Merrill Lynch still thinks Sony will sink...

it is a finical company, they have no idea what they're talking about.


ok they dont know video games, they dont know consumerism, they dont know crap. you cant tell me that sony is gonna lose out on a 600 dollar machine that sells out in minutes in everystore accorss america !!!

and the ps3 is only going to be getting better from here. so people like merill lynch need to stop talking about crap they dont understand !

Not surprising it sold out so quick, launch day after all. Less than one game sold per console sold, meaning Sony has lost lots of money on the Playstation 3 in japan, people buying it for Blu-Ray won't buy games for it, will they? So Sony isn't making any money, it loses per console sold and isn't making it up with game sales as is tradition.

I think the Playstation 3 is just there to sell what Sony wants to sell, blu-ray and CELL.

Time to SELL, SELL, SELL!!!

Sony sold out in Japan. So what???

Sony only sold 88K units!!! The DS sells more than that in a week.

Me? I blame Blu-ray. I bet even sony are regretting adding blu-ray to the PS3.

I just heard of the reduced N.American launch numbers too.

Sony should have just delayed this launch which is the worst launch I have ever seen

I think it's all going to come down to software attach rates for the PS3. They aren't going to sell many consoles and those that they do will be at a great loss. So they need to make up for that by selling games and Blu-Ray movies. Japan's day 1 attach rate was less than 1 per console. Not a good sign at all for the Sony. If the US attach rates are also abysmal...Sony is in real trouble on several fronts.

1. Sony will never recoup on the loss per console if folks aren't purchasing games and accessories. I think this is probably fall out from very high retail prices. I guess folks can barely afford he PS3 yet alone a few games to go along with it. And remember the PS3 is cheaper in Japan.

2. Sony has yet to prove wheter PS3 sales will turn into Blu-Ray movie sales. The cost of stand alone Blu-Ray players have virtually priced just about everyone out of the market...so Sony must see a significant increase in Blu-Ray sales from PS3 owners...otherwise Blu-Ray is in a heap of crap.

Microsofts Xbox and Xbox 360 have had very high attach rates...record highs in fact. The 360 currently has an attach rate of 5.1 games per console sold. So it is more likely that MS will have a very easy time selling the HD-DVD add on (I picked up my pre-order this week). And consumers that purchase the HD-DVD add on are clearly going to purchase HD-DVDs and not just let the thing sit there collecting dust. If those same high attach rates for games convert to HD-DVD sales...then HD-DVD will have a huge boon this Christmas.

IMO Sony has gotten itself into a really crappy corner. High Prices and supply problems will keep adoption rates low for the near future. Sony will have a tough time holding onto it's exclusive Titles as developers can't rely on the PS3 for large sales volume of software titles. Sony's only option to retain AAA titles from 3rd partys will be to Pay up huge amounts of money to maintain exclusives...which I don't think they have the capability of doing anymore with Billions of dollars of losses projected. Microsoft and Nintendo are capitalizing on Sony's missteps delivering more titles to the market and wooing away exclusives and along with them customers.

None of this is good news for Sony, Blu-Ray or the PS3.

I think the author of PS3 Fanboy is missing the point. Sony will have a loss with the PS3 and it will be staggering and if they cannot make it up in software sales there will be an issue.

but the point everyone is missing is that sony WILL sell a lot of software. its just that most people cant afford to dish out another 200 bucks in the same week that they spent 600+ on the consule.

as time goes on, and games like metal gear solid 4 and assassians creed come out, it will not be a problem. not to mention all of the money sony will make by next year from the hundreds of thousands of microtransactions.

kayzi,

You said, "Time to SELL, SELL, SELL!!! Sony sold out in Japan. So what??? Sony only sold 88K units. The DS sells more than that in a week!!!"

Are completely missing the point? I mean, do you honestly think that Sony wouldn't sell out of 500,000 units if they were available at launch? Or 2 million world wide if they were available? Sony can't ramp up production too much because they want to keep quality and yield rate good.

The fact of the matter is that there is major demand. It doesn't matter what the xbots say.

Oh, and shrimpie. You are clearly underestimating the loyal PS3 fanboys interest in blu-ray. Especially considering the good reviews that PS3 has had regarding Blu-ray playback picture quality.

Hmmm I thought it took between 2-3 days for the PS3 to sell out in Japan? According to what I have read there where still stores selling them within 48 hours the release.

Maybe I am wrong here but if it's true it's certainly not as impressive as "a few hours". That said it is still pretty impressive overall. Well done to them.

James.

Still totally psyched about the PS3...hopefully I can nab one midnight Thursday/Friday.

