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Stringer: Wii an “Expensive Niche Game Device"
As Sony’s PS3 builds up steam in the sales race with Microsoft’s Xbox 360, company CEO Howard Stringer insists the firm isn’t competing with Nintendo for market share.
Having trailed Xbox 360 sales in North America during 2007, NPD figures show that Sony moved 1.2 million PS3s during the first five months of 2008, compared to 1.12 million 360s. Nintendo's Wii sold 2.8 million units during the same period.
However, speaking to Bloomberg, Stringer dismissed the notion that the PS3 was in competition with the Wii, implying that it was more important to build up a lead over Microsoft’s console.
“I've played a Nintendo Wii,” he said. “I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device. We're selling a lot of PlayStation 3s now and it's still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player.”
On Sunday Microsoft announced a $50 price cut to the 20GB Xbox 360 model and plans to introduce a 60GB unit in early August.
“This race is far from over and we are confident that we have a winning strategy,” Microsoft’s David Dennis told Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Sony says it has no current plans to cut the price of the PS3.
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Such a weird thing to say.
Blu-Ray is, still, a niche product, 1080p TV's are still a niche product, and honestly the PS3 is still a niche product. All of them expensive, all of them with a low market penetration and all of them with less mainstream appeal than Nintendo's offerings.
I'm sensing the infamous Sony arrogance, that was eradicated after the terrible presentation two years ago, again. Not good.
"Niche" happens to be an economical term that means, by opposition to mainstream, you are targetting a specific reduced consumer demographic (I thought Iwata-san had vouched to expand the gaming industry reach but anyway). Sir Howard Stringer being CEO of Sony, you'd expect him to know a thing or two about economical jargon, since he already doesn't speak neither engineer nor Japanese... They must have hired him for something, right?
The problem is... If you expand on his logic a little: 25 millions Wii within 18 months and chart-topping software titles everywhere on the globe is "niche" --> 12 millions of PS3 is what? half niche? obscure? underground?
Sony is all about legacy indeed. All about repeating the same mistakes again and again. Cause this out-of-touch arrogant sore-loser piece of rhetoric is not without reminding me of Phil Harrison's* PSP vs DS words in 2005:
"With the DS, it's fair to say that Nintendo stepped out of the technical race and went for a feature differentiation with the touch screen, but I fear that it won't have a lasting impact beyond that of a gimmick. so the long-lasting appeal of the platform is at peril as a direct result of that."
Words of wisdom those turned out to be three years later -cough-
* then Executive VP of Sony Computer Entertainment