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Games Entertainment

Sony Produces Fewer Units, Not Sorry About Delays 55

Posted by Zonk from the confusing-news dept.
Sony has ordered its suppliers to produce fewer units of the PSP handheld, 1up reports. From the article: "While meeting with suppliers, Sony reportedly plans to manufacture only 12 million units, reports Next Generation from Japan's Nikkei BP. Previously, suppliers had expected orders in excess of 18 million units for the portable hardware. No reasons were cited in the original article, and representatives for Sony Computer Entertainment America were not available for comment." Meanwhile, GameIndustry.biz is reporting that the company is unrepentant about the PSP's launch delay and the consistent PS2 shortages. From the article: "...despite the constant criticism of the company, which will launch PSP in Europe in September nine months after the Japanese launch, in fact, 'we like this - we don't want to go first.'"
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Sony Produces Fewer Units, Not Sorry About Delays More

Sony Produces Fewer Units, Not Sorry About Delays

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  • No win situation (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Daetrin ( 576516 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @06:50PM (#12876739)
    "He argued that the delay to launching the hardware in Europe meant that more of the bugs and issues could be ironed out, thus heavily reducing the company's return rate."

    Wouldn't that be a tacit admission that the hardware wasn't really ready at the time of the first launch?

    Still can't figure out why they'd want to produce less units though, unless they figure it would be better to undershoot and have a higher demand for a smaller number of units than to overshoot and glut the market, but if true that also wouldn't sound too good once you decyphered the market-speak.

    • Wouldn't that be a tacit admission that the hardware wasn't really ready at the time of the first launch?

      Unless you really need the latest gadget RIGHT NOW - it's a good idea to wait a few generations before buying it.

      Recall the drive issues with first-generation PS2s and XBoxes. Recall the problem with the headphone jack in the first generation iPod.

      A shortage of the first generation PS3s isn't necessarily a bad thing. No matter how much testing the company does, it's nothing compared to the early ado

      • Recall the drive issues with first-generation PS2s and XBoxes.

        Recall the lid issues with current generation PS2 systems. I've read horror stories of the disc drive lid breaking off after a week.

      • What about Gamecube? (Score:2, Informative)

        by Ailure ( 853833 )
        Honestly... I hadn't heard people having as much problems with their Gamecube. Even with their first generation ones.
    • Still can't figure out why they'd want to produce less units though, unless they figure it would be better to undershoot and have a higher demand for a smaller number of units than to overshoot and glut the market, but if true that also wouldn't sound too good once you decyphered the market-speak.

      The market-speak is seems pretty clear to me:

      "Companies go bankrupt with too much stock - even companies like Sony," he commented, "but never with too little. We will continue to be cautious... But we will do

    • "He argued that the delay to launching the hardware in Europe meant that more of the bugs and issues could be ironed out, thus heavily reducing the company's return rate." Wouldn't that be a tacit admission that the hardware wasn't really ready at the time of the first launch?"
      Agreed. Although, the PSPs did have quite a few bugs at launch. Like my brother's PSP would convert AVI movies to MP4 files. We're not sure why it happened, but it effectively reduced the entertainment value of the PSP by 1/4. A

  • Sony - Arrogance Inc. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Japong ( 793982 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @06:55PM (#12876777)

    Sony Computer Entertainment, even with the translation gaffes and communication errors, seems to be one of the cockiest and unapologetic companies in the gaming business. The PSP alone has already generated a myriad of problems, all of which are dealt with from indiffference to outright hostility towards their customers:

    • Dead Pixels - Initial response: These are natural, and if you have them after dropping $250 on your PSP, well too fucking bad. Live with it.
    • Broken "Square/Circle/X/Triangle" buttons on the pad: It's the consumer's fault for buying our system. In fact, we designed it this way on purpose. So there.
    • Universal Media Disc: It's Universal and Propietary at the same time! So you can use them and buy them from any company you want, as long as that company is Sony and you only use them on the PSP.

    Yes, the PSP is beautiful. Yes, it's sleek and sexy. But honestly, I swear Sony made it for themselves, with customer satisfaction as a distant afterthought.

