SCEA almost responds to lackluster January NPD results

If they dropped the price a bit it might've at least halted the slide. For SCEA not to drop the price AT ALL is definetly hurting them. But I can't talk too much, I bought a 60gb PS3 about a year after they came out....

I seriously dont see how people could think the ps3 is not cheap, ps3 is a BARGAIN compared to others, i dont want to start a flame war but considering what the ps3 boils down to its one of the cheaper consoles.

Sony HAS to cut the price in this economy, especially with the competition. When your main rival sells a unit (bare bones one) at 1/2 price with many of the same games it would be better to absorb short term losses for long term gain. I only have a BS and I can see through this..sometimes it makes you wonder about how some people get on top.

(that's what she said) said it before the inevitable reply.

i'm wondering what the year to year figures are

Games aren't going to save the PS3; a cheaper price, will.

Sony really need to pull their fingers out and change their strategy. It evidently isn't working at all at the minute. Their sales are declining already. And even with the amazing software lineup for the year, the economic depression will probably stop the AAA games from shifting a ton of systems.

I know they can't drop their price, as they are still making a loss on every console they sell. But hell, they need to hurry up and do something.

Sony's strategy is fine; they are doing worse than expected but I don't think they realistically thought they'd be number 1 out of the gate or even at this point (please, no links to talking heads saying anything contrary; that is what talking heads are for, claiming the system is doing great no matter what).

Of course they are planning to drop the price, and of course they know it is the largest barrier keeping their sales down. But they just don't have the cost of production down low enough yet. I think I remember a story about them getting small chipsets later this year, though; that should help.

If they are really serious about a ten year plan, I think they'll be fine in terms of profits, especially since the PS4 will not use so much brand new, expensive tech and will just be two PS3's duct-taped together.

They need to improve the way they advertise all the advantages the PS3 has. The commercials they released during this past holiday season were awful. I should be seeing in-game Killzone 2 footage on TV like, right now. Scratch that, how about yesterday?

Increase marketing is a good idea. They are supposedly spending £2 million here in the UK to advertise Killzone 2, and another £2 million on other older games. I am yet to see one advert for Killzone 2, two weeks until release. And i haven't seen any of the other adverts either.

Nevermind though. Had one since the day it came out and i couldn't be happier with it.

Why won't Joystiq make mention of how Sony is trying to cover up this latest bad news? I noticed Sony has flooded news sources and gaming blogs with cover up articles that started being printed Wednesday evening. A flood of articles that seem timed for release on this day they new their latest bad NPD data would be announced.

owning a ps3 is like being in a club. its good to know not many can afford one.

Seriously, Andrew is becoming a huge joke here, posting on Joystiq PlayStation, yet tries to find a way to turn NPD sales as negative as he can. EVERYONE knows PS3 would drop including SCEA since it hasn't had a price drop. But like Sony knows, they CANNOT drop the price UNTIL the production costs decrease to a point where they can profit. Sony could price PS3 cheap and top other consoles, but if they did that, they'd be in severe debt right now. That's why they are just going to hang in there until the costs drop. Sony ISN'T going to try to price their console just to win, they will price the console so they can break even/profit.

Despite the entry level 360 being half the price as PS3, it couldn't even double PS3 sales, which makes the 360 sales a joke if anything. And last year Nintendo ran out of Wii consoles in January, which we all know (and Sony DID have plenty of supply in PS3 consoles).

The Hexbox 360 is half the price of the PS3 and the difference between the two is only 100,000??? Ouch....looks like Microsoft need another price cut, maybe if they sell their system for a fiver they might be able to increase market share over the PS3..........maybe.

