PS3 flops in Europe

vurbano

On Double Secret Probation
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Apr 1, 2004
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The Trials And Tribulations Of The PS3 Sales Story

April 14th, 2007
The PS3, the Bluray "Secret Weapon", not doing so well

Despite the support of yet another Sony “viral marketing” fake site (see “Three Speech Muddying The Journalistic Waters”) PS3 sales appear to have slowed dramatically.

snore.jpg

Worse yet, perhaps, the UK PS3 launch has whimpered off the line with all the fire of a damp squib. Well, actually, to be fair, it didn't start that well, really. You see, shortly before the launch of the PS3, a rather "simple" attempt was made to auction the PS3 off at a rock concert, for charity, you see. The bidding started at 100 Euros, but didn't get much further - at which point the Sony boss, Phil Harrison jumped on stage and restarted the bidding at 600 Euros (apparently negating the 100 Euros offered by the previous bidder). For several minutes, apparently, the audience was cajoled, but no increase could be had on the new starting price. You can read about it here.

Anyway, after what was reported to be a storming first week - which was celebrated with loads of Press Releases and big talk - the sales of the PS3 plunged by over 80% the very following week (See also "PS3 UK sales rocket... then plummet"). If initial demand was so easily satisfied in one week, I would suggest that the PS3 is in very big trouble. I've also seen some posts online which seemed to question whether the "sales" figure mentioned for the first week in the UK, were actually just units "sold" to stores (normally referred to as "shipped", not "sold"), which would pretty much explain the sales crash the following week if no one bought them. I will admit that I don't know if this "shipped" versus "sold" thing is true - but it seems to makes sense. There's a discussion thread over here that expresses serious doubts about the "sales" numbers touted for the opening week.

But wait, there's more. After apparently selling only 29,000 units the second week, the PS3's third week on sale was even worse - at only 17,000 units. To make things worse, the Nintendo Wii "clobbered" the PS3, too, at 25,000 units. All this when you can hardly find a Wii to buy, and while plenty of PS3s can be seen on the shelves. Yikes.

TechNewsWorld calls it like it is, and wonders "Was PS3's European Debut a Dud?"

And how could the UK be that much different from France, in one article quoted here, we learn that the PS3 launch in France has been called "A Complete And Utter Disaster", with 95% of the PS3s remaining unsold!

With the PS3 selling for the equivalent of $779 and $840 in France and the UK, respectively, you decide. According to this story, the streets around the Eiffel Tower, which was chosen as "ground zero" for the official launch, were virtually empty on the day of the launch, with only about 40 people showing up, about the same number as the police which had been recruited to fight back the missing massive crowds of fans that had been hoped for. To add insult to injury, at 10 pm, the journalists present for the PS3 event receive a friendly SMS text message from the "XBox Team", right before a military boat dressed with "XBox Loves You" sails past the group!! I kid you not! An unmitigated disaster. Of the 1,000 PS3s brought to the event to sell to the "crowds", only about 50 were sold!
x360love.jpg

Perhaps Europeans were shocked to hear that Sony had “removed” the "Emotion Engine" compatibility chip, which was supposed to help the PS3 be able to play more PS1 and PS2 games properly.

Worse yet, on the PS3's home turf in Japan, the Nintendo Wii has been clobbering the heck out of the PS3 in sales and popularity. Recent Enterbrain figures at Game Industry report meeting on April 13th 2007 paint a very sad picture for the PS3. Through April 18th, the Nintendo Wii sold 2,038,951units in Japan, the DS over 15,000,000 - and the PS3? ...810,000... This after we've been repeatedly told that the PS3 is dominating the Japan market? A report from Enterbrain the previous week helps give an idea of how much each console is moving (or not) for the week.
Said Enterbrain President Hamamura, on the poor sales, "Not enough supply and killer application at PS3 launch time. And very much counted on Blu Ray disk did not start very well." Nicely understated.

In another very surprising move, Sony quite suddenly decided to “kill” the 20 Gig version of the PS3, which was the cheapest unit, at $500.

According to Sony, “due to The overwhelming demand” for the more expensive 60 Gig model, they listened to customer feedback and eliminated the cheaper model….

