PS3 is flopping world wide

[r.jones1116]

http://www.comcast.net/news/technol...LOGY&fn=/2007/04/26/647730.html&cvqh=sci_sony

 

[navychop]

Are you referring to this link from within your link above?

Neither say anything about the PS3 flopping world wide. Or have I missed something?

 

[VinceT3]

I'm pretty sure the resignation was asked not offered.. and it was probably due to nintendos 77% increase in profits and their lack of..

 

[navychop]

Far cry from "flopping worldwide."

Why don't we call a moratorium on inflammatory thread titles?

 

[CochiseGuy]

Far cry from "flopping worldwide."

Why don't we call a moratorium on inflammatory thread titles?

Agreed. But, as for the PS3 "flopping", how about this post I made here in the Video Games forum:


Sony PS3 price cut expected. Sony has mountain of unsold consoles in supply chain.
By John Mace - Fri, 04/13/2007 - 07:36.

Skeptical analysts are still predicting a price cut for the PlayStation 3 this year. "We think Sony will find it hard to get through the financial year (which began this month) without cutting the price of the console, and expect further game segment losses of over $1 billion during that period", commented researchers from leading Japanese investment firm, Nomura, in a private briefing to clients this morning.

Sony has sold only half of the six million PS3s it has manufactured to date, Nomura estimates. Other sources estimate the number of units shipped out of Sony's factories somewhat lower, at five million, but concur on the sales data.

Source: http://www.texyt.com/Sony+PS3+price+cut+expected+058


Or, this Yahoo News article talking about Nintendo's President promising to boost production to meet demand for the Wii:

Nintendo plans to boost Wii production

AP Business Fri Apr 27, 6:22 AM ET

TOKYO - Nintendo's president acknowledged Friday that the shortage of the hit Wii game machine was "abnormal," and promised production was being boosted to increase deliveries by next month.


Nintendo, which also makes Pokemon and Super Mario games, is planning to sell 14 million Wii machines for the current fiscal year through March 2008, having sold 5.84 million Wii consoles worldwide in the five months since its release late last year.

Sony has sold just 1.84 million PlayStation 3 machines so far worldwide, while Microsoft has shipped more than 10 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide.


"We must do our best to fix this abnormal lack of stock," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told reporters. "We have not been able to properly foresee demand."

Which confirms the previous article's claim that Sony has sold less than half of the PS3's it has shipped so far.

Save up those CC Reward Points! Should be a good sale on PS3's later this year.

 

[vurbano]

http://www.comcast.net/news/technol...LOGY&fn=/2007/04/26/647730.html&cvqh=sci_sony

common knowledge.

 

[mike123abc]

I am predicting 80GB model will probably debut at the $599 price and drop by the holliday season to around $500. The 60GB unit will be reduced to $499 to clear them out then the 80GB should drop to $399 by 2008 Christmas.

Sony has to deny any price cuts, after all who would buy one now if you knew in a month they would be $100 less?

 

[navychop]

Over a million, or maybe two, sold. Not a flop. Just because others outsell it does not mean it's a flop. And with way less than a year on the market, too early to tell.

That reissue of the old Atari console- now that was a flop!

 

[meStevo]

Without more of a price drop this is going to get much worse before it gets any better IMO. What compelling reason is there for people to buy a PS3? There are no killer apps, BD players are going to drop in price to compete with HDDVD standalones making it go from a cheap to an overpriced BD player.

 

[navychop]

I hope you're right! I'd rather buy a dedicated player (any format). I'm sure later this year some game titles will come out that will make better use of the capabilities of the PS3. Could be a bit late. Could be in time. I'm not a gamer, and I don't have enough time to become one. So I'd rather have a dedicated player, especially considering WAF and the fact I really don't want another object with that four letter "S" word on it in my home.

If HD DVD "won" I'd regret the loss of the higher capacity, and the higher potential capacity, especially for computer back up purposes. But I'd revel in the smack to Sony, the anti-consumer "root kit" company that we'd all be better off - without!

