All purpose Sales and Sales Rumours and Anecdotes [2019 Edition]

Sony manufactured PS3s in Japan to support the local users and reduce import costs. At the console launch during those early months of high demand, some of the Japanese-made consoles were even sent to sales all around the world. My friend got one.
 
Sony manufactured PS3s in Japan to support the local users and reduce import costs. At the console launch during those early months of high demand, some of the Japanese-made consoles were even sent to sales all around the world. My friend got one.
Yeah mine is also made in japan, bought in canada at launch. It still works fine 12 years on despite that it was used daily as my main console, bluray player, and media player... Good solder joints in japan I guess.

I think only the initial launch supply was made in japan.
 
Yeah mine is also made in japan, bought in canada at launch. It still works fine 12 years on despite that it was used daily as my main console, bluray player, and media player... Good solder joints in japan I guess.

Yeah, the quality of electronics assembled in Japan are significantly higher than those assembled in China...when the companies decide it's important enough.

Tiger Corporation makes 2 lines of Rice Cookers that are completely identical except for where they are assembled. The ones assembled in China are cheaper but contain the exact same components as the ones assembled in Japan. The ones assembled in Japan, have significantly less quality issues and failures over time...but are also quite a bit more expensive.

Also, while I used to swear by Panasonic microwaves, now that they are made in China, their reliability has gone down significantly (Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. user reviews). I was surprised to see their quality and reliability go down so much that I had to investigate. So my most recent microwave was an LG. Unfortunate since I love my old Panasonic microwave and was hoping to replace it with another reliable microwave from them. Ah well, life goes on.

Regards,
SB
 
Yeah mine is also made in japan, bought in canada at launch. It still works fine 12 years on despite that it was used daily as my main console, bluray player, and media player... Good solder joints in japan I guess.

I think only the initial launch supply was made in japan.
I have the impression that the failure rate of the original PS3's is extensively high. It wasn't visible during the RROD fiasco, but in the depth of time I think those phat PS3's were experiencing similar levels of failure and probably even more.
Also Sony's choice to have the GPU and CPU chips inside a metal plating makes it extremely difficult to replace the thermal paste. Trying to remove those plates can potentially crack the chips.
My original phat PS3 died in two years and got fixed but later the fans were producing so much noise that the sound could overshadow an old vacuum cleaner. That while being in the console's main menu.
I ve seen a lot of those phat PS3's piling up in repair shops.
 
I have the impression that the failure rate of the original PS3's is extensively high. It wasn't visible during the RROD fiasco, but in the depth of time I think those phat PS3's were experiencing similar levels of failure and probably even more.

RROD resulted in a near 100% failure rate. There's no evidence that suggests PS3s failed at anywhere near that rate.
 
RROD resulted in a near 100% failure rate. There's no evidence that suggests PS3s failed at anywhere near that rate.

No on the RROD. I know plenty of people with launch X360's, mine included, that still run. :)

No media evidence because the media stopped covering the story within the first year of launch for the most part, but having contacts in the recycling industry and associated electronics repair industry, the rates of failure are similar it's just the timing of the failures that differed.

They both had problems transitioning from leaded solder to lead free solder. The better cooling solution on the launch PS3's allowed them to generally go longer until failure started to set in. This is similar to when MS revised their cooling. But the problems for both companies weren't "solved" until they and their manufacturing partners got a better grasp on better practices on how to use lead free solder. Until then it was a lottery on whether you would get an X360 that would die in the first year or not. If they didn't die in the first year, they were likely to last for quite a few years. For PS3, they would generally start to die after the first year with few failures within the first year, if they were going to die.

Regards,
SB
 
RROD resulted in a near 100% failure rate. There's no evidence that suggests PS3s failed at anywhere near that rate.
It is very likely that the majority of the original phat PS3's have failed but didnt make an impact because they started dying much much later when the market already got various iterations that were more robust.
 
More in Germany than UK? Does that mean PS4 is strong versus other consoles? Germany's always been described as PC-centric. Though of course XB1 is taking a large bite out of UK's total console install base so I guess relatively, Germany (Deutschland! :D) is still selling less consoles to its populace and PC gaming remains bigger.
 
