PlayStation by the Numbers: October 2008

happyface - 420 days 2 hours ago

poor Sony

I feel bad for them, trying to pretend their sells aren't a disaster

ps3 is a good system, it doesn't deserve to be a flop

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Gandhi69 - 420 days 2 hours ago

Agreed. I feel there has been over reaction to these numbers (as always) in two ways.

1: Ps3 fans not giving credit where credit is due. Yes, the ps3 got trounced in North America in October. No reason to deny it, Microsoft knew it didn't have the games to compete with ps3 this holiday season, so it gave the 360 an aggressive price cut, and heavily marketed the big games it did have coming out, way more than any Sony release, and it appears to have paid off for Microsoft in NA this holiday season, as Gears will be the biggest game this year and has stolen most of the press, and Xbox with it.

2. Xbox fans over reacting to the importance of outselling the ps3 this October. I'm not sure if many remember the end of 06, or all of 07, but the ps3 was more expensive, didn't have any games, and the Xbox had the ps3 on the ropes. More important than the 360 just outselling the ps3, the ps3 wasn't selling at all. Now, however, Sony has rebounded nicely, and has picked itself up and is fighting again, an impressive feat considering Sony really has no wiggle room on the price in an economy that is more price sensitive than usual. Also, as time goes on, Sony is always improving its abilities to deliver a quality online experience(which it needed the extra time to do).

-- All and all, The PS3 has re-established itself this generation and as thrown all talks of a console flop out the window. Coming out ahead of the 360 at the end of the generation is now a possibility, which was completely out of the question a year ago. However, finishing ahead the 360 is by no means likely, probably about a 40% chance at this point, but at least its more interesting.

-- And to all those worried about such things, just ask Gamecube or Xbox owners last gen, just because your console doesn't finish first, doesn't make the games any less fun to play!

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Tony P - 420 days 1 hour ago

Ghandi, you speak wisdom. Totally agree. Good points, all.

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ultimolu - 420 days 1 hour ago

Believe me Ghandi, I give credit where it's do. Sony is starting to make a profit. I'm not surprised by the 360 winning October because it's neck to neck in the U.S now. I'm also not surprised by the YTD either. But November and December are the last two months of the year.

I'm interested in what will happen.

lokiroo420: How can this be a newly written blog when it has plenty of entries?

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lokiroo420 - 420 days ago

Is it me or is this a newly written blog by someone who was offended by a fanboy and felt that it was necessary to cut and paste an article together to defend their loyalty to a product. Lame is the word that comes to mind, who cares what side did what, stop the bs articles all together.

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Death - 419 days 22 hours ago

The Playstation 3 had a very rough start, but 2007 was when they seen the most aggressive price cuts which resulted in much better sales. At the end of 2007 Sony had sold 10.5 million PS3's worldwide compared to Microsoft's 17.7 million. The gap narrowed from 7 million to 6 million at the endo of September 2008. Depending on how the holidays go, Sony will either gain ground or lose it. So far they are going the wrong direction. They definately outsold the Xbox in 2007, but 2008 isn't over yet and momentum is in Microsoft's favor.

-Death

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kevin1112 - 419 days 21 hours ago

i dont understand morons like you, this point in its lifetime it is doing better than the 360. so if the ps3 sucks and is doing horrible than what does that say about the 360? see, fanboys are RETARDED!!!

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Mainman - 419 days 12 hours ago

Ghandi, I dont know if you realise that PS3 still outsold the 360 YTD with 50000 units according to NPD numbers. Ofcourse not sure what will happen in the last 2 months of 2008.

But it is worrying for MS that the PS3 can keep up with the 360 despite the high price of PS3. Plus Sony still have the pricecut-card up there sleeve.

I dont know, but in the long run, I think the PS3 will win over 360.

Plus ofcourse there is the rest of the world. Everone says PS3 is selling more in Europe, but havent seen any numbers so I am not sure if PS3 is winning in Europe though.

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Breakfast - 420 days 3 hours ago

Put some more effort in your spin, please.
Write a blog, im sure itll get approved.

Edit: Cute ultimolu, but no.

Its 5pm, why the hell would i eat breakfast...lol.
Seriously, stop with these jokes people...theyre soooooo 4 months ago.

Your so bad at what you do. I can spin better for Sony.

You can just say that the ps3 is the glue thats gonna make Sony (as a whole company) monster profits, due to Blu-ray, hdtvs, and home theatre