 

[mike123abc]

If HD DVD "won" I'd regret the loss of the higher capacity, and the higher potential capacity, especially for computer back up purposes. But I'd revel in the smack to Sony, the anti-consumer "root kit" company that we'd all be better off - without!

Some enterprising companies would probably comes out with 4 or more layer HD-DVD drives for computers that would be able to read movie discs and provide higher capacity.

 

[JoeSp]

A product sells over 3 million worldwide in 5 and 1/2 months and it is a flop? Is this because Sony is losing money on each sold. Most console manufacturers that push the technology envelope usually lose money in the first couple of years a product is out (anyone remember M$ in this discussion--they have yet too see any profit on their console business). In addition, the PS2 continues to sell consoles extreemly well and the software sells of PS2 games is thru the roof. The profit on the PS2 and their games is off the charts. Nintendo would love to be making the money on the Wii that Sony is currently making on the PS2 line.

Because of this Sony can weather a loss for the first two years of their product. Maybe with the removal of the PS2 chips and 65n chips coupled with a lower cost Blue laser (they have found a much cheaper way with lower cost to produce) will help this price drop. This asside, a price drop of the 60gb unit to under $500 might push sells but if it gets down to say $449 or even goes closer to $400 get out of the way. There will be a rush to purchase the product.

I would like to see the PS3 hit around $429 as it would counter Toshiba's move on their standalone to the $400 range and negate any price advantage that Toshiba might be enjoying. It also might just end this so called 'format war'.

 

[meStevo]

I just don't see these as good points for Sony...

A product sells over 3 million worldwide in 5 and 1/2 months and it is a flop?

If only we knew how many were returned. This number just speaks to the brand loyalty and probably the economical price of the Blu-Ray player. Some were touting 'we get a free GT HD!' and 'Motostorm is coming!' as reasons for a purchase. How many are still playing GT HD, and Motorstorm ended up with yawn-like ratings. It's pretty, but not all that original and not a system seller.

Is this because Sony is losing money on each sold. Most console manufacturers that push the technology envelope usually lose money in the first couple of years a product is out (anyone remember M$ in this discussion--they have yet too see any profit on their console business).

Ya but I bet MS is making bank in licensing, accessories, software and microtransaction commissions. Most everything is free on the PS3 network? And how much content per game is available?

In addition, the PS2 continues to sell consoles extreemly well and the software sells of PS2 games is thru the roof. The profit on the PS2 and their games is off the charts.

The wonders of a reasonable price point. This is not a good thing for the PS3.

Nintendo would love to be making the money on the Wii that Sony is currently making on the PS2 line.

The wonders of a reasonable price point. But they don't have to bank on a previous system, they have a successful console for this generation.

Because of this Sony can weather a loss for the first two years of their product. Maybe with the removal of the PS2 chips and 65n chips coupled with a lower cost Blue laser (they have found a much cheaper way with lower cost to produce) will help this price drop.

As long as they do this without removing functionality this is all great stuff (see: Europe)

This asside, a price drop of the 60gb unit to under $500 might push sells but if it gets down to say $449 or even goes closer to $400 get out of the way. There will be a rush to purchase the product. I would like to see the PS3 hit around $429 as it would counter Toshiba's move on their standalone to the $400 range and negate any price advantage that Toshiba might be enjoying. It also might just end this so called 'format war'.

Now this is bad. You don't want to drop the price and see it successful because it then becomes the cheap Blu-Ray player again... that's why it sold a chunk of what it has, and likely won't repeat that business until the format war is over.

It needs to be marketable as a gaming machine. If you want the price lower to compete withe other HD Players instead of focusing on upcoming content as a system seller then the PS3 camp is more desperate than I thought.

 

[CochiseGuy]

Over a million, or maybe two, sold. Not a flop. Just because others outsell it does not mean it's a flop. And with way less than a year on the market, too early to tell.