EU lifetime PS3 stats from ResetEra [no quoted source]:

UK - 5.92 million
France - 5.18 million
Germany - 4.54 million

So PS4 is noticeably higher this gen than last in EU [PS3 WW topped at high 80M, PS4 has passed 100M], bit it could have been so much higher if the price was lowered. Base PS4 is still 300€ in its 6th year of sales. Pro was introduced at 400€, and it never got a pricedrop.

PS4 could still sell a lot if they finally introduce 7nm base console and try to go all the way down to 200€.
 
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PC gaming is probably bigger then an individual console like the ps4 around the world. Wasn't it bigger then even all consoles combined?

Anyways, will ps4 match ps2 in total sales?
 
Anyways, will ps4 match ps2 in total sales?
Slim chance, PS2 passed 155M.

PS4 will be ~110M by april 1st, and probably ~120M by the end of calendar 2020. After that, nobody knows.

Price and available software will determine a lot, but we can safely expect sales to hit the cliff. It will be very hard for them to sell another 35-40M PS4 consoles during the reign of PS5. PS2 did manage to do just that, but it was helped with incredibly low price [it wen't all the way down to $80] and help from new consoles [Xbox 360 was not established across the world and expensive, and PS3 was really expensive]. PS3 superslim never went below 200€, and that's even when they yanked the HDD out of it.
 
PS2 also had games that stretched the demographic like SingStar, DanceDanceRevoution, EyeToy, etc. I'm not seeing that same fun family type experience on the home consoles, with Switch looking like the choice for the 'family' console. I wonder if these late gamers are just considered poor value and no longer pursued as a result? PS4's making loads more money than PS2 ever did, so perhaps more sales are being eschewed in favour of higher quality sales?
 
PS2 also had games that stretched the demographic like SingStar, DanceDanceRevoution, EyeToy, etc. I'm not seeing that same fun family type experience on the home consoles, with Switch looking like the choice for the 'family' console. I wonder if these late gamers are just considered poor value and no longer pursued as a result? PS4's making loads more money than PS2 ever did, so perhaps more sales are being eschewed in favour of higher quality sales?

I need to find it but I think in one forecast they said they think it is possible to reach 150 millions of PS4... For example, Jim Ryan is now head of Playstation because under his leadership in SCEE, Sony sold much more console out of western Europe, for example in the Middle east. Xbox is only sold in 48 countries, Playstation in more than 100 countries... PS4 sold in much more country than PS2...
 
I believe if ps5 is 499$ and later on 399$ that leaves room for 199$ ps4 to live for many years to come and beat ps2 record. Not everyone wants to buy the expensive console and prices don't come down anymore like they used to. There being BC between ps4 and ps5 should make people willing to invest to entry level console knowing that their investment will carry over if/when they decide to upgrade.
 
Also, PS4 US+UK+Germany = ~worldwide Xbox One sales.

Compared to XB360 sales (84+ Million), damn near half didn't migrate over to XB1. Maybe XB1 will do about 52M before this generation is up.

The next-generation of gaming is going to be fascinating dealing with backwards-compatibility. And how well these efforts (of providing BC) will translate into migrating users from one system to another.
 
PS2 also had games that stretched the demographic like SingStar, DanceDanceRevoution, EyeToy, etc. I'm not seeing that same fun family type experience on the home consoles, with Switch looking like the choice for the 'family' console. I wonder if these late gamers are just considered poor value and no longer pursued as a result? PS4's making loads more money than PS2 ever did, so perhaps more sales are being eschewed in favour of higher quality sales?

It’s true about PS2 expanding the demographic but PS4 has those games so it’s unfair to say the same experience is not there, I just think that they are not as popular any more. Sony have had some of those games where you link in phones and also with PSVR they added a new family/party aspect.

Thing for me is all my kids grew up, so last gen we did a lot of rock band and sing star etc but now they are all GTA/rust/overwatch etc and I have no interest in those games...maybe it’s a general change in the way people game?

We almost got round to a game of Beatles rock band over the summer but it’s such a pita to setup and get a time when everyone is up for it and available!!
 
Slim chance, PS2 passed 155M.

PS4 will be ~110M by april 1st, and probably ~120M by the end of calendar 2020. After that, nobody knows.

If it ever comes out, a handheld PS4 would extend the console's lifetime by another 6 years, easy. And it would break the PS2 in sales, with all the people with perfectly fine original PS4's double-dipping for that on-the-go sweetness.

(on a scale from 0 to 10, how desperate do I sound for a portable PS4?)
 
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