600,000 PS3's sold on European launch

[thatdude90210]

Prior to launch, anyone who dared to suggest that PS3 might not outsell the others due to price difference was often met with "look how well that worked for the Gamecube." Now after launch, when the PS3 isn't outselling the others, it's oh yeah what do you expect with the price difference.

It's spin and you know it. Otherwise that's like suggesting that Sony had intended to sell less by designing such a high price console.

 

[Sis]

Prior to launch, anyone who dared to suggest that PS3 might not outsell the others due to price difference was often met with "look how well that worked for the Gamecube." Now after launch, when the PS3 isn't outselling the others, it's oh yeah what do you expect with the price difference.

It's spin and you know it. Otherwise that's like suggesting that Sony had intended to sell less by designing such a high price console.

To be fair, it should be noted that there is never any silver bullet. Price is but one aspect of what makes a successful product; the arguments you are portraying were more often in the vein of "just because its price is half that of the PS3 does not give it a guaranteed victory."

 

[thatdude90210]

To be fair, it should be noted that there is never any silver bullet. Price is but one aspect of what makes a successful product; the arguments you are portraying were more often in the vein of "just because its price is half that of the PS3 does not give it a guaranteed victory."

I agree, price is only one aspect of a winning formula. But the obviously the £180 console going to outsell a £425 console tone is not giving enough credit to Nintendo for bring out a good product, at the right time, and at the right price.

 

[Teasy]

Right... Obviously the fact PS3 is £245 dearer than Wii has nothing whatsoever to do with Wii selling more, and those who'd suggest as much are blinkered fanboys. Maybe you can explain to me why a £180 console outselling a £425 is something amazing, 'coz my Sony-tinted glasses cool: ) obviously can't see. I'm afraid my lack of balance has me deluding under the misconception that significantly cheaper products tend to outsell expensive competitors.

PS3 is £425 (actually £399-£380 in a lot of places now..) for a reason though. It has the massive processing power advantage, the High Defenition movie player ect. Surely those advantages should help outweigh the high price? Sony obviously thought they would..

 

[Ben-Nice]

I agree, price is only one aspect of a winning formula. But the obviously the £180 console going to outsell a £425 console tone is not giving enough credit to Nintendo for bring out a good product, at the right time, and at the right price.

It's all about price. The Wii has far and few between good games so to call it a good product is insane for what they charge. Not to say the X360 and PS3 are good / great but the Wii is a ripoff any way you cut it IMO. It's the price that pulls in the masses. If MS was smart they would just do a price a $100 price cut on the premium and core and it's game over for Sony and Nintendo.

 

[Fafalada]

NPD does not have the full numbers, but their methods are the same for all consoles, and thus the sales numbers are comparable

I agree with you that VGCharts/Nexgenwars and similar sites numbers are generally nonsense.
But I wouldn't be so quick to conclude how NPD deviations behave across products. I know for a fact that there are software products that tracked on NPD maybe 1/10th of their actual sales. If most sales are made across chains that NPD doesn't track, deviation CAN vary a lot across products - but yea, I doubt this kind of disparity is likely for new consoles though.

 

[Sis]

I agree with you that VGCharts/Nexgenwars and similar sites numbers are generally nonsense.
But I wouldn't be so quick to conclude how NPD deviations behave across products. I know for a fact that there are software products that tracked on NPD maybe 1/10th of their actual sales. If most sales are made across chains that NPD doesn't track, deviation CAN vary a lot across products - but yea, I doubt this kind of disparity is likely for new consoles though.

I agree; some titles, such as "Deer Hunter" here in the US, probably sell more through the large chain stores such as Wal-mart, which NPD does not track. While this doesn't likely have a direct effect on console sales, it does introduce a certain amount of skepticism for the sales numbers, even when it's NPD giving out the data. Even more when it's a third party extrapolating those numbers based on several sources, all of which are perhaps questionable...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

PS3 is £425 (actually £399-£380 in a lot of places now..) for a reason though. It has the massive processing power advantage, the High Defenition movie player ect. Surely those advantages should help outweigh the high price? Sony obviously thought they would..

You really think Sony themselves, let alone most normal folk, thought the demand for a HD playing, super-power, expensive console would be higher than a 'cheap-and-cheerful' one? How many times has the topic of HDTV penetration come up? And the quality difference of BRD movies versus DVDs? And all sorts of other stuff.

I don't see how anyone applying sense and reason could expect PS3 to outsell Wii, especially after the months of sales figures coming from elsewhere around the world. Still, I guess some people are amazed by the simple things in life!

 

[DuckThor Evil]

You really think Sony themselves, let alone most normal folk, thought the demand for a HD playing, super-power, expensive console would be higher than a 'cheap-and-cheerful' one? How many times has the topic of HDTV penetration come up? And the quality difference of BRD movies versus DVDs? And all sorts of other stuff.

I don't see how anyone applying sense and reason could expect PS3 to outsell Wii, especially after the months of sales figures coming from elsewhere around the world. Still, I guess some people are amazed by the simple things in life!

