I'll give credit where it's due, and Sony deserves some for taking its struggling PlayStation 3 gaming console, and injecting new life into it by dropping prices. Since the company chopped the price of the 80 GB unit to $499 and introduced the $399 40 GB version, demand for the PS3 has magically increased. According to PC World, combined sales at the top 10 retailers in North America have increased by a whopping 192%, and have more than doubled overall. Reports also indicate that the PS3 outsold the Wii in Japan during the month of November.Kudos to Sony for biting the bullet, and making a move to help remind gamers that the PlayStation 3 is still out there. However, as PC World points out, these drastic measures mean Sony will be losing money from every PS3 sold. The report says that Sony hopes to offset these losses by increasing market share and adding new game titles. However, just recently, the company slashed the price of its developer kit to help attract more third-party titles for the console. Can a healthy profit still be made by games offered at half the development cost?
The PS3 won't appeal to the same, growing "family" market that is eating up the Nintendo Wii. The "serious" gamers were enjoying Microsoft's Xbox 360 a whole year before the PS3 even saw the light of day. Those who really wanted the PS3 sat in line for hours, and even days, to be one of the first to snag it. Obviously cutting the price by about $150 opened up a new group of customers that were just waiting for more affordability. But can the PS3 keep it up? The holiday shopping season will be a prime indicator of its likely market position for 2008.
Nevertheless, congrats to Sony for managing to generate new interest in the PS3. The three-way console race just got a lot hotter!
The PS3 won't appeal to the same, growing "family" market that is eating up the Nintendo Wii. The "serious" gamers were enjoying Microsoft's Xbox 360 a whole year before the PS3 even saw the light of day. Those who really wanted the PS3 sat in line for hours, and even days, to be one of the first to snag it. Obviously cutting the price by about $150 opened up a new group of customers that were just waiting for more affordability. But can the PS3 keep it up? The holiday shopping season will be a prime indicator of its likely market position for 2008.
Nevertheless, congrats to Sony for managing to generate new interest in the PS3. The three-way console race just got a lot hotter!
2 comments:
I love the way you say the PS3 is struggling when it has actually sold as many units in its first year as the 360 did yet the PS3 has done so at a disadvantage because it was only on sale for 7 months of that year in the EU.
I guess this commenter works for Sony? lol
Post a Comment