My opinion on that? Bollocks! Sony shipped 90% of their PS3s to the US as the 60 Gig version, and they are all over store shelves in most places. The one unit that cannot be found and has demand has been the cheaper 20 Gig unit - and in fact there are reports that the 20Gig model is getting higher prices on eBay than the 60Gigs reatil. Coincidentally, Sony is said to lose a lot more money on each sale of the cheaper unit. Lack of demand? Uh huh.

This seems to be a pretty obvious effort to stem the losses which resulted from each sale of the 20 Gig unit, in my view. And the elimination of the "Emotion Engine" PS1/PS2 software compatibility chip in the European version of the PS3 would seem to back up this theory quite well.

It's my firm opinion that the loss in value of the US Dollar against various currencies, but particularly the Japanese Yen, has thrown Sony's loss expectation calculations to the wind, and that they are now frantically looking for ways to stem the losses from the PS3.

As evidence, one only need look at the selling prices of the unit in Europe. According to the same article about the French PS3 launch, the same unit that sells for $599 in the US is selling for the equivalent of $779 in France, and $840 in the UK. Since they launched later in these markets, it would seem that the selling prices are more in line with the losses they could afford, maybe?

Even an article about good PS3 sales in Austria had to be rescinded, after a reader sent in pictures of an estimated 100 PS3s stacked all around just one store - unsold. See the story here, and the picture below.

wienps3-1.jpg


Of course, Sony often enjoys the limelight for saying some pretty dumb things in public, so we would be remiss if we didn't include at least one here. In a recent interview for gamesindustry.biz, covered by Playthrough.net here, SCE EU VP Jamie MacDonald had this little gem to offer:

Q: What would you say to consumers who like Sony and want to buy your products, but perhaps feel that because they’re in Europe they’re always last in line?

A: European consumers have shown that historically they don’t mind that, because they end up buying as many PlayStations, if not more, than the US and Japan. In Europe, it doesn’t seem that the release of our platforms after the US and Japan - in the long run - affects how consumers feel.
But since I'm on the subject of humorous Sony quotes, you have GOT to check out this nice little Top "Ten Things Sony execs may regret saying about the PS3" by reghardware.com - it's peaches. :)

So why has the PS3 fallen on such hard times?

In previous opinion pieces, I think I have outlined my thoughts on this, but I'm not alone. The universal opinion appears to be a combination of things, but primarily Bluray. The inclusion of Bluray in the PS3 caused a jump in the price. The high price has hurt sales. The lack of sales has screwed much of the chances of getting a good software lineup of games.

And at the end of the day, THAT's what the PS3 is supposed to be - a game machine. No one is going to want to buy the most expensive games machine with the least amount of games - why should they. Sony have recognized this problem, it seems. They have made public statements that they are going to write more of their own proprietary games for the PS3. But I wonder... are game enthusiasts going to go for it, when their favourite games are already starting to migrate to the XBox 360 and Wii - and are no longer PS3 exclusive?

And other folks are now openly saying that it would probably be better if the PS3 did not include Bluray support – even the creator of the “Gods of War” game - "Jaffe: I Would Not Have Included Bluray In PS3"

I've said in the past that Bluray could be the undoping of the PS3 - and Sony. I feel that they have gambled FAR too much on the success of Bluray, and sacrificed too much in risk protection. If they lose this round, it could be the last they'll be able to afford. The Bluray / HD DVD battle is far too contentious to have involved the PS3 in, in my opinion. I believe that Microsoft made a smart choice by leaving HD DVD as an add-on option for those who wanted it, and focused on the XBox as a game machine. It is now far too late for Sony to remove the Bluray drive from the PS3. Although doing so would likely save the future of the Playstation franchise, it would also signal the death of Bluray.
 
Ooh, the PS3 isn't a Bluray player when the spin isn't in Bluray's favor.

secondly, where is your support that the article is FUD.

First off, please dont EVER put words in my mouth, no where in my sentence did I state that it isnt a Blu ray Player.....secondly the article that Vurbano Posted deals with the gaming aspect as it compares other GAME consoles numbers-no where does it put an emphasis on Blu ray except the last paragraph, even then its just his opinion.

also just to pull my favorite paragraph out

"But wait, there's more. After apparently selling only 29,000 units the second week, the PS3's third week on sale was even worse - at only 17,000 units. To make things worse, the Nintendo Wii "clobbered" the PS3, too, at 25,000 units. All this when you can hardly find a Wii to buy, and while plenty of PS3s can be seen on the shelves. Yikes."

so the wii clobbered it by selling 8,000 more units in one week, lol, I will give you guys proof this is fud, let me get on my lunch break here......and by the way rjones careful who you side with here and who you call out as Vurbano is a known basher who likes to post some misleading things and then tuck tail and run-a stirrer of the pot if you will, he is one sided and dosent see arguments for the other side, just ones that agree with him.

