Preliminary: Sony missed 2M shipment target in '06

We get it: the PS3 is teh sucks.

Yeah - Enterbrain is less likely to lie about it.

Well it's nice to see that Sony has shipped 1 million PS3s to the United States, too bad they couldn't sell 600,000 of them.

Sony, what happened? You used to be cool ...

Bah.. hit 1 million? SHIPPED 1 million. If every store still has 5-10 units, that's quite a damn bit less than 1 million SOLD.

Nintendo on the other hand.. I don't even know what a Wii box looks like.

I wouldn't be surprised if we hear this from Sony:
"Gamers love the PS3 worldwide. More than a million gamers are enjoying BluRay movies and we expect to sell 25 million consoles in 2007!!"

Wow, another day, another article with bad news for Sony. It's like watching a car crash in slow-motion.

I'm a Wii owner, but I still hope Sony can pull out of this nosedive. I had planned on picking up a PS3 maybe in a 6 months to a year after they've had a chance to build their game library, but is looks like PS3 is going the way of the PSP.

PSP is the only game system in history that I'm actually sorry that I bought. I thought it was going to be everything the PS2 was, only portable. But man was I wrong!!

I would like to point out the Famitsu numbers Joystiq posts weekly add up to 500k+ as of December 25 (~50k more than these numbers) and those are supposed to be sold, not shipped.

Ummm.. hey News Flash:

Nintendo missed their 4 million target worldwide for Wii in 2006.

MS missed their 10 million 'sold' (ie installed) for end of 2007... so they changed it to shipped.

And, if launch numbers meant anything we would all be playing Dreamcast 2.0 right now.

Does anyone around here remember anything about the PS2's launch?? It was equally crappy, and it didn't sell as many units to date, and there was NO competition at the time. Tell me, why is the PS3 so "doomed" as you all say? I think we need to take the wait and see approach here. We're two months into the PS3's life cycle. A bit premature, no?

Dreamcast 2.0? I'd take that over a PS3 any day of the week...

Ummm.. hey News Flash:

Nintendo missed their 4 million target worldwide for Wii in 2006.

MS missed their 10 million 'sold' (ie installed) for end of 2007... so they changed it to shipped.

And, if launch numbers meant anything we would all be playing Dreamcast 2.0 right now.

Posted at 11:30AM on Jan 10th 2007 by Fred T 0 stars

And here is why Sony will always be in business and why consoles will always be 600 bucks or more from now on...

Doesn’t really matter if no one is buying them, everywhere I checked had stock.

Does anyone around here remember anything about the PS2's launch?? It was equally crappy, and it didn't sell as many units to date, and there was NO competition at the time. Tell me, why is the PS3 so "doomed" as you all say? I think we need to take the wait and see approach here. We're two months into the PS3's life cycle. A bit premature, no?

Yeah, the difference is this, the PS3 DOES HAVE COMPETITION THIS TIME!

I sense SDF all around me!

But Fred T, I love my Dreamcast 2.0. 512 bit processor and a dual Hd BD drive. It also plays, Wii, 360, and PS3 games. Too bad online is only over dial up.

Watch out! SDF Special Forces are back en force! They are Special Forces meaning they act under the guise as a 'non-fanboy'.

Damn Sony Jabroni's!

@Fred T

For Microsoft, shipped does mean sold. If they are shipping out units to a retailer, the retailer has to buy those units in order to resell them to consumers. So Microsoft did actually sell 10.4 million consoles.

I'm so insanely suprised that the Wii has sold as many consoles as they have. The only good game that they currently have released is Zelda, and the units are still flying off the shelves! It has to be that 250 dollar price point.

Kevin #7: But competition is exactly the point here. I mean, some Nintendo fanboys might disagree with me, but there isn't really a major difference between the Gamecube and the PS2 except for their game libraries. Gamecube has better graphics but history shows that people don't really care about graphics as much as they think they do.

But Wii is _very_ different from PS3. Not just because it has an innovative control scheme, but because it has much lower development costs and lower development times. It's not as impressive graphically, but it does provide a noticeable "step up" from PS2-level graphics. And it's on track to having a much larger install base than PS3 (PS3s are already sitting on shelves, but Wiis are in very hot demand, and in Japan, where the most of the key developers are, the situation is even more drastic than here)

Low development costs + low development times + large install base (especially in Japan) + lower system price + Nintendo first-party exclusives + larger demographic = BIG recipe for success.

