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PS2 outselling PS3 and PSP
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 30th July 2009
Sony's total sales for the PlayStation line have fallen by 37 percent, with the PS2 the best-selling Sony console of 2009.
According to the published results (via Eurogamer), Sony managed to sell 1.1 million PlayStation 3s worldwide so far and 1.3 million PlayStation Portables. That's compared to 1.6 million PS3s and 3.7 million PSPs in the same period last year.
The PlayStation 2 however managed to sell 1.6 million consoles, performing just as well as the PS3 did this time last year and out-performing both of the newer PlayStations this year.
Sales for Sony as a whole have fallen by 37.4 percent compared to last year too, which Sony says is mainly to do with "lower game and VAIO PC sales". An overall downturn in software and PSP hardware sales were also noted as important factors.
Game sales on the whole were down for Sony it seems, with the PS3 shifting only 14.8 million games this year compared to 22.8 million last year and the PSP falling from 11.8 million to 8.3 million. The PlayStation 2 had the largest drop in game sales though - falling from 19.3 million to 8.5 million.
The fact that sales have dropped so massively across the board has resulted in an operating loss of a whopping $268 million.
"We are all firmly committed to leading Sony with the innovative spirit that is embedded in its DNA," read a written statement from Sony Chairman, CEO and President Howard Stringer. "It is a privilege to fight for a great company like Sony, and with the seriousness of purpose that this management team possesses, I know we can succeed in making Sony greater than ever."
Drop your thoughts in the forums.
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Totally agree - the fact that they removed backwards compatability from the PS3 has meant that people need to buy a PS2 to play the older games. Totally retarded decision by Sony to do that.
I'm not so sure it was a retarded decision on their part... it was, however, one driven by monetary incentive no matter how you look at it.
If Sony pull the PS2 hardware from the guts of the PS3, it saves them, what, $20 per unit? $30? Software emulation probably costs about $10 a console (and a lot of headaches)...
A new PStwo costs... $100? It probably doesn't cost Sony more than $60 to make one now.
So that means that Sony minimise their loss on each PS3 sale, and make a profit on every PS2 sold.
...
Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy that Sony pulled PS2 support from the PS3 (I got a 60GB model before they vanished) particularly when they made it software support rather than hardware support... but it doesn't seem to have harmed the sales that much.
So that leaves people who upgrade from PS2 to PS3, and want to be able to continue playing their existing PS2 games. Since they already have a PS2, why not just use that?
I have a 40GB UK PS3. I never owned a PS2 or a PS1. Not once have I wished my PS3 could play PS2 games. Not a single time ever. It can play PS1 games, but I have no desire to do that either. My current gen gaming needs are met by PS3 and PC games, and my retro needs are fulfilled by emulators and the awesome PS3 Megadrive collection (40+ classic games for £25? Bargain!)
I occasionally wish for the other features stripped out of the original PS3, principally the integrated memory card reader (though it is no hardship to plug a memory card reader into a USB port). Additional USB ports would be nice, but actually I don't think I've ever needed more than 2. SACD support would be nice, but it's not like I actually own any SACDs or a decent enough stereo to enjoy them, so more of a checkbox than anything else. And that's about it. For the price cut that came with the 40GB, all VERY worthwhile sacrifices. Oh, but I wish it has the shiny bezel...
Software BC is almost free for every console, Sony have given the reason they pulled BC from the PS3 long ago.
Not to save money on hardware costs as they had gotten rid of PS2 hardware in the PS3 already
Not to save software development costs because they had already developed the software, they said themselves it wouldn't have really cost them any more to load the emulation software on to the PS3
It was to stop PS3 owners from buying PS3's and not buying any PS3 games. There's not a massive selection of must haves on the PS3, so Sony found software sales per console was very low, the lowest out of any of the 3 new consoles last year I believe. For Sony and MS, the money is made in software sales, Sony was only selling around 3 games per PS3, so they weren't making much money at all. So they had to force people to buy PS3 games rather than PS2 games by removing the backwards compatibility.
There's a much better selection of games now, but back at release and for a year or so after it, the selection of games was pretty dire. At that point too, the PS3 was cheaper than a BR player. There is a reason to get a PS3 and not play PS3 games on it because it offers far more than that, and a year or so ago it was also the cheapest BR player around.
true. I think I played my SNES and 64 more than my GameCube after I bought
I just saw a PS3 on offer today... 350 EURO!!! MUHAHAHAH!
That price would make me pass on GT5 even though i truly want to get to play this game when it comes out. That's how expensive this thing is
Thats assuming they make a loss on the PS3 any more, they don't publish those numbers, but one thing thats not been picked up on in a lot of these sites that are Doom mongering for Sony and its PS3 is that the Q1 financials call mentioned a 70% cost reduction of manufacturing costs of a PS3, its estimated to be a more reasonable $240 these days, so while it might not be selling many, its not loosing on them and the results are due to a general downturn in the economy thats hit Sony's broad portfolio of tupically high priced entertainment products.
ps3 has a back catalogue of truly average titles with a few exceptions, and really is GT5 going to be THAT much better than everything else. Sony had better hope so with very little dedicated final fantasy support and future metal gear minus kojima even going multi format and also GTA being long gone from their grasp.
PC for life
You go on like like the PS3 offers nothing, it has plenty of new IP that is worth playing never mind the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 13th iterations of stuff we've all played before, regardless of what it has it doesn't have the price on its side like PS2 does, times like these people are more cost conscious, the PS2 is cheap and so are its games that is the reason it still does well, so it outsold the PS3 big deal, it and the PSP outsold the 360 too and they have closer parity in price, that's even more surprising, course that not mention in the news here.
Eventually, old hardware will fail. My original NES died about 6 years ago and it was surprising that it lasted that long. Computers eventually stop working too, but being able to buy a new computer and still play the same old games on it has been the reason I've stayed away from consoles.