Sony: PS3 sales are "surging" in the US and Canada
By John Pospisil
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) says sales of the 60GB PS3 are surging in the US and Canada.
According to Sony, the 60GB PS3 is currently enjoying a “surge” in sales following a price reduction in the US and Canada on July 9 of $100 to $499/$549 CND. Since that date, unit sales at the company’s top five retailers have jumped 113% when compared to the average sales of four weeks prior to the price drop.
SCEA says it will continue to sell the 60GB in the US and Canada at the new, reduced price until current inventory is depleted, which is predicted to be this fall based on current consumer demand.
With SECA having just announced an 80GB model at the old price point of $599US/$659, you’ve got to wonder what’s going to happen when the 60GB model sells out.
Will Sony follow up with a price cut of the 80GB model to keep the sales coming?
SECA also announced that throughout the holidays and this fiscal year, more than 120 new first and third-party software titles will be available for North American PS3 users to enjoy, in addition to the more than 40 software titles currently available.
Key upcoming first-party titles include Folklore, Heavenly Sword, LAIR, NBA ‘08, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, SingStar, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, THE EYE OF JUDGMENT, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, PAIN, and Warhawk.
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August 6th, 2007
Not that I mind Sony telling their sales figures, and they’ve said its not from everyone, so if it turns out to not be true, we can look back and say “ok, it was their top five retailers,” but saying something as usless as a percent increase gets me.
I say, Sony, stop hiding what you don’t want us to see and show us some real numbers. I could go out, buy 20 NES consoles from garage sales, sell one to a friend this month, and 3 to friends the next month, and I can claim sales of the NES are up 200% and are making a comeback.
Sony has been trying to make their sales look good by saying sales have more than doubled (this isn’t as bad as the more than 5000% incrase in sales on Amazon for the 80 gig PS3 the day pre-orders started, since any increase from the previous 0 would actually still be 0), but they weren’t selling that many to begin with.
Heck, right now, no one even knows how many people are buying the PS3 for games and how many are buying it as a cheap, low end bluray player. Last I hear their attachment rate was right about with the Wii at just over 2 games per console.
Two conclusions can be drawn from that. Either they are in the middle for attachment rate, and its not too high (there is such a thing, and the 360 is getting there) or disappointingly low. If the attach rate is near the game-only Wii, then most people are buying it for the games, obviously.
On the other hand, everyone is annoucing bluray has won, the PS3 is a cheap bluray player, and its attach rate is just ahead of the Wii, which is outselling it like crazy, and the PS3 is more for the “hardcore” gamer who is more likely to buy more games for their console, so something must be pulling this down…the huge number of people buying it just as a bluray player.
So we need 2 things from Sony, actual numbers, not just percent increases, and data on how many people are buying the PS3 as a bluray player, how many are buying it for gaming, and how many plan on heavily using both features.
Because, dang, they lied enough, and if they aren’t lieing with all these percent increases, they sure make it look like it with the way sales increases are presented.
August 6th, 2007
Now, wait a minute here. I think Amazon was the one that said sales increased over 5000%, regardless oh how well the PS3 has sold….I think they were averaging about 10k per week in Japan and more then that here for the 60GB. A 100% increase is still a 100% increase. Why get so made at numbers that retailers are claiming? Sony is on a roll, they are still the most expensive console out there, and now sales are really picking up big time, competition is great for us.
August 6th, 2007
I don’t mind Sony selling consoles. I don’t mind it picking up. But a 100% increase from, say 10k per week isn’t even close to the same as a 100% increase from 100k per week.
If I was selling one dollar bills for $5 each, and I had a friend by one one week, and the next week I had 2 other friends buy 1 each, that’s a 100% increase in my one dollar bill sales. However, if I told you I was selling one dollar bills for $5 each, and sales doubled, you would think most people failed 1st grade math.
Can you fathom what would happen in the DS had a 100% sales increase? You’d be talking over 2 million units over the span of a month (world, not use North America)!
Last I can find, PS3 sold 45.5k units per week last month. A 113% increase is 97k units per week. For comparison, the DS sold 130k units per week. A 113% increase for the DS would be 228k units per week! These figures are all for North America only.