We've already seen the exact same thing happen with DS vs. PSP. Unless Sony does something drastic, I just can't see how they hope to compete with the Wii. Final Fantasy and MGS? Whoopie shit.

I remember the PS2's launch. I worked it, and it wasn't "equally crappy" by a longshot. The damn thing sold out and remained sold out for months. I can walk across the street to a department store RIGHT NOW and see a stack of PS3 units waiting to be purchased. With the PS2 launch, we couldn't keep them in stock- They were out the door as soon as they came in.

The press liked the PS2 because of the DVD player function (hey, only one standard and it's a significant leap above VHS) and they liked that the PS1 games worked in their PS2 while they waited for new stuff. The PS2 was a good launch, all things considered.

In contrast, the press is dogpiling on the PS3 and they all seem to hate it. The critics think it's sub-par, the fans resent the Sony arrogance and rotten pricing, the developers hate the difficulty of Cell programming and are leaving in droves, and retailers can't get rid of the damn things.

There's a WORLD of difference between the PS2 launch and the PS3 launch.

tkodarkside123 - honestly, there are a lot of great games for Wii, much more than just Zelda. I couldn't put down Trauma Center once I started it, and not a SINGLE person I've shown Wii Sports to hasn't loved it. Excite Truck is without a doubt one of the most underrated games of 2006 (play it for more than 20 minutes and you'll see why) and, as bad as it looks, Rayman is inexplicably addictive (and that game single-handedly got my entire family of eight non-gamers playing Wii at Christmas).

Sorry dude, but you're wrong.

The ps2 launch sucked becuase the games sucked, and the only reason it picked up is GTA3 and GT2, and frankly, there are no such games planned to be exclusive to Ps3. I don't understand why people want to pay so much money for this black asbestos magnet.

All together now...

"DUUUuuuuuuhh!"

This has been written about elsewhere, but it warrants restatement. Sony's flooded the American market with PS3s during the post-holiday hangover period in which few people are interested in spending $500-600 on much of anything that doesn't involve subsistence. I recently browsed the GameStop at the local mall--a madhouse between 24 November and 2 January--and was told, upon expressing surprise at finding ten PS3s in the store, that they were "too expensive" to move and had been there for "days." Wiis were also in stock, but they were "spoken for" (?) and the accessories for which I had entered were yet again out of stock.

I suppose one can readily pounce on Sony for the current situation, but what is the current situation? Holiday (trans.: rabid) attitudes toward trendy, new entertainment products aren't sustained into the following year? Is this really a shock to anybody? Like someone else said, until after New Year's, I barely ever saw a Wii box in a store, or if I did, it was in the process of being purchased. Yet now one can, with a bit of patience, get their hands on one if they so desire. Now, Sony may be in trouble--they've lost a lot of "on the fence" goodwill, and, even if one grants that the price point is reasonable for "what you're getting," it's still a large sum of money, etc.--but it seems a little silly to say, "Look! Not only have they solved their supply problems, but the trinket market has taken the turn it does every year! Must mean they're going under!"

"Ummm.. hey News Flash:

Nintendo missed their 4 million target worldwide for Wii in 2006.

MS missed their 10 million 'sold' (ie installed) for end of 2007... so they changed it to shipped."

Umm, nintendo only missed it by a week. VGcharts shows them at 4.00 million even as of last week.

Microsoft claims to have hit theirs.

Not only did sony miss their 2 million mark, but they missed it by 25%.

Sony Defense Force: ASSEMBLE!

@6

"Nintendo missed their 4 million target worldwide for Wii in 2006."

Can you link an article showing the numbers to back that statement up?

Sony made their target shipments for the U.S.; we'll find out soon enough whether they made them in Japan. If they've already sold over 1.3 million consoles in Japan and the U.S. then this launch really has been a success. It's time to get over the Sony hatred and give them a little credit for battling through production issues. If they don't mess up the European launch, they have a successful launch across the board after a rough start.

P.S. We need more focus on games and less focus on number of consoles shipped / sold, inventory levels, etc. Can we get some coverage about how much fun GripShift is to play on the the PS3 network? Maybe a little coverage about the IPTV interview for XBOX360, or something about the Wii games instead of the some old people using the controller...