Edit #1....Jaffes Comments taken out of context about Blu-ray

What a difference a day makes.
Yesterday, internet news sites like Digg.com and GameDaily.biz were on fire with a controversial story in which David Jaffe appeared to recommend dropping Blu-ray from the PlayStation 3. The sites included inflammatory headlines such as "Jaffe: I Would Not Have Included Blu-ray in PS3."
The only problem is, it's becoming increasingly clear that Jaffe didn't actually say this. A trusted source just told GamePro that "it looks like GameTrailers is trying to sensationalize this [controversy] by only using a snippet" of the interview, which is due to air in an upcoming segment.
"Jaffe actually answers that question by saying he thinks the PS3 is perfect the way it is," our source continues, "but in his personal opinion he would have removed Blu-ray to make it cheaper. He goes on to say that Sony is smarter than him when it comes to this stuff."
Sony also tells GamePro that "David Jaffe is an industry pioneer who has earned the right to speak his mind on anything he wants when it comes to videogames." Read the full story here.
Today's talking point: Game Trailers -- newsmakers or sensationalists? We'll have further analysis soon.


http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=108709

edit #2. I cant find sales numbers for the second and 3rd weeks of europes launch (really would they even have offical sales numbers at this point? as they just ended the third week of sales in Europe) but here is a article showing the PS3 was the second most selling console in history the first week it was out, behind only the PSP

http://happygeeknewmedia.blogspot.com/2007/04/uk-ps3-launch-sales-figures-bad-news.html
 
also just to pull my favorite paragraph out

"But wait, there's more. After apparently selling only 29,000 units the second week, the PS3's third week on sale was even worse - at only 17,000 units. To make things worse, the Nintendo Wii "clobbered" the PS3, too, at 25,000 units. All this when you can hardly find a Wii to buy, and while plenty of PS3s can be seen on the shelves. Yikes."

so the wii clobbered it by selling 8,000 more units in one week, lol, I will give you guys proof this is fud, let me get on my lunch break here......and by the way rjones careful who you side with here and who you call out as Vurbano is a known basher who likes to post some misleading things and then tuck tail and run-a stirrer of the pot if you will, he is one sided and dosent see arguments for the other side, just ones that agree with him.

Stuart the Wii is clobbering everyone :rolleyes:
 
I have no doubt the wii is winning, but to say the ps3 got clobbered by it because the Wii sold 8,000 more in one week is pretty stupid IMO. also I really believe this article needs to be in the video game forums as it compares Video game consoles sales and no where in the article does it bring up other High Def Dvd or Blu ray players sales numbers. but I will keep editing my one statement with the facts as I can come back over them as this was written for "facts" and I use that term loosely from a while ago.
 
The Wii is a fun toy - the X360 is a nice machine with mature games - the PS3 is a premium gaming/entertainment system...too bad it's also priced like one. The PS2 is still "The King" and Sony would be foolish not to milk that market for another year or two. I suspect the PS3 will fly off the shelves after this falls release of games, and if/when Sony can drop the costs $100-$200 per system by reducing manufacturing costs.

In any case, the PS3, X360, Wii, and Blu-Ray and HD DVD aren't going away anytime soon. Until such time, I will continue to enjoy my Sony subsidized PS3s.:)
 
I meant vurbano, lol, sorry buddy :) Alot of things going on at once. I was thinking when is Joe going to come and back up some of what I am saying.


when did I say it was dishonest to say the wii is clobbering them, outselling them by 8,000 in one week is not a clobbering, especially when the PS3 sold the second highest amount of units ever in europe.
 
