PS3 sales

It's kind of obvious to me that the demand before Christmas isn't going to be as high as after Christmas.

50% of all consoles sold in the US are sold in the 3 months prior to Christmas. December sales alone are often 5-10 times higher than any month between January and October.
 
Here's the respective launch prices, and price drops in EU and NA, which looks the most price sensitive?

US:
2000/10/26 PlayStation 2 introduced. (SRP 299 US Dollars)
2002/05 PlayStation 2 price changes to 199 US Dollars.

EU:
2000/11/24 PlayStation 2 introduced. (SRP 299 UK Pounds/ 2,990 F Francs/ 869 D Marks)
2001/06 PlayStation 2 price adjustment. (SRP 269 UK Pounds/ 2,790 F Francs/ 799 D Marks)
2001/09/28 PlayStation 2 price adjustment. (SRP 199 UK Pounds/ 1,999 F Francs/ 599 D Marks)
2002/08/27 PlayStation 2 price adjustment. (SRP 249-259 Euros/ 169.99 UK Pounds)
 
Here's the respective launch prices, and price drops in EU and NA, which looks the most price sensitive?

US:
2000/10/26 PlayStation 2 introduced. (SRP 299 US Dollars)
2002/05 PlayStation 2 price changes to 199 US Dollars.

EU:
2000/11/24 PlayStation 2 introduced. (SRP 299 UK Pounds/ 2,990 F Francs/ 869 D Marks)
2001/06 PlayStation 2 price adjustment. (SRP 269 UK Pounds/ 2,790 F Francs/ 799 D Marks)
2001/09/28 PlayStation 2 price adjustment. (SRP 199 UK Pounds/ 1,999 F Francs/ 599 D Marks)
2002/08/27 PlayStation 2 price adjustment. (SRP 249-259 Euros/ 169.99 UK Pounds)

I think we all know Sony has to drop the price of the PS3 faster than they did with the PS2, that much is pretty obvious... There is no way PS3 can hold out long at 600, even after the software starts to ramp up (starting in feb!). I don't think anyone is really debating that (or, at least I hope not). I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a price cut in march/april time, really -- they have to be far more aggressive with price cuts on PS3, since they started out at such a stupid price... they'll likely end the generation at like $149-179 this gen (compared to $129 for ps2 and $99 for PS1, iirc). It seems the price of production on PS3 should fall pretty fast (just getting BR production kinks worked out should shave off a rather substantial portion quickly).

I don't necessarily think EU is much more price sensitive than the US, at least not a huge amount more, I suppose we'll see though... another thing to consider when PS3 launches in EU, it's game selection should be a lot more exciting than what it launched with in US/JP (making demand/hype higher). The lack of titles right now is likely what is hurting PS3 most, since there is an alternative which has a decent selection of titles out already -- I think there is still quite a few more people that'll be willing to buy at $500-600 if they saw a decent selection of worthwhile games (VF, MotorStorm, Heavenly sword, etc. quality games).
 
50% of all consoles sold in the US are sold in the 3 months prior to Christmas. December sales alone are often 5-10 times higher than any month between January and October.

Sorry, that was what I meant obviously.

@scooby: all I see is that the E.U. started at a much higher price, and then took a while to catch up with the much lower U.S. prices.
 
I also believe the $600 pricepoint will be an even bigger hurdle in EU, which is even more price sensitive than NA.

Actually, European gamers have been paying comparatively more that their American equivalents for years. in the UK, the 60gb PS3 is set to cost around £425 (which is around $850 for those that dont know). To me, Americans are far more price-sensitive than Europeans, as virtually all electronic devices are more expensive over here than they are in the states. Yet hardware and software sales are proportionally similar. Add to that, Europe is a Sony heartland. The 360 hasnt sold great in Europe, and a lot of people are waiting for PS3. Recent rumours suggest Sony has been stockpiling for the 'rest of the world' launch, and that they may have as many as 2m units available. I fully expect those to be zapped up immediately, with demand carrying over for the next shipment.
 
@scooby: all I see is that the E.U. started at a much higher price, and then took a while to catch up with the much lower U.S. prices.

