Industry Sales Climb, PS3 Sales Climb Too

205 0

Hey everyone, I’m Mariam Sughayer, analyst relations manager here at SCEA. I’m the gal who works with those guys you see quoted in newspapers and news sites all the time talking about the industry; folks like Michael Pachter and Billy Pidgeon.

Today, the much anticipated NPD numbers were released and we’re very excited about how great July was for video games. If you didn’t know, NPD is the organization that tracks sales of videogames in the U.S. According to NPD, the industry continues to boom with sales of $925.52 million dollars for the month of July – that’s a 37% increase for the industry since this time last year.

From a PlayStation perspective, coming out of E3 we were really anticipating a good reaction to our new hardware pricing announced on July 9th, and we were obviously very pleased to see that PS3 sales increased with 159K units sold at retail for the month of July, which puts us up 61% over June numbers.

While I think a lot of that had to do with the new price, I also think there is a great deal of anticipation for the line up of games just around the corner, including Warhawk (Aug. 28), Lair (Sept. 4) and Heavenly Sword (Sept. 12). In fact, September should definitely be a big month for us when you add in the launch of the new slimmer, lighter PSP which will hit store shelves next month.

I’m going to start posting these sales numbers on a regular basis to keep you guys up to date on the business side of things. Thanks to all of you who made July such a great month for PlayStation. I’ll try to post again here in a few weeks.

Comments are closed.

205 Comments

  • I’m sorry but im not here to give you a pat on the back and say good job, everything is great,and things are going just the way you planned it. No I’m here to give you a taste of what ppl are really thinking. I work at a games store. i think i have my hands on the pulse of the average buyers, and the way i see it is, I don’t believe its a wise thing to go into this holiday season with the price of the ps3 the way it is now, soon all the 60gb ps3 will be sold out (hopefully) and your then left with the 80GB ps3 at $650.00 CND back to the original price, how is that going to be competitive with the other two systems? You have the xbox now with $100 price drop and alot of really good games and the wii with a really low retail price, please tell me that you will read these’s post, and think about dropping the price of the ps3 at least to the current price of the 60gb ps3 with a pack in game, you guys really need to come out of this holiday season with a positive buzz and take the lead in the sales figures, believe me you cant let that wii have a bigger lead, everyone will be watching, you can be sure of that.

  • Were to start were to start..

    Firstly..how about some actual marketing?

    Besides the fellini odd internet mini movies or odd PS3 commercials from 06′ you see once a month..how about actual marketing the PS3?

    Lets see..360 had Burger King and now they pounced all over a brand of Soda with Halo. As well as every time I see people on TV they have 360 controllers..how about that add in Times Square for the Madden Release? I also see 360 game commercials..all day..

    I see Wii commercials…all friggin, day…I see 2 asian guys 30 times a day saying “Wii would like to play”

    Commuting between NJ/NY/Philly daily and in that time talking to 100’s of gamers in shops or other places..heres what I hear and how it feels..

    PS3 is out of touch..to pricey, no games..you cant play potential.

    360 is the new gaming machine for the American gamer. Madden and shooters, all Billy red blood needs.

    Why buy a PS3 when 1 out of 20 of my friends has one? the other 19 have 360’s.

    PS3 trojaned horsed Blu-Ray into homes..they went muti-media as opposed to game machine..gamers dont buy systems to watch movies.

    I guess Ps3 owners can watch movies or cure cancer while we game.
    ————————————————————–
    Wanna know 3 ways to have a chance in order of importance..

    1. Price..plain and simple..no one is buying a 500-600 system with no stellar games, even at 400 its hard to swallow when you could buy a 360 at almost the same price with a ton of games.
    prepare to drag arse till the 400 price point is acheived or a stellar library to back the price up.

    2. Games..9+ rating games, not poor delayed ports or average exclusives.
    Warhawk is amazing but little to know publicity. Heavenly Sword is above average, but its just GoW with a chick in most gamers eyes, Lair has been bashed all over the net.

    3. PSN..has to rival or match Live plain and simple..Live is simple and less complex and delivers to the ADD average gamer..allowing amazing buddy support and a constant barrage of demos…PS3 owners blow there load over a demo of a port 9 months old..give a man a cracker in the desert and he thinks its a meal.
    —————————————————————–

    PS3/Sony fans have become the joke of the gaming world..we get taunted with stuff like “its over” “4d!!11” “Potential”
    “go watch a movie” “da powah of the cell”
    VIndicate us!

    TO SUM IT UP, GAMERS GAME…SCREW MUTIMEDIA!! …….WE WANT GAMES
    DRASTIC PRICE CUTS……
    SONY MAKE SOME DAMN COMMERCIALS NOT ARTSY FARTSY YUPPY CRAP, SPONSOR STUFF..BE VISABLE!!

    as it stands..the 14-25 yr old NA gamer sees the 360 as the console of this genration. Ps3 is a luxury secondary console, PS2 is like a cheap way to play old school games.

