The results for video game console sales for February are in:
- 335,000 Nintendo Wiis
- 228,000 Xbox 360s
- 127,000 Sony PlayStation 3s
This means that 48.5% of the new video game systems sold in February were Nintendo Wiis. That's a big ouch for Sony, whose high-tech new system appears to be struggling for consumer acceptance with Nintendo's less-tech, but more fun, Wii. Interestingly, Sony's PlayStation 2 sold 95,000 units because of its recently reduced price of $129. The strong sales there indicate that the PlayStation 3's launch price of more than $500 was prohibitvely high, and that PlayStation customers are happy to just buy the old system.
In some ways, the slow sales of the PlayStation 3 appear to be a flashback to the launch of the 3DO in 1993. While the unit was way ahead of its time technologically (it was among the first to offer CDs instead of cartridges), its high price point (among other factors) put it at a competitive disadvantage compared to simpler, less expensive systems like Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.
Perhaps Sony will lower the price (they are already taking a loss on each system sold) to increase the user-base for new video games. Right now, developers will be much more inclined to work with the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, which have sold 2 times and 5 times as many units as the PlayStation 3, respectively.
Interestingly, Atari founder, Nolan Bushnell, was predicting that the PlayStation 3 would "fail" even before it was released. In November, he told Red Herring that "I think Sony shot themselves in the foot ... there is a high probability [they] will fail. The price point is probably unsustainable. For years and years Sony has been a very difficult company to deal with from a developer standpoint. They could get away with their arrogance and capriciousness because they had an installed base. They have also historically had horrible software tools. You compare that to the Xbox 360 with really great authoring tools [and] additional revenue streams from Xbox live ... a first party developer would be an idiot to develop for Sony first and not the 360. People don't buy hardware, they buy software."
If the second part of Bushnell's hypothesis comes true (developers being in no rush to produce software for the PlayStation 3), Sony could be in serious trouble.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-25-2007 @ 10:13AM
stephen huntley said...
hi, im an xbox 360 gamer. Nolan Bushnell made a gd decision saying that the playstation3 would fail before its even launched! i predicted that as its mid year no1 wud want 2 pay the ridiculous price jst after christmas. the xbox also has the ultimate online experience even tho its priced! it was gd to read the article above please keep me posted on the sales for this month thanx.
3-27-2007 @ 6:33AM
leslie said...
yes what a flop for sony thay give us in the uk a lower spec PS3 with out reducing the price and expect us to buy.after 3 days you can still buy at my local woolworths.get real sony don't send us in the uk your castoff's
3-27-2007 @ 3:01PM
alex said...
so... the real battle will occur when the prices are dropped on ps3's and everyone will want them also the ps3 & the ps3 is selling more at this stage than when the 360 was out. 360 was equally as slow in teh beginning but now its selling much more. the ps3 might be more expensive but thats because its better than the 360.