Article Discussing The PS3 Launch

[Rasczak]

Gadgetnetz have posted an interested article about the PS3 launch:

Dismal PS3 Launch Forces Sony To Discard BluRay

On the heels of various industry reports of the lackluster sales of Sony's new Playstation 3 console up to, during, and through the Christmas season, it's no wonder that Sony feels internal pressure to reverse it's course to more profitable waters. Obviously, the number one deficit of the new electronic entertainment device is the sheer number of newly introduced technologies, each with it's own seemingly continuous chain of production pitfalls. This same collection of newly deployed technologies directly impacts the pricing, further straining the retail sales of the Playstation 3. Considering that HDDVD technology is moving towards a broader market of consumers, Blu Ray is taking a considerable hit regardless of the Playstation branding.

One doesn't have to pay close attenion, or even take a second glance, to see that Sony, as a large corporation, has dropped the ball in it's own court. It has been reported time and time again that Sony has been facing financial difficulties, having to lay off workers, close plants, and refocus parts of their business. What only a few expected, Playstation 3 sales failed to match even the reduced supply during this holiday season. The affect of this has rippled through the major electronics retailers, creating a need to ship stock from store to store, and further impacting what profit margins retailers expected to see from the launch of a major new platform. The slick new Nintendo Wii and the powerhouse Microsoft XBox 360 managed to dominate the market, taking full advantage of the price differential, supply problems, and even the imagination of the consumer market. The season, in reality, isn't even over, and there is already a new captain at the helm, an almost unprecedented event indicating changes to come.

At a cost of over two hundred dollars per drive, the Blu Ray is the force behind the massive cost of the Sony Playstation 3. It is speculated that Sony is bleeding some three hundred bucks per unit, and continues the wild trend of manufacturers losing cash on the console in expectations to get their money back on the software. However, with a scant dozen titles or so, Sony holds little hope of a quick turn around in their fortunes. From it's core, the powerful Cell processor,with it's poor production yields, has added pitfalls to it's on rollout that is compounded by the difficulty in mass producing the Blu Ray in the Playstation 3. The tremendous cost of product, let alone support and delivery costs, may have been a factor in the recent executive level staff changes, but that change (of executives) has pushed the importance of other changes up the ladder of importance.

Sony is rumored to be making drastic changes to recapture the market before losing even more of it's command share to the likes of Nintendo (the success story of the holiday season) or the XBox 360 (still suffering in the land of the rising sun, but gaining momentum everywhere else). In a move that is "aimed at family pricing," Sony is rumored to be working on a Playstation 3 that does not include the Blu Ray drive. Whether this will result in the current low-end model having a change, or a newer "entry level" Playstation 3, remains to be seen. However, this is in stark contrast to their previous, egocentric, statements regarding "what kind of consumer"* will be looking at the Playstation 3.

To further fuel the fire, Toshiba has been reported to be getting ready to announce at CES (The Consumer Electronics Show) a new HDDVD player in the sub-two hundred dollar range. If these reports hold to be true, Sony's Blu Ray hopes may be dashed in even more markets than just that of the video-game arena. The steep pricing of Blu Ray players already make the Playstation 3 the entry level model, and Toshiba may have just put the nail in the coffin of this format. This holiday season was Sony's chance to leap ahead of the HDDVD format, establishing Blu Ray in the consumer market.

Supply problems alone would have likely created problems with Sony's hopes about Blu Ray, but with lackluster sales it is nearly a forgone conclusion. This puts Sony in a terrible position of not only trying to turn their ship around, but if they aren't careful--it could very well sink. A Playstation 3 without Blu Ray technology may save the Playstation from the fate previously seen by Sega's Saturn, but it will be the death nail in the Blu Ray coffin.

...ok it's a very partisan argument and lets not get our blood racing over it.

But it's comments about supply exceeding demand for the PS3 are quite interesting. More importantly it mentions the possibility of a sub-US$200 HD DVD player. Personally I find this unlikely - especially as Toshiba have suggested prices in the region of US$399 and US$299. But it does further highlight the possibility that Toshiba are about to start a price war.

[StooMonster]

More unsold PS3 in Japan discussed here PS3 Sales Look Sluggish In Japan (Part II)

Following yesterday's Those PS3s Sales Look Sluggish In Japan

And previous reports of piles of PS3 in USA Plenty O PS3s But No Takers

But Sony's own David Karraker commenting on US sales "'everthing we put on store shelves sold out'"

StooMonster

[peterweg]

The article is garbage.

