional computer? Maybe if the PS3 could print, scan, and burn music/movies then i'd agree with you.
You can do most things via Ethernet or USB these days, so it's not completely out of the question. :)
As with all other flavours of Linux, support for USB printers & scanners is pretty good (except for Canon :( ).
As for disc burning, I suppose one could use an external DVDRW?
Selling well? I think not.
A. Turned off
or
B. Frozen on a single frame of gameplay
Fantastic way to sell consoles there, Sony... if it won't even work in the store as a display, why would I want to spend $600 + games on your new toy?
From a technical point of view, ps3 is on paper better than the 360, but it depends on how developers utilise the hardware at thier disposal, its like the first leap between -s1 and ps2 games were not that great, then looked what happend a year or so into the ps2 being availbale, absolutly cracking games, think the same should happen here..
also for the people who seem to bash blu-ray, it is technically superior than hd-dvd, and in the future its massive disc density will cum into its on, plus it has more backing than hd-dvd at the mo
How so? They're actually roughly even, PS3 has a lot of processing power, the 360 has lots of memory. Anyway, the PS3 is reportedly very hard to program for, whereas the 360 is meant to be very easy.
I wouldn't call it a fully functional PC either, if the PS3 can do everything that my PC can do, and roughly as well, I'll buy a hat then eat it.
The PS3 supply chain isn't that great, and even if it were, there still shouldn't be stock on the shelves this close to launch. I still havn't seen a Wii in stock anywhere in the UK. These shops with the PS3s on the shelves had said that they'd actually been there for a pretty long time, and aside from the initial launch, sales weren't all that good.
I don't like Sony much, nor do I want a PS3 -- I just want the damn hardware encased within. A Cell microprocessor is an amazing bit of kit, just as XDR memory has some insane bandwidth to it.
And as far as I'm concerned, any machine with a fully-functional operating system on it, developed and available from the word go: is a fully-functional computer when loaded with it.
What can't you do? Via the wonders of USB, it can do anything within the realms of what you can do with any modern-day Linux-based system. And I'd be pretty upset if you told me this towering metal case next to me wasn't a computer because it was running Linux. Games? Well they're not really written for Linux on the whole (target audience), but you could always boot up a game instead of YDL. :D
I could quite honestly see it being a great platform for home-brew games, should the price drop to realistic levels. Wouldn't you love to say that you wrote and compiled your own game, burnt it to a disc and played it.. All on your PS3? It's entirely possible.
Sony did one good thing picking the hardware -- it may fail as the mother of all consoles, but with the YDL distribution to go with it -- it's certainly open to numerous possibilities.
And as for the BD-ROM's DRM... Hey, if we can disable HDCP under Windows with Any-DVD HD .. Why can't we do it in YDL?
For a computer its not a bad price but I have no interest in throwing my money into one just for that.
Now I know that this is NOT the case, a pre-order seems worthwhile...
If you want a machine to do OTHER tasks - buy a proper PC and use THAT.
Consoles are supposed to have simplified controllers, be more biased towards games/media......
If Sony wanted this to be a glorified super PC with state of the ark technology then perhaps they should have touted it as such, maybe then, people would have been quite happy to shell out £500 for a PC/games hybrid than just a glorified DVD player with a games console tacked on (and that's pretty much what the PS3 is people)
I want a PC cos its got a keyboard and mouse - its useful, it too plays games (yes, I NEED to upgrade at times, but who cares, it lasts me for YEARS)
I want a console, because I just want to play games. I already HAVE 3 DVD players (2 more than I need) so I don't really need another. I just wanna PLAY games.... Sony, are you listening...?
Should have made the PS3 nothing more than a games machine, made the blu ray players separate and charged LESS - people would buy the PS3 cos it would be cheaper, and if people wanted the blu ray, they'd buy that too...
Shot themselves in the foot? More like in the b@lls....
Is this proof that "convergent technology" is more or less pointless? :p
But like all consoles when they come to market, rarely to they have a killer line up. As pointed out earlier in the thread, the 360 only had a couple "good" (IMO) games at release. The Wii, as neat as the iface is, has dulled to me. I do enjoy the Wii sports games, but the Zelda..? Looks awful and doesn't have anything new to get me going.
I do love the 360 tho - at least now there are decent games out and many more coming. But this is always the way. The ps1 didnt have "killer" apps until a good 8 months after - once devs got to grips with the machines and churned out some good games. The same applied to the 360 and the same *will* apply to the PS3.
I suppose the major lack of "MGS4" quality games at launch is cos devs are still figuring the systems out when they hit the public, and with some studios, who's going to put their name to a sub-standard version of a supposed system seller game like the MGS series? No. They'll wait until they can really make it shine, which is generally some time after system release.
Nevertheless, I'm not a Sony, M$ or Nin fanboy. I simply enjoy any console that produces quality games that I enjoy. And I am quite positive that the PS3 will, just ast he 360 did. :)
If only they could sort out keyboard/mouse control for FPS and RTS titles on a console then PC gaming would be history with the likes of a PS3/Xbox360 now offering good high res graphics support.
I'm buying a PS3 to complement my X360 and I really hope PC gaming dies a death I can't really see what its offering, the continually advancing game engines appear to not offer much more a console couldn't do these days, all the hardware peripherals available for my PC like my FF wheel etc are available on a Console.
Honestly if Sony or MS put the option for Keyboard and mouse on the games I like to play I am outta here, a typical 5 year lifespan for a console where games only get better, look at PS2 some of its latest titles are some of its best, I'd rather pay £500 every 5 years than £500 quid every year to play games at high def with respectable performance. I can even do all my computer task on a PS3 by using Gentoo, Fedora or YDL though I wouldn't as if its anything like my X360 it'll burn 200W doing buggerall (much like my big rig under CnQ) whereas my low power laptop I use for surfing/web as an alternative to the big rig does it in 35W.
Rushing out and buying any console the second it comes out always strikes me as being an almost guaranteed disappointment.
Buying from the UK is just far too expensive
Edit
The people that have one that is, and thats not many
Also I get the impression from alot of people they won't preorder one because last time they could it got delayed.