Sony playing a losing game with PS3

[Gikoku Harakami]

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The latest U.S. monthly sales numbers for video-game consoles came out last week, and you almost have to feel sorry for the PS3.

The PS3 is doing so poorly, and it's costing Sony so much money, one might ask how much longer Sony can afford to keep this albatross around its neck. According to the tally from the NPD Group, Nintendo took the top hardware spot in May, with about 423,000 Nintendo DS handhelds sold. Nintendo's Wii console was in second place, with sales of 338,000. Third was the handheld Sony PSP (a quiet success story) with sales of 221,000, while the venerable PS2 was in fourth place with 187,000 consoles sold.

Huffing and panting across the finish line in fifth was the Xbox 360 with 155,000 consoles sold, while the PS3 was sixth at 81,000. The PS3 is occupying the sales slot that, in the last two console generations, was reserved for Nintendo's GameCube and N64 systems. The difference, though, is that Nintendo always eked out a small profit on those consoles, even when they were easily outsold by the PS2 and original PlayStation. Sony will lose almost $500 million on its game division this year, according to analysts polled last week by the Financial Times.

Not only is the console not selling well, but people who do buy it aren't buying games, which is where the real money is. According to GameDaily.biz, of the top 10 best-selling games in May, four were for the Nintendo Wii or DS, four were on the Xbox 360, and two were on the PS2.

Not a single PS3 game made the top 10.

Microsoft can ride out the wave of Nintendo mania a little longer, because Xbox 360 fans are dedicated, and they're being rewarded with excellent games. Halo 3 alone could easily entice several million people to buy a 360 later this year. But Sony's console isn't seen as the system for the hard-core gamer, as is the 360. It's seen as the system for rich people who already own a 360 and are looking for something frivolous to spend their cash on.

[Dark Drakan]

Thats the problem right now, Sony are losing cash and lots of it and fast. They should be bulking up their titles to tempt people into buying the console and also for current owners to shell out more cash. It seems instead they are not releasing any games of interest, losing all their exclusive rights and just sitting back and doing nothing about it. Without good titles people arent going to buy it and if none come for a while then people are going to get rid of them and opt for something else, and with all the great games heading to Xbox 360 that would be the alternate.

They suffered another blow when Manhunt 2 was banned from the UK and America gave it an Adults Only rating which most retailers are refusing to stock which will affect the amount of people who can get it and affect sales BIG TIME.

[droded]

I hope they live through this to show the full capabilities of the console.

[Gikoku Harakami]

They're starting to actually try and do the right things for the PS3 now, but they're moving too slow with it, they're just now cutting the price on the PS3 in various countries, but what good does it do now?..majority of the best PS3 games are on the 360 now, and the 360 is soon to have it's own little price cut. Sony is going to have to buckle down, and get on-top of the PS3's faults fast, or they'll end up having to drop the console from the market entirely.

[Orpheus Lupus]

You can't win them all. Enough said.

I'm actually kind of glad to see Nintendo ahead, if only for a moment. I just wish there were more, er, Wii titles that are interesting (not necessarily "adult", but hopefully you get the idea.

[Tsuyu]

Sony's main problem with this infernal console is the same as Hitler did with his tanks in the end of the second world war;


The tanks were very, very modern and power - way above the other tanks in WW II. But they were highly cost ineffective and only a few were ever built.
Sony got the same problem here. The PS3 is way more powerful than the 360 and the Wii - way too powerful. And that power comes with a hefty price tag to match, which makes it unappealing to many of us. Add to that, it is so powerful the games that utilize 100% of it hasn't been sold, let alone created, yet.

So why go buy a King Tiger when you can - erhm, PS3, when you get the same performance of today's games, less stress on your wallet AND XBox LIVE with the 360?

So just like the Sherman Tank, the 360 beats the PS3 hands-down today... but should the WWII had taken another turn, and perhaps lasted a bit longer, Germany's King Tigers would fit that modern industry and be the better tank.