2 signifigant price reductions within a 10month span? Indicates to me that EU largely balked at the initial price.

Bobbler - Hopefully, for Sony's sake they need fast pricedrops. I've always believe they would drop in Spring $100, because if they don't they will be in trouble. But I also expected demand to be extremely strong through the first 4million or so units, and that doesn't seem like it's gonna be the case, so they may be forced to do a quick pricedrop whether they had planned to or not.
 
2 signifigant price reductions within a 10month span? Indicates to me that EU largely balked at the initial price.

Bobbler - Hopefully, for Sony's sake they need fast pricedrops. I've always believe they would drop in Spring $100, because if they don't they will be in trouble. But I also expected demand to be extremely strong through the first 4million or so units, and that doesn't seem like it's gonna be the case, so they may be forced to do a quick pricedrop whether they had planned to or not.

I thought the first 4 million were going to be easy as pie too... but the launch titles and lack of titles for the first couple months seems to be really hurting it, more so than the price, if you ask me -- they could have gotten away with the price had they offered a few more compelling games at launch. I think if the original planned launch title list were what it ended up with, we'd see more excitement for it at the moment. As much as I love my PS3 and PS2/1, Sony really has to work on how they are handling stuff at the moment -- they've made a lot of silly mistakes here and there, which are fine, but the price and lack of launch titles stigma is going to be hard to change... first impressions are hard to wipe away. I mean, even if we fast forward to Spring, PS3 has VF5, Motorstorm, Heavenly Sword, etc. and a $100 pricedrop, they'd still need a hefty bit of useful marketing (not the baby doll PS3 commercial we have now! -- more like the playbeyond.com videos) and positive buzz from the community to change the general attitude (and we can blame Sony for a lot of that... some stuff is out of their control, obviously).

I'm quite happy with my PS3 and it surpassed my expectations in some ways and met the rest, but they've stumbled a bit and need to rework their strategy. They need to show the average joe that was just told by NYT or their cousin that PS3 is crap that it's not actually and that the consoles first year should hold its own against the competing consoles second. With as much misinformation as there is on the internet, it's hard to be in the spotlight and be fumbling, even if the fumbles are only temporary problems.

PS3's lack of games isn't all bad though, I've been able to fill up the time with BR movies. I rather enjoy movies though, so the dry spell on the gaming fronts isn't as painful for me (and I've got enough stuff from other systems that I still haven't gotten around to). Hopefully Sony has a better '07 than they do '06 -- the blu-ray front is looking bright, at least.
 
Again, am I right that there aren't any significant 3rd party exlusives for the PS3 in the first half of 2007? Lack of software indeed...
 
Again, am I right that there aren't any significant 3rd party exlusives for the PS3 in the first half of 2007? Lack of software indeed...

I can't think of any that aren't published by SCE. Maybe there is, but I'm not sure.

Now that I think about it, are there any for any system, really? Wii doesn't seem to have any and I can't think of any on 360 either.
 
I can't think of any that aren't published by SCE. Maybe there is, but I'm not sure.

Now that I think about it, are there any for any system, really? Wii doesn't seem to have any and I can't think of any on 360 either.


Aren't Heavenly Sword (ps3) and GRAW2 (360) coming out in march. (yeah right and I got some swamp land for sale) Ps3/360 have serious a drought on their hands indeed. Not alot to look forward to though. 360 owners have it alot better though, they can check out some of the games that they may have missed from last year.

I still don't think a $100 price decrease on the ps3 will help alone. $500 is still too much for a console with such a limited library. I personally don't know anyone that upon hearing the ps3 dropped to $500 will say "wow thats what i was waiting for" and go buy one to to play the same multiplatform games that are on every other console. Sony needs to come down about $200 and offer a few more compelling titles (ala Resistance) to compete. $500-$600 are still on that stratosphere for most of the playstation demographic.
 
$500 is still too much for a console with such a limited library..
It isn't a limited library: someone purchasing a console for the first time (and isn't that what most ps2 sales are?) is getting the entire ps2 library, including some AA new releases, AS WELL as the next-gen titles out now, and to come, AS WELL as the other doo-dahs ps3 offers.