I think the better question would be... How does the 360 sales compare to the PS2 in the same amount of time it was marked down to $199... I think what you would find is the 360 is not hitting marks even close. Of course it has two higher price points but logically that means it should be selling even better since it has a price point that is attractive to not only hard core but casual gamers. Do you really think the PS3 would be selling at it's current point if it were $100 less? This is really absurd that we are comparing year to year. SONY has no reason to be upset about their numbers. Obvioulsy we will see a price drop sometime this year but the question will be when. SONY would be in a losing state if consumers were not buying games and sales were down considerably. But in this economy at the same price point with over a dozen million sellers for 2008 I don't think SONY is worried. Actually anyone who is aware of economics would know the PS3 is actually in a very good position for 2009...

Can't wait till May when I can get a system with more consistent features for all games released on the system and ditch the system that's afraid to be a decent games machine, but just wants to be a picture viewer that can also play games. Custom soundtrax as a system wide feature is only 3 months away for me.

I think there waiting for what KZ2 can do. After all, it is HIGHLY anticipated. The game may be overhyped but casuals don't see it like that.

The ps3 still hasn't managed to escape the taint of being "too expensive" - primarily the perceived excessiveness of the ps3's blu-ray drive. Could it have done without the blu-ray? Maybe. But I'm betting that besides capacity, it was placed in there to curtail piracy, which became rampant towards the later part of the ps2's existence.

It probably isn't public knowledge that without blu-ray, MGS4 wouldn't exist in the form we see today (and perhaps maybe hamper production of other games whose size we don't know about).

You can explain this to the consumer 100x over but not everybody is going to here it. so as an earlier poster said, it's the price that buyers are going to see, despite how stupidly blind that might seem to the rest of us.

""Everything the PS3 has that makes it a "bargain" is not needed. Blu ray isn't needed, hard drives aren't needed, wifi isn't needed, online isn't needed."

Yes they are"

Whoever thinks Bluray is a necessity cracks me up. So to your point EXTINCTION, BluRay is why the Ps3 is $400 and not $299. All the other features are present in the other consoles to varying degrees AND they cost less. The world cares about Bluray in passing and look at it like SACD. Nice but completely unnecessary.

Being the most advanced tech available when the market isn't ready to adopt said tech is counter-productive to say the least. Those who believe BluRay is essential fall into the 10% trap-10% of the population who are early adopters on everything and think the market is dictated by them when in fact the opposite is true.

The bottom line is the PS3 is like the laser disc-awesome but ultimately a collectors icon. In order for it to be mass market it has to be priced accordingly. Unfortunately, Sony doesn't appear to want to price the PS3 for mass market consumption until it actually IS mass market, a losing philosophy.

That being said, the sales are pretty much in line with the 360 minus the one year head start. I think that's impressive, not a disappointment.

Everyone is saying that the ps3 could have done without the bluray player. could it? really? so what would they ship there games on? or do u want all of them as downloads. there are games on the ps3 that would take 2 or 3 disks to play on the 360.yet just one on the ps3 that would be bcs its bluray.so maybe less people wil play bluray movies on it atm but they will.

For all the XBOX and PS3 fanboys out there. And for all the NPD, VG chartz and the rest of the statistical sites. Let me say something..

You cant compare these systems! And Ill tell you why..

WII = For the the family = One segment of the market
XBOX = For teenaged gamers = One segment of the market
PS3 = Home cinema and media center = One segment of the market.

Its like comparing a Volvo, BMW and a Rolls Royce. Something safe, something fun and something exclusive. They all got a different segment of the market.

If you buy a Wii you want that cute and fun interactive deal, if you buy a 360 you want it for the pure gaming side to it, if you buy a PS3 you want it for that home entertainment side to it and the games is a nice bonus.

For example, i cant see myself buying a WII.. ever. Because it dosent have anything i want in a console. And i cant see myself buying a 360 either, because that console dosent have anything i want either ..since i cant watch blu ray or go online for free. So the only choice for me is the PS3. Thats it.