[Dark Drakan]

Originally Posted by Tsuyu

Sony's main problem with this infernal console is the same as Hitler did with his tanks in the end of the second world war;


The tanks were very, very modern and power - way above the other tanks in WW II. But they were highly cost ineffective and only a few were ever built.
Sony got the same problem here. The PS3 is way more powerful than the 360 and the Wii - way too powerful. And that power comes with a hefty price tag to match, which makes it unappealing to many of us. Add to that, it is so powerful the games that utilize 100% of it hasn't been sold, let alone created, yet.

So why go buy a King Tiger when you can - erhm, PS3, when you get the same performance of today's games, less stress on your wallet AND XBox LIVE with the 360?

So just like the Sherman Tank, the 360 beats the PS3 hands-down today... but should the WWII had taken another turn, and perhaps lasted a bit longer, Germany's King Tigers would fit that modern industry and be the better tank.

Nice way of putting it

Sony made the same mistake with the PS3 that they critised Microsoft for doing with the Xbox. They have used its power as its main selling point but dont have the multitude of titles on it to attract people to buy it. Plus the PS2 had a lot more exclusives than the Xbox did but look whats happening now. Microsoft release the less powerful console and get a head start in the sales (like PS2 did), they get some great titles heading to it and some really good game series to them , then they sign some exclusive titles and then take most of Sony's for good measure.

[Albion Knight]

Sony will drop there price and Microsoft will be right behind them. I think Microsoft is almost waiting for Sony to drop the price so that they could recapture the headline and be more competitive with the Wii, price wise, at the same time. Once that happens it the 360 will be on more even ground with the Wii I expect that to happen by the end of the summer maybe early Fall and the big fight during Christmas '07 will mark the lines that will probably continue through the rest of this generation.

[Dark Drakan]

Originally Posted by Albion Knight

Sony will drop there price and Microsoft will be right behind them. I think Microsoft is almost waiting for Sony to drop the price so that they could recapture the headline and be more competitive with the Wii, price wise, at the same time. Once that happens it the 360 will be on more even ground with the Wii I expect that to happen by the end of the summer maybe early Fall and the big fight during Christmas '07 will mark the lines that will probably continue through the rest of this generation.

The thing is, with exclusive titles like Halo 3 and Mass Effect on the way which Microsoft Studios owns rights to and will generate millions of sales alone Microsoft can afford to drop the price. Where is Sony's extra cash going to come from when they drop the price of the PS3, as they are already having huge losses on each console sold.

[Tsuyu]

Originally Posted by Dark Drakan

Where is Sony's extra cash going to come from when they drop the price of the PS3, as they are already having huge losses on each console sold.

Making crappy down-graded versions of the next-gen games to the long since dead horse. PS2, - like usual.

[Gikoku Harakami]

it's rather sad, really. You'd think Sony would have learned from their mistake with the PS3's older cousin the PSX (not to be confused with the PS1). The PSX's built and purpose was in the exact same method as the PS3, way too much power, way ahead of it's time, and way too expensive..starting at above $1,000..and dropping down to only $700-800. it's easily one of their top worst selling products ever made, yet it's an entertainment nerd's dream machine. Only a few PSX's have sold so far, and because it sold so horribly in Japan, it never made it here to the states & uk, or any other country for that matter, it stayed where it started at in Japan. If i remember right, it's off the market now.

Poor old Sony...

[droded]

Well actually there are alot of individuals who infact believe the PS3 is less powerful than the 360.

And I infact have a PSX as well lol...(Malaysia)

[Dark Drakan]

Originally Posted by droded

Well actually there are alot of individuals who infact believe the PS3 is less powerful than the 360.

And I infact have a PSX as well lol...(Malaysia)

They are probably going by what they have seen so far and looked at the comparisons on websites where the 360 actually had many games looking better on it. The PS3 has the better hardware and power its just nothing is trying to use it. You should take a picture of the PSX so people can see what it looks like because many have never even heard of it (thats how badly it did)

[Albion Knight]

PSX (DVR - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Weird looking thing

[Canuhearmenow]

This is a perfect example of the fact that Gamers want fun games, not good graphics. Think about it, what was Sony's greatest selling point of the PS3? Not good games, but good graphics. And now they are realizing, too late, that people don't want just a pretty game, they want a good game.