So the cost of a ps3 for many buyers is an incremental cost over the ps2, not a from-zero cost.
To _not_ buy a PS3 (to pick ps2 instead) is saves $370. $370 isn't bad when it allows you to show off your new hdtv capable flat screen TV you just picked up for $1xxx.
 
Aren't Heavenly Sword (ps3) and GRAW2 (360) coming out in march. (yeah right and I got some swamp land for sale) Ps3/360 have serious a drought on their hands indeed. Not alot to look forward to though. 360 owners have it alot better though, they can check out some of the games that they may have missed from last year.

I still don't think a $100 price decrease on the ps3 will help alone. $500 is still too much for a console with such a limited library. I personally don't know anyone that upon hearing the ps3 dropped to $500 will say "wow thats what i was waiting for" and go buy one to to play the same multiplatform games that are on every other console. Sony needs to come down about $200 and offer a few more compelling titles (ala Resistance) to compete. $500-$600 are still on that stratosphere for most of the playstation demographic.

GRAW 2 is hitting PS3 aswell, isn't that right?
 
I can't think of any that aren't published by SCE. Maybe there is, but I'm not sure.

Now that I think about it, are there any for any system, really? Wii doesn't seem to have any and I can't think of any on 360 either.

Just to correct you, the 360 has what's likely the best quarter of its life in Q2. Q1 also looks incredible. Refer to http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37038

Let's keep the 360 chat to that thread though.

Cheers
 
It's obvious to me that PS2 would never have been sitting on store shelves less than 2months after launch with only ~750k sold through in NA. It certainly would not have had widespread availability like this. Now this may be due to massive PS3 shipments, but I highly doubt it.

I also believe the $600 pricepoint will be an even bigger hurdle in EU, which is even more price sensitive than NA.

It´s a 499$ console, it seems to sell well (until there is dust on the boxes) and how do we define widespread availability? If Sony can sell every console they produce i don´t see a problem here, espcially considering the lack of AAA games.
 
Now that I think about it, are there any for any system, really? Wii doesn't seem to have any and I can't think of any on 360 either.

What about Lost Planet, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Battlestations: Midway, Command and Conquer 3, Forza 2, Too Human, Kingdom Under Fire? Some of these are released on the PC as well, but on consoles they're all exclusive to X360, and they're all third party games... There is quite some difference in developer/publisher support at this time.

I dunno about the Wii though... And there are quite a few third party multiplatform games too, that we'll see on PS3 and X360 at the same time. But exclusives are practically all from Sony for the first half of the year and there's only a few of them.
 
I can't think of any that aren't published by SCE. Maybe there is, but I'm not sure.

Now that I think about it, are there any for any system, really? I can't think of any on 360 either.

Mass Effect.
looks better than gears of wars.
its an rpg.

its made by bioware, so you know its gonna be great..
 
What about Lost Planet, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Battlestations: Midway, Command and Conquer 3, Forza 2, Too Human, Kingdom Under Fire? Some of these are released on the PC as well, but on consoles they're all exclusive to X360, and they're all third party games... There is quite some difference in developer/publisher support at this time.

I dunno about the Wii though... And there are quite a few third party multiplatform games too, that we'll see on PS3 and X360 at the same time. But exclusives are practically all from Sony for the first half of the year and there's only a few of them.

Forza is by MS game studios. And some of those games Bioshock, C&C3 (Come on, it's an EA game) are rumored to come to PS3 as well.

Incidently, Bioshock, Too Human, Mass Effect - All Unreal Engine 3 games.
 
Forza is by MS game studios. And some of those games Bioshock, C&C3 (Come on, it's an EA game) are rumored to come to PS3 as well.

Incidently, Bioshock, Too Human, Mass Effect - All Unreal Engine 3 games.

Bioshock, Too Human, and Mass Effect have all annouced exclusivity deals with microsoft.

Infact, TH and ME are published by Microsoft.

So i dont know what your hinting at.
 
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