Console Wars V

[Alinestra Covelia]

Yo Asher, check out the sig. Courtesy of your wit and wisdom.

[Asher]

[El_Cid]

Sony in big trouble?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7772597.stm

seems quite a move to make, i don't hear any noises like that from MS and Nintendo......

[Asher]

IIUC, that's not the Playstation (SCE) division with the layoffs.

Though it should be.

[Asher]

NPD November

The Wii continues to set records, but most importantly the 360 continues to bury the PS3...every console improved on their numbers last year significantly, except for the PS3 which actually is down year over year (where is Agathon?)

Hardware
Wii 2.04M
Xbox 360 836k
Playstation 3 378k


Software
GEARS OF WAR 2* (360) 1.56 million
CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR* (360) 1.41 million
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE (WII) 796K
WII FIT (WII) 697K
MARIO KART (WII) 637K
CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR (PS3) 597K
GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR* (WII) 475K
LEFT 4 DEAD (360) 410K
RESISTANCE 2* (PS3) 385K
WII MUSIC (WII) 297K

(*includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

Last November PS3 sold 466,000 units, this year it's 378,000. Since October the 360 has sold over twice as many units.

[Asher]

Apparently even the Gamecube did better than 400k in its third November.

[asleepathewheel]

perhaps this is evidence that the ps3 was being artificially propped up due to its now long gone status of best blu-ray player for your dollar. Those black friday bd sales just sapped the strength of a product that was already going to struggle in this economy.

[asleepathewheel]

Nov. 2007 / Nov 2008 = Differential
Playstation 3: 466K / 378K = -88K
Playstation 2: 496K / 206K = -290K
PSP: 567K / 421K = -146K

yikes.

[Jon Miller]

And that is even with Little Big Planet which everyone loves.

JM

[Asher]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
And that is even with Little Big Planet which everyone loves.

JM

It didn't even chart.

Which is a shame, it's a good game. It just misfired, as it's certainly not for casuals...

[Asher]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel
perhaps this is evidence that the ps3 was being artificially propped up due to its now long gone status of best blu-ray player for your dollar. Those black friday bd sales just sapped the strength of a product that was already going to struggle in this economy.

Yeah, bluray players are now cheaper than the PS3.

The worst part of this is Sony cannot do a pricecut any time soon. They're already laying people off and losing tons of money on the Playstation 3s sold.

[Jon Miller]

Well, in other places people are singing it's praises. If I was a platformer I would definitely get it (As it is, none of hte consols have enough for me to get one).

JM

[Asher]

[Asher]

The mainstream media is reporting this now:

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/siliconalley/personal-tech/2008_12_sonys_ps3_a_sinking_ship_sales_plummet_sne.html

Sony's PS3 A Sinking Ship: Sales Plummet
By Eric Krangel
December 12, 2008: 09:21 AM ET

Sony's (SNE) PS3 is dying on the shelves.

Alone among the three major videogame consoles, sales of the PS3 are down about 19% from November 2007, according to the latest stats from the NPD Group. Sony was only able to sell 378,000 PS3s this November, compared to 466,000 last year.

And the problem for Sony isn't the recession, it's the PS3. Microsoft (MSFT) put up respectable numbers with its Xbox 360, selling 836,000 units vs 777,000 in November 2007. And Nintendo's (NTDOY) Wii continues to dominate the market, more than doubling sales from 981,000 to 2.04 million.

So why is the PS3 flopping so badly?

1. It's the most expensive console on the market, $150 - $200 more than its rivals. Even if you believe the video game industry is "recession-proof" (it isn't), a tanking economy makes consumers more price-conscious.
2. The PS3's big bonus is its ability to double as a Blu-Ray player. Too bad no one seems to care about hi-def DVDs. The differences between Blu-Ray and DVD are hard to see on a TV less than 50".
3. The PS3 just doesn't have any must-have titles exclusive to the console. "LittleBigPlanet" has generated decent buzz but isn't a game-changer, and neither is Sony's new virtual world "Home."

There's really only one option left for Sony to remain in the game: deep price cuts, and not just for people with good credit. Tell yourself the PS3 has superior graphics if it makes you feel better, but a $400 console with a mediocre game library simply cannot compete against an Xbox 360 priced at $200 in this economy.

[snoopy369]

[q="http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/12/12/"]The Beta for Playstation home is now available to everyone, and now you know what I know: this is what happens when your marketing department tries to make a game. Here is everything you need to understand about Home, if you should accidentally launch it from your XMB: press and hold the Playstation button in the center of your Dual-Shock or Sixaxis controller. From the menu that appears, select Quit.[/q]

I'm just wondering how many programmers jumped off tall buildings after being told what they had to make this into by Marketing...