That reissue of the old Atari console- now that was a flop!

I guess it's if you see the glass half empty or half full. A million or two sold is normally not a "flop", but when over half of what you've produced & shipped is sitting unsold in inventory while your competitors have to ramp up production to keep up with demand is a flop in my book.

And the Blu-ray Game Plan has always been about domination. How do you think Sony / Phillips got all those companies to join them in forming the BDA instead of keeping the High Def development in the perfectly functioning DVD forum? By telling them Blu-ray is going to be in PS3, and the PS3 is going to dominate the next gen console market, so either join us or get left in the dust.

Meanwhile, cracks are starting to form in the BDA alliance:

From the CED Industry Newsletter a few week ago:

The article is talking about the Samsung Duo player recently announced, but at the end of the article is this tiny bit about what happened at a recent DVD Forum meeting.

Blu-ray stalwart Panasonic brutalized LG for its combo at the latest DVD Forum Steering Committee meeting, we're told. From transcripts we've seen, Panasonic accused LG of breach of contract for offering a combo player, and said it should be censured for doing so. LG blithely thanked Panasonic for bringing publicity to its combo -- and said its lawyers would respond. In what seemed an exchange of spite, LG split ranks with its Blu-ray compatriots by voting in favor of all HD DVD measures before the SC -- rather than abstaining, as the pragmatic Korean companies usually had.

 

[JoeSp]

Question, if the BDA is not part of the DVD Forum Steering Committee (yes, I know that they are part of the Committee as they make DVD players) why are they hanging their laundry out in the Committee? And why is Panasonic working over LG? And whyd did you not post the info about the Samsung combo player or at least a link to the entire article? And where is big bad Sony in all of this?

Okay, so that was more then one question -- but do I see a split here between the Koreans and the Japanese over formats? Seems the Koreans want to go midstream and the Japanese want everyone to stay put. Man since the war (WWII that is) the Koreans and Japanese have not ever played nice.

Now if they were talking a $499 combo player then I would be hot on this but at over $1000 it is not in my wheelhouse. One can buy a PS3 and the newly lower-priced Toshiba HD-DVD and save money.

 

[CochiseGuy]

Question, if the BDA is not part of the DVD Forum Steering Committee (yes, I know that they are part of the Committee as they make DVD players) why are they hanging their laundry out in the Committee? And why is Panasonic working over LG? And whyd did you not post the info about the Samsung combo player or at least a link to the entire article? And where is big bad Sony in all of this?

I found it on AVS, there was no link to the "CED Industry Newsletter"; it must be a subscription. But there was a 10 page thread on it, so it seems authentic.

The BDA is a completely separate trade industry organization. Most, if not all BDA members still belong to the DVD Forum because DVD still makes up the vast majority of their revenue. As to why Panasonic chose the DVD Forum meeting to take on LG, who knows? Maybe they were having a bad day. LD was probably targeted because they have actually produced and are selling their combo player. Samsung has only announced a combo; last year they hinted at a combo player, but then denied it. Big bad Sony was probably smart enough to stay out of it.

But BDA members have always abstained from voting on HD DVD matters in the DVD Forum committee because of obvious conflicts of interest. That LG is now voting, and voting for HD DVD proposals is a big change.

Now if they were talking a $499 combo player then I would be hot on this but at over $1000 it is not in my wheelhouse. One can buy a PS3 and the newly lower-priced Toshiba HD-DVD and save money.

Agreed, especially for a $1,000 player from LG or Samsung. The LG combo player is $999 on Amazon, and can't even play the iHD interactive features - nor the BD-Java ones, I assume.

 

[navychop]

Some enterprising companies would probably comes out with 4 or more layer HD-DVD drives for computers that would be able to read movie discs and provide higher capacity.

Because the layers are physically deeper in the media, there is a limit to the number of layers (per side, I presume). I don't recall and can't find that article, but I think it was 3 or 4, probably 4. And if they went 17 per layer, 68GB should be quite nice.