NPD March 2007

[quest55720]

Truly laughable! "Supply constrained" Ha! Sony PR FTL.

Good to hear Nintendo is looking to ramp production of Wii. Maybe by next month I'll be able to buy one.

I hope to get a Wii some time soon also. The first one I see will be mine damn it lol.

GH2 sales are pretty amazing for 3-5 days or what ever almost 300k of a 90 dollar port very impressive. The 360 owners really do amaze me with how much software they buy.

MS really needs to slash the price to me it would seem they have sucked the market dry of people looking to spend 399 on a console. I do think they might get a boost next month from current xbox owners getting an elite but not much fresh blood. They have the software line up it is time to drop the price and go for the main stream gamers.

 

[Skrying]

Looking at Wii hardware vs software sales, it just makes me think they aren't that good looking enough to be using them as decorative objects. 1st in next gen hardware sales and only 1 title in the top 11?

Casual crowd doesn't buy much in the way of games I would imagine. Plus to be honest the Wii line up is not truly amazing, it just got a new Paper Mario game (one I very much want to play) and of course some other key Nintendo games will be coming but then again I don't pay much attention. I want a Wii, I just can't find a Wii on sell.

 

[Rolf N]

I want a Wii, I just can't find a Wii on sell.

I totally don't understand that problem. Just order one, like, now. I'd say Amazon but choose whomever you trust, with the general idea being: the larger the outfit the better. You'd be correct to point out that they won't be able to ship it immediately either, but you'll land on a list and whenever they get their next shipment (which they will, and those shipments will be fairly large), you'll move up, and soon all will be good.
Compare that with your current situation where you regularly check around places and never get any closer to the goal (might get frustrated and give up). And if you continue that practice and get lucky, you can still cancel your order.

 

[Deepak]

Top 20 software:

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/782/782103p1.html

1. God of War II (PS2) Sony
2. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (360) Ubisoft
3. Guitar Hero 2 W/ Guitar (360) Red Octane/Activision
4. Wii Play (Wii) Nintendo
5. MotorStorm (PS3) Sony
6. Major League Baseball 2k7 (360) 2K Games
7. MLB '07: The Show (PS2) Sony
8. Def Jam Icon (360) Electronic Arts
9. Guitar Hero 2 W/Guitar (PS2) Red Octane/Activision
10. God of War (PS2) Sony
11. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PS2) Rockstar
12. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Wii) Electronic Arts
13. Crackdown (360) Microsoft
14. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) Sega
15. TMNT (PS2) Ubisoft
16. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) Nintendo
17. Gears of War (360) Microsoft
18. Major League Baseball 2K7 (PS2) 2K Games
19. Warioware: Smooth Moves (Wii) Nintendo
20. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PS3) Bethesda

 

[Rolf N]

1. "That's the game innit?" - "I think so!"
2. "What a freakin' awesome game! Is there any more of that?"

[strike]Watch Devil May Cry and God Hand rebound. Believe.[/strike] Sorry, wrong forum.

 

[Skrying]

I totally don't understand that problem. Just order one, like, now. I'd say Amazon but choose whomever you trust, with the general idea being: the larger the outfit the better. You'd be correct to point out that they won't be able to ship it immediately either, but you'll land on a list and whenever they get their next shipment (which they will, and those shipments will be fairly large), you'll move up, and soon all will be good.
Compare that with your current situation where you regularly check around places and never get any closer to the goal (might get frustrated and give up). And if you continue that practice and get lucky, you can still cancel your order.

I don't like waiting lists, something about the waiting part annoys me. I do not go around stores looking for Wii's either, its more of a if a store had one in stock I might pick it up type of thing with me.

 

[iceberg187]

Somebody needs to call out Sony for blatantly lying in their press releases.

 

[Zaphod]

1. "That's the game innit?" - "I think so!"
2. "What a freakin' awesome game! Is there any more of that?"

Plus, it's cheap now. Sequel hype may very well have incited someone who held off on the original to finally pick it up @ 1/3 the cost to see what's all the fuss is about, rather than plunking down full price on the new one.

 

[PatrickL]

Honnestly both PS3 and 360 sales are bad. I don't think that elite was a problem for sales but more the price for casual in a non holidays period.

It starts to be hard to make fun of Sony and their PR as we know that the ones that will get fired are not the ones that made the bad decisions.

 

[pipo]

I see Wii taking a ton of those people and of course a price reduced core taking a bunch as well.

Yup. With GTA.

Meanwhile in Euro-land I still can't find a Wii.

Makes you wonder what would have happened by the end of the year if they could produce enough units...

 

[Platon]

Not too great for either PS3 and the 360 and most likely the Wii is supply constrained like crazy. Most likely also the premium announcement didn't do any pronounced damages to the 360 sales, I can see some premium byers waiting for the Elite but that is about it. Maybe there might be a small bump in sales due to the Elite although most likely it is sales that would have been replaced by the Premium otherwise but might last a month or two and lacks what is so important, sustainability.