Now, why doesn’t 113% equal 113%? Simple, The real increase for the PS3 would be 51.5k units per week. The theoretical increase for the DS would be 98k units per week. the 113% increase for the DS would make its sales increase as much as the PS3 sales increase has it selling at right now.
113% is different for different numbers. As you can see, if there was a 115% increase in the DS sales, that would mean everyone on earth would own one by the end of the month, whole a 113% increase in PS3 sales makes it a good seller, but its still not huge.
Then factor in how many people are buying it as a bluray player, as I said before. Counting those people for compition is like counting people who buy a HD DVD player for the Xbox 360. If they aren’t going to buy games, what does it matter? In fact, it wouldn’t suprise me that if some developers are scared of PS3 because we don’t know how many people are buying the PS3 just for the bluray player it can be. No one wants to make a game for a system that is only used for its secondary features for many of its buyers. Without numbers for how many people plan on actually playing games on their PS3 (I would assume its a high number, but you never know), we can’t know how competitive it is.
August 7th, 2007
Matt’s absolutely right: doubling sales *sounds* impressive, but the degree to which it is actually impressive is entirely contingent on how many were being sold beforehand. It’s a lot easier to double 10 than 100, in other words.
August 7th, 2007
Matt’s absolutely right: doubling sales *sounds* impressive, but the degree to which it is actually impressive is entirely contingent on how many were being sold beforehand. It’s a lot easier to double 10 than 100, in other words.
Regarding competition: sure, it’s good for gamers. But only because it eventually leads to innovation and price drops. It does this by rewarding good products with high sales and punishing disappointing ones with low sales. So, one could argue that Sony selling poorly is good for competition because it discourages the silly processor-based arms race, and encourages Nintendo’s more game-centric focus.
Put another way: we don’t know which part of the competitive cycle this is. Sony selling more could help drive other companies. Or, Sony failing could force the other companies to learn some much-needed lessons about how game systems should be made. Both fit just as well within the “competition is good for us” claim.
August 8th, 2007
for 1 thing.. “This much is true” I work for a PUBLIC/CORPORATE ANAYLYST Sales firm. 1 thing we have been watching is sony and the gaming war. Sony announcing that they are having a surge in sales is 100% correct. Not based on smalls figures that just doubled they are infact capturing the market like all of us thought they where going too. Not only do they have a system that is completly beautiful and very well made. It is much better than any other system currently out there. It may have not sold 10 millions units yet like its competitor XBOX360 but all of us professionals here do believe it will succeed just in a different way! People who are real hardcore gamers who can appreciate the real power that the sony playstation holds over its contenders will buy the system and realize that is much greater than the other 2 systems. In the end this system will be far from outdated when the likes of the xbox360 is already a joke compared to the PS3. Just wait and see! Sony hass some exciting things up there sleeves and they are not backing down from Microsofts half efforts it makes on everything from it operating systems that are crap to its other numerous products that are complete crap as well. Microsoft has never been about making a solid product that is better than everyone elses. They always make something that is partially crap and partially cool and still leaves a bad taste in our mouth in the end. PEOPLE CAN SIT THERE ALL DAY AND DEFEND THE XBOX360, But when you put everything down on paper! Not only is sony a better company than microsoft and make better stuff. There gaming system is not much to be desired accept by people who wanna get out cheap and by the lesser expensive not very exciting xbox360 but I guess when you are not customed to the finest things in life I guess you will just take the first thing you can get your hands on
which is sad cause song does have the better product and the better games. Just wait until sony starts making there PS3/Computer bundle where one CD ROM SLOT WILL BE A PS3 SLOT that will be featured in there PC’s that you can hook up to your TV and steam the game wirelessly to your TV and play off of your computer 
a PS3/COMPUTER all in one sounds likes a lot of fun to me and for the SUPER GAMER! This package will be exciting to see around the christmas season.
August 10th, 2007
They are scrambling to get the last few consoles with emotion-chips
After that its glitchville all the way with PS2 games.