  • Ya know, I was sitting here thinking about this mess and I guess teh fanboi in me kicked in…

    I have the combination of letters and numbers that will instantly kill off any competition for Sony…

    FF VII

    Do it Sony!! Come on Kaz and Jack, hit up SqureEnix and get them to do it!

  • Can I have the reigns at Sony fro 6 months, Im sure me and 20 other gamers could fix things in that time frame.

  • @54/ Toolshe: ^ hahah.

    Seriously though, this is not the Sony and PlayStation we know and love.

  • hey hey..I just saw a mountain dew add for the 360…I havent seen a Sony add anyweres for..um…ah..hmmmm??

    Anymore art deco mini movies in the works? how about odd commecials that scare people?

  • Two quick things that i figure people should know about..

    first off a video for the Playstation Eye
    http://ps3.qj.net/PlayStation-Eye-trailer-video/pg/49/aid/100636

    Showcases a couple games for the Eye that i hadn’t heard about. The lack of violence leaves me feeling a bit skeptical though. :)

    That and I hope people can get behind this petition that has been started to motivate Capcom to bring some Resident Evil action to the Psp. 3000 signatures so far and apparently 10K is enough to “draw significant attention” from the company in question.

  • The PS3 got a price cut and sales went up, see a pattern there Sony? It’s good that sales increased, but it still isn’t enough.

    Also, the PS3 needs better and more frequent tv commercials. Tell the average folk watching tv that the PS3 is also a Blu-ray player, that it plays PS3, PS3 and PS1 games, DVDs, that you can surf the web, how reliable it is, etc.

    Also, you need the big name games and keep games like MGS4 exclusive to the PS3 forever (the rumor of a 360 port just won’t die!, not good). Yes, exclusive third party games matter a lot. And I know that only the wii is making a profit, but another price cut before christmas could help.

    The main complains I keep hearing about the PS3 are the high price tag, and “the lack of great games”.

    As a gamer I really want the PS3 to succeed, but Sony you need to wake up. This is a war and you are the target.

  • hahaha….
    @ enrichovega – $299.99 on halo 3 release would be awesome! even i got a ps3, I’m gonna get one again.

    in game/movie xmb is must have.

    and an extra playlist or itune thing to organized music -must have.

    more exclusive games…

    dualshock sixaxis controller must come out soon.

    and a sims with voice and can use in and out of HOME. You know like a pet or rather say like CHOBITS. (e.i. manage updates, downloads, as a pet or or anything).

  • @roadclimber..57

    yes market a pricey add on camera..that will sell a $500-600 dollar system.

    good grief…

  • Oh yeah, I’ve been seen xbox 360 ads at very interesting places, like at online stores right when you’re about to purchase a PS3 an Xbox 360 ad telling you to “Play more for less” or announcing the new price. I mean right on the checkout page basically.

  • Its an improvement, but more has to change, its great to see that sonys numbers are going up, but it has to become more affordable to the people who dont have it, and something to distinguish itself from the other consoles, i have mine and i love it, but…what can you do…

  • People who are asking for a price drop- DON’T!

    Ask for a value to that price.
    Imagine a $600 console that IS worth $600….*drools*

    Now THAT would be the PlayStation we know and love.

  • I don’t know how influencing this blog is around the internet or around the offices there at Foster City @ SCE Headquarters.

    But I think that whatever plan you guys had with the inclusion of your Japanese branch have let the Playstation brand flounder in it’s evolution with this new generation in both console, online and portable markets.

    You know, back in 1993 when you guys formed SCE, I thought Nintendo and Sega would destroy you guys in the marketplace, following both companies hugely successful 16-Bit platforms.

    You really proved me and the gaming masses wrong and really made a name for yourself’s with getting truely great emergent talent with the little experience you guys had at Sony Imagesoft & Sony BMG for all those early years.

    Bernie Stolar lead the early days of marketing at SCE for the original Playstation, back in the mid 90’s and did a fanatasic job. You got EA to commit to launch titles of it’s etablished franchises, you got Singletrac’s Twisted Metal (GOTY in EGM in 1995) ect ect ect….

    100K sales in the first week of release back in Sept 1995, amazing accomplishments for a software company with little knowledge of how the 3D market would shake out in the early days. Phil Harrison did a great job talking about and promoting the software vision of the Playstation, being VC of SCEA back then must have really kept you on your toes.

    There is a great interview with a former President of SCE Andrew House, back in a 1995 issue of Next Generation magazine, That I think put the Playstation vision into perspective for the first time for me, and really intriged me.