Concider this.
PS3 with Blu-Ray won't be able to play games.
The loss on the $600 console is $240, in Europe is far far less, depending on exchange rates.
BR drive doesn't cost $200.
The PS3 is looking to outsold the x360 in the NA launch period.
PS3 has had a higher sales ranking than the Wii on Amazon for three weeks.
Ever heard of the source? me neither.

Oh and Stoomonster. The x360 20Gb is at a lower Amazon sales ranking than the 20Gb PS3, never mind the 60gb model.

[Bald Monkey]

Originally Posted by peterweg

PS3 with Blu-Ray won't be able to play games.
.

Perhpas BR isn't needed for games.. It would still be able to play PS1 and PS2 games.. (well the ones it already can) as it still has the DVD capability.

Also it might be cheaper for the games to be converted from Wii and Xbox360 on to DVD for the PS3 rather than BR? which would give the PS3 more choice of games earlier on, when there is not as big a market to warrant developers converting games over to the BR PS3.

[StooMonster]

Originally Posted by peterweg

PS3 with Blu-Ray won't be able to play games.

There's only a dozen or so games on the market now, out of a lifetime of hundreds. It's not unfeasible to switch to DVD-ROM for all future titles at this point in time. Although somewhat unlikely I recon.

StooMonster

[mattym]

huge pinch of salt required i think, too much invested in bluray to ditch it, the sales are going up, the PS3 is selling well even if random pockets of units are not selling the very second they appear

[Dave2]

I hate to say this but sony are selling there consoles, amazon put up there new stock the other day and they were gone almost instantly, bestbuy was the same as with a few other stores, Mind you a good chucnk of the ps3 consoles from its initial batch were exported to eu members me for one. It would be interesting to see if sont do release a ps3 without the bd-drive but will they release games on both dvd-rom and bd-rom ?

One thing in the article which is true is that hd-dvd has the market share of the HD movie war.

Remeber though 2008 dec will show a more balanced outcome to the market for HD movies and if blurry manage to get a good cheap priced player out before then, both hd-dvd and blurry may be to balance to call it a win for any side.

I can forsee a player coming out that will play both using one laser but will this happen soon ? who knows.

[rooster-x]

Originally Posted by Dave2

I can forsee a player coming out that will play both using one laser but will this happen soon ? who knows.

Where have you been the last two days Dave?

Rooster-X

[Dave2]

Originally Posted by rooster-x

Where have you been the last two days Dave?

Rooster-X

On my ps3

[FOXCLOSE]

Good ole' Bandito from Gadgetnetz, eh??
LOL!

[peterweg]

Originally Posted by StooMonster

There's only a dozen or so games on the market now, out of a lifetime of hundreds. It's not unfeasible to switch to DVD-ROM for all future titles at this point in time. Although somewhat unlikely I recon.

StooMonster

Sony drop their entire strategy to get BR into peoples homes and give up on the consumer electronics market just because a nobody from a Noddy web site says so, eh?
And that's before they have even launched their product world wide?

Its not unfeasible, its utterly preposterous. You will be telling us the entire industry is switching over to HD-DVD next.

[StooMonster]

That's hardly what I said.

Which was ... at this point in time with only 12 games available, if they wished to change to DVD-ROM it would not be impossible. However, if they decided to do this in the future when hundreds of Blu-ray titles are available it would be impossible.

You seemed to have not read the third sentence of mine you quoted.

StooMonster

[MitchR]

Basically the article comes down to this:

Yada Yada Yada

[memoryex]

the problem for the ps3 is that it isnt mainstream yet. By and large the only people who have bought them are the geeks (I dont have one but i countself as a geek :-) ) If they have them sitting in warehouses or shifting around stores so early in the lifetime of the console then they are doing something wrong.

[mattym]

Originally Posted by memoryex

the problem for the ps3 is that it isnt mainstream yet. By and large the only people who have bought them are the geeks (I dont have one but i countself as a geek :-) ) If they have them sitting in warehouses or shifting around stores so early in the lifetime of the console then they are doing something wrong.

its not really clear if they are sitting around, there is a lot of negative spin against sony at the moment, anyone can take a photo of a load of empty boxes and say they aint selling