the ps3 will recover, there hasn't been any huge releases yet, when final fantasy comes out it wil make a combeack.

I think that people fail to notice than whole Japanese market is relativly low right now. PSP is exception and it's doing fine becouse of Monster Hunter release but what about other consoles:

DS - last week it sold worse than in any other week in 2007 or 2008

Wii - it sold almost 50k which wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't with Mario Kart release that sold over half million copies. Last year weekly average for Wii was about 70k (I know it includes Holidays etc. but still with Mario Kart Wii should have beaten this). I think that Wii will go down and in a couple of months we can see a similar sales like in Septembe last year when lots of people where saying that Wii is on a downhill in Japan (but now people won't be saying that becouse all consoles will be down).

X360 - it just had the worst week this year and only few weeks last year had lower sales.

I think Sony bit their own asses and underestimated the value of having full BC in their models, I know consumers in Norway too were roaring when they heard it would be unavailable in newer SKU's.
Launching at such high price was a huge mistake, but by God; removing BC was even bigger.
They have no choice but to include it again in newer versions, but there will already be a heap of owners who get shortsticked and feel upset over it, this is surely a loose/loose situation right now for Sony but they still need to add BC again to save face with their fans whose belief in this once monolithic console hardware company is waning fast.

BKK2 said: NJ5 said: BKK2 said: But isn't that the same half-assed software BC everyone criticized the Xbox 360 for, with which only some games will work 100% correctly? That's a bit of an exageration, the vast majority of games work fine. Sony has a website where you can check if your games are compatible or not. I read that some of those "compatible" games have problems during some stages or cutscenes, which is why I said "100% correctly". Apologies if I'm wrong.   They don't list games as compatible or non-compatible. They are listed as: No known issues to date Should play on PLAYSTATION®3 with some minor issues Should play on PLAYSTATION®3 with noticeable issues The vast majority come under the "No known issues to date" category. This is for the PAL PS3 which has the same BC as the US 80Gb. BC Games Compatibility

PAL doesn't have any BC in it's PS3. They only offer the 40gb model (Same as Japan)

That is the only reason I don't own a PS3. I even went out looking to buy a 60gb PS3 (same as US 80gb) last November, but i couldn't find one anywhere.

The day Sony offers BC to PAL, is the day i buy my PS3. I am sure many other people feel the same way.

it changes the cost of the ps3 for many people

if their ps2 breaks (or they don't own a ps2), then they can either spend $100 to replace it or $400 to get a ps3 with full bc...making it only $300 for ps3/bluray...that's not bad

but since it doesn't have bc, it's the full $400 for ps3/bluray...that's a big difference


for others, they just want one console under their tv

removing bc is probably one of sony's strategy to increase profits. by lowering production costs drastically, they can potentially increase their profits.

another strategy would seem that they are hoping that by removing the bc from the ps3, the ps2 would still continue to sell in which they would have effectively extended its life cycle. more ps2 sold would again mean more profit for sony as they are probably making more money on the ps2 than the ps3.

but the way i see it, by removing bc skus in japan, they have effectively alienated a portion of the market who are considering to buy a ps3 and at the same time are aiming to play the newer ps2 games on the same console.

to many, bc isnt much of a big deal and anyone could just go out and buy a ps2 also, but budget is a constraint for many people. if you add it all up, ps3 40gig + ps2 price > ps3 60gig price. so for japanese gamers who wants to play both ps2 and ps3 games, the 60gig is the way to go. and with the large liblary of games the ps2 has and the number of new releases still coming out, having a ps3 with bc is really a plus factor.

It kind of looks like seasonal trend as well although the starting point for 2008 is lower than 2007.