Network now...NEWS
PS3 Sales Falling Further in Japan
The Japanese game industry had recorded a terrible sales performance for the week ending Oct 12. One week on, and sales figures are looking healthier for nearly all consoles in
Famitsu’s latest sales predictions show that the new PSP-3000 has boosted sales of the PSP hardware family from 23,901 last week to 156,000 for the week ending Oct 17. It is believed that the 3000 version of the handheld is responsible for at least 140,000 of that total figure.
The PlayStation 3, however, has continued its downward sales slide in
Famitsu estimates follow:
PSP: 156,000
DS Lite: 34,000
Wii: 25,000
PS2: 7,800
360: 6,000
PS3: 4,800
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Useless comment by the people of the amnesia.
http://www.jp.playstation.com/hardware/ps3/
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/917/917301p1.html
One thing I'm certain of: Sony is in deep trouble.
In my opinion, the biggest problem for Sony was with the release of the XBox 360 they felt the need to rush the release of the PS3.
They should have waited 3 years after the release of the XBox instead of one, and released a console with NOTICED better graphics and a strong line-up at launch (with MGS4, the Team ICO game, Final Fantasy XIII, Resident Evil all exclusive to them) and a lower price (around $300 would be the correct number).
Now it's too late and they are in big trouble.
Maybe LBP can make a small miracle for them. I've played the Beta, and I think that this game can really boost the PS3 sales.
Perhaps Sony is losing because they fundamentally misunderstood their core audience.
The original PlayStation was famous for winning over the mass consumer through savvy marketing and a new generation of games that was just cooler than the previous generation's Marios and Sonics. PS2 kept up the momentum on the strength of branding and because it had strong exclusives and third party commitment.
The key variable in this generation has been buzz, and I know this is controversial, but PS3 ain't got it. All of the media attention has been on the Wii, it's the Wii that's been flying off the shelves and selling bucketloads, and it's the Wii that mass-market consumers have latched onto as the system to have. It's noticeable that all of the shovelware that blighted PS1 and PS2 (and there was a lot of it) has migrated in this generation to the Wii.
In short - and I'm open to persuasion on this point from anyone who disagrees - could it be that Sony's core audience, and the main driver of its sales success, was actually the mass-market gamer that current PS3 owners sneer at for being duped into buying Wiis?
If true, this would mean that Sony's strategy of targeting high-end consumers with extremely powerful kit (and Blu Ray) has actually driven away its core audience. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 picked up a big chunk of the hardcore gaming market by virtue of its earlier availability, comparable power (quibbling aside), superior exclusive titles and shared hosting of key 3rd party software. So the masses have gone elsewhere and the hardcore have a very attractive alternative.
It goes without saying that the litany of failures of execution have not helped - the problems with launch delays, manufacturing difficulties, cost overruns (which limit consumer pricing options), etc have been well documented.
I know there are a lot of arguments for and against Sony's machine, but anyone who seriously wants it to be successful needs to wake up to the fact that it has a big problem. Simply put, it will not catch up with its competitors unless there is a change in course.
My prescription for Sony to sort itself out would be as follows:
- Halve the price of all models. This might play havoc with their finances, but an overall failure would be worse.
- Buy some high-profile time-limited exclusives. Key third-party devs clearly aren't persuaded that putting their games exclusively on PS3 is a good idea. Money and development support might help convince them. Imagine if GTAIV had been exclusive to PS3 for the first six months.
- Revamp the marketing. When I think of PS3, I think of a black shiny lump. It needs a brand identity that is edgier and cooler than the Wii, and that means that it needs a new brand identity. Nintendo have shown how to build this sort of brand from Day 1 - Sony need to learn some lessons.
- Hope like hell you don't turn into the Saturn. PS3 has done enough to be worth playing on, but it's not done enough to take off. Honestly - I'm not sure how much time it has left to turn things around.
It seems pretty clear to me that Sony's effort in this generation has been hamstrung by Microsoft's early retirement of the XBox forcing them into an earlier launch than intended; by the fact that the accelerated timelines and the corporate mandate to include Blu-Ray (as a trojan horse in the wider HD movie format wars) put its price range too high to be a plausible value proposition; and by the consequent lack of an installed base driving third parties to go multi-format. Rather than carping on about how much better than its competitors it is, it's time for Sony to have a serious think about how things are going.
Sorry that turned out to be so long. I'd be really interested in any thoughts or counterarguments.
1. Agreed.
2. True, I never considered that the PS2 did have a lot of the casual/mass market consumers. They probably weren’t too interested in the 360 and the Wii may have been a better fit for their pockets.
3. I think you’re absolutely right; I think Sony lost the mass market consumer and are struggling not only with their identity but with the hard core gamer as well.