You wont see a Volvo buyer go shopping for a Bently, You wont see a Nissan buyer go shopping for a BMW. You wont see a Hummer buyer go shopping for a Wolkswagen and so on.. the only thing these consoles have in common is the games. So the thing you really should look at, if you like the statistics of this "war", is the amout of games and software they all sell compared to the number of units sold.

One months sales figures do not a trend make...

idiots...

*Looks at chart - Places fingers in ears, closes eyes and yells*

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!!!!

@MAFKKA,

Spot on really. I've never liked the comparisons either. The PS3, the Wii, and the XBox are all just too different to be compared. It's the domestic gamer ego in the way here, IMO. Americans can't stand the idea that they are not the market any longer. Especially with regard to electronics. How's the XBox, and MicroSoft for that matter, doing in the Japanese market? Oh, right. How about the European market? Oh, right.

The PS3 was designed with OTHER markets in mind, while the Xbox has been positioned to dominate the domestic market. Which it hasn't even done. Most of the Xbox fanbois are just there for Halo anyway. Yet MicroSoft holds more of a sales lead, than they do a sales victory. That SHOULD be embarrassing for them, and their customers

PS3 contains significantly higher performing hardware. I mean, it came to market a full year after the XBox so this was to be expected. With that the PS3 will be handling dev's demands WAY after the XBox is still trying to wonk out yesterday's shooter. Plus, title development for the PS3 is just NOW beginning in earnest. The graphical quality curve on PS3 products has been higher than anything I've ever seen. Did you look at Resistance2 or what?

Lastly, what about the fully integrated MicroSoft hand-held for the Xbox? Oh, right. This one fact alone justifies the price difference between these two consoles, IMO.

Rolls Royce and a Toyota indeed. Both cars. Both have a steering-wheel and four tires. Both have an engine. Does that make them the same product? To make the analogy complete, the Rolls Royce would have to double as a helicopter, and a nice boat too, though. 'Cause the PS3 covers that much ground at least.

Blue-ray bashing is so ignorant too. Maybe you don't understand that the Blue-ray disc holds more than twice the data of an HD/DVD? Developers have yet to even scratch the surface, storage wise that is, what are Xbox owners going to be saying when PS3 games are more than twice the size of Xbox games? I know this question has 'em really freaked in Redmond, 'cause apparently no one thought of that.

Epic Fail.......
Sony needs to drop the price after it's fiscal year ends... 50 dollars in the Spring and 50 dollars in the Fall... that way they'll get a little boost towards the middle of the year and towards the end of the year they'll be in that $299 price point, which most definitely will help for the holiday season.

It's all in the marketing. Sony could easily drop the system price by $99, and then charge a one time $99 dollar fee for PSN, and then do a huge advertising campaign, against 360 for making you pay that same fee year after year.

Make a graph that shows how much consumers actually spend on the 360 system after 5 years. Sugar coat the pitch and stop repeating that BS line about "looking to the future". Thats why people decided to not buy their products "now".

The problem with sony is they feel they are the industry standard after the PS2 was such a success, and they do not want to realize that they are way behind and need to start assuming that position. Their is a great deal of marketing required to change public perception of their system and that is basically what will lead to any sort of sales...

They shouldn't be afraid to get a little "apple" and put out very clear and concise information about their products.

Wonder what corporate PR "we have everything under control" line they'll give when KZ2 and system sales severely underperform along the same lines that they did when Resistance 2 was "the next big thing" for the PS3.

Regardless, it's all the same to me. Only way i'd even consider shelling out the $399 to replace my dead launch PS3 is if they were to re-add BC and fat chance of that. Unless that happens i'll be waiting for the win win situation mid year of 45nm PS3s and the inevitable price cut thats bound to happen between now and then.

From the desk of a casual gamer:

PS3 numbers, dissapointing (But with price drop coming will improve over time)

Wii numbers, AMAZING! (no price drop required yet)

But come on... Am I the only one who thinks 360 should be performing better than this considering it's position as the cheapest next gen console on the market?!?