    “This is not a Blue Blood industry, this market isn’t just built on a mascot, or one particular title.”
    – Andrew House SCE President 1995

    (during the coming launch month for Playstation)

    Fast forward through to the epic exclusive that finally cemented your success against your market competitors in (Final Fantasy VII) Which gained you entrance into a new segment of mainstream gamers worldwide.

    The rest of this early success story was the marketing and money making phenom that was Playstation’s exciting new 3D genesis for the casual gamer, a true beginning in interactive entertainment. From the start of the console to the finish of it software library, Very well executed.

    Then onto the unveiling of PS2 in March 1999 in Tokyo, and the jaw dropping hype it created.

    brilliantly marketed and heavily endorsed by all the developing game makers, before the release in 2000 in Japan.

    Ken Kuturagi’s dream of an emotional experience in 3D enviroments I think elicited a somewhat profound reaction from gamers around the world, with it’s mind bending debut of it’s technological power at the turn of the century.

    getting EA and Square exclusively, has well has seeing that Europe was finally coming of age in interactive entertainment was truely your ace in the hole with software recruitment with PS2’s software success.

    Playstation 2 had pretty much won the marketplace in every terrortory and in every genre sometime in early 2003 in total. Which is were I think this sad story of complicent and ill made decisions begins, has at E3 2003 saw you throw your hat into the portable ring of gaming.

    Many people predicted you had planned this since 2001, which seems about right considering R&D and manufacturing, advertising, and software development. The thing is, I think you launched the PSP has a vector or platform for sagging divisions inside Sony Group, other then to the benefit of SCE’s continued success and true growth has the dominate videogame platform.

    Every single technological decision made in Japan with Kuturagi with PSP was now obviously made to keep your CE’s and semiconductor facilities turning over product, but the focus was never there to actually make this system a fully featured gaming device like the Playstation and Playstation 2.

    How can a company with such experience drawing from engineering R&D facilities in Japan like Sony has, fall prey to letting them influence your SCEI technology group platforms decisions like this? Or atleast spark a conjecturous debate within about the focus of this product?

    Phil Harrison, I know your not the third party software division person there at SCEWW, but for christ sakes, maybe you and him need to have a little chat about work performance in not competing better for developer support on PSP, like you and him both did on the PSOne and PS2. There needs to be some tangable recourse for the kind of decisions made with respect to the success and profitability of a platform in which your going to work for.

    I mean doesn’t Kaz Harai throw these dissapointing sales figures for PSP’s first and second party software in your faces with contempt at staff meetings or your weekly teleconfences?

    You’d think complicent behavior would not be part of your work habits after winning such accolades professionally I’m sure from your bosses in Japan, with how disfunctional and stagnent the software performance for the PSP has been since it’s inception into the videogame market. It’s really a sad mix of unrealized potential and bad planning.

    Then there is the Playstation 3, it started out as the somewhat abstract dream of Kuturagi influences technological design, and I’m sure of Idei and other Sony execs in Japan back in 2000, has a homerun into the soon to be realizied, living room/home entertainment hub mythos of the coming media converigence product wave today.

    I think right here, in my diatribe, this is where SCE and the Playstation brand in consensus with Sony Group had come to a executive decision in part of it’s huge rolling debt (Sony Group) and lack of fortsight into other emerging industries in those coming years, SCE’s next Playstation console had to be forced to become a pioneer for sony in the digital convergence age.

    You know, I don’t know how much philsophical discussion is or was raised in your offices back in 2001,02 & 2003, but it seems that your business plan for the future didn’t weight to heavily on the success of the coming platforms, but the realizations of very risky technology implementations from Sony semiconductor and your other CE partners.

    You leaned all your investment captial pitching to your CE partners on the hardware side and Phil, Kaz, Jack, and others at SCE leaned all there videogame development experience on there promises, that they had a convergence stallwort in development, and no real gameplan, how the consistently changing videogame market is emergent in and of itself in the kind of ideas that sell systems to the videogame playing public.

    How can you Phil & your staff be so devoid of anticipation of the markets and the now emergent markets in videogames, with your acute knowledge of what devs were conjuring up worldwide during this time period?

    Is there not a objective thinking person in the offices of SCE these days? I’m not trying to pin your staff has too cautious, but maybe too conventional and naive in your decisions of what makes great talent in the software development community.

    to
    – Phil Harrison, SCEWW Studio President-

    That’s why I’ve wrote this, I think that you Phil Harrison, need to consider respectfully resigning from your position as SCEWW Studios President.

    Your talent metric just isn’t in tune with what the Playstation vision is anymore in context to how the PSP and PS3 have developed from your inking IP’s with Ninja Theory or the continued realtionships with Insomniac & Guerilla Games. The commerically disasterous Loco Roco and other PSP first and second party titles.

