PS3 SKUs might start disappearing from release lists soon if sales don't pick up

[Nesh]

Here's a thought. PS3 is too expensive. It's out of reach of consumers. It's percieved as an expensive luxury item, much like HDTV's were seen last year. What happens when an expensive luxury item gets a price drop (and I'm talking consecutive price drops over the next couple of years)...it then becomes a bargain. Everybody will want it, as the once expensive luxury item is a cheap luxury item.

This occurs throughout technology pricing. Buyers only come on board with price drops. Say there is a cheap HDTV and an expensive HDTV...when that expensive HDTV comes to the price of the cheaper one....you'll get the one that was once expensive.

This is how I see the Wii. It's cheap now...and will always be percieved as cheap. Yet once the ps3 is cheap, it will be percieved as a bargain, and not as cheap.

As for Europe:

This is Germany

" Hardware sales April 2007:

1. Nintendo Wii - 20,000
2. Playstation 3 -16,000
3. Xbox 360 - 9,500 "

I think Spain was a bit more dramatic than that (bigger ps3 sales) but I can't seem to find them now.

Very good point. Indeed if the PS3 was never announced at such a high price but at a competitive price to the 360 the PS3 would have been enjoying huge sales and support . Sony didnt though which makes me wonder how deep they would have got into losses if they did to not expect things in the future to be much more beneficial for them.

Hypothetically speaking if Sony could indeed suffer such losses until the gains came to compensate them more than enough in the future and didnt due Stringer's short-term strategy expectations then he is the man who killed the PS3 not Ken.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Here's a thought. PS3 is too expensive. It's out of reach of consumers. It's percieved as an expensive luxury item, much like HDTV's were seen last year. What happens when an expensive luxury item gets a price drop (and I'm talking consecutive price drops over the next couple of years)...it then becomes a bargain. Everybody will want it, as the once expensive luxury item is a cheap luxury item.

It's just that I don't think people will see PS3 as a luxury item after few years, when PC-games are likely going to be technically much more impressive and cheap standalone Blu-ray players are everywhere. They need a large price cut soon, if they wan't to use that card.

 

[Todd33]

wasn't this horse beat to death in the April NPD thread? This same guy wrote a doom and gloom about the 360 a few months back too, negative press sells.

 

[thatdude90210]

How does june being a 5 week month matter at all?

If sales stays close to 20k per week, then it has an outside shot of being over 100k. It's a cosmetic difference, still selling 20k per week, but it would beat the dreaded 3 consecutive months below 100k that was mentioned in the original article.

 

[iceberg187]

wasn't this horse beat to death in the April NPD thread? This same guy wrote a doom and gloom about the 360 a few months back too, negative press sells.

To his credit, he wrote something about all 3 consoles, back to back to back. Besides, this isn't Croal saying this, it's the other guy with whom he is conversing back and forth with.

 

[patsu]

Sony could have avoided this whole debacle by pricing it lower at launch

Changing price perception is a painful thing. Many execs would avoid it at all cost. Again, it's not always about price (Buying iPod, cars, home, ... for some positive examples and 360 Core -- vs Premium -- for negative one). IMHO, the problem is Sony took too long to show the value difference... and Hi Def adoption is still early.

It is also an issue of PR. We have heard game store assistances and bloggers bad mouth PS3 (both justified and unjustified ones). Without sounding negative, next-gen gaming may be too costly for some core gamers. Perhaps a few hope PS3 to fail so that they can get all their favorite games on the only console they already own. ^_^

If so, Sony should put together a more comprehensive community package to build its momentum (e.g., Selective discounts for game industry folks ? Is it feasible to promote that US$150 rebates for Sony Visa Card sign-up together with PS3 ? ...).

In any case, execs are hired to (create and) solve problems like this -- as part of their work. ^O^

Talk to Howard, or continue the current strategy. Either way, Sony will need to simplify and line up its packaging and communications some more.

There has been marked improvement since the horrid early days... but still not good enough I think. e.g., Sony says they are after consumer-to-consumer commerce in Home (as alluded to in Titanio's post), and also a best-of-breed Blu-ray player, plus a next-gen gaming experience, furthermore a chargeable computing-on-tap infrastructure.

All these ideas are not half bad, but they need to be simplified, consolidated and repeated so that mainstream start to understand and appreciate them (How are they related or even relevant ? If not, find something of higher priority and spend more dollars on them ).

The worst thing to do is to highlight seemingly unrelated elements and totally different directions every other day. People will be confused. Repeat just 1 thing (BIG and simple).

Have fun Sony ! I have been checking firmware 1.80 update every hour (Sorry, can't wait)

Thanks for the creativity and hardwork. Once you pull through, we will truly have a ground breaking device on our wet little hands.

 

[thatdude90210]

Yahoo news "TOKYO - Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console will come with a beefed up 80-gigabyte hard-disk drive in South Korea, and that model is being considered for the U.S. and other markets, a company official said Wednesday."

Why in the world would Sony PR be talking about a possible 80g PS3 for other markets, when they have about 2 million unsold 60G sitting around... if you take into account of sold vs shipped. Is openly talking about a newer model that potential customers might want to wait for the smartest thing to do?

That's going to kill their NPD numbers for the next couple of months. Maybe not in time to affect the May NPD numbers, but for sure June & later. Should have just said something like "this model is made for the Korean market only," and that's it.

 

[Todd33]

Yahoo news "TOKYO - Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console will come with a beefed up 80-gigabyte hard-disk drive in South Korea, and that model is being considered for the U.S. and other markets, a company official said Wednesday."

Why in the world would Sony PR be talking about a possible 80g PS3 for other markets, when they have about 2 million unsold 60G sitting around... if you take into account of sold vs shipped. Is openly talking about a newer model that potential customers might want to wait for the smartest thing to do?

That's going to kill their NPD numbers for the next couple of months. Maybe not in time to affect the May NPD numbers, but for sure June & later. Should have just said something like "this model is made for the Korean market only," and that's it.

It's possible they want to ditch the original design with full EE+GS for the lower cost EU model. In that case they may bump the HD to 80GB to offset any bad PR from the BC. Any smart person would snatch up the 60GB, the HD can be replaced with a 120GB for cheap if it was ever needed (60GB is plenty IMO).