    • No no no. Having a need to blow into Nintendo 8bit systems to play any games, that's a flaw. These other problems are minor defects that can be fixed with a next generation PSP 2.0 or something. Of course that's assuming this generation's PSP actually outlast gameboy.

      • No no no. Having a need to blow into Nintendo 8bit systems to play any games, that's a flaw. These other problems are minor defects that can be fixed with a next generation PSP 2.0 or something.

        The need to blow on NES games to get them to play was fixed with the top loading NES.
      • ... except that wasn't a launch issue, it was an issue that cropped long after the purchase, an issue of wear. And really, if you were a little more delicate than the average 8 year-old kid, you wouldn't have that problem to begin with.

        Besides, new connectors are easy to come by on eBay. You can't say that about PSP shells.
    • * Dead pixel:
      I agree. Yeah I agree:D. F*ck it.

      * X Buttons:
      Sony has fixed this problem before US launch and you/I don't have the problem. You are believing a rumour which is about a year old. And you don't have anything to back your claim up now. I owns PSP and I can see its quality is no less than that of home console machines.

      * UMD:
      UMD has been somehow in successful position. I have no doubt with this. Compare it with DVD at its first year. DVD was protected tightly as well. I guess if it is fully
      • " UMD has been somehow in successful position. I have no doubt with this. Compare it with DVD at its first year. DVD was protected tightly as well. I guess if it is fully opened and rewritable by anyone, UMD and PSP wouldn't be this successful."

        It's 'universal' in the sense that it does more than simply play music or video. It plays games and presumably other types of media, too. It's 'universal' in the sense that the V in DVD means 'versatile'.
      • The square button/mis-aligned sensor feature has never been fixed. All that was fixed was the problem where the button would get stuck. I consider that completely broken, and Sony had damn well fix those/

        The UMD is currently used by one device... One. I will not consider it a success until there are non Sony products using it. Some people would call Mini-Disc a success. They would be wrong. Considering that a portable DVD player with a much larger screen is available at your local Sam's Club for $100 less
        • Amen. UMD movies are a bad joke. I can only imagine the thought process that people would go through in buying one...

          "Hmmm. Well. Here I am at the old game store and there's still no more PSP games out. On the other hand, there are some UMD movies here. Yeah. I think I'll spend my money on a movie with fewer features than a DVD with worse audio/visual quality. It's a good deal because the price is only a LITTLE higher than DVD and I can play the movies on my PSP...well, only my PSP...Come to think

    • Sony Computer Entertainment, even with the translation gaffes and communication errors, seems to be one of the cockiest and unapologetic companies in the gaming business

      This largely seems to stem from the personality of its head, Kutaragi.

      He's widely reviled within Sony itself (even the SCE employees I know seem to regard him with a sort of air of amused disbelief). However a cocky attitude does seem to have been a part of SCE's success, and people don't really want to mess with that...

      [Sony the larger
    • Universal Media Disc: It's Universal and Propietary at the same time! So you can use them and buy them from any company you want, as long as that company is Sony and you only use them on the PSP.

      I'm still trying to figure out what the business plan around UMD movies is. I've seen a commercial twice now advertising "Hitch... on DVD and PSP!" DVD is bad enough!

      A portable system that could play DVDs, now that'd be great. But if you have to buy separate, lower-capacity disks in order to watch movies on a
  • They're probably just trying to keep the demand up until the holiday season so that they can get big Christmas sales.

    They're probably hoping that they can keep the price high enough for now that only the most interested people will buy PSPs. Then, word will get out on the street about how cool they are and everyone will get one for Christmas at an only marginally lower price, thereby making Sony look like a god of holiday toy/electronic/video game sales.

    • Re:Sony's Strategy (Score:3, Interesting)

      by HunterZ ( 20035 )
      They may also be releasing them with small revisions to each batch. On the other hand, my roommate just bought one with dirt in the screen and made the people at our local GameStop open all 6 units they had in-stock to find one without a defect (besides dead pixels, which none of them had, surprisingly).