All this article is saying is that Sony didn't make 2million systems last year. And the reason probably is that Sony could plainly see they wouldn't sell. Imagine how many PS3's would've been sitting on shelves then.
Literally TONS.
And to all those shouting about how the PS2 launch was the same, you are all collectively reeeeeetaaaaaaahted!(In my best boston)

The BEST way to gauge this next year is the guy on the street quiz. Do I need to tell you how it would turn out?
PS3 is a dead stick, and PS4 will never materialize.

Watching PS3 fanboys scramble is o so fun.

Just desserts for Sony!

you guys are funny...

Bashing one company isn't going to make me want to buy another console. It just seems like more and more people are bitter about the fact that their mommy won't buy them a $500 console. Maybe you should've thought about that when you pushed them to get you the XBOX360 last year. If you can't afford it now, then get it later; if people had some real complaints about the system, then I would find this more constructive. However, screaming that you can find the console on the shelf after the holiday season is all you've got, then I think I'll just call it bs.

The system has a great offering as far as launches are concerned. The hardware is stable, the software keeps coming, and the future looks bright.

We should be covering how Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo can improve their offerings instead of talking about inventory levels. I personally love my investment in the system and wish I could get more accurate news coverage and game coverage on the system.

Who says anything about bashing one company to benefit another? If Sony screws up, then it's solely Sony's problem, and no amount of handwaving by the SDF will make up for it.

--R.J.

Hey DBX00, an investment MAKES money... That is not what you bought. Once it drops in price and actually has some games that 360 doesn't, it might be more enticing.

Umm... newflash!

Fred T is a dumbass.

Nintendo has SOLD all 4 million of their consoles and they can't keep up with the demand. Sony can't even make 2 million systems, but it doesn't matter because 600,000 are sitting around in US stores.

Those are the facts. You want to waste your money on a PS3 then fine, but right now it's a complete waste of money and is very poorly made anyways. So have fun wasting $600 more dollars once the first PS3 breaks.

Let me get this straight. People who are tired of Joystiq not posting anythign but the most depressing news about Sony are somehow labeled a bad name, like, for example, SDF. Joystiq spent many a time bitching, whining, and moaning about how Jumping Flash wasn't on the Playstation Store and yet where were they, while ranting about the port of a very overlooked gem, Gripshift, Jumping Flash finally hit the US store?

Oh shit, that's right. That's good news. Not allowed here. And by the way, PS3 is a steady seller. Not a seller out, but a steady seller. So no, things are not all doom and gloom for Sony.

In a matter of weeks, they've managed to shut the door on Microsoft in Japan and manage to secure Japanese exclusives because of that. Not to mention, Gundam Musou. If Gundam Musou does NOT move more units, I don't know what will.

In the US? An installed base of nearly 800K (according to NPD as of the week of christmas) IS better than 360 launched. Yes, all we had was Resistance, but all 360 had was COD2. I remember, I have a 360, PS3, and a Wii. So yes, in the US, it is doing well. Especially considering how many of their launch games are now March games.

But I forgot, this is news about Sony. So we must all take the most doomtastic view on things. Sony is obviously a sinking ship, like the PSP, PS3 is doomed to failure. Nearly 5 million PSPs sold in Japan alone, their worst region, and PSP is a failure.

Seriously, you guys need to redefine some fucking terminology. Sony Defense Force? What the hell? This is likely coming from the same cat raping idiots that thought Wii60 was a clever play on words.

And I'm sure Sony didn't flood the market the last two weeks of the year simply so they could say they shipped a million consoles to the US, regardless of how many were sold.

That would be totally unlike them.

I love it when people attribute people complaining about the price of the PS3 to not being able to afford it, as if they're jealously lashing out at Sony because they don't get enough for their allowance.

The fact of the matter is, at even $500 for the cheaper version, the PS3 is just. not. worth it. Were I inclined to support Sony for some insane reason, I could afford two PS3s. The thing is, that doesn't matter. I still wouldn't because what you get doesn't justify the price and it doesn't look like it will in the near future.

Not everybody who is complaining about the price is doing so simply because they can't afford it.

DBX00:

And your comments would be easier to swallow if you were willing to state that for the vast majority of people 5-600$ for a console is too much money. The system is fine and all and this article only speaks to the merits of the price really. For you and the other SDF members on this site is it really that hard to admit that the PS3 is not overpriced with regards to tech, but overpriced with respect to consumer perceived value. That is what will hurt the PS3 until it drops fully 200 dollars in price for both sku's and at that point Nintendo and MS will have a pretty substantial lead on them. It's just a matter of economics man. Plain and simple.

i know for a fact you can afford more than 2 ps3's panadero

Kevin:
"Tell me, why is the PS3 so "doomed" as you all say?"


who are you talking to? nobody said that

@Daniel,

Seconded, third-ed, fourth-ed, through 32-ed for the people who have played the Wii I bought and are now on the hunt for one themselves (only 4 of them found a Wii this holiday).

