RSSSony: One Million PS3s Shipped - Not Yet Sold - in Japan
by Scott M. Fulton, III
This afternoon, Sony confirmed to BetaNews that the company has shipped its one millionth PlayStation 3 console to Japanese retailers. The statement from the Japanese division of the company (SCEI) is much more straightforward than a similar one made last week by the American division (SCEA), though both are trying to make up for what some analysts perceive as a massive sales gap for PS3s on both continents.
This morning's statement from SCEI is careful to use the term "shipments" to refer to units that have left the factory floor. A New York Times report last week cites data from the Enterbrain division of Japanese research firm Famitsu Marketing as estimating only 534,336 were sold to Japanese consumers in the period between November 11 and January 7.
But with the ratio of units sold to units shipped being 3:4 in the North American market, by a rough interpretation of last week's NPD data, coupled with what could be a 1:2 ratio in Japan, the question becomes whether the launch can be considered successful. Just two months ago, there was inarguably too little supply to satiate a very meticulously cultivated consumer demand.
Yet with Sharp relieving the burden on manufacturers of high-definition blue-laser disc players, allowing Sony to earmark more of its blue-laser diodes for PS3s, soaring production in the final weeks of last year may have come too late to save waning demand. The Associated Press this morning cites a Japanese securities analyst as noting apparently languishing store inventories for PS3s there - units stuck on shelves.
While the analyst concedes that conditions could quickly change, retailers may have already planned their late-winter and early-spring restocks, and with the supply of available PS3s already full, their conclusions may already spell a dry winter for Sony worldwide in the first calendar quarter.
Sony also confirmed today cumulative worldwide shipments of 5 million units of PS3 software. With 2 million consoles shipped, it would appear Sony is preparing for an "attach rate" - a key indicator of a console's relative success - at less than 3, which is not a good sign. Analysts prefer an attach rate of 4 or above; and in the US, at least, statistics have confirmed Xbox 360's attach rate at just above 5.
While all this is going on, Nintendo may be squeaking past its competitors, with an estimated 1.14 million Wii consoles sold to Japanese consumers up until the first week of this year, according to Enterbrain.
22 Comments
It's funny that the 360 sold more units than the PS3 since Nov 17th. Sony has about 300k on shelves right now.
p.s. I have both consoles and I do like the PS3, it's just Sony has it's head up it's ass.
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"statistics have confirmed Xbox 360's attach rate at just above 5."
Just to clarify here, are Betanews suggesting this was the Xbox360 attach rate AT LAUNCH, or NOW?
If it's now, then it's obvious to anyone the attach rate will be higher, as it's got a year under it's belt.
Seems like more crap reporting by Betanews... They ought to be careful, there are gullible people that actually believe what's reported here..
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"are Betanews suggesting this was the Xbox360 attach rate AT LAUNCH, or NOW?"
Obviously now.
"Seems like more crap reporting by Betanews"
There are other news website, try them out.
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There's also some gullible people that believe the tripe you post. :p
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If you want to compare attach rates, regardless of timescales, then perhaps the PS3 figure should include PS2 and PS1 games.
Or compare Xbox360 attach rates to PS2 attach rates..
Both of these are meaningless, as is the crap posted here.
The only true comparision on attach rates, is launch attach rates between Xbox360, PS3 and WII. Comparing them to a console that's been out a year is silly, and pure fanboy reporting, not that I expect anything less here..
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What PS3's direct competition did a year ago isn't relevant to its success now, is it? It isn't competing with previous numbers.
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""Seems like more crap reporting by Betanews"
There are other news website, try them out. "
YEY!!!
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Stevy conveniently forgot to mention that attach rates were the exact same way between the PS2 and the XBOX (even though PS2 was out 1 year ahead), and he calls me biased.... figures.
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Go and understand what attach rates attempt to measure, then you will understand WHY the comparision is invalid.
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The xbox 360's attach rate was used as a reference. Sony isn't prepared for an attach rate that is even close to that of the xbox. You should go and understand business 101, then YOU will understand what this looks like for Sony. One cannot sell what is not available.