    Missteps have occurred too frequently over the past 24+ months on your end, with talent scouting of new IP signed with SCEWW and there subsequent performance vs. intial cost to develop. Your other partnerships and publishing deals with current and existed second parties have seen less then favorable results with gamers and outspoken industry pundits.

    The inability of the new IP and the floudering sales of etablished and favorably popular exisiting IP’s under the SCEWW badge has lead me to believe, along with other gamers and industry indivisuals, that your software development plans for Sony’s gaming future just aren’t has appealing or has mutually exclusive to where this videogame market is heading in the foresable future.

    You’ve done great things for this company and for us, the loyal playstation gamers. I truely do salute you for that, and give you my modest respect for it.

    I just think that now, you and SCEWW honeymoon is at an end.

    – Kaz Harai, SCEI CEO & President –

    Kaz, you’ve been in this racket for a long time, blostering the marketing and influence of the Playstation brand, to lots of gamers, and informing the public and industry execs, about the fundamental difference in the vision of the gaming marketplace according to sony, since the Playstation’s inception. For that, it makes me feel like a valued customer of SCE’s products.

    But I think your talents has a software and marketing person, in this new casually emergent marketplace in videogames now, really needs a new idealogical goal in mind. That goal need to be spread throughout the company, in every division and felt by all your contributing developers and marketers.

    That’s what made the Playstation so great, it’s ability to feel like it established a truely fun and succesful way to harness talent and execute it’s top priorities in line with what gamers of today expect.

    This has to be your focus from now on, not only to salvage what’s left of PSP and PS3’s credibility, but to build a better realtionship with the true nature of emergent videogame market trends.

    This is the way you use to do business, wether you were conscience of that fact or not during your tenure at SCE or not, it’s what has built the success of playstation to gamers and your guys bottom line.

    These slightly abstract commentaries I’ve made here aren’t here to brutalize and inflate the position of a rival, but are here to express the evident and rising ostresizing of your loyal playstation and mainstream gamer fanbase, by your decisions made for your slowely and underperforming platforms.

    G.A.P. Member

    Nfactor

  • @masterratt 63

    that you and I knwo and love..how about those 5 million user lead the other consoles have..those people need to knwo and love it..and for 500-600 bucks they will get to kno someone cheaper.

  • @ Toolshed
    Pricey? Where have you heard about how much this thing is going to retail for?

    Maybe you’re thinking of the 360 version which costs about 50$ for what turns out to be a rather lackluster peripheral. Ms seems content to repackage simple products with a glossy 360 colour and charge about twice their value.

    The Eye has full motion awareness coupled with a microphone that has background noise dampening. Which alleviates the need to gear up with a headpiece when you want to chat in game. This and Home are the kind of innovations i’m looking for in new technology.

    If you add the price of the Microsoft headset (70) you’ve already topped 100 dollars and i doubt the Eye will be that expensive.

  • University Update - Video Games - Industry Sales Climb, PS3 Sales Climb Too

    […] Industry Sales Climb, PS3 Sales Climb Too » This Summary is from an article posted at PlayStation.Blog on Thursday, August 23, 2007 Hey […]

  • My conclusion:

    -Great numbers when you look at the ps3 alone.61% increase over the previous month is great and its largely because of the price drop.

    -Not great at all when you include the competitors though.The Wii is selling better than ps2 did, like twice as good oO.Why does it sell?Because of the good games?No.Bringin in new folks/casuals.Probably.Price?Thats definitely a big factor if you ask me.But lets forget about the Wii, its in a league of its own.

    The 360, however, is the main competitor here.And despite of it not having had a price drop in July, and having bad news after bad news, it still sold more than the ps3.I cant blame them.Their marketplace pours over with demos, downloadable content, arcade games and HD movie content.They usually get games first, in general better performing, and also lots of AAA content/reviews.

    What do we get?Trailers and an occasional demo.Sony’s got a superior catalogue of ps1 games, but i dont see them in the PSstore.It almost makes me want to cry.

    Europe?We pay 600 euro for a cost reduced machine.We pay more for less.HW based ps2 compatibility?We dont get it.Price cut?We dont get it.Yet we pay the most of all.I was expecting a price drop announcement @ Leipzig.We didnt get it.Its only a matter of time before 360 outsells the ps3 over here.Might i remind the gentlemen that there is a 6 million unit gap between ps3 and 360, and the 360 just had a price drop.

    This Fall i have enough money for a HDTV and a ps3.But im not so sure anymore if that ps3 will stay a ps3.And after 10+ years of Sony awesomness, thats truly sad.

    So am i too critical?Am i unfair?Perhaps.But for 600 euro, and no signs of dominance over the competitors i have every right to be just that.