Top 10 things Sony Execs may regret saying

I followed the link for the "Top 10 things Sony Execs may regret saying about about the PS3"

My vote for #1:
"Consider the US with its massive land and cheap people. Then you look at the UK - a little island where rent and rates are at an absolute premium, and the cost of people is a lot more." Sony's take on the consumers, as told by UK Managing Director Ray Maguire to website gamesindustry.biz. What a way to win friends & influence people. :rolleyes:

In keeping with the spirit of turning this thread into a Sony bashing, remember the "rootkit" disaster? Well, I rented the 2 disk widescreen DVD edition of "Casino Royal". OK movie, and the video quality looked fairly good, but the audio volume kept zooming in & out during the whole movie. I posted about it over on AVSforum, and several had the same problem, and then pointed us to this thread on AVS that a number of recent Sony DVD releases have a number of issues on different players, including Sony players. Apparently Sony has come up with an "ARccOS" scheme that intentionally inserts dummy / bad sectors into the DVD authoring in an attempt to thwart folks making backup copies. DVD copy programs have already got around that, but unfortunately, it creates a whole host of problems just trying to play the $#@! DVD they paid good, honest money for. In addition to the audio problems I experienced, others report attempts to play the DVD results in their player shutting off and won't load at all on the DVD drive of the PC.

"If you haven't heard or experienced, there's a number of DVDs released by Sony Pictures that may be problematic when you try playing it on your player. The reported issues are that the player is unable to recognize (read) the disc and/or powers off the player completely.

Again, the current list of the Sony Picture DVD titles that may be affected:

Casino Royale
Grudge 2
Marie Antoinette
Open Season
Running with Scissors
Saw III
Zoom
The Holiday
Stranger than Fiction
Rocky Balboa

Any other Sony Picture DVDs released after March 1st, 2007 may also be affected."



Sony strikes again! :up
 
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One of the major market tracking firms put the estimated US PS3 sales for March at 165,000. Saw it yesterday while looking around, Don't have the link handy at work.
 
Ah, so that's why my NetFlix rental of C.R. had me reaching for the volumn control all the time. Nice going Sony just helps my justification to not buy any more DVD's or HD-DVDs.
 
Oh my, the PS3 is only selling 17,000 units a week in Europe. I better hurry up and buy more M$ stock so that I can make a killing when everyone in Europe turns on Sony and buys 360s. Oops! I meant Wiis!!! Nitendo has made a very nice killing with the Wii and is smacking both Sony and M$ right now. While M$ spends their money putting out FUD on the PS3 and Sony keeps tripping over their own feet Nintendo just keeps racking in the money from the Wii.

Nintendo at $250 bucks should be making a killing. Yes it is fun -- for a while. Yes it is cheap -- heck just look at the graphics will you. My Atari 5200 had graphics this good. And yes there are a few games that are must have for the average gamer. And where will the Wii be in 2 years? In your closet.

As for the PS3, it has only been out for 6 months, has over 3.5 mil sales world wide and by the end of sumer will be over 7 million in the hands of customers worldwide. A strong XMAS could push the PS3 to over 12 million in one year and ladies and gents -- every one will be a fully fuctioning BluRay player. There is no way even with a $300 standalone that HD-DVD can meet that number. Heck, have they got to a million yet in HD-DVD players worldwide?

No, the PS3 is hurting so bad that every 6 months for the first 18 months of its lifetime sales will double the owners every 6 months. Yes that sure is a bad start!!! Release in Japan and North America -- 380,000 units. By the end of the year over 1.2 Million. By the end of Launch in Europe 3 months later 3.5 million sold. EVERY ONE A BLU-RAY PLAYER!!!!

Who cares what the Wii does in sales -- it really hurts M$ more then Sony. Sony keeps moving along doubling their weak sales worldwide by a factor of 2 every six months while M$ sales are flat and not climbing. So who cares. If by the end of 2007 there are 10 million PS3s worldwide then not only will the PS3 survive very well but so will BluRay. And maybe by then (XMAS 2007) the HD-DVD camp will be looking at 1.5 million players worldwide -- good luck catching up guys!!
 
Didn't Sony themselves estimate total PS3 sales by the end of 2007 at 6 million?
 
A strong XMAS could push the PS3 to over 12 million in one year and ladies and gents -- every one will be a fully fuctioning BluRay player. There is no way even with a $300 standalone that HD-DVD can meet that number. Heck, have they got to a million yet in HD-DVD players worldwide?

Yeah, it would be a fully functioning BD player if it responded to IR commands like every other device on the planet!!! What a dumbass move not to include this!
 
everyone who complains about IR knows they have Bluetooth remotes right? I know they arent as precious as some of your home theater rigs, but from the reviews I have heard they are really nice.
 

Walmart says HDDVD is the winner

What I like about my High Def Player

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