RSSSony capitalizes on Wii's supply shortage
By Ed Oswald | Published November 15, 2007, 11:31 AM
Lowering price and making the best of its competitors' slip-ups are how the PS3 will come back from the brink, its CEO says.
The discounting of its PlayStation 3 by $100 and the introduction of a cheaper model has caused sales in the US to double, CEO Sir Howard Stringer told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
While not breaking down the consoles by type, Sony sold some 100,000 units total for the week ending November 11. Previously it had only sold about 30,000 to 40,000 every week.
Sales jumped to 75,000 during the week ending October 29, about a week and a half after the price cuts were announced. The cheaper PS3 debuted on November 2, which gave an additional bump to sales.
Like in the battle with HD DVD, Sony's products have been held back by high prices. At $499, the console was $100 more expensive than the premium Xbox 360, and twice the price of the Wii.
However with the cheaper model, the PS3 is now more competitive, and the race for video game supremacy can now be decided more on a console's merits rather than its pricetag.
Being cheap and successful may actually be the downfall of one of this market's participants. A full year after it released the Wii, Nintendo is still struggling to manufacture enough consoles. Earlier in the fall, it warned of shortages throughout the holidays.
This problem opens up an opportunity for its competitors to woo customers away, as they become frustrated over the Wii's generally poor retail availability. Stringer said he will make sure his company takes advantage of Nintendo's issues.
As of October, Microsoft led all with 11.6 million consoles shipped. Second was Nintendo with 9.3 million units. Third and final spot went to Sony, which has sold five million consoles.
There are plenty of sites reporting Wii's attach rate, and it's around 1.3 (the 1 accounts for Wii sports), so there are millions of Wii owners who have never bought a game, other than the bundled Wii sports.
Oh dear, very poor business model for game developers. The Wii fad is dieing..
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"Regardless of the numbers, most Wii owners are still playing Wii Sports, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Wii Play, Wario Ware, and/or Metroid Prime."
Where do you get your information from? I have too many games not in that list that I dont have neough time to play! Galaxy, Lego Star Wars, Paper Mario, Zack & Wiki, Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Tomb Raider....I can go on. NINTENDO!! GIVE ME MORE TIME TO PLAY THESE GAMES!!!
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Yet not a single one of the games you listed sound appealing...
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"and the race for video game supremacy can now be decided more on a console's merits rather than its pricetag."
Yeah, and how will it's merit stack up when people find out their 40gig model won't play PS2 games?! That will kill sales.
PS3 isn't a failure, and it isn't a bad console. I'm not a fanboy of any particular console, but it's just ridiculous how obnoxious 360 fans are, it's about the damn games.
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Buy a PS3 and get PS2 ported games from companies like EA and Activision. No thanks.
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Don't forget, now you have to bolt-on a PS2 fro B/C.
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only if you buy the 40GB version....the 80GB version is only $100 more, comes with more USB ports, the built in card reader and a game....and with the 80GB you get BC for like 3000+ PS2 titles...
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And the chance to play ported games from the PS2 how sad all that technology going to waste. Maybe you can fold in the background.
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Unless Sony can sell their PS3 for $250 or less, I dont see how PS3 can truly gain ground.
Revise: to clarify I mean gain ground against the Wii.
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Huh! These new-fangled consoles will never tempt me away from my Binatone 01/4923 T.V game with 8 built-in games ready to play!
Okay, so it takes 8 D-cell batteries and tends to detune the TV stations after use, but you can't beat that stylish orange and back styling to put those newer consoles to shame!
Thirty years old and still going... ;-)
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There you go:
http://www.pong-picture-...ster%2001-4923_www.jpeg
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"However with the cheaper model, the PS3 is now more competitive, and the race for video game supremacy can now be decided more on a console's merits rather than its pricetag."
The merits... give me good exclusive games and I will buy it. Until then every other game is on the 360. (Although I will struggle later on if I can't find a 60 gig POS3 with B/C.)
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Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Unreal Tournament III (they still have not even officially announced a 360 version so ill list it here), Haze will hit before christmas....Resistance was and is still a great game (launch title so it looks a little dated), motorstorm is a lot of fun (it gets slightly old a little quick for my liking, but if you were new to the PS3 it would still be fun), WarHawk is good....
the PS3 has games...the "no games" argument really doesn't hold water anymore...Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted are beautiful looking games, Uncharted probably being the best looking game on any console as of right now...
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Rachet and Uncarted looked ok, but not that good. Unreal and Haze are both going to be multiplatform games.
