Sony’s going to have to drop the PS3’s price by $200 this summer if it wants to be a player in this generation. That’s what a Bank of America analyst says, and who am I to argue with BoA? I like how the analyst calls a $50 price drop “meaningless.” Even the rumored $100 price drop wouldn’t do the trick.
The main culprit for Sony’s troubles? A gold star if you guessed the Nintendo Wii.
Game publishers are seen as moving toward the Wii. Oh, and the PS3 has nearly no exclusives anymore, so consumers see little reason to shell out 600 clams for what they could get elsewhere.
So yeah, same song and dance. PS3 stinks, blah blah.
Expected PS3 price cut won’t improve sales, says Bank of America [GamesIndustry.biz]
The Wii is surprising everyone, but I still think that $600 price tag on the PS3 is the biggest culprit of sony’s troubles, then the lack of games.
The 360 isn’t running away with anything right now, but they are still maintaining about a 190k units sold per month average… the Wii is hindering them also.
a lot of people are waiting on Sony to pull out of it, but the Wii and 360 is slowly putting distance between them and the PS3. If something doesn’t happen soon, theres going to be too much of a hole to climb out of. A FF and MG game late in 2008 may be too late
A: Your headline, though lovely, is completely inaccurate as to what the BOA said.
B: What the BOA said is not worth much as their whole premise is that a Sony PS3 is 25% more expensive AFTER a $100 price cut compared to a ‘comparable’ system.
Well a comparable system would have HDMI, Next Gen DVD and Wi Fi just to start. The closest is the Elite and with these options -$50 for extra HDD space would come in around $739 while the PS3 would be $499 (since we are talking a $100 price decrease). Given that the analyst is basing their points on this I’d tend to ignore this analyst.
I guess the analysts at BofA don’t play Madden or any video game for that matter. If they did, they’d know the trend history of Video Game Consoles. Instead BofA allows their analysts make ignorant statements to the press.
Here is a little look into the future:
The Blu-Ray Disc Association has reported that Blu-Ray discs have accounted for almost 87% of all HD disc sales since the PS3’s release. This is extremely significant because Sony’s format had trailed Toshiba’s HD-DVD up until the advent of the PS3, but Blu-Ray hasn’t trailed since. This is on par with with the rest of the world now, as recent reports had Blu-Ray outselling HD-DVD by an almost 3:1 ratio.
The most recent statistics say Blu-Ray is now leading the format war with 64% of the total volume in 2007. It’s more good news for Sony, especially considering how hard they’ve been pushing the HD capability of the PS3. Now, if the price drop occurs this year – and it certainly appears possible – consumers will be seeing the cheapest, most diverse Blu-Ray player on the market.
Sony shouldn’t be worried about PS3’s future. The HDDVD backing Universal Studios should be the one that is worried.
you do know that ps3 still has more exclusives than 360 right, i mean do you even research anymore or do you just jump on any bandwaggon that comes along (im not knocking the other systems, just pointing out a few things)
resistance
motorstorm
heavenly sword
lair
warhawk
socom
littlebigplanet
home
uncharted: drakes fortune
mgs4 (yes it is exclusive, do the research and you will see the most recent report is false)
ff13 (well maybe exclusive, the report indicating otherwise merely mentions that there will be other ff for other consoles, nothing about ff13 going to 360)
now downloads: calling all cars
flow
pain
superstardust hd
cash guns chaos
gripshift
these are the reasons i bought a ps3, and the reason i bought my 360: Halo3 and thats it,
GTA will be on both, but with the advantage of every ps3 having a hard drive, rockstar has already stated that the ps3 version will have less load times.
o, and one more thing, since when does anyone from the bank of america have an opinion on the video game industry? i wouldnt trust his opinions ever, for one; he doesnt work in the industry and for another, bank of america has close ties to MS in the stock market, so it is in this mans best interest to debunk the ps3. lastly: of course the ps3 is not selling better than the other consoles, its more expensive, but fail, i dont think so, lets look at this another way, hogen dos ice cream(or however its spelled) is more expensive than no name ice cream, and the no name outsells the latter, so is it doomed to failure aswell? no, obviously not, i say if you cant afford a ps3, stop whining
KMan is 100% Correct, a comparable system would have HDMI 1.3 (1440p), Lossless Audio 7.1 capability, Blu-Ray Drive, 60gb HDD, WiFi and a processor Capable of running at speeds beyond 4 GHz. So in actuality PS3 is 75% cheaper then a comparable system.
BofA needs new analysts.
