Interest in PS3 fading?

[Ji@nBing]

Well, I just got back from being in China for two weeks and I can report it's the same thing there. PS3's are in the high end electronic shops and don't seem to be selling too well. The Wii is nowhere to be seen. I asked if they had any in stock and the guy just started laughing. He said they get very few and they sell as soon as they come in. PS3 they have only sold one to an American, the other ones are sitting on the shelf.

So that's at least some first hand experience in the Chinese market. Now we just need to see how things go in Europe.

[studio57lie]

not to go too into specifics becuase we all know them... but

hasnt the interest already vanished? its gone.

[Eaten By A Grue]

You guys are using anecdotal evidence that supplies of PS3's in stores is somehow a correlation to interest is fading in the PS3. The fallacy in your logic is that am sure many of you see a stockpiles of Xbox360s and PS2s in stores, does that mean interest in them is fading? Last months sales figures would show otherwise.

Did the thought ever cross your minds of the possibility that sometime earlier this month Sony has finally been able to keep up with supplying the PS3, more then enough to meet demand? Or that Nintendo is having trouble producing enough Wii to meet the demand? Hence the reason there are so many PS3s in stores and there is lack of Wiis in stores?

[spenser.d]

You guys are using anecdotal evidence that supplies of PS3's in stores is somehow a correlation to interest is fading in the PS3. The fallacy in your logic is that am sure many of you see a stockpiles of Xbox360s and PS2s in stores, does that mean interest in them is fading? Last months sales figures would show otherwise.

Did the thought ever cross your minds of the possibility that sometime earlier this month Sony has finally been able to keep up with supplying the PS3, more then enough to meet demand? Or that Nintendo is not able to produce enough Wii to meet the demand? Hence the reason there are so many PS3s in stores and there is lack of Wiis in stores?

They only shipped 1 million between launch and CES to NA - everyone expected them to sell out at such low levels. They didn't, and in fact, did far from it (they sold 680,000 or so). That's what we're basing this on. Maybe it should be corrected to 'there never was interest in the PS3 in the first place' but then PS3 fans wouldn't be happy.

-Spenser

[Eaten By A Grue]

They only shipped 1 million between launch and CES to NA - everyone expected them to sell out at such low levels. They didn't, and in fact, did far from it (they sold 680,000 or so). That's what we're basing this on. Maybe it should be corrected to 'there never was interest in the PS3 in the first place' but then PS3 fans wouldn't be happy.

-Spenser

And you do realize that 680,000 figure from the NPD only counted for a portion of major retailers?

NPD receives data representing about two-thirds of U.S. retail sales and makes projections for the remainder of the market based on a sampling of consumers. The figures do not include Canadian sales or those to "mom and pop" retailers, and are among the numerous data points used by analysts to measure the health of the video game market.

Source: Reuters

Edited January 19, 2007 by Ridley Norfair

[Danrarbc]

And you do realize that 680,000 figure from the NPD only counted for a portion of major retailers?

And do you realize that they estimate the portion of retailers they can't sample?

[Eaten By A Grue]

And do you realize that they estimate the portion of retailers they can't sample?

Estimates != Exact

Again:

The figures do not include Canadian sales or those to "mom and pop" retailers

[tomasarson]

i saw a ps3 in person for the first time today.

i thought, "wow. it really is that big."

then i kept walking.

for me it's going to be like the 360.

wait a year or more for good games and refined hardware then buy.

[Davo]

The Playstation 3 was going to be marketed based solely on it being a status item. It had the Sony name, the Playstation brand, the Blu-Ray player, a large price tag, etc.

It's just that people decided not to buy into it.

[AlphaPrime]

They only shipped 1 million between launch and CES to NA - everyone expected them to sell out at such low levels. They didn't, and in fact, did far from it (they sold 680,000 or so). That's what we're basing this on.

That 1 million includes PS3s in warehouses and in transit. Actual number of PS3s in stores would have been around 800k, maybe less.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Estimates != Exact

So what? We know they've shipped very few PS3s and that they're sitting in piles on the floors of electronics stores. The Wii has sold more than twice as many systems and they're still selling within moments of arriving at stores. The Xbox 360 sold out just as quickly for nearly 6 months after its launch. It's a pathetic launch, largely because of the absurd price point.

