PS3 Missed Ship Targets, Loses Exclusives 173
Sony's having a rough week. After shootings on launch day and a harsh review from the New York Times, Bloomberg is now calling Sony out as having completely missed its shipping targets. The analyst company says there may have been as few as 50% of aimed-for units available, and that the company may only get about 200,000 units to stores by the end of the year (something Sony flatly denies). PS3 fans now also have to deal with the fact that Koei is cross-platforming two previously exclusive titles. Fatal Inertia and Bladestorm are now in development for the 360 as well, marking the latest in a string of titles that have slipped away from Sony. There is some consolation for the company to take away from this week, though. They did better than Microsoft last week in Japan, with around 81,000 PS3s, 19,000 PSPs, and 16,000 PS2s sold to a mere 4,000 Xbox 360s and ... 4 Xboxes.
Nice BS numbers from Japan. (Score:1, Insightful)
In america the amount of consoles Microsoft sell weekly isn't that many (probably 5 digits on a good week, but not much more)
Of course it wouldn't be 1up article if it was biased in some random direction.
Then again Microsoft's numbers are picking up in preperation for Blue Dragon, only a couple monthes ago they were barely breaking 1K units. However now it's much more.
Bet They're feeling Blue (Score:5, Insightful)
If I'm correct the original PS3 was set to be built without the BluRay.
I'm willing to bet that is the root their delays.
At some point some marketing exec sat down at a global strategy meeting and predicted that to make BluRay work they would need to inject using their most popular gadget.
Won't it suck for that exec if it turns out BluRay killed the PlayStation...or at least crippled it regardless of majority share of the market.
This lack of shortages does not matter. (Score:1, Insightful)
'High DEMAND' thats key word buzz of the report. what the consumers were thinking about for PS3. Chances are a good portion of people who wanted a PS3 and didn't get one will NOT switch over to another system. Its not like they are thinking 'Well I guess I'll get an Xbox 360 since I can't get a PS3' Thats just wrong consumer mentality to assume.
This lack of shortages does not matter. If Sony pushes out PS3 next year this will be a thing of the past. Sure they may lose market share to Nintendo and MS, but unless there is massive failure on their PS3 I don't see anyone knocking them off their throne too soon.
spoken like a true fanboy! shortage=high demand think about it. and the fact that blue-ray is being used is the main reason why there is shortage there expensive and more diffcult to make. sony even had to push back thier home blue-ray players becuase they had the same problems. and ten decades? a decade is ten years? so 100 years ago sony was making gaming consoles. damn your smart. besides the ps3 is computer that runs linix yeah... it's like that.
Re:Loosing exclusive titles hurts (Score:3, Insightful)
360 numbers in Japan are lower b/c of Blue Dragon (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I'd say it's quite the opposite. I would fully expect 360 sales numbers in Japan to be lower than usual because of Blue Dragon. It makes sense and here's why.
We know that there's surprisingly a lot of interest [1up.com] in the Blue Dragon 360 bundle, set to release in December. It also recently took over the #3 spot on Famitsu's list of most anticipated titles [joystiq.com]. So, if you know there's a bundle coming out in December, why on earth would you buy a 360 now? It's akin to buying a system when you know a price drop is going to happen in a few weeks.
The numbers will be most interesting a week after the game and bundle launches. (The week it actually ships will see an artificial bump of 360 sales, similar to the PS3 one. I fully expect, "wowzers, 360>PS3 lolololezr" articles then as well) Then we can start tracking trends to see if MS will actually have a chance in Japan, or if it's going to be more of the same.
Re:Loosing exclusive titles hurts (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem for Sony is that there seems to be a perception that they need their exclusives due to the Microsoft head start and the high price of their hardware. Because they didn't lock up franchises like GTA or the "hot" new property, Assassin's Creed (for example), Microsoft can make what is probably a cheaper deal to make them multiplatform and gamers won't have those extra incentives to buy the PS3 (don't get me wrong, there are other incentives - I'm only a "hater" in terms of price).