You playstation, die hard, pansy, fan bois, are missing out on one simple fact. The fact that it’s not SELLING!
From my sources, programming a game on the Wii is much easier than PS3 because of blu-ray. They could drop the price dramatically and I don’t think it would make a difference. The reason is that Microsoft has taken most PS3 exclusives like Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil 5, GTA 4, etc. Also most of the PS3 games you can get from Microsoft or Nintendo (depending on the game of course). They have to find a way to program games easier on the PS3 and try to maintain keep PS3 manufacturing costs down. I believe this was the same exact problem with the 360. Their costs were high and losing money and as they came out with games like GRAW, and Gears of War people start to buy it. When people buy more 360s the price of manufacturing them goes down eventually.
If the PS3 wants to be successful, they have to have games that is unqiue from Microsoft and Nintendo. Nintendo is popular because of Zelda, Mario, etc. every game comes out from those Nintendo characters people go crazy for those types of games. They have to start to make great games not good games, but games that will blow people’s minds off. Also if they want to improve with the hardware they should add more ram. I think 256mb of ram is ridiculous, but I am not sure if that’s correct. (Correct me if I’m wrong.) They should add more ram and make the parts run as one not independently and thats why 360 is slightly better than the PS3. Its because of all the components on the 360 work efficiently and as one unit.
The PS3 is selling. It’s just not selling as much as the Wii and the 360 right at this moment. Here are the numbers for how each console sold during its first 6 months of release.
Wii (2,470,000)
PS2 (2,200,000)
Xbox (1,900,000)
GameCube (1,540,000)
Xbox 360 (1,384,000)
PS3 (1,271,000)
The PS3 wasn’t that far behind the 360 and it costed a hell of a lot more. I would say the PS3 is doing just fine. And I can’t say that the 360 is slightly better then the PS3 (I own both). Of course if you compare the games which have come out on both consoles, the 360’s version looks about 5 percent better, but that’s just because these games were created for the 360 then ported over to the PS3. If you want to compare games on both consoles, you need to compare the exclusives. Gears of War to lets say Resistance and Motor Storm. Yeah Gears of War looks and plays great, but why so short? The game ended just I was getting into it. The 360 can pack a mean punch, but for only a short period of time. It’s the Mike Tyson of game consoles. You can knock Resistance, but if you’ve actually played it through its entirety, you would see what I am talking about. The game is long and you can see just how powerful the PS3 really is. Same goes for Motor Storm. Lair, Heavenly Sword, and Warhawk will be out by Aug 1st and I believe this will be the time when we will begin to see the sleeping giant awake.
I said once and I’ll say again.
“Journalists”, mainly from the cyber-world or are just short-eyed or payed by Microsoft for each of their non-sence articles bashing Sony and their PS3, before it was the PSP that (for the journalists) was a complete disaster and so on… now they forgot the PSP to bash PS3? , WE (the rest of the world excluding US) KNOW how patriots americans can be, and when even the Bank of America says that PS3 is a failure if they don’t drop the price $200 proves my point, they want their “home” product (X360) to win the competition, 95% of the negative Sony news are from american websites, fortunately there still are some ppl in US that are imparcial and speak openly about things. I don’t see in Europe, Asia or Australia this kind of “hate” for Sony, honestly, I feel sorry for those guys who think they are in “c’est la mode” just because they also hate Sony, it became a National Sport in America or what??? Pathetic…
Sony (SCE) by itself has enough AAA software titles to appeal many consumers to their products, and while I agree that in the moment things looks bad for Sony (poor PS3 sales), the truth is… since I remember, Sony was never a “rushed” company, they do their stuff with tranquility and they allways acomplish big things, games like LAIR, Litlle Big Planet, Heavanly Sword, Drakes Fortunes and the Home Service are just a few examples how Sony is focused in bringing to consumers the best products with the best quality possible, they need those products to came out urgently, but they won’t sacrifice their quality in order to launch them sooner.
NO ONE and NOTHING can predict the future, vido-game industry analysts are like weather prediction guys they allways fail in their prediction, and most of those “analysts” are from suspicious sources, when a “evil” Xillion dollars company like Microsoft is in a market, everything must be seen with a TON of salt. Bank of America think they also are “wizzards” and think they know what Sony needs to do, for them Sony failure is a good thing, not a bad thing, so people should just ignore their “two cents” of opinion, they should give their opinion about the billions of dollars Bush is expending in weapons and none sence wars or give their opinion about the 50% world pollution US makes, not about a video-game product .
