Monday, January 15th 2007
Sony has shipped 1 million PS3s to United States...but people aren't buying
When the Sony PlayStation 3 was released to the United States, people queued for days, and even shot each other over the next generation console from Sony. Sony has managed to ship 1 million PS3s to the United States, however, people just aren't buying them. Some people blame the high price of the console, others blame a rather lackluster collection of launch titles. Whatever the reason is, the PS3 simply isn't doing well right now. While PS3s are filling space on store shelves, the Nintendo Wii has become very successful, due to having reasonably good supply, a low price, an interesting controller, and a great set of launch titles.
Source:
Nordic Hardware
33 Comments on Sony has shipped 1 million PS3s to United States...but people aren't buying
What blows my mind is that the Xbox360 even at $300-400 is outselling more than PS3 & Wii combined!! Now that's impressive!!!
I'm still confused about the article saying Sony shipped over 1M PS3 to US, unless they just sent 600,000 more this month. They barely met their shipping goal for 2006 which, IIRC, was 400,000 units... strange...
The analogy was geared for people in the US, where a Mercedes is on the more expensive lines of luxury vehicles. I am familiar with the lack luster status of Mercedes over seas where every garbage truck and semi is a Benz :laugh:
The main reason a bought a PS3 was to make it the multi-media centerpiece for our entertainment center. With CD, VCD, DVD, Bluray, wireless internet, SD memory interface, USB, fiber optic sound, HDMI, 60GB hd, 3.2Ghz Cell processor, AAC, MP3, etc, etc etc.... even without any gaming ability it would be well worth the $600... still the cheapest Bluray player...... here's the difference
Wii = a toy
PS3 = a multimedia computer + added benefits of console gameplay
Wii = a game console
PS3= A decapitated PC
A HD Media center can be easily built for 500-600.
No ones wants them.
Hey I dont blame them I dont want them either for 600
I bought a PS2 on launch and used it as a DVD player because it was the cheapest way to get a DVD player at the time, plus it let me get rid of my PS1. When the PS2 came out DVD players were still in the $650 range, and the PS2 was only $400. Now the PS3 is $600 and you can get a Blu-Ray player for $700(if you look hard enough) and people simply aren't buying the PS3 as a cheap alternative to Blu-Ray players. On top of that people are still not sure who will win the format wars, so they are stand-offish on spending $600 on a player they might not be able to use in a year. There wasn't a format war going on when the PS2 was launched.
I think that if Sony wants to compete and sell consoles they need to lower the price. They have to make people think the console is a good deal, and to do that they need to at least get the price done to $400 for the high end model. It is odd to say, but they shot themselves in the foot by making the better console. They expect people to pay for a bunch of extra features, that many won't use. People aren't sitting in the stores comparing the three consoles feature by feature, they are looking at which one looks more fun, and that is it.
Right now the Xbox and Wii both look more fun, it is as simple as that. They both have the better line-up of games, and they are both cheaper just to get into to play the games. The game support will eventually come, there are some amazing games on the horizon for the PS3, but Sony has other factors going against it that it has to overcome if it want to succeed.
When I went to Walmart to pick up a copy of Lost Planet (awsome game btw) they had like 10 of them.
When I was in Target, I didn't see one person in the PS3 area, but there were a few in the Xbox and Nintendo area.
But, in every store I went there wasn't one Wii available anywhere.
I played Resistance fall of man alot on a friends PS3...awsome game but i cant see paying 600 for 1 game ATM.
I love the system its great but so is the 360 imho :rockout:
Pros
My favorite games: GranTurismo/Metal Gear Solid/NFS are all on that console.
It uses basically the same controller i started with back in 1994.
Easily upgradeable hard drive and great connectivity.
Cons
PRICE!
Controllers feel cheap compared to the dualshock bricks.
Major heat output while gaming. Currently the console is only using 3-5 processors, and very little of its potential graphics power, so heat will increase as games become more demanding.