It seems that some people here think that PS3 consoles should be flying off the store shelves like hotcakes - this thread is about rationalizing why they aren't. Causality is one of the inexplicable truths of our time; Everything that happens has an underlying and often very clear cause. So what sorts of causes would motivate people to buy a PS3 at the moment? A certain group of the population has already bought their PS3s, and there's no lack of supply, so if someone were to buy one now, what would be their motivation? I can see 3 possible causes: * If someone previously didn't have enough money, they could be buying one now. (this group probably accounts for a large chunk of the PS3s being sold, IMO) * If someone had a birthday, they *may* be able to get one bought by a cooperative relative. (this group of people is ever-present, but never very big) * Possibly someone who doesn't have one decided it might be a good investment. (With all the negative press, I can't imagine that this group is very big) So, what are your thoughts? What incentives exist *now* - games that aren't released are pretty well unrelated... there aren't any notable things coming in the near future... What will drive sales, in your opinion? EDIT: I should note I'm specificly talking about the US, but Japan could be included too.

I think they are interested in getting a blue-ray player, have a gamer in the family. It works quite well, use the blue-ray for the family and if that format fails you still have a gaming console

heres a list of reasons: Home Heavenly Sword Warhawk Killzone 2 MGS4 FFXIII FFvXIII Unreal Tournament 3 (this version has mod support unlike the 360 version - get the PC version only if you have a good enough PC to run on Ultra High) 2 Days 2 Vegas Eight days Eyedentify God Of War III Gran Turismo 5 Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier Kingdom Hearts 3 (rumored PS3 version) Lair Ratchet and Clank 5: Future Tools of Destruction The Eye of Judgment Tekken 6 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune White Knight Story Wipeout

Generally, people don't buy a console for games that aren't out yet. Especially games that will be over a year away. I think most people are buying them because "It's a new playstation". It's branding more than anything right now

Yep I'd say it's because it is the 'New Playstation' now with fancy blue ray and media stuff (half of which will probably not get used).

I hate this reasoning, there really arent that many people that can drop 660 (after tax) on "just a new PS) People are buying it because they want to, not because theyre stupid.

And to the topic. People are buying the PS3 because of BD, Resistance, Motorstorm, and Oblivion......as much as you want to point to multiplatform games as a reason to NOT own one, and trying to assume people only buy the console because of what they can use now is false. The notion of what will be played later is very much relevent to making this purchase now. Maybe im interested in BD movies and Resistance, but that just might not be enough for me to take that dive right now, personally id use MGS4, Lair, Home, Ratchet and Clank etc. as that extra justifcication for my plunge to BD and Resistance......its a lot more complicated than "what can i use now" as justification and reasoning on purchasing this system or any system.

Totally agree. It's the "new Playstation" and that means something to the tens of millions who chose PS2 last gen. Some may want it as a cheap blu-ray player, although I doubt too many. A few will be pulled in by stuff like Resistance and Motorstorm. But mostly it's because it's the new PS and to many people that means THE new game system to get. However, we should note that there are only a certain number of people who are going to come up with $600 (or more in Europe) based on brand loyalty alone.

At launch, however, many people buy systems due to the games coming out, or promised to them. Look no further than the N64: Nintendo promised alot, and was coming off the heels of a very popular SNES that had great 3rd party support. The N64 did bad globally, but in the US did very good on the promise of games that it failed to deliver. After a point, they stop buying into this due to no quality titles....Which is why the PS3 is selling ~130k units in the US in just 4 months of release.

as others have said, brand name is the most powerful factor, though it decays if not backed up by quality, in this case, quantity/quality in games. blu-ray is definitely a plus. all the media and online capabilities are more minor reasons at this point.