I have a Wii and have showed it to lots of family members and friends, none of them have shown an interest in it at all.

The first thing they ask is "Can I play Halo or GTA on it?" if thats not the question they just usually say "Why would I want to jump around when Im trying to relax and play a game.

Most of them even the ones that have never owned a console coment that the graphics don't look that good when they see the Wii in action. I can't beilieve the BS that the Wii huggers love to post on joystiq.

Enjoy the Hype while it lasts like Apple Nintendo has a rabid fan base...but that will run its course soon and people will be looking for a non gimicky beffy games to play, rather than the waste your time type games the Wii provides.

When you parents are done with bowling and darts and the shit they like to play they are not going to pick up Zelda, they will be done with the console and ultimately the Wii fails.

I know this message will be followed in 2 mins by 14 wiihuggers claiming their parents got into wii sports and then moved on to zelda and are now in the water temple enjoying it like crack...but I know those are lies.

PS I live in the bay area california and other than the sony style store getting in large shipments occasionally there are no stores with PS3s in stock in this area.

Right now everyone is gearing up to spend that $600 tax return on a pre-order for an iPhone. Sucks for Sony.

"It's just a matter of economics man. Plain and simple."

No it isn't.

360 is much cheaper in Japan than USA ot Europe. By your logic, they should have sold at least 5 million units there, easily. But, they have only just now broken 250k. At this rate they will hit 1 million when xbox720 comes out. Whoa! Whats going on?

Also, PS2, xbox, and GC were basically the same price in the later years. Which one is still around? Which ones were left for dead long ago? Hmmm ... your logic falls flat again.

FredT:

My comments only relate to the US and almost certainly the EU so bringing in the Japanese market is pretty disingenuous on your part. The reason for the falter in Japan encompasses a whole lot more issues than price (game selection, brand recognition.) But that only takes into account the 360. What if you factor in the Wii when you talk about japan, here or anywhere else? That system is incredibly cheaper than the PS3 and what happened? It blew the PS3 out of the water. Japan, which you felt obligated to include, wholeheartedly embraces both the DS and the Wii, both cheaper and less advanced that the PS3, so again economics.

Does anybody even care anymore? Why would anybody want this console when the most of it's exclusive titles have jumped ship?

@Shagi,

So your non-gaming family members are only interested in Halo and GTA? Who's spitting BS now?

If you want a PS3 and can't find it in your area, order online. There's 600,000 of them laying around just for you.

Let me remind everybody that the xbox 360 shipped 1.5 million in 05 at its launch world wide.

so that means that the ps3 matched the 360's performance at launch, with 1 million shipped in the US and 470k sold in japan (wich means shipped to japan will be higher)

Exeter - The issue isn't that Sony isn't selling as well after Christmas as before; very few makers of non-essential products do. The issue is that demand for their product was not sustained nearly as long as that of the Xbox360 and Wii. You couldn't just walk into a store in January 2006 and buy an Xbox360, nor can you do so now to get a Wii. Demand for the system has decreased by an incredible amount. What does it say that they can't legitimately find 1 million Americans willing to pay full price for their system, when Microsoft and Nintendo had no problems getting bigger numbers out to players as fast as they could make them?

There's still plenty of race left to run, but sony had better hope they're like the proverbial tortoise. They're already way behind and showing no signs yet of catching up.

Is it so hard to believe that non gamers would have heard of games like GTA, Halo, WOrld of Warcraft? No its most obvious that those games make news for many reasons...however as a non gamer about Mario or Metroid and the only thing they remember is the NES games...if they remember metroid. Nintendo doesn't have the imagination of the mainstream non gamers...they have the same old Nintendo Fanboys to back them up...and they are gonna fail again just like last time.

#38

"I have a Wii"

A little later on in the post...

"Enjoy the Hype while it lasts like Apple Nintendo has a rabid fan base...but that will run its course soon and people will be looking for a non gimicky beffy games to play, rather than the waste your time type games the Wii provides."

Either you're fucking stupid for buying one, or your lying.

Probably both.

#45

Agreed.

http://img463.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ps3crabab5.jpg