In the light of selling only 25,000 PS3 units in Japan last week amid plentiful supplies of the console, and similar news of units sitting on shelves in America, I have to ask the question - is it game over for Sony? The console hasn't even launched in Europe yet and still units are sitting on shelves - where are the mass imports, where is the launch hype (there were shortages before christmas, the hype should have lasted long into 2007), just what is going on? In Japan there are barely 600,000 units sold from 1m shipped, 900,000 in North America from over 1m shipped - customers just don't want them. With FF XIII, MGS4, DMC4 on the horizon you have to say things are not over yet, but just what big hitters does PS3 have (in Japan especially) to combat the enormous Wii hype? It is no secret that PSP has been a massive disappointment. Hardware sales have been good, but software abysmal. Does this set a trend for PS3? Decent hardware sales (mainly for multimedia use) but poor software sales? Tie ratio of less than 1 still in Japan doesn't look promising. What do you think will happen in 2007? Can sony bite back? What do they need to do? What games can change things? Is Wii just DS all over again? Can Microsoft outdo Sony this gen? It's going to be interesting...

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/19/HNplaystationworstweek_1.html First of all it was a slow period for all game consoles last week. The PS3 has not had enough time on the market to be a dissapointment and obviously you haven't done research on the upcoming titles of the PS3. Research that see how many exclusives (and who are making them) are coming to the PS3 which ,for obvious reasons, will not be directly ported to the Wii. the PS3 isn't in trouble and it is extremely premature to say so. It has sold extremly well for a system of its price point and once the exclusives start hitting it is going to be interesting to see whether or not these calls for doom and glom will still be proclaimed.

That's fair enough but you do realise that the Playstation 3, the third version of the most successful home console series ever, has only sold around 600k to date in Japan and 900k in America with plentiful supply. That is poor, no two ways around it. Let's see this list of big exclusive games. I think PS3 will do alright in the long run in America and Europe, but I can really see their being an upset in Japan. 600k total, 25k last week, total software sales less than 600k, this is not good news for Sony. Aside from FF XIII (and FF is on the decline at the moment anyway) what else is there to save Sony in Japan?

In Japan ,even if the Wii wins out ,the PS3 will have its market .There are many gamers that want good graphics and technically advanced games .Those will go for the PS3 ,as the X360 isnt even an option in Japan ....ant thats the core of the hardcore gamers that will support the machine .The PSP has sold very well ,and the software isnt selling so well its true ...guess the piratery is harming it specially .With the PS3 that problem wont be present for a long time . Last week data showed a very strong low point in hardware sales ,with the DS around only 89 000 units .The percentage of sales decrease of the PS3 was in line with all the others plattforms .One can argue that if the console had been in rupture stock for months then the japanese would have profited last week for purchasing it ...but things not always go that way .The low week was probably because the end of the shopping season and will last one or two weeks more ,people have just to adjust their budget after spending too much .February and march sales pick up very fast . Last year saw a proportional decrease in sales for these weeks . http://www.vgcharts.org/japweekly.php?date=38732 Besides ,not many games are being released ...japanese have had motorstorm ,F1 ,Armored Core 4 and pretty much nothing more since launch .And Motorstorm and F1 with toned down versions without multiplayer included .Its not so strange that they are waiting a bit to the RPG and action games to start appearing . As for the total sales the PS3 is lacking a bit in Japan ,thats clear .They have had shortages until recently and now is a bad timeframe (no games released and low weeks in sales ) .Even so most of the advantage of the Wii is because the launch day (475 000 consoles against 80 000 ) and once the heavy hitters as Virtua Fighter 5 ,Virtua Tennis 3 ,Mist of Chaos and some more are released next month things will improve for the PS3 . In NA the PS3 had some 750 000 sold by 31 dec .....if it has only sold 150 000 consoles in all NA in 22 days of january then it is clear those are medocre sales as those would hint to 225 000 for january .In any case we should wait for some official information about january sales ,somehow I think there will be a surprise here ....if 250 000 remaining consoles were in the shelves from december and Sony is supplying 100 000 each week then the shops should be flooded with PS3 ...and they arent ,half the stores doesnt have any and from the remaining half most have 1-2-3 units in store.Prices in amazon and ebay continue to be higher than retail .Maybe it is selling stronger than appearances suggest as some analysts have pointed out ...putting an example the X360 sold 250 000 units in January last year ...if Sony has some 600 000 of supply and sells 400 000 even if it doesnt sold out it would be a major improvement over the X360 sales of last year (and probably this year also ) . As for games coming the PS3 has quite a lot that the japanese love ;Final Fantasy XIII ,Final Fantasy XIII Versus ,the Square MMORPG they announced ,White Knight Story ,Resident Evil 5 ,Siren 3 ,Gran Turismo 5 ,Winning Eleven 11 (the first proper next gen version after Shingo Seabass Takatsuka ),Gundam Mussou ,Metal Gear Solid 4 ,Virtua Fighter 5 ,Virtua Tennis 3 ,Sonic (reviewed by famitsu but finally delayed by Sega I think that to iron out a bit that camera mess ) , Devil May Cry 4 ,Monster Hunter 3 ,Eye of Judgement ....even games as Enchanted Arms and Mist of Chaos will be of interest for the japanese .