  • I’m quoting from Kotaku, since I belive this is a very good analysis:
    “When the 360 becomes world-famous for simply not working, plus you drop your prices by $100 and still can’t outsell it, there’s only so much spin you can put on something before you just can’t spin it any further.”
    I think I’m finally getting used to the concept that the Playstation console will end up in last place this generation. Took a long time, but I think the writing is on the wall.

  • It’s simply bizzare, this lack of games. Everyone knows about the coming September/October/End of year basket of games, but this could seriously back fire.

    Understandably, everyone just wants to turn their machine on and play something after sitting there for so long. We just want to feel that we bought something useful. There have been no games to date worth buying (I am not into first person shooters, I am not a great racer, so these titles (which dominate the titles currently out so far) don’t interest me much, and I believe I am not alone, there are many like me!).

    So these games coming out, how may it backfire? What could go wrong?

    They may suck! I’m sorry, I love my PS, PS2 AND PS3. But after all the hype and expectations…what if? What if these titles don’t turn out to be AAA. Come on, that’s what everyone is expecting right? Regardless whether this is a fair expectation or not, this is the general feeling. These titles MUST rock.

    Very VERY unfortunately, the exact opposite is happening for real.

    I won’t comment on Lair and the poor review it received, I never saw the review, so I will wait and see, and hope.
    But…
    Point your browers over to http://ps3.ign.com/articles/815/815031p1.html , I just finished reading the review for Hevenly Sword, this really was/is the AAA title for Sony, at least judging from all the marketing costs (making of videos, anime series, this ain’t cheap!) being poured into the title. and the review…it simply sucked. It was just NO FUN to play!!! how sickening is that?? After all the wait…it is no fun. It is BEAUTIFUL, but no fun.

    We want games that are FUN, not just pretty! Give us FUN. Wii is fun to a certain extent, but it’s like fisher price fun. Sony has done MUCH better than Wii games in the past. I remember loving to play. What happened to the fun? I remember playing micro machines (sorry, I know this ain’t a great example) on my PS1 with friends and we just laughed all afternoon knocking eachother off tables and all…

    Maybe once you all figure this out (we are all hoping you will), you won’t have to look at sales figues and try and spin them. You won’t care cuz your console will be the one to beat. Not stuck in Oblivion.

    Good luck. We’re waiting for the fun.

  • Good numbers , but the ps3 is seling more in EU + smal regions then the 360 and its seling more in japan then the 360, the ps3 dose not have to win aginst the Wii ( cos thay are not competing for the same games ) as the 360 ps3 is . Lower the cost of the ps3 ( i know it takes time) then lower the price a price tag 450 for the 80 gig ps3 and a price tag of 350 for the remaing 60 gig SKU will rocket the ps3 over 250k a month in USA a price tag of 499 for the bundel in EU will rocket it past 300k a month in EU.
    it all depends on how badly you want to gain on the 360 in 07 , you wont gain on the 360 in USA under 07 but will be just a few 100k short in EU in the end of 07.
    PS3 if the price is the same as now .
    USA 3,4m jan 1 08
    2,8 m Eu jan 1 08
    Japan 2,4 m jan 1 08.
    360
    USA 7,5m Jan 1 08
    EU 3.8m Jan 1 08
    Japan 0.8m Jan 1 08
    so yes at a price of 599 Eur you can over take the 360 in 08 in Eu and perhaps world wide in the end of 08, lower price and over take the 360 in al regions mid 08.

  • Nintendo is in the game industry.
    SNE and MSFT are also in the video game industry.
    If I were running a business and someone told me to ignore the biggest player in the market “becuase we compete on different metrics (games, players, etc…)” I would tell that person to start looking for a new job. We are in business to win customers, whatever it takes. If it’s casual games, be it casual games, SNE simply has to open the PS1/PS2 catalogue on PSN. If it’s simple/innovative games, fine! Market the heck out of eye toy when it comes out.
    But by golly, don’t just give up competing with Wii. What are people doing with the Wii? They really don’t have any games to play with (Boogie anyone?!) yet the console sells like hot cakes, this is frustrating but just goes to show that Ninetendo does marketing like Apple does it. People feel good buying the console. People that buy PS3? we sort of hide in the shadows…praying that one day…we won’t be made fun of in the forums. But that day is looking further and further in the future, if ever.