GL... Another point you are missing is that Sony "could" sell 2 million units if they had them but they don't and if wishes were fishes... Anyways, when people go into TRU for Xmas and find a Wii and Xbox but not a phantom overpriced PS3, what do you think will happen? Sony shouldn't go into panic mode at all but they should keep a concerned eye on the prize.

All this talk about not selling games and movies is ridiculous. Yesterday alone Wal-Mart sold out of a bundle of a PS3, 12 games, 2 Blu-Ray Movies, an Extra controller, and a Memory Card adapter. CompUSA is managing to sell out of a bundle of a PS3 and a Sony 40" HDTV. Costco, Sams Club, BJ's and other major companies are all expected to, and will sell out of bundles, which WILL INCLUDE GAMES! Sony is projecting a loss on the system only, that happens with EVERY system launch as new technology is always more expensive, within 6-12 months Sony will be breaking even, and after that they will begin making money on the system. I am glad Sony went with Blu-Ray because the fact is regular DVD is old, and we need a new format, its been what, 8 years since DVD took hold? Sony decided to include the new technology in their system, unlike Microsoft who forces their customers to buy a $200 external drive for the HD-DVD. (note I am not arguing Blu-Ray as better than HD-DVD-that will be decided by history) The fact is, that if Microsoft decided to include the new technology in their system, they would have had to delay launch, and increase the price by $200, matching Sony's pricepoints. They decided against this to get to the market first, by over a year, to me, that looks like Sega Dreamcast, but the Halo series may save them, again, we will have to see...

"If you hadn't heard, the PS3 sold out in hours throughout Japan"

Um duh... they only released like 90 thousand of them. Is it any surprise it "sold out".

Hey everybody... I "SOLD OUT" of lemonade at my lemonade stand I launched at a retirement home. I only had one glass of it to sell, but I SOLD OUT! Alert the media... My lemonade stand is gonna be a HUGE success based on my launch numbers.

"1. it is a finical company, they have no idea what they're talking about...

...you cant tell me that sony is gonna lose out on a 600 dollar machine that sells out in minutes in everystore accorss america !!!

...people like merill lynch need to stop talking about crap they dont understand...

Posted at 6:43PM on Nov 14th 2006 by chillski "


LOL are you mental?
You do know that Sony takes a huge loss on every single one of those $600 units right? They are loosing money selling those consoles. Which means they have to make it up selling games. Given there are no good games other than Resistance at the moment, that's not gonna happen for a while.

Merill Lynch actually researches corporate expenditures, does a market segment analysis and sorts through huge amounts of data to come up with their reports.

That's a lot more than I can say for some 12 year old named "chillski" who comments on a ps3 blog.

Madden is going to be awesome with the PS3...can't wait

Don't ALL console companies lose money the first couple of years? I watched a special on video games and they talked about how companies absorb some of the cost of the machine so people will buy it... so they definately lose money the first year... but then they make their money/gain it back from the selling of games.

(Har har, just noticed the last guy's post who also said the same thing...)

you know what I find to be the funniest thing about this console war. Sony and microsoft are losing money on every console they sell. Nintendo is making money on every console they sell. It's no wonder Nintendo sees stocks going up and Sony sees them going down. I'd find it even more funnny if Nintendo makes a huge comeback with their console. Every dog has it's day. Nintendo made their mistakes to Sony. Hang in there maybe you might come back from all this but for now my bet is on Nintendo comming back. If you haven't tried the Wiimote yet you haven't played video games. I took my 600 dollars for a ps3 and put it on a Wii. That system is just fun. The ps3 disapponted me to much.

"Sony is projecting a loss on the system only, that happens with EVERY system launch..."
Except for Nintendo consoles.

i can assure that the price is an small factor in the sales of a console, no matter what al the analists says, it just completely solds out

According to Yahoo Finance, Sony is carrying 18 billion dollars in debt right now, which is twice as much debt they carried from a couple of months ago. At that kind of debt, I would suspect that it would take YEARS of selling the PS3 to recoup costs, but the debt is probably not totally related to the PS3. I suspect it's related, at least partially, to the laptop battery recall from every computer manufacturer.

And luckily, Sony has other means of income other than the PS3 alone, but I suspect they're betting the company on the success of the PS3. If it's not successful, Sony is going to be in a world of hurt.

One thing is for certain, for the immediate term, Sony's financials look less than rosey.

I love this site. It's truly the perfect example of a fanboy at work. Keep up the good work! I come here every day looking for the fanboy ps3 insight!

"you know what I find to be the funniest thing about this console war. Sony and microsoft are losing money on every console they sell. Nintendo is making money on every console they sell."

Actually no. M$ is in the black. And turning a profit on every xbox 360 already. They turn a $75.70 profit on each unit.

http://www.isuppli.com/news/default.asp?id=6919