Fewer PS3 Units Tomorrow Than Hoped For?

Gamasutra is reporting on the possibility that there may only be 150,000 - 200,000 PS3s available tomorrow. Kotaku has heard that this may stem from removal of the 20 GB units from the shipment to the U.S., though this is just speculation at the moment. Several bloggers have noted that their local videogames store has notified them of lowered availability, so it doesn't seem that this is outside the realm of possibility. From the article: "'Due to the limited initial installed base of the platforms, we believe the financial impact over the holiday period will be more significant for hardware manufacturers and video game retailers (such as GameStop) than for software publishers.' In addition to predicting a strong push for Xbox 360 products due to a shortage in PS3 supply, Sebastian also says the newly launched consoles may not have as significant an impact on holiday sales." A reader also wrote in to mention the cost that Sony is sucking with each of these units. Apparently, the company is eating about $300 for every PS3 sold.

Sony's Plan

[keithpreston]

1. Lose Money on Each System 2. Sell less systems, create marketing hype 3. Systems become cheaper to make 4. Finally meet demand 5. Profit!!

Re:Good Lord

[EggyToast]

Even more interesting is the fact that I don't think I've spoken to a single person who is actually buying the machine to play. Everyone's just buying them to sell on eBay, for "mega profit."

Which, of course, makes me wonder -- if people only want it to sell on eBay, who's going to buy it on eBay?

Re:Good Lord

[Reapman]

Yes... just like all those that bought the XBox to "stick it to Microsoft" really hurt them. Sony would love to sell each and every one of these, don't fool yourself. Sony will make a unit regardless of if you buy it at least initially. If it sells they loose $300. If not, they loose what.. $1000? (no sale of unit, plus loss)

I hope by wanting Blu Ray (however it's spelt) to fail, your also not supporting HD-DVD right? Blu Ray failing hurts more then Sony, they're just one of the partners in that.

Re:figures

[kinglink]

You forgot the biggest problem, if the parts are hard to break and new, how do we know they will still work 1 year from now? The answer, they probably won't. If you thought the 360 had hardware failure, wait until Blu-ray starts dropping left and right.

The numbers are awful, but if the failure rate is as high as I expect it's going to be a sad sad day for Sony/consumers.

Re:Good Lord

[Chosen Reject]

So Sony creates a $900 machine and sells it for $600. They lose $300 if you buy it. If you don't buy it they lose $900. Yep, if you buy one, you will really show them who is in charge of economics.

FEWER?

[Rydia]

What, are they going to have negative PS3s?

The Real Launch?

[miyako]

I'm really not that upset about the shortages of available PS3s. I want one, but really, those guys that I saw with their tents set up outside of best buy on my way to work this morning, tents covered with a layer of ice- they want it more than I do- and so that's fine.
The thing is, I do wish sony would just come out and admit that this isn't really so much of a launch as a preview. Then they could tell us when they are going to really launch- launch as in, if I were to stand in line for 3 or 4 hours I would be able to get one. That's the thing, I would be willing to stand in line for several hours- maybe even camp out- if I thought there was any sort of reasonable chance of getting one. The fact is that if I lined up in front of best buy this evening and tried to get one at 8am tomorrow, I would be probably like the 20th person in line to NOT get one.
I will stand in line for the Wii though- not that I want it more than the PS3 (I'm actually slightly less excited about it, because until I actually have a chance to play it I'm still just not sure how well the wiimote is going to work out) but because i know that I might actually have a chance to get one.

Re:Good Lord

[Wdomburg]

That only works if production outstrips demand. Until that happens, it's more like "Sony creates a $900 machine and sells it for $600. They lose $300 if you buy it. If you don't buy it, someone else does, along with accessories and games (like Sony is banking on)".

Not that I advocate buying a machine you don't want just to stick it to a corporation. They may be out $300, but you'd be out $600.

Re:Good Lord

[blighter]

I think your theory only works if they decide to stop producing them before the guy who wants one and will buy the accessories gets one.

Otherwise, when you buy one Sony takes a $300 loss, but eventually they fabricate and sell one to the guy who will buy the accessories, games and what-not. And at that point they get to say, "hey look, our install base is huge, only a truly foolish game producing company wouldn't make a game for us!" And perhaps their software-sales to install-base ratio will be a bit lower than they might expect, but the huge install base will likely lure more development and thus people who might be on the fence will also fall into line and buy the unit, creating a cycle that leads to the success of the PS3.

If you don't buy the unit at all, you're right the guy who wants one for the games gets his much sooner and so Sony recoups their losses on that unit much sooner BUT they will sell far fewer units and thus perhaps lose the developer support or at the very least not dominate this console generation.

At least I hope they sell far fewer units, I hope there aren't too many people willing to shell out for this POS, but then again nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the public...

Re:/. ticker for PS3

[hurfy]

C'mon even my local paper had 2 PS3/Wii stories today. Including a decent description for the features of both. This is Spokane i would hope that a nerdy site would outgun us on gaming 'info' ;)