  • I’m really happy that all the fans who have posted share the same obvious thoughts,I hope Sony reads these comments as they claimed, especially their executives (Mariam Sughayer should pass this page to them if not) because they really have to take serious action.
    PS3 has been flawed since the beginning by wrong strategic decisions, PS3 is an amazing product by itself but quite simply it’s not the product the market wanted/expected. People just wanted a powerful console like PS2 and PS1 were at their time, with a serious online service like Microsoft’s Live at a decent price,not a super uber HD entertainment hub pushing an unproven format most of people don’t event know or care about at the outrageous 600$ price.
    The price shock at E3 2006 should have been an alarm of things to come, the market totally rejected the price strategy.
    Now Sony is clearly in a terrible position, they’re not competitive on the market, they’re worried about their profits (especially the gaming division) and they can’t cut the price as much as necessary, even if they have a more powerful hardware on paper the advantage Microsoft has with dev tools and devs experience on their platform not only offset the difference in hardware but puts PS3 behind (see Madden debacle).
    Sony do something seirous this year, people won’t be waiting until you’ll be comfortable to cut the price at an affordable level or big games will be out in 2008 while Microsoft has a lot of big guns this year at a very good price and Wii sells like crazy by itself bcause it has been fully conquered the mass market, consumers are alreay looking elsewhere.

  • Some in this room may disagree with me about this subject I’m about to talk about. However, I still think that the PS3 need to find a way to get out of the 500 + range. Though it is a BlueRay Player, many don’t have BlueRay movies. I brought a female friend to my house (a casual gamer). She says that she can’t even tell the difference between DVD and BlueRay (yes I have a HD TV). To me DVD and HD BR are something for nerds like us in this room to differentiate and not the average person. Also, the general public just aren’t interested in the features that the PS3 offers. Many don’t even have the equipment to even use these features if they wanted (Router, Wirless, modem, ethernet cable-CAT5, Cable-internet, bluetooth devices, PCs).

    I’m not selling the PS3 short. The PS3 is a good system and worth the price. All I’m saying is that people want games and they want them at a afford able price. I was extremely disappointed in the Leipzig convention, or what ever it is. I though they were going unveil the rumble sixaxis. Sony announced sometype of TV device that, I’m speaking for everyone, no one wants.

    Listen, the system (PlayStation3) is a good device that does alot of stuff. However, they need to get it under 400 dollars for the general public, try 350. Also, only announce games or devices that pertain to games. People were waiting for the rumble stick to come out, not some TV device. People have digital cable, and hey, its Football season. NO own wants to what Sienfeld in HD. Please Sony, don’t announce anything else unless it is game related. People don’t care about devices for other things, they only care about GAMES. The only two things Sony needs to work on in the near future is games and lowering the price. I wouldn’t even worry about updates for the console. Price and games are what people are looking forward to. Then you may see NPD figures that beat out the 360. But like I said in my previous post, they are going to be murdered this christmas if they don’t lower the price of the console soon.

  • When is Sony going to give the people what they want and not what Sony wants the people to have?

    I can’t beleive SCEE got on stage and showed what they’ve been working on all this time!

    Why is sony working on a DVR and an instant messenger client for the PS3 and PSP?

    Is this what the fans have been clamoring for?

    NO!

    Mistake#1 those engineers for the DVR should be put on the firmware and that should be priority numero uno!

    Mistake#2 PSP instant messenger client! WTF! why haven’t you learned about integration yet? Just add the PSN friends list to the PSP!!!! make it simple not a whole new program, So now people have the PSN friends list and a seperate list for PSP friends? does that make any sense? How does dividing the 2 consoles create a sense of community?

    Mistake#3 Not listening to the customers and then responding with the famous, ” We’re working on it and it’ll be released soon”

    WAIT WAIT I HAVE IT!

    This is a great example of what Sony is doing!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi9vbsS1Bw8

  • I see a lot of people giving advice. It’s easy to say make more/better games or cut the price or advertise more… but it’s all about the precise details and the execution. Most of the advice here is like that episode of The Simpsons where Mr. Burns’ genius baseball strategy is to order a baseball player to hit a home run.

    That said, here’s the only decent ‘hit a home run’ advice I can think of. Right now, Sony needs more of their own first party Halo/Zelda level of genuine system seller titles. Obvious, right? But judging by the reviews of Sony’s fall release line up, the current Sony developers aren’t up to par. And that’s not too surprising because most of these developers have never made a hugely successful ‘system defining’ game and probably never will. I wouldn’t put big hopes on the unproven GG’s Killzone 2 either.

    Point is, Sony needs to get proven, massively successful developers and give them the resources they need to make PS3 exclusives. That said, it’s probably too late to do that now because the effects will only be seen 3 or 4 years from now.

    So much as I hate to say it, it might be best to try buying exclusivity/bonuses from third parties making the major games like Assassins Creed or Resident Evil 5 (not that I care much for either game btw, but many other people do).

    If you just want to please me, buy (save) Sega’s AM2 and what’s left of AM3. Also give plenty of support to MediaVision for Wild Arms 6. And buy TriAce.

  • The blame is squarely on Phil Harrison and Kaz Harai

    they both need to be replaced, they made the wrong moves with the Playstation 3 and the Playstation Portable

    thye’ve been great, but they’re just not the future of this company anymore.