MS agressive attitude towards marketshare seems to have been dumbened conciderably. All the talk by Moore about becomming mainstream and what not is really not supported by their actions, instead of a price cut your get a higher priced SKU. You might inrease the value of your offer a lot, and you might see some small bumps but that is ot enough. Value is afterall personal preference, money is not...

 

[pipo]

Most likely also the premium announcement didn't do any pronounced damages to the 360 sales...

Not sure. I've read somewhere pre-orders were pretty good.

 

[Corwin_B]

Somebody needs to call out Sony for blatantly lying in their press releases.

Wait, there is more. In fact, it all depends on what the definition of "supply-constrained" is :
Sony PR Guy at Kotaku :

The industry standard for a product to be considered to be in an "in-stock" position for a store is 30 units per store. This would be the level you would see for a PS2 or Xbox 360. At this level, retailers will feature a product in their weekly advertising circulars. If you are not at this level, retailers can't guarantee consumers will find one if they go into the store and they most likely won't support your product in weekly ads. Although you can indeed find PS3s in stores currently, we are no where near an "in-stock" position. 300,000 PS3s were sold into retailers the final week of March, so you should see increased marketing support from retailers in April.

There are not enough rolling eyes smileys in the entire Internet for this...

 

[Ben-Nice]

I'm not sure why MS didn't just annouce a price cut instead of releasing the Elite model. That would pretty much put the knife in Sony twist it and throw salt in the wound.

 

[pso]

Wait, there is more. In fact, it all depends on what the definition of "supply-constrained" is :
Sony PR Guy at Kotaku :


There are not enough rolling eyes smileys in the entire Internet for this...

Yeah, so having 30 or less in stores is considered supply-constrained now. He should of quit while he was ahead.

I didn't expect Sony PR to come out and say "our sales suck" but I didn't expect them to outright lie either.

IMO, Sony PR instead should of focused more on the PS2 & God of War 2 sales and stayed quiet on the PS3.

 

[expletive]

I'm not sure why MS didn't just annouce a price cut instead of releasing the Elite model. That would pretty much put the knife in Sony twist it and throw salt in the wound.

I think there is a part of the 360 pricing strategy that accounts for the difference between "cheaper" and "inferior". I dont think they want to get TOO cheap with their top end SKU where the perception is such that people will view the low price as proof that the 360 is inferior. I've found myself opting for the more expensive option a few times with other purchases just because i felt "price = quality". I know it doesnt always, but sometimes...

What i could see them doing now is keeping the Elite where it is, and slashing the premium and cores. This might serve both purposes but i would fear that a 65nm premium with HDMI at 299 later this year would get lost in the shuffle as the big value (and it would be) if they keep the Elite where it is.

 

[archangelmorph]

I think there is a part of the 360 pricing strategy that accounts for the difference between "cheaper" and "inferior". I dont think they want to get TOO cheap with their top end SKU where the perception is such that people will view the low price as proof that the 360 is inferior. I've found myself opting for the more expensive option a few times with other purchases just because i felt "price = quality". I know it doesnt always, but sometimes...

I'm pretty sure Microsoft have considered this aspect of things but to be truely honest so what if the Xbox360 is considered inferior?
There's a difference between inferior in quality and inferior in features/tech and it's already will known that the PS3 has a moderare edge in latter so it's likely that the vast majority of consumers would put it down to this..

Also the widely known and accepted inferiority of the PS2 (or the Wii for that matter) hasn't stopped the consoles flying off the shelves so I don't think that such an idea provides sufficient justification to keeping the price above the mainstream threshold...

 

[Cheezdoodles]

I'm pretty sure Microsoft have considered this aspect of things but to be truely honest so what if the Xbox360 is considered inferior?

You didn't understand what he was talking about. What he meant was that if microsoft has 3 different SKU's out for the X360, the cheaper ones will be looked upon as inferior.

 

[Tap In]

you know i really thought that MS had a price drop planned for next month after releasing the Elite but now I'm thinking that with PS3 not putting a scare into them that they will just sit tight and take their 200-250k at full price for as long as they can.

With GTA4 and Halo3 and a host of other titles on the horizon (Forza, Mass Effect etc), they may just enjoy the profits for as long as possible. Software is selling well.

They'd be INSANE to not do some kind of a price reduction or bundle deal by this holiday though.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

I think they are just sitting there, waiting for Sony to make a move. As long as it keeps selling (significantly more than the PS3) , and with a lot of big names in gaming coming out in the next months, there isn't much that would indicate a price cut being needed in the next couple months.

Sony on the other hand is bizzy making crazy PR, and doing cost reduction. They are also a bit scared of doing price cuts (but they will probably realize they have to soon), considering that everybody would be scared going into a price war with M$. A potential price war, could in a worst case scenario just mean bigger losses, and no significant increase in sales.