Yeah the PS3 has games, still not as much as the 360. So it does still hold water. Until the PS3 gets more games, then it won't hold water. Which probably won't happen because the 360 was released a year before. Plus more people own the 360 so that's what the devolopers will cater to more.
Oh, and beautiful games don't make them fun either.
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Add to that EA and Activsion both don't like the system. The money it costs to make a game on the PS3 you can make 2 for the 360 and 5 for the Wii. Know where I would put my money and the PS3 ain't it.
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The article wasn't really about Sony capitalizing on the Wii's lack of availability. The second to last paragraph does mention a shortage of the Wii -- however, I would think that if there's anything that the Wii is helping Sony out with, it's that a large percentage of their target market has already had an opportunity to buy the Wii, enjoy their Wii, and replenish their gaming budgets and will now explore a PS3.
[shrugs] - that's my non market research guess.
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"As of October, Microsoft led all with 11.6 million consoles shipped. Second was Nintendo with 9.3 million units. Third and final spot went to Sony, which has sold five million consoles."
Incorrect. The Wii has had the largest install base since the end part of the Summer and continues to sell out everywhere even with production levels of around 1.8 million a month.
http://www.vgchartz.com/
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Hey dingo,
Quit being a little girl and grow up. vgchartz was and still is a Sony fangirl malware site.
Nobody has accurate real time stats on console sales.
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He would have nothing to do if he couldn't talk up the Wii that is in most people closets and his hate of MS. Hey really is a troll.
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It must be really disheartening for the PS3 team to know that the only way you can sell your console is by setting the price to bargain basement and being "The last resort" that parents only buy their kids for Xmas because they couldn't get a Wii.
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Agreed. The wii, in my opinion, is an outstanding product that is welcomed by many familys for the ease of use in the hardware and the games. I don't have a wii because I have a xbox, 360, PS2 and a game cube (though it would be a nice addon to my collection), but if I was to get a wii it would be put to good use when friends come over.
To get back on track, it's kinda shaddy that Sony would lure customers to the PS3 by pointing out that retailers are having a hard time keeping the wii available in stores. That just shows how good the customers think the wii is.
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"The wii, in my opinion, is an outstanding product..." This from someone who doesn't even own a Wii.
With the exception of Metroid Prime, our Wii's been collecting dust for the better part of this past year. The graphics in most games are crap & the "unique" gameplay offered by numerous revamped Gamecube ports has long since gotten old. There are a few titles releasing this fall which look promising (Super Mario Galaxy, specifically).
We've spent much more time playing on the 360 and PS3, and things look like they'll continue that way for the foreseeable future. It's like the Gamecube all over again; the majority of the good titles are coming from Nintendo or their 1st party studios.
Regardless of the numbers, most Wii owners are still playing Wii Sports, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Wii Play, Wario Ware, and/or Metroid Prime.
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So what if I don't have one. Just because I don't have one doesn't mean that I have never played it for hours at a friends house or haven't gone to a video game store to play games on it. If your wii is collecting dust because you're having fun with one game don't knock other people's opinions about it.
As far as the games go, I'm sure other people are having fun with their backwards compatable Gamecube games along with their wii games. They don't have to get the latest graphics intensive game to have fun. What if someone wanted a fun points-based game like the new super smash bros or mario party instead of the typical shoot-kill games? There is a large community out there that prefers those kinds of games over halo 3 or GRAW2 (please don't get me wrong, i love halo3).
Fortunately we can enjoy guitar hero 3 on all the platforms.
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I agree... we played the crap out of Mario Party 8, I had fun with the $20 re-release of Resident Evil, and had a good laugh with Rayman. I always look to Metacritic for reviews, and there are just so many lacklustre Wii games out there and only a few gems. 360 and PS3 both have a pretty solid 'Top 10' that Nintendo will eventually fill up with Zelda and Mario games.
Ratchet and Clank is very sweet - platforming and ultra graphics. I downloaded Uncharted and it looks amazing as well... Imagine something as fantastic as God of War coming out once everyone gets the nuts and bolts of their engines built... wow. At least with Ratchet & Clank we've replaced DDR (PS2) as the most played game on our PS3!
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Yeah, crazy isnt't it! It might even be as dishearting as Toshiba's "last resort", "bargain basement" $99 Toshiba HD-DVD player...
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I think the PS3 sales will do better. I don't think you can predict future sales based on the initial response of a price drop however. A price drop spurs sales initially and then the sales will drop to normal levels. These normal levels may be above the previous 40k per week they were selling, but I would expect less than the 100k.
And I hardly think Nintendo need be concerned with shortages. Thats a very good thing for them that demand is still so strong. In a year less than the 360 has been out, the Wii has nearly caught up.
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