Why Sony will not sell 150M PlayStation 3’s
Filed under: Gaming, Sony Playstation 3 | By: Daniel
Posted on: July 22, 2008 | 2 Comments
We reported a couple of days ago about the target Kaz Hirai set to reach 150M Sony Playstation 3 games console sales in the same lifespan of the PS2, and with some analysts claiming the price needs to drop to $200 to even contend with the PS2 growth.
This is why Sony won’t reach 150 million PS3’s sold in that timeframe, first up they are already losing money on every $400 PS3 and have only sold 12.85m as of March (around 10% of the PS2’s 140m).
Then you got to remember that the PS2 was selling more than any of its competitors (Nintendo GameCube and Xbox), today it is the Nintendo Wii that is selling by far the most.
The biggest problem the Playstation 3 will face on its way to 150 million units sold is a possible recession right in the middle of that goal, the credit crunch is affected not just the United States and the UK, but most of the planet.
If your not able to put fuel in your car or can only just about pay the bills, will you be buying a new games console that costs more than it’s competitors?
To get a PS3 to a cheaper price of $200 and increase sales to the scope of the PS2, Kaz Hirai will have to perform a miracle because it would cost Sony too much to downgrade or make the big changes needed.
This is why Sony will not sell 150M PlayStation 3’s in the same time the PS2 did 140M, if we don’t head to a recession there may be a slight chance but that’s a BIG IF.
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You seem to be completely ignoring the fact that the vast majority of PS1’s and PS2’s were sold over 4 years after launch so none of your points are really relevant at all. Give it another 2 or 3 years and then you will have a far clearer idea of how the PS3 is doing in comparison to them.
Sony have followed exactly the same business model as the last 2 consoles, They have released it making a huge loss like the previous 2 and intend on supporting it for 10 years just like the previous 2. There is no realistic reason at all to see why the PS3 wont top 100m over a 10 year period.
The thing that jumps out at me, as I’ve noticed since launch, is that the PS3 costs much more than $400, $500, even $600 to produce, yet Sony still sells the console for less, and it’s all for the consumer.
I actually worked with Microsoft on the original Xbox 360 prototypes back in 2004, and, despite the accumulated cost of the hardware, Microsoft increased the price of retail sale above the production cost. By the 360’s launch, I was a bit ashamed to see that the Xbox 360 was so expensive even though it was cheap to produce, and that’s when several other Microsoft devs in my group and I were surprised to see that the PS3 launched at only $600. As a developer, I was really curious about each console’s hardware, and if we had put the Playstation 3’s hardware in our original Xbox 360 prototype, it would have costed well over $700. The Playstation 3 consists of well over $750, but I’m amazed that Sony can sell the console for $400. In my opinion, that was a very smart move on Sony’s behalf.
Due to work terms, I’ve been prohibited from saying this until early 2008, but Microsoft severely rushed development of the 360, and we had a very short time window to work with in order to launch the 360 a year earlier. That was our, and Microsoft’s, biggest mistake. As a result, the Xbox 360 has major hardware issues. I switched over to the PS3 when my Xbox 360, the console that I helped develop, RROD’d for the 4th time.