  • Maybe it's simple (Score:3, Insightful)

    by fwitness ( 195565 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @11:16PM (#12878292)
    All the comments I've read so far deal with some kind of theory about making supply short to increase demand.

    Maybe they just realized that they aren't selling a gazillion PSPs and decided to only produce enough for current and future demand? I know it sounds crazy, but maybe it's just a duck.
  • Maybe they're just losing money like crazy.

    I seriously doubt they're profiting on these little machines. Not that that's new for them, of course.

    But what IS new to Sony is not having a massive game library. How do you make up losses on system sales when you hardly have any games worth the effort it takes to lift the UMD?

    Anyway, arrogant, arrogant, etc., their lies killed Sega, etc.
    • Sony is gambling and losing right now. The UMD is expensive and isn't taking off, there are barely any decent games (that aren't lite versions or sequels to PS2 titles), and the memory stick is darn near useless in it (without hacks or software to get movies on one). What is there worth my money again about the PSP? Hrmm, I see nothing. (same as the DS, lame, no quality titles, just a tad cheaper but what does that matter)

      The PS3 is placing it all on Blu-ray which other manufacturers are dumping faster tha
  • Releasing the PSP nine fucking months after Japan takes the biscuit. If I had the money I would've bought a US or Japanese PSP by now. (I may not have any money for the UK launch either unfortionatley...). When Nintnedo launches hardware in Europe faster than you[1], you should realise that you're being too bloody slow.

    Sometimes living in the UK really sucks...

    [1] But still months after everywhere else, although they do release games at about the same time as everywhere else now, instead of months (or in
    • Actually, you can get an import PSP now for about the same money as they will cost when they do come out over here.

      If you actually want one, of course. There's a grand total of about three decent games available.

      • you can get an import PSP now

        UMD Video is region coded. Japan is Region 2 at 60 Hz; North America is Region 1 at 60 Hz; Europe is Region 2 at 50 Hz.

        If you actually want one, of course. There's a grand total of about three decent games available.

        Aren't they all available on other platforms in some form, including the PSP's flagship falling block game [jk0.org]?

        • Re: UMD video, yes it's Region encoded, but (a) the 50Hz/60Hz thing doesn't count here, as the PSP doesn't have a TV out, and so ignores the PAL/NTSC standards, and (b) why anyone would pay that much for a film that they can't watch on a TV, when it's not hugely difficult to convert normal DVDs to a file format that the PSP will accept on a memory stick bewilders me.

          Lumines is fun, but no more so than Mizuguchi's companion piece Meteos for the DS.

          • yes it's Region encoded, but (a) the 50Hz/60Hz thing doesn't count here, as the PSP doesn't have a TV out, and so ignores the PAL/NTSC standards

            So? This forum message from Lik-Sang [lik-sang.com] strongly implies that come September, European UMD Video titles will not play in Japanese PSP units. It's to be expected, as one of Sony's other PS Family products enforces TV-system lockout even if it doesn't have to. If I'm playing an all-region PAL disc on a PS2 NTSC U/C system (if it matters, it's Wobbl and Bob vol. 1), i

            • There's a really dull reason for that. The NTSC PS2's DVD driver doesn't have a large enough framebuffer to display a PAL image, because Sony are fuckwits. The PAL machine will play NTSC discs just fine.

              I don't doubt that UK UMDs won't play on a Japanese machine, but since I already import all my DVDs from the US I can't say it particularly bothers me. My main point is that UMD films are a dumb idea generally.
    • Wait a moment... you guys did get Doshin the Giant for Gamecube, did you not? That never made it to the U.S.

      Okay, so it's not exactly Zelda, but dammit, I wanted to play that.
  • Obviously, the issue isn't really about whether we want the console early and broken or late and working, it's about what the difference is between the eastern/NA markets and the European one that justifies a different release date in Europe.

    A more mature platform with more games? Sure, but that still leaves the question of why you didn't extend this courtesy to the Eastern/NA markets, Sony?

    But there must be some logic behind this move, it's just that noone seems to have any idea what it is. What do Sony

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