DREAMCAST "Aside from FF XIII (and FF is on the decline at the moment anyway) what else is there to save Sony in Japan?" FF13,MGS4,DMC4,VIRTUA FIGHTER5,ARMORED CORE4,...........

PS3 has some stong games already in Japan Ridge Racer 7 Gundam Resistance Motorstorm Formula 1 Armored Core 4 These are big sellers - look at PS2 launch for comparison. It was no stronger in terms of games but they were selling much better (700k for RR V for example). Even PS1 launch was much stronger and the PS brand was nothing really at the time. Things are poor, and every week that goes by Wii builds up more and more of a lead. You're right about end of season drop-off, that's the whole point. PS3 has dropped away from 70k xmas weeks to 25k, similar dropoff to a console that has been out for many years. This isn't the kind of pattern you expect from a new console with shortages. Compare to PSP sales in early 2005 - after large shortages over Dec 04 it sold well through Jan / Feb - more than DS as supply caught up with demand. Well there are now a good 400,000 PS3s around in Japan and yet they are only selling 25,000 per week. This isn't how a newly launched console should sell - look at Wii, it is still selling 100k per week in the quiet season. PS3 is doing worse than just about every other console launched in history, apart from Xbox's, and people can't blame shortages any more since this just isn't the case.

Well its clear you have your own agenda and somehow you wish the PS3 to fail ,but I dont agree with you .In Japan the PS3 is the only "next-gen" console and it will sell no matter what .If the Wii manages DS-like hit and manage to get octagenaries and little children to the new motion-sensing Nintendogs and Brain Training out there it may eventually win in total numbers but that doesnt mean the PS3 wont have the support of the hardcore gamer market .And not all the companies can survive releasing mind quiz minigames and such things ,so the big publishers will keep publishing in the PS3 .In the most wanted Top 20 games the first 3 are PS3 ones and there are 5 in all ....more than the Wii . That said ,I dont know where are you taking your data .PS2 sold 750 000 units in its first week ,more than the PS3 in two months .As such ,the software sold was obviously better but you are seeing to data for the games years later .The attach rate wasnt better that the PS3 .Even one year down since the PS2 launch the total number of games sold was inferior to the consoles sold .The attach ratio with the PS3 is better than that as early as now .The week ending 14 january 2001 the PS2 sold just 32 000 consoles ,comparable to the PS3 number right now . Ninth week for the PS2 saw a 1 650 000 consoles sold cumulative total ,with 77 000 sold for the week .As for the software the attach ratio was nearly 1 and excepting Ridge Racer that approchged 650 000 games sold all the other games were around 250 000 ....for the PS3 the attach ratio is bigger and Gundam and Ridge Racer have already surpassed the 150 000 mark and Resistence 100 000 ...that having sold less than half the consoles of the PS2 by its ninth week is a good sign . PS3 in Japan isnt as expensive and doesnt have a real competition as a next-gen graphics advanced console ,the Wii may sell more or less following its own pattern but the PS3 will fullfill totally that market(next gen graphics ) and it cant go wrong there .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_3_games http://ps3.ign.com/index/release.html The PS2 was not an instant success either even though the PS1 also dominated the generation it was in. Take look for yourself at the titles.

Well I dont think the PS3 is doomed yet, but if the sales seams to stay this way for some weeks and Nintendo get some really good quality games out of the door. I do think that PS3 will have a hard time to win the race in Japan. But the big problem for Sony isn't the bad hardware sales. It is the bad software sales, I mean Zelda (which a lot of people think isn't selling well enough) has almost sold more than al ps3 games. I do think that PS3 will reach some really good number but I do think Wii will win Japan. Wii Sport and Play is already leading the way. Hopefully the american charts will show some really good software and hardware sales for the ps3. Or at least that the BR - movies is selling a lot now. But if I should be honest I don't think so... ps3 needs some really good games really fast to not be destroyed by Xbox360 in USA (which is getting guitarr hero 2) and Wii in Japan. In Europe it might be an open field if the price is going down I can by 2 Xbox360 premium and at least one game today for the price of 1 ps3. Large sales the first month in Europe and then it will drop fast. As somebody said it is selling well for a 599 USD system (800 USD in Sweden, Eu), the problem is that it is fighting a 400 USD (425 USD in Sweden, EU) to the hardcore gamers and a 250 USD arcade style system. Therefore I doubt that the ps3 will win this generation as clearly as the last...

Dreamscast could be very right on this tho.. and you guys say all the exclusives like MSG4 and such will recover the dramatic sales. OPEN UP YOUR EYES GUYS, MSG 4 ISNT EXCLUSIVE ANYMORE http://nintendo-revolution.blogspot.com/ Hideo Kojima himself says he hates the PS3, and if you look closely you can find that he says MSG4 will only be exclusive for a few months (more or less). now, whats left there, final fantasy MMMXXXXXVVVVVVIIIIIIIIII ? Wii and 360 on top!