psrock said: Trust me the Playstation Brand is still strong because, this is as real i can be, last year the xbox 360 was a much better product to get, they were cheaper, better games, xbox live, and yet it barely outsold the ps3. I was surprised one person bought the ps3 when it was $600 dollars, imagine 7 millions. Buying the ps3 these days with a couple games is like using my rent money.

 

 Correct. I'm thinking, not predicting, that people maybe waiting until the PS3 gets cheaper (I mean, like how the PS2 is). Plus if the PS3 gets some games that would appeal to everyone. Not everyone, that I know, wants the system for the games that are currently out on it. Hell, my boss at work, her husband only has a PS3 for...MADDEN FOOTBALL >_> And DVD/Blu-Ray movies. I work at a daycare, and I only know 3 kids who own the system. They got the system on release and only play their PS2 games. 2 of those kids have Guitar Hero 3 for the PS3, and one has Rachet & Clank: FTOD. I mentioned on another thread that I would only get a PS3 to watch DVD/Blu-Ray movies, and if I had a PS3 with backwards or full-backwards compatibility, I would only get PS2 games until there were games I like on the PS3.

You point out that GTAIV had no effect on ps3 hardware, but forgot to mention that it also had no effect on 360 hardware. Then you point out that Halo 3 DID move 360s, but for some reason discount MGS4's ability to move consoles. And MGS4 DID move consoles in Europe. Sales rose almost 30% over previous weeks. And that's in the territory in which the ps3 was already selling the strongest.

You could say that GT5P had already caused a lift in the EU, and that carried over a bit until MGS4. GT5P, unlike MGS4, did much more for sales in the EU than it did in the other territories.

Hawkeye said: Bundles sell. Why do you think that there are 4 different PSPs on the market, with a 5th coming soon?

 

Yes that's my point.  But like most advertising techniques you can only use them so much before they saturate or don't have a noticeable affect.

makingmusic476 said: You point out that GTAIV had no effect on ps3 hardware, but forgot to mention that it also had no effect on 360 hardware. Then you point out that Halo 3 DID move 360s, but for some reason discount MGS4's ability to move consoles. And MGS4 DID move consoles in Europe. Sales rose almost 30% over previous weeks. And that's in the territory in which the ps3 was already selling the strongest. You could say that GT5P had already caused a lift in the EU, and that carried over a bit until MGS4. GT5P, unlike MGS4, did much more for sales in the EU than it did in the other territories.

 

I knew someone would mention GTA IV on the 360.  People do nitpick I suppose.

I tried to distance myself in this thing as far as possible from E/O because clearly E/O trends for the PS3 are very very different than its trends in America and Japan.  I shouldn't have mentioned in the article at all and that's my fault. 

 

So we all know that PS3 is fine in E/O so keep it to America and Japan.  That's where my discussion really is focused in.

There was no E/O budge in numbers since there's been a steady stream of games that perform well in that market to come out over the last four months.

First it was GT5: P at the end of March, then a month later, GTA IV, and then six weeks later MGS4. There's been a lot of games for Europeans to play on the PS3 over the past few months. And the fact that all of these games were bundled at no cost to the consumer meant that people already had purchased their PS3s prior to the release of MGS4 for the other two titles i previously mentioned.

I think that maybe you're reading far too much into this whole bundling sensation. There's nothing wrong with offering an incentive to bundle a game. Yes, Sony bundled MGS4 with the 80 gig PS3. But they didn't bundle 1.4 million units of it. The game sold on it's own right, and the system sold on it's own right, the bundle only helped push it further to that goal. I would think people would be happy that sales didn't abnormally spike this week (in E/O), cause that'd mean that we'd see abnormally low sales this week, as the effect of a big week would mean less people would buy the system this week, which would be great fodder for all the haters out there...

Nice write up, well written, but somewhat innacurate.

DMeisterJ said: I think that maybe you're reading far too much into this whole bundling sensation. There's nothing wrong with offering an incentive to bundle a game.

I completely agree.  It's just smart on Sony's part.  Pack-ins, bundles, special colors, limited editions etc. etc. have been with consoles for years.  I almost bought a GBA once (even though I already had one) just to get the special yellow one with a Pikachu face on it.
Not to say Sony shouldn't be concerned about PS3's sales... but if bundles help move more hardware out the door, as Diamond Dallas Page might say, "That's not a bad thing, that's a good thing!"

PS3 sales rose above 360 sales the past few months when all that was available was the non-BC 40gb with no pack-in game or movie...

They need to make the 80gb/BC/MGS4 permanent.  I'm not clear on whether Sony will do so.

Loud_Hot_White_Box said: PS3 sales rose above 360 sales the past few months when all that was available was the non-BC 40gb with no pack-in game or movie... They need to make the 80gb/BC/MGS4 permanent.  I'm not clear on whether Sony will do so.

I still think this is more due to a combination of the release dates and prices oddly working against MS at this time.

MS still hasn't had a decent price cut, and I think many people who were going to buy a 360 at those prices already have, while many are waiting for that eventual $100 price drop.

Sony, OTOH, was able to get a bigger boost from it's price cut precisely because no one was buying it the first year - it hadn't tapped the $400 market the way MS had.

If MS drops and Sony doesn't match, expect the positions to reverse themselves again.

Taking a quick look at the chart available on this site, Hardware from Launch, you can see that the PS3 although seen as expensive, quite neatly tracks the 360 for hardware sales from launch even though it was competing with the mighty Wii, and remember the 360 had no current gen competition for over a year in some regions.
also note that the PS3 is well ahead (by about 3 million units) of where the 360 was at a similar point in its sales history.

All in all, it appears these "desperate" measures have done the trick quite nicely.

Its the double team between wii and the 360. The casual market (which sony did tap into with the ps2) has chosen the wii. Its as simple as that. Most ps2 owners will upgrade to a wii. The 360 on the other hand has stole a nice proportion of the hardcore market, through a cheaper price, stolen exclusives, more time on the market etc. I hate using anecdotal evidence, but out of my gaming friends 3 of them were diehard sony fans last gen and two of them got the 360 instead. Whilst very few xboxers seem to have moved to the ps3. Im not saying the 360 will outsell the ps3 ww as the current trends are clear but that doesn't discount the fact that microsoft has put up a lot more resistance this generation whilst the wii completely blew everyone out of the water.