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REPOST
"Stevy conveniently forgot to mention that attach rates were the exact same way between the PS2 and the XBOX (even though PS2 was out 1 year ahead), and he calls me biased.... figures. "
Um, yeah...
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Why wouldn't they use now? Why is that such a bad thing? Is it Microsoft's fault that they did not take forever to get their product out? Like it or not the PS3 is not going to be a repeat of the PS2. It is time you Sony peeps came to realize this. I am not saying it is going to be a failure. But I can promise it is not going to dominate. It will probably be a pretty close race this time around is my guess.
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IMO Nintendo will come out on top.
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I swear these stories are posted just to bait the fanboys and trolls.
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"Sony also confirmed today cumulative worldwide shipments of 5 million units of PS3 software. With 2 million consoles shipped, it would appear Sony is preparing for an "attach rate" - a key indicator of a console's relative success - at less than 3, which is not a good sign. Analysts prefer an attach rate of 4 or above; and in the US, at least, statistics have confirmed Xbox 360's attach rate at just above 5."
Since Scott did not spell out the details, the math is there--the "attach" rate is the number of consoles compared to the number of games (software). Here, we see that for every PS3 sold, there are approximately 2.333 PS3 "softwares" sold.
Sony fanboy or not, no matter what you think--this is horrific! If sony doesn't increase this attach rate soon, Sony might actually be in serious trouble financially.
Remember folks, Sony loses money on the PS3 itself by selling it for $600 USD, the games make the difference. This is much worse than even I thought it would be, people! Ouch!!!
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The 2.333 value just makes sense. I'm surprised its above 1, being that there is only 1 good game on the system (Resistance). I'll grab a PS3 when either MGS4 or GT5 come out sometime next year...
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Does the number include PS2 games purchased post PS3? There really aren't that many games out for the PS3 right now. I would not be the least bit surprised if folks are still buying PS2 (or at the very least playing their PS2 games), waiting until more decent PS3 games come out.
Just a thought. I don't ever intend to actually own one until they're either under $200 or I can get them used. (probably about 1 year before the PS4, right?)
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"But with the ratio of units sold to units shipped being 3:4 in the North American market, by a rough interpretation of last week's NPD data, coupled with what could be a 2:1 ratio in Japan"
OUCH, thats pretty bad if you cant sell a new console in your homeland. Sony barely breaking 50% of the sales on the PS3 in Japan.
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Yes, OUCH indeed. The problem with the PS3 is the price, obviously. Sony's arrogant execs telling you the console was a bargain at $600 because of the included Blu-Ray playback capability just didn't fly with consumers. Well, live and learn, right? Oh wait, we're talking about Sony here. They never learn from their mistakes.
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The funny thing is, people actually believe this crap here...
PS3 IS selling, PS3 had bags of potential waiting to be tapped into (launch titles use 25% of the systems capability), think hod good Resistance FOM2 will be next year...
Some lame fanboys said the same against PS2, and it was the biggest selling console period.
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"PS3 IS selling" , I would hope so.
I don't think anyway has said otherwise, atleast not to that extreme. What is being said is that they are not flying off the shelfs like $ony expected...
I just find it sad that they were sitting on shelfs starting in late December, just 1.5 months after launch.
"The funny thing is, people actually believe this crap here..."
Plenty of other news websites out there buddy. If you want to debate, then present a valid point.
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Well this is bad news for Sony and PS3. First Assassin's Creed and Grand Theft Auto IV are going to Xbox 360. And so is Virtua Fighter 5. And a rumor saying that kingdom hearts 3 will go to the Wii. Can you say ouch. Sony is with there Blu-Ray anyways. And there where a crop load of PS3's at my local Walmart and none of them got sold don't even clear the shelves. But today I saw the manager of that Walmart have all the PS3 off the shelves and so where all the X3 Blu-Ray disk. A do to this Walmart being small I asked the manager what was going on and she said that Sony wanted them all back and that's all she knows. And that's all I know. Sorry.
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