The bottom line is that PS2 ended up with many (many, many) exclusives over time thanks to their ridiculous market share advantage. For at least the next year, if not a couple years, they're not going to have that advantage (certainly not in the US, probably not in Europe, maybe not in Japan depending on the Wii's penetration), so PS3 exclusives will have to come either from the preference of a particular developer (MGS's boss seems to be enamored of Sony, for example) or specific deals (like cheaper licensing fees) between the developer and Sony. Otherwise, it makes more sense to at least go multiplatform based purely on the hardware numbers.
As a gamer, I hate exclusives because they unnecessarily (given the relatively low cost to port games as opposed to starting from scratch) limit my options. They are necessary, though, for companies trying to differentiate themselves from the competition and sell more hardware.
Nothing Stops the DS.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Granted it bucks the trend, but the DS Lite has been selling over 100,000 units per week in Japan since Nintendo has been able to make over 100,000 systems per week for Japan.
Re:Other PS3 problems of note (Score:5, Insightful)
Your selfless concern is touching.
Not a refutation, but a mitigating point, to be sure. Each new console has issues that will be corrected with firmware updates. This is a good thing.
Ok I'll bite:
About 98% of previous titles play just fine. Some have sync issues with FMV sequences, which do not affect gameplay (and yes, will be fixed). This is not 'poor compatibility'. Go check Sony's game database if you like, they have a tool for this.
Again, disingenuous. Some older model HDTVs don't do 720p, and there is an issue with that particular resolution on those particular sets. And fixable. Considering the very small installed base of total HDTVs, this strikes me as a fairly minor problem (although irritating to be sure). And that is the only problem, not 'numerous'.
I agree. Both the Wii and PS3 online capabilities are inferior to Microsoft's network.
While I agree that the high-end SKU bundle should have included these, you surely must agree that most people would end up throwing this cable away. Nintendo doesn't even think you need to buy one from a store. (Or at all, until December.)
For that game. Talk about intellectually dishonest, you act like its an exhaustive comparison.
Yeah, maybe. Had some slowdown on Gears of War, too. Tony Hawk, being a cross-platform franchise, perhaps had the least amount of time for a PS3 port. Gundam just plain sucks. But point taken.
Remind me again, why do we care what Nolan Bushnell thinks of the PS3 dev environment?
Remind me again, why do WE care about the dev environment? How is that warning consumers of the dangers of the PS3?
Scrapin' the bottom of the barrel, here. Newsflash: software doesn't tend to ship on time. I'm not excusing them but this is hardly anything new.
Tell me, what is it when you remove a title from your previous console's dev roster so you can push it as a launch title for the next console?
The fact is, you are looking at two console launches only a week out. And considering the shortages, the data is skewed anyhow. You cannot project this out in a linear fashion. For instance what do you make of the fact that the PS3 and the DS are in American kids Top 10 Xmas Gifts list [wonderlandblog.com]and the Wii is no where to be found?
What you are doing is called cherry-picking. You can do this to anything and make it look bad. Hey, what's with the Wii? No component cables for sale until December, and even
Re:Other PS3 problems of note (Score:3, Insightful)
There are numerous, deep flaws with the PS3 and with Sony's strategy over the last year. No amount of rationalization changes that.
Yes, I'm a Nintendo fan. Despite my poor experience with the PS1, I was also very excited about the PS2 -- until I saw that Sony was lying about it. This time around they're just being even more blatant.
--Jeremy
No? (Score:3, Insightful)
No. It equates to Japanes people not liking stuff because the seller was too fucking stupid to figure out what they actually wanted. The 360 simply has very little games that appeal to Japanes people. Hence, no sales.
Re:Other PS3 problems of note (Score:3, Insightful)
I disagree, but only in terms of speed-of-adoption. I think it is a better analogy to use Surround Sound. That was never really a 'must have' feature for many people, but 'sure is nice' for a lot, and it eventually creeped its way into much lower-end setups than when it appeared. Saying no one gives a flip is not accurate, the HD adoption curve is steepening, not flattening.