    Phil on the software side needs to go

    Kaz on the hardware, marketing, and logistics side has to go has well

    like I said earlier here,

    The Honeymoon is Over

  • @Nfactor: the blame for the missteps taken with PSP ( the gaming aspect is completely flawed, they thought a portable PS2 was what people wanted from a handheld and…they were wrong. Now they’re trying to change that but quite frankly it’s too late. PSP is doing really well nevertheless because product is appealing for its multimedia functionalities but if people want a handheld just to play DS is the obvious choice) and the big strategic mistakes made with PS3 are all Ken Kutaragi’s fault.
    And guess what? He was forced to retire, a polite way japanese people use to fire big executives without hurting their dignity too much.
    Kaz Hirai is doing pretty well in my opinion, he’s trying hard to fix the situation but the damage done in 2006 is HUGE and Sony is not Microsoft, they cannot afford to lose billion dollars on Playstation for years, so they’re a in really difficult situation.
    You’re also being unfair towards Phil Harrison, he’s doing a great job making a lot of interesting titles with first/second party development which at least show what the system is capable of and give PS3 owners a reason to be excited instead of the pathetic ports from X360 all the other developers are putting on the system. Of course it’s not like every game WWstudios make can be a 9+ title for everyone.

  • I respect the man, I really do. It’s just this new emergent market and waning popularity of the new IP and existing ones in the development pipeline from SCEWW just can’t generate buzz with gamers.

    SCEWW is loosing money and betting the farm on there first and second party this year and into 2008.

    this gaming landscape has changed the focus of gamers and sony isn’t keeping up with this emergent trend with their upcoming software.

    a difficult change has to be made now to reorganize the software portfolio.

  • Could you please post figures for sales world wide.

    We ALL know that in Japan Nintendo and Sony rule, but I’m interested in seeing how sales are going in the UK and the rest of Europe and Asia. From my own monitoring of sites like Amazon.co.uk, I have seen the PS3 consistently our sell the Xbox 360 for at least the last 2 months, but it would nice to see something official.

  • Great job on the price cut Sony but if you really want to make ground fast you needed another one before xmas. Don’t get me wrong I will be getting one this holiday season but for the average parent to see a $150 difference you are going to lose a lot of could be customers.

    My nephew wants a PS3 (because of the selection of game not all FPS) now will his parents spend $150 more on a game machine…? I’m going to educate them but have the big price difference is whats holding you back in North Ameica.

  • PS3 beat 360 in July! Yippi!!!

  • It unanimous Sony the public wants another price cut. $350 plz.

    But, by the way, it is good that you all are giving demos every week. Even though I don’t partcularly like any of the recent ones. Its good to play different games for the system.

  • If I’m not mistake, price cut was announced July 15….NDP numbers account for the whole of July. I’m guessing the numbers remained fairly static before the price cut really picked up once afterwards.

    It would be better to analyze the numbers from July 16 to August 16th to get a better measure, and from there see how the numbers fair month by month.

    Mountains, molehills….

  • Savage, the best you can get until company releases their financial statements is http://vgchartz.com, which is an approximation but guess what, so are the NPD numbers.

    Sorry but Sony are not ruling in Japan, the PS3 is at 1/3 the sale of the Wii and the PSP is a 1/4 the sale of the DS. Like the rest of the world, Nintendo is ruling there too.

    azad_champ, sorry to burst your bubble but no, the PS3 did NOT beat the 360 in July in the USA (that’s what this article is about, the USA number). They got close (11,000 difference) but they didn’t beat them,

  • MARIUM = SMART AND CUTE!

    Question: Why do you think this is so much negative press surrounding the PS3?

  • @slytheboss

    You compare Wii to PS3 in Japan why dont you compare 360 to Wii? Here you go have a look how the 360 is doing in Japan.

    Japan Stats…
    Nintendo DS Lite – 147,025
    Wii – 65,120
    PSP – 32,147
    PlayStation 3 – 21,321
    PlayStation 2 – 12,545
    Xbox 360 – 2,112

  • Congrats on the sales of over 500,000 for the Playstation brand. That is great news. I have to admit that i was disappointed that the PS3 did not outsell the 360 like everyone was expecting it to. If just the Ps3’s marketing was a little bit better, maybe, maybe they could increase their sales. It will take a miracle to get the Ps3 back into the number one place.

    []^XO

  • Whoops.
    forgot to leave a link
    for the petition to get Resident Evil on the
    Psp

    and now it has jumped from 3K signatures up to 6K! :) sweet

    http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?pspres

  • scorpio, read Savage’s message again. To help you in case your attention span isn’t long enough to scroll between messages, here’s what I was commenting about:

    ‘We ALL know that in Japan Nintendo and Sony rule’

    There was NO mention of Microsoft hence why I didn’t bring them in. I was just commenting that Sony isn’t ‘ruling’ in Japan like he mentioned. As for Microsoft, we all know they are failing miserably there.