My final thought…. PS3 is not having good days (FACT), but when we look at a near future I don’t see things getting worse, I see a path well traced by Sony with good software and services alied to a good and fantastic system, I have a PS3, I’m very happy with it, firmware updates are beeing great, the console design and construction quality are amazing, people who bash Sony is because or they don’t have one, or are extreme fanboys from other companies or are just weak mind people that are influenciated by others, others those that are ignorants or just plain dorks.
I have a PS2 and Wii, so I’m pretty neutral on Sony vs Nintendo. I could buy a PS3 tomorrow.
But the PS3’s price is teh suck. Even if GTA IV comes out on schedule and is teh best GTA evar, I still can’t imagine paying $600 to play it.
Considering everything that the PS3 does, $600 is not bad at all. This is coming from a PC gamer and a Wii owner, so take it for what you think it’s worth.
That said, the main problem is that everyone is that Sony is trying to create a replacement for the home media entertainment center. It seems to me that a lot of people just want video game consoles. If you disagree, how else do you explain the Wii’s popularity? It’s a video game system and it’s fun. It doesn’t play movies, no 1080p that everyone seems to think is so important… and it’s in the lead. By a surprising margin.
In my opinion, Sony has kind of upmarketed this past a lot of video gamers, whereas the 360 is in line and the Wii is actually less expensive than what we’ve gotten used to. I wonder who will end up being “right” in the long run.
I have to say I find it hilarious the way the PS3 fanclub rally round to lecture everyone about how well they want to claim the PS3 is doing and how much great value they insist it is.
Well that’s ok for the already converted but haranguing lecturing the non-buying public isn’t much of a sales tactic.
Unfortunately many of the best exclusive titles have now gone multi-format & those that remain are in-house efforts (which often lack wide appeal) and at the end of the day a $600 price-tag is still a $600 price-tag.
At least with the XBox 360 people get to build it up in stages.
…….and the Wii sales numbers (pretty much everywhere) just prove that an inclusive approach with wide appeal & engaging gameplay beat glitzy graphics & bare specs anyday of the week.
But the overarching point is that PS3 sales have dropped like a stone after the short initial rush (this has happened everywhere) and now bump along at a low level
(and in the USA sales have continued to decline and are now down to around 15,000 a week).
No amount of shouted spin & PR sloganising at people is changing that factual backdrop.
PS3 the new Dreamcast?
(ie technically competent but just never going to appeal widely enough nor sell in the numbers originally hoped for? )
Well, all i can say is that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but at the end of the day, you get what you pay for.
Not only that, but in my experiences, it’s always been the bullys and naysayers that have always ended up going home with their feet in their mouths because all they were good at was putting someone or something down, for whatever reason.
So all i will do is watch as the PS3 keeps getting pushed around, pointed at, degraded and disrespected, and when it is pushed to the limit, i’m going to laugh as the big picture unfolds, and all those naysayers have no comment, because all the fans know exactly what will happen, and to that i have no comment…
The PS3 is not all that over priced, considering what it has (yeah, it should have come with HD cables and such). Compare the Dollar’s “Value” now as to what it was when the original Playstation, or even the Nintendo came out. Our money is becoming worth less and less everyday. The First gen systems (values compared) were much much more expensive than the new systems of today. That being said, I have a 360 and a PS3, soon to get a Wii also. The 360 in my opinion is not worth what it is sold for. Don’t get me wrong here, I love my 360, but after 6 months ownership it quits working all together??? A very common problem, the 3 red lights around the power button, and Microsoft doesn’t ship to APO addresses. I happen to be stationed in Germany. If I can’t get somebody in the states to send it in for me and send it back to me when done, then I’m out 400 bucks for 6 months of play time!! You tell me whats worse (Had my PS3 for about 6 months also, not one problem yet)
I think that anyone who cares about games, and not game systems, is simply going to wait for the developers to choose what bandwagon they’re gonna jump on. The PS2 had a lot of developers working on titles for the system as soon as it was announced, this isn’t so much the case on the PS3.
I don’t know, a weak library, a high price, and features that are for the most part out of the reach of most people makes for a crappy system.
Until either Microsoft or Sony make their systems cheaper and backwards compatible, I think most people are just gonna stay away.
And sure, you can say “you get what you pay for” but the so-critically-acclaimed HD movie support is about as sparse as UMD support for the PSP.
Maybe in five years, when the TVs, the players, and the games get cheaper, will most people come around. Until then, I guess it’ll just be the “hardcore gamer” people who have money to burn playing a handful of pretty-looking games.