4. I think you’re mostly right here except for the fact that I think the Xbox 1 was the system for the hardcore already. People who wanted good FPSs, online play, 720p on some titles and 480p on most titles (which only a very few rare PS2 games even offered 480p), DD5.1, etc they went with the Xbox 1. Those consumers naturally transitioned to the 360. I think Sony’s mistake was trying to change the perception that the Xbox was more powerful but the PlayStation was more popular. They aimed their sites at the Xbox audience and lost track of their 100 million strong user base. Essentially they were just focused on beating the Xbox/360 at its own game and didn’t play its own.
5. Agreed.
6. Agreed.
7. Agreed. I don’t think Sony realized how important the exclusives were for their system. I think they thought they could get by on brand recognition alone and people didn’t quite care about the actual games. Oh how wrong they were. They’ve already said they aren’t going to be focusing on getting 3rd party exclusives anymore and focus on 1st and 2nd party exclusives. Which some argue is a bit stronger than the 360’s (I don’t think so). They may not have the in-house dev teams that Sony has, but publishing 3rd party developer’s games for their own system (Gears is developed by Epic who CAN’T make gears of another system since MS owns Gears, not EPIC) and some other partners they have that they don’t own, they just have deals with. MS did blunder Bungie, Bioware, and Bizarre though…
8. Agreed. Especially in regards to BluRay. BluRay as I’ve said in other threads I feel was not a gaming requirement (although Sony would like people to believe it is) and they could have done the PS3 with DVD-9. All the triple A 3rd party multiplatform games fit onto 360’s 7.5 gigs of disc space, what does that tell you?
Good write up Nathan. (It wasn’t that long).
I agree with you in just about everything except 1 point, your use of the term "Sony Core audience." For example, you said "could it be that Sony's core audience, and the main driver of its sales success, was actually the mass-market gamer that current PS3 owners sneer at for being duped into buying Wiis?"
I believe "Sony's Core Audience" are the people that would by a Playstation machine based on the playstation brandname and wouldn't really buy anything else, at least that's what I think of when I hear "core." I think the people, the "mass-market gamer" as you put it, would be the MAJORITY of the Sony market in the last few gens, but not the core. The core would stick with the Playstation brand through thick and thin. Might just be arguing semantics, but personally, I think that is a destinction that should be mentionned.
I don't see mostly niche triple a titles down the line for the PS3 to be any light (at the end of the tunnel) at all. God of War I think will be the biggest system seller, but that's just me. Sony's biggest arguably non-niche title, its Halo if you will, has already came out and made a modest bump at best to console sales. I think Sony is in more trouble then they're letting on. Sure, they have 3-5 potentially great reviewed games on the horizon, maybe ones that will push hardware a bit, but by no means enough to get them out of their rut.
I don't know if it's that Sony has lost all of its main exclusives (and it’s looking like the MGS4 360 port rumor is finally coming true), if it’s the price, or is it their arrogance that finally caught up to them? I don't know what the problem is, but I think general excitement for the system other than with the Sony faithful is down. It might be that they were never really faithful in the first place, it was just the "cool" system, and now that people who just started playing games with the PS1 and PS2 are finding out that "cool" doesn't necessarily mean best system for them and have moved on.
Any thoughts on good reasons WHY Sony is losing in pretty much all the territories (maybe with the exception of certain European territories)?
The economy is messed up
Prices are to high
Reliabilty of the Xbox is down, and it doesn't even make sense why it's selling. It could be a "hush" puppy.
Give away the hardware, make it up in services.
I don't typically think the masses actually worry about RRoD that much. We gamers (we're all on a gaming forum so I think its safe to say everyone on here isn't part of the "masses" gaming group) are the only ones who tend to talk about it so much. If its reliablility was so down, the 360 wouldn't be stomping on the PS3 (espcially since the PS3 has NO reliability problems and still can't catch the 360).
And why does the 360 selling well not make sense? the 15 million (or so) people who have purchased 360s are just clueless and have no real good reason to buy a 360 and should be buying a PS3 or Wii instead? C'mon John, what kinda thing is that to say? Maybe you should just stick to fishing...^^
And giving away hardware will never happen. You mentioned that twice I think already, not going to happen, ever.
It's previous generation machine's sales are almost double it's current generation machine's sales. How embarrassing.
2 generations of domination and now look at them, bad launch , small selction of triple a titles till later on. But sony should be able to see some light at the end of the tunnel
They've timed everything about as badly as they possibly could have. With a new bundle coming out, no one is going to buy until then, and last week is historically the lowest in sales for all consoles. Sony shot in the foot by its own bullet again.