  • Wii vs. Bioshock: Is Nintendo Hurting Gaming? « Scrawled in Wax

    […] PS3 new I will leave to let Sony spin it as they see fit. But as for the Wii: at the same time that I read these numbers, I was about to […]

  • Patience folks, PSP doesn’t need to outsell the DS, it’s already a success. As for the PS3, Sony didn’t become the company it is today in a manner of a year, it’ll take time, we’re already seeing the number of good games for the Wii dwindle down to nearly nothing. PS3 will dominate soon enough

  • As you are a Girl and would not how to switch a PS3 on or off, let alone be able to change a blown fuse. I take your comments with a pinch of salt.

    Giggety Giggety

  • I am a proud PS3 owner, but I must admit the only thing I don’t like about PS3 is Sony Marketing DEPT beacuse I do not feal you are telling people what the PS3 is!! Time and time again i have to let people know what they are buying when they are purchasing a PS3. The price isn’t your problem. The fact that people don’t know what your product, is to me the bigest problem. A lot of people don’t know about the Blue-Ray portion…which from a global Sony stand point should be pressed beacuse you guys helped make the format! Pepole don’t know processing power for the PS3 is 2x greater then it’s nerest competitor 360. They are unaware of the Media aspect. (an aspect that needs to be refined a bit..I think). Also I people aren’t really aware of the internet aspect as well. Another thing is consumer confusion you need to distinguish your self from the Iddiot box360 and show that hardware failure is an aspect of 360 and not PS3! I know I’ve tested my own PS3 by useing it for over 3 weeks non-stop it was either beign used or doing the Folding at home which I think is one of the coolest aspects of the PS3. Philantropy for the lazy..lol

    Please do something about it. Your system is better than the 360 and is worth the $600 price tag.

  • i agree with a lot of pple are saying!

    Sony, you can not sit back and let word of mouth be your vessel of advertisment! there’re are not a lot of people that even know what they have in their system!!

    you need more TV adds and fast! show a single fanily using the PS3 in different ways in the same house! make sure that the public understands……what the PS3 can do! what happen to YellowDog? i haven’t seen anything about how Sony and the Linux community have formed a bond for the system?! oh btw, you shoud have made getting to YD as eazy as hitting an Icon on the XMB. you can’t afford to wait on things like Home, PSN updates, and feature add ons!

    “the price drop issues”. look, i bought the damn thing at $600 and ( i get all i can out of it, to include using YD) but, i know where, how, and what to look for to get that infoand/help! the internet is full of idots spouting BS they heared/read off the net! people honestly think, the 360 gives you more choices out of the box…and why do they think that..because you let them!

    the “there are no game issue”! delays and bad press are killing you! i have about 25 games on my gamefly que that i can’t wait to get!! most are PS3 only and a few are cross platform that will get for the PS3 only. the rest i will actually get for both systems. (well……i might have to wait a lil longer for some games because my other system just died on me)
    please drop the price for people that don’t understand what the PS3 is all about! or the idiots that beleive a single game determens the worth of a system!

    i gave my 360 1 1/2 yrs to show me what it could do! i will give my PS3 no less than that, and i will be patcient! good job on the sells now, lets pick up the speed a lil more!

    Semper Fi

  • I believe the only reason X360 outsold the PS3 in July was due to the number of units being ‘sold’ through 3rd party replacement or insurance plans.

    Additionally, the average consumer isn’t going to know well enough to send their RRoD unit back to MS. They’ll go straight to the store where they bought one and get a new one.

  • rentheredstar

    I totally agree with you. People just don’t know enough of what the PS3 offers. It offers so much more then the 360 but why dosen’t it feel that way? We know games are lacking for now but where is all the hatred from? The price point does not help and several media companies(owned by MS) are quilty of spreading lies.

    SONY please step up the advertisments and store displays (not sure who controls what) and get the message out that the PS3 does A LOT more and thats why it’s more expensive then the competitor.

  • @ Lettuce # 96

    No I don’t think the replacements count towards the total install base, cause they would be counted as already sold (being a replacement). If they were counted, the sales would be a lot higher being how many get sent back. ;)

    Face it, its the price of the PS3 and games that are keeping it back, price more then anything. This is why Wii and PS2 still sell very well. Most are just not willing to pay $400plus for a system.

  • lettuce

    Excellent point…

  • I have to agree with what most people are saying here, the average family does’nt know what the PS3 is capable of they need to be informed through advertising, all the know is that the Ps3 makes babydolls cry???

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields