Sony Report Good PS3 Sales In Japan

Dark Drakan · 11-11-2006, 11:14 PM

Japanese in-store and cyber buyers are gobbling up Sony's long-delayed PlayStation 3, giving company officials some welcomed economic news.
People lined up overnight across Tokyo to be among the first to buy the console Saturday. But the online buying began in October, when the Japanese site of Amazon.com reported advance orders for it first lot of PS3's sold out in less than 20 minutes, The New York Times said. Tsutaya Online sold out preorders in just 6 minutes.

The scarcity turned into brisk business on online auction sites, where the price to buy a PlayStation 3 reached $1,100, about twice the machine's expected retail price, the Times said.

This appears to be good news for Sony, struggling to recover from a recall of laptop batteries and a 94 percent drop in profits in the most recent quarter. To reverse the decline and regain its title as an innovator, Sony needs PlayStation 3 to be a long-term hit, the Times said.

Before the PS3 can make money it must recoup development costs, the Times said. Sony won't reveal the total dollar amount, but analysts said it was in the billions.

Angel · 11-12-2006, 12:48 AM

Yeah, read about this on the news today. Seeing as the asking price in Japan is the equivalent of about £270, I reckon that's the place to go for me to buy one. Still, I can't see them recovering the development costs and making a profit on top of it...

Dark Drakan · 11-12-2006, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angel

Yeah, read about this on the news today. Seeing as the asking price in Japan is the equivalent of about £270, I reckon that's the place to go for me to buy one. Still, I can't see them recovering the development costs and making a profit on top of it...

They will recover the development costs eventually but its going to take a while! Hopefully we get the same price slash they got over there by the time they hit our shores!

Angel · 11-12-2006, 06:52 PM

Haha - that's what I like about you, Andy - your unerring sense of optimism...

Dark Drakan · 11-12-2006, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angel

Haha - that's what I like about you, Andy - your unerring sense of optimism...

Im a pessimist not an optimist so..... wrong there lol but Sony ALWAYS make their money back so.....

Angel · 11-13-2006, 08:05 AM

I was referring more so to your comment about hoping we'd get the same kinda price slash over here...

Dark Drakan · 11-13-2006, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angel

I was referring more so to your comment about hoping we'd get the same kinda price slash over here...

Yeah i doubt we would but they owe us SOMETHING for making us wait 4 months longer for it!

Angel · 11-13-2006, 03:48 PM

Wasn't it something like a component shortage that made them push the date back to next year? All the catalogues were offering pre-order specials and then had to retract them and pay people back coz of the mix-up. And yeah, they do owe us something but I personally would want it to be pretty damn good if it's not a price drop...

Dark Drakan · 11-13-2006, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angel

Wasn't it something like a component shortage that made them push the date back to next year? All the catalogues were offering pre-order specials and then had to retract them and pay people back coz of the mix-up. And yeah, they do owe us something but I personally would want it to be pretty damn good if it's not a price drop...

Yeah they thought they hadn't got enough of a certain component to make enough consoles to meet worldwide demand and so dropped the European release back to accommodate the demand in Japan And America insteada and use the amount we needed shipped here to boost sales there.

Angel · 11-13-2006, 04:13 PM

Not fair, but then I guess if the market is bigger or more profitable then they did what they had to do. Still, I might hunt around and see if anywhere is offering any kind of deal all the same...got a friend who works at GAME and when the PSP arrived I got to play with it before it was released on general sale, so I could try and get it so that I get to mess about with the PS3 before anyone else too...research purposes, of course

Dark Drakan · 11-13-2006, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angel

Not fair, but then I guess if the market is bigger or more profitable then they did what they had to do. Still, I might hunt around and see if anywhere is offering any kind of deal all the same...got a friend who works at GAME and when the PSP arrived I got to play with it before it was released on general sale, so I could try and get it so that I get to mess about with the PS3 before anyone else too...research purposes, of course

They should have testers in Disks And Discs in Stafford soon, they always get things before release so....