[FreqFace]

I don't understand why it's so hard to believe that the PS3 isn't selling as well as anticipated. People make mistakes, and so do Sony. At the price the PS3 is currently, the 360 becomes a whole lot more tempting, especially when you consider games like Gear of War, Halo 3, and even Viva Pinata and Banjo-Kazooie, aswell as loads of other upcoming games.

Not only that, alot of people would have wanted the PS3 for the new GTA game, and that's going to be on 360 from lauch, aswell as having episodic downloads which the PS3 won't have.

That's not to say the PS3 won't have good exclusives (MGS, R&C for example), but at the moment people are just going for the cheaper option, and when you see beautiful games like GoW, I really don't blame them.

Is it so hard to believe that maybe people have chosen to go for more bang per buck and buy a 360?

[Ironman273]

You guys are using anecdotal evidence that supplies of PS3's in stores is somehow a correlation to interest is fading in the PS3. The fallacy in your logic is that am sure many of you see a stockpiles of Xbox360s and PS2s in stores, does that mean interest in them is fading? Last months sales figures would show otherwise.

Did the thought ever cross your minds of the possibility that sometime earlier this month Sony has finally been able to keep up with supplying the PS3, more then enough to meet demand? Or that Nintendo is having trouble producing enough Wii to meet the demand? Hence the reason there are so many PS3s in stores and there is lack of Wiis in stores?

I've read your other answers in other threads and I realize you completely defy logic in order to protect your point of view that Sony really isn't doing as bad as they really are, so this post isn't really for you, but more for other people reading the thread.

No one has absolutely every number from every store or can track every single SKU. Are we using "anecdotal evidence?" Maybe. We're using observations made in various different markets comparing 2 systems (Wii and PS3). We're also using what we have in reports, both financial and from trade journals. All the reports say that Wii is producing more units than PS3 and they're still selling out.

You have to get a picture from various different pieces. The more pieces, the better the picture. The fact that we're seeing PS3s bulkstacked accross retailers, the fact that employees of stores are mentioning that they can't move them, the fact that analysts and Sony themselves had to pull back their estimates because of the lower than expected demand, all these help us create a picture of the PS3s health.

Here's what happened: Sony used the PS2's incredible marketing power to sell Blu-Ray. Why did so many studios sign up? Sony told them, imagine if we made a PS2 but with a Blu-Ray drive. They'll be in every living room! It makes sense. Or it did back then. Hell, I would've signed up with Blu-Ray with that argument (back then I was also anxiously awaiting the PS3). So they made a plan all based on getting Blu-Ray into your living room. Then reality hit and delays came and the price was announced and the PS3 does nothing more special than actually having a Blu-Ray drive. Now studios are starting to release on both formats and will eventually stick with who is selling more movies for them (shades of UMD?). So if the trend continues, the PS3 will be really expensive because of its proprietary game format. And you'll have to buy an HD-DVD player to watch movies. Don't get me started on the "we need more space" argument. I still haven't gotten an answer to why Resistance can't be made on the 360 if it looks worse than Gears of War.

[John Veteran]

The PS3 is sitting on shelves after selling over a million units, and the Wii's demand keeps it off the shelves with over 2 million consoles already sold. Clearly, the Wii is doing better than the PS3. And the Xbox 360 is still selling strong - in a few months after the 'new' consoles aren't 'new' anymore, we'll really be able to tell who's winning...

[Mrcookjr]

I'll get one in Oh... three years or so.

[Churma]

The Wii sure seems to be coming out the winner. Tons of PS3's in stock everywhere and no Wii's available. I think Nintendo has a good chance at catching the 360 in sold units. Just my thoughts...

[FreqFace]

Interest in PS3 fading... fading... RISING... fading...

[Joel]

The PS3 is sitting on shelves after selling over a million units, and the Wii's demand keeps it off the shelves with over 2 million consoles already sold. Clearly, the Wii is doing better than the PS3. And the Xbox 360 is still selling strong - in a few months after the 'new' consoles aren't 'new' anymore, we'll really be able to tell who's winning...

That would be 4 millions Wiis.

Interest in PS3 fading... fading... RISING... fading...

[Ji@nBing]

Looks like it's not doing so hot even in Japan. Real trouble for Sony if even the Japanese are not buying it.

Link

[Chadwick]

I'll get one in Oh... three years or so.

that should be just around when we see the first price drop of oh around 25-50 bucks ;)