I don't know how many units Sony has shipped so far, but the goal was to ship 6 million by the end of March. With about 3 million sold so far I think it's fair to say Sony did expect to sell much better than what has happened. Wii's success has probably been somewhat of a surprise to Sony and when those factors are counted in, I wouldn't be that amazed if Sony actually thought they would outsell Wii, even in short term.

I don't have to rewind too far into my own thoughts to find similar way of thinking. I mean coming from Gamecube and PS2 it would have been bold to predict something like the current situation. Imo all things combined (Wii, X360 and PS3) we are looking at a upset of some level here. The game is definately not over for Sony, not by a long shot, but I think it's clear that they have had to retreat a bit in this battle and things are definately not served on a silver platter for them this time around and imo prior to the launch of PS3 there were lot's of people expecting silver platter. Now it looks like it's going to be one epic battle.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I don't know how many units Sony has shipped so far, but the goal was to ship 6 million by the end of March. With about 3 million sold so far I think it's fair to say Sony did expect to sell much better than what has happened. Wii's success has probably been somewhat of a surprise to Sony and when those factors are counted in, I wouldn't be that amazed if Sony actually thought they would outsell Wii, even in short term.

I don't have to rewind too far into my own thoughts to find similar way of thinking.

Though I remember that line of thinking, which I subscribed to myself, that was IIRC correctly before the $500 minimum pricetag of PS3. People were thinking it'd be pricey at ~$400, but still sell on the strength of the PS brand. And that ignored regional markups. The moment $500 ($600 realstically looking at provided stock) and £425 and €600 were announced, sales expectations across the board plummeted.

 

[goonergaz]

I would say that comparing Wii vs PS3 to GC vs PS2 is like chalk to cheese!!

so altho it's just one aspect, I would say that this time round it's a big factor in the sales.

£180 for what mass-market think is a 'next-gen' console - and it comes with a handful of games!! Bargain.

Compare that to a £400 console that you still need to buy a game for (so £435ish) and it's a TOTALLY different market. Until the PS3 drops it's price it won't penitrate (sp?) the mass-market, they're not interested in BR or the fact that Wii has questionable longevity...they care about here and now. When BR is more commonplace on the shelves and the PS3 drops to (say ~£300) then I could see it's sales improve dramatically.

Don't forget Sony lose loads on each console they sell, so they're probably happy to have a console selling OK along with the PS2 which is making loads for them.

 

[Arwin]

£180 for what mass-market think is a 'next-gen' console

I actually really wonder if the mass-market think of consoles in terms of 'next-gen'.

 

[goonergaz]

aye.

they see Wii as the new Ninty machine, so you have 3 new consoles, to them the Wii is small, cheap and has a great looking control method.

it's perfik

 

[pipo]

Stringer: PS3 Hits 800K in Europe

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5251&Itemid=2

Not bad at all...

 

[22psi]

Stringer: PS3 Hits 800K in Europe

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5251&Itemid=2

Not bad at all...

GREAT numbers IMO for a system that costs a lot of pretty pennies. Good job in EU.

 

[Fu3lFr3nzy]

Alright Sony!

(sorry mods; didnt contribute anything to the thread )

 

[Teasy]

You really think Sony themselves, let alone most normal folk, thought the demand for a HD playing, super-power, expensive console would be higher than a 'cheap-and-cheerful' one?

I think Sony will have expected to outsell Wii in the UK for at least a short while yes. I certainly don't think they expected a supply limited console on the market for 4 months to outsell there readily available 3 week old console by 50%.

 

[Teasy]

It's all about price. The Wii has far and few between good games so to call it a good product is insane for what they charge. Not to say the X360 and PS3 are good / great but the Wii is a ripoff any way you cut it IMO. It's the price that pulls in the masses. If MS was smart they would just do a price a $100 price cut on the premium and core and it's game over for Sony and Nintendo.

No to call it a good product is an opinion mate, yours is no more valid then the guy your replying to.. Wii doesn't have loads of good games yet because its new, just like any new console. Frankly to claim that makes it a bad product is insane (since that would mean all new consoles are automatically bad products). Just as insane as thinking that a low price will guarentee massive sales, something that's been disproven time and time again. So no price isn't everything, not even close.

 

[AntShaw]

GREAT numbers IMO for a system that costs a lot of pretty pennies. Good job in EU.

I have to say 800,000 sold for the first month, of a non supply constrained launch is seemingly dissapointing and much less then I would of expected.

Of course their 'sold' could still be 'shipped' to Europe which puts us even worse.

If they sold 1 million a month world wide they may have been able to their 6 mil by March. Its going to be a long 2007 for PS3.

I want some games IMMEDIATELY for my PS3. When I go in each week to see what games I want, I have walked away with 1 PS3 game sine Nov, and I have walked away with 5 360 games since Nov. I want more games.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Of course their 'sold' could still be 'shipped' to Europe which puts us even worse.

We know they shipped they shipped 1 million for launch, with extra stock supplied. So this 800k sold must be actually sold, I guess. Not stellar figures by general console standards, but given the price of the machine, not too bad.