Japanese Stores Lowering PS3 Prices 189
Kotaku is reporting that the 20GB PS3 is down by 20% the the Akihibara district of Tokyo. Reports from both here and in Japan would seem to indicate that PlayStation 3s are sitting on shelves, as gamers wait for price drops or new games. The Tokyo merchants are anxious, it seems, and ready to get their consoles out the door. From the article: "The 20GB version originally books at 49,980 yen (US $412), but is being offered for 39,980 yen ($329) in a sale ending February. The shop is knocking a flat 10,000 yen ($82) right now. Japanese bulletin board 2chan reports that this at other Don Quijotes as well. It's interesting to check out the PS3 vibe at 2chan; Reasons for not buying go from 'there are no games I want' to 'video stores don't rent Blu-ray movies.' Well, not yet that is."
The PS3 Has No Games (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a PS3, and I only have 3 games for it (Resistance: Fall of Man, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Genji:Days of the Blade), and two of them are absolute and utter crap (Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Genji:Days of the Blade), and one of those isn't even an exclusive (Marvel Ultimate Alliance). Compared to the Wii, which has been getting great games at a fairly good clip (Zelda, Elebits, Wario Ware, Metal Slug Anthology, Super Monkey Ball) or the 360, which has had a year to get some good games.(Kameo, Oblivion, Dead Rising, Gears of War- all system sellers)
I would like to see the PS3 do well (after spending that much money on it, I would say I have a vested interest) - but c'mon sony, not many people are going to buy these things just to be able to install Linux on it!
Yes, price dropping rapidly. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, check out eBay prices. The 20GB units are now selling below retail.
Remember, price is not what the seller is asking. The price is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller. When it won't sell, the asking price isn't a real price. eBay makes this so obvious, but it's also true in retail; if there's a huge stack of unsold stuff, the price is going to drop.
Ah, schadenfraude (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Ah, schadenfraude (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ah, schadenfraude (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course, this all hinges on whether you think the things Sony did were unfair. One person's schadenfraude is another person's callous mockery.
Re:The PS3 Has No Games (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe the games I listed aren't doing great in japan, but the Wii seems to be pretty popular in japan as well as in the US, so something must have people there buying it (they have better virtual console choices than the US, so maybe that's it)
The PS3 has an anoerxic game library, and all of the big name titles that were system sellers for the PS2 are a year or two away, or no longer exclusive (Gamespot has rumors that MGS4 will be out on the 360).
Of course, early adopters are often willing to buy a console on the promise of what will eventually be available (I did)- but there is a large secondary market to consider. There are a lot of people who like games, and are interesting in getting a next gen system, but will make decisions based largely on their experiences playing the systems at their friends houses. When the PS3 doesn't have any games to offer up those experiences, then people will focus on the 360 or wii, which they have played good games on.
wow (Score:3, Insightful)
As I understand it though Sony must be losing about $100-200 on each one of these... I think that they might have made some mistakes
Re:The PS3 Has No Games (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem is, as you said, it's a miniscule fraction of the market. These people don't help sony out at all (they take a loss on the system, and never recoup it in selling games/bluray movies) and it doesn't help the game publishers(it inflates the potential customer base. There are X ps3s in the wild, but only Y% of people who own PS3s will actually buy games).
It Might Sell if... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The PS3 Has No Games (Score:3, Insightful)
http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=7414 [gamesarefun.com]
There are two Wii games, Sports and Play, in the top ten software sales last week in Japan. Both are approaching 800k. Additionally, there are another four in the top thirty.
For a system with an install base of somewhere between 1 million and 1.5 million, rank higher than games coming out for the insanely popular DS (with well over 10 million in Japan) and the old standby PS2 is incredible. In face, Dragon Quest is the biggest name in RPGs over there, and even though it came out more recently than Wii Sports the latter title is still the #1 seller from last week.
I think that's hardly anemic, especially with a slew of new titles coming out sooner rather than later. If you don't like what the Wii offers now, there's still plenty coming in a reasonable amount of time. PS3 owners are still looking at more than 6 months for most of their interesting titles, many of which were supposed to be coming at launch.
Re:Ah, schadenfraude (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The PS3 Has No Games (Score:3, Insightful)
In comparison, the highest selling PS3 game (the one Gundam game, I forget the exact name) has sold to just over 20% of all PS3 owners.
I don't recall the 360 launch numbers just off the top of my head, so I can't really compare them, but I know for certain the DS didn't have a single game at launch with an attach rate greater than 45% in Japan.
Right now, the Wii has won the first battle of the 'console war'. There's still a war to be fought, and between the recently released Wario Ware, coming Sonic, Mario Party & SSX, Nintendo seems to be brining the big guns. Sony only has VF5 and Gundam Musou going for it (which, admittedly, Gundam Musou is going to go over like Gangbusters in Japan, that will probably be the consoles first major system seller there).