Psychologically though, there’s a difference between buying a $500 console (obviously still expensive), and a bunch of people who really do want a PS3 because hey, it’s the new Playstation, it’s gotta be good, but not quiet $600 good–what? They lowered the price? Sold!
Uh, that doesn’t read very well. My point is that any price break will probably have a noticable effect.
Edit: I think a lot of people will say “Yes, this is what I’ve been waiting for!” before they stop to rationally consider if this is really what they’ve been waiting for.
No worries, when sony does have their push, they will be able to meet demand. I am sure those extra units becoming less valuable every day were a good investment, and I am thinking what will push sales over the edge will of course be a price increase…
I don’t believe this. I think that Nintendo is the only company really listening to what the majority of the market is asking for: a cheaper console that just plays games. They listened and are reaping the rewards. I don’t even think the waggle control really has much to do with it, although their slam dunk marketing efforts to sell the feature have only bolstered their success.
Meanwhile, the 360 is a great console, but really only caters to the hardcore gamers, online community driven gamers and audio/visual-philes. This is great, but we’re really seeing Microsoft’s console cap out so far this year.
And the PS3 is even more extreme in that respect, literally trying to force the consumers in various radical directions and incur several high fees for doing so.
I think people are voting with their dollars. They want sub $300 hardware and games that peak at $50 each. You can’t cram a bunch of shit in there or make development more expensive and pass that cost on, because the market will reject it, as it is doing now.
With that said, the 360 is my favorite console this generation so far.
Next year is when Nintendo starts rolling out the cultural bombshell titles. As soon as things start slowing down they’ll pull out a Pokemon or Nintendogs and the sales will spike up an order of magnitude.
Yeah, you’re not going to see Wii sales slow down. It’s more likely that they’ll get even crazier this coming Holiday season as all those people who couldn’t get one last year will be first in line to get one this year.
Halo 3 will do good business for Microsoft, but there’s a very real possibility that a majority of the people who want to play it already own a 360, because they could be playing it right now.
I don’t understand why MS doesn’t price-drop now. Sure, it’s nice to be making a profit on console sales, but it seems like they really need installed base. Considering how badly the PS3 is tanking, it’s an interesting sign that the 360 is not selling more than it is.
Unless of course MS is worried about their defect problem – if they start selling a lot more consoles, they are going to have a lot more returns. Maybe they are waiting until they get that nailed down to do a price drop. Which is screwed, but hey, I can imagine it.
Nintendo announced that they sold 2.5m Wiis from launch-end of April. Looking at those sales figures, Sony had shipped 3.0m PS2s from launch-end of March (taking out a month since PS2 launched in Oct). But yea, even if VG Chartz is right and Nintendo has sold over 7 million Wiis, it doesn’t quite compare to the 10.6m PS2s Sony sold over the same time period.
I think I’m with RepoMan here… The Wii is doing better than the 360 now but lets face it, it’s the pure doldrums of release schedule for the 360 while the Wii is still struggling to meet launch demand. When the fall hits and people want to play Halo 3, GTA IV, Mercs 2, Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed, I think we are really going to see 360 sales explode.
Not that I think the Wii will fall down necessarily, but even if there is mere parity in the fall that is still going to leave the 360 in a much stronger position in the long term.
Think of it this way, when they eventually do reduce the price on the 360 (which I’m still not sure will be this fall, but who knows) – they will gain access to a huge pool of additional consumers. The market is very price sensitive, and I think a lot of the Wii’s success can be chalked up to Nintendo wisely staying focused on that. However, the Wii really has no way to access the 360’s user base – GTA IV Wii or Mercs 2 Wii will never be able to compete with the 360 versions of those games.
I think you’re really overestimating the importance of at least three of those games. GTA IV and Halo 3 are things that will sell a few consoles, but Mercs 2? Mass Effect? Assassin’s Creed? I just don’t think so. They’re each the next “Crackdown” game for 360. They’ll sell maybe a million to those hardcore that buy every new “in” game for the system, but they’re not going to be system sellers.
SONY pissed of Europeans by converting the price for the PS3 1:1 compared to the US dollar and the delayed release compared to US and Japan.
Then they pissed of German consumers by announcing a price drop for the PSP for nearly whole Europe BUT Germany.
Way to win the console wars here by alienating the most populous country in Europe…
I think the PS3 also has the problem that you can’t show off with it right now. Hell I would laugh at any friend that would shell money out for it right now. Don’t underestimate this: The PS3 is NOT cool right now. That is an important factor.
Back then in my younger days it was cool to have a Commodore AMIGA but not an ATARI ST.
Actually we beat up the few ST users and therefore most kids had the AMIGA. I’m serious.
Mass Effect and AC are rumored to come to the PC thereby canibalizing the PS3 market. People with a decent computer have no reason to get a PS3 right now and for the forseeable future.
SONY pissed of Europeans by converting the price for the PS3 1:1 compared to the US dollar
Sure, the effect is bigger when you’re selling a system at $600/€600, but they’re not doing anything companies like Apple, Nintendo ($250/€250) or Microsoft ($400/€400) haven’t done before. Not like Europeans aren’t used to that. :)