Oh, and when that happens, no one’s going to pay what the first-response people payed. No one’s going to wait in long lines, and no one’s going to go store hopping asking for something that’s out of stock everywhere else.
I do not have a ps3 so I cant judge it.
But I have a wii and I pearsonaly would
of payed $600 for it.
Sony’s problems? Lack of common sense. Bad software. Then try to brag their hardware. Sony will be dead in 3 years!!!
Blu-ray has not yet been ‘exploited’ by the developers. It is still considered to be a difficult to program system, compared to what the Wii and Xbox360 has, but u will see in the future what the blu-ray can do. Tests have shown that the blu-ray disks, combined with the power of the PS3 can allow games the size of 50GB. Seems unneccesarily huge, but more data on AI, graphics, design, and things such as music and movies can be stuffed in. Also, the technology of the console has a shelf life of seven years, while the Wii and Xbox360 have it less then 3.
Not only is it the technology, but the quality of the PS3. Many reviews have said that the PS3 is much quieter then the 360. Also, there have been alot of 360’s breaking, and glitching up severily, while PS3 is said to have problems with over heating.
Not trying to be a fanboy, but i see no reason to get the xbox, especially after seeing it crash and glitch everytime i palyed with it at my cousin’s, and i only like the games and series on PS3.
Dont forget, the sixaxis controler is not only wireless, but you can use it for the game almost like the wiimote.
In the end, its your prefernce on what games you want to play, and do some research if your skeptical.
Those who JUST say bad things about other consoles are just jealous. Give some logic.
If it hasnt been “exploited” by now,it isnt gonna be anytime soon,trust me on this one.The Devs arent just gonna sit and wait around for some people to figure out how to making gigs fit into whatever,cuz lets just face it,a mass majority of “casual” people are just not gonna give a rats ass on what has what in what,let alone trying to learn what any of that fancy CPU gigachip nonsense even mean for the people paying 1000$+ on those things “IF” THEY do come out mind you.In other words,if they see one thing doing something thats akin to others with “minor”differences only,THEY ARE GONNA GRAB THE ONE THAT SAVES MONEY!,reguardless if the other system can make love to you.
Same rules apply with tournment players and casual players for exmaple.NO ONES gonna dispute the fact that there are more “casual “players that stray away from tournments more than “Pro” ones due to the fact that pro tournments players uses bugs,glitches ect, labeling them “AS” techinques in there minds,thus making the games more deeper,challenging and the like.
Making them feel they are a higher athoruity than others that play less.Until a fighting game/whatever gets a sequal,then guess who gets upset when the changes to appeal to casual gamers happen? BOOM,the “hardcore” bitch,whine,cry,pout about what should/should not happen all because a games gotten easier to open doors for a(you guessed it),”A BIGGER MASS AUDICENCE IN EXISTANCE” Dont believe that logic? Go visit Smashboards.com sometime,and look up a topic called “Wavedashing is gone!?”for futher proof. XD
In other words,Sony “thought”that games that were complex as hell were the only type of game that sells until Nintendo went back to there roots and went “simple” yet again.Oh boy they were wrong with a passion. XD
Sony PS3 R.I.P 2006-2008 “get mad if ya wanna,but dont hate me,hate the company”
i have played all the systems in question, and you and i both know they al have strong suits and week spots, personally i agree prices are too high for what you get but with the ps3 you have lots proccessing power with week responses, I have yet to spend the money on either system since they screwwed up with loyal gamers such as my self WARHAWK TWO PLAYER ONLY!!!
i have played all the systems in question, and you and i both know they al have strong suits and week spots, personally i agree prices are too high for what you get but with the ps3 you have lots proccessing power with week responses, I have yet to spend the money on either system since they screwwed up with loyal gamers such as my self WARHAWK TWO PLAYER ONLY!!! This and on game day FF13 should be with the system Everyone i know would have purchassed one. I am gonna stay on the fence. we will see if prices come down.
Sony lost a loyal fan with their dumb ps3 blunders. First of all, I didn’t even think about buying one when I discovered the price. Now, years later and they are still $200 over-priced. Next, bad mistake to make 20 different kinds. Regular people who just wanted to play the new GTA Do Not understand 40, 60, 80 GB and then I guess retailers scrambled to come up with any idea possible to trick people into thinking it’s a good deal and started putting all these packages together. The ps2 is the best game system ever made. GTA4 isn’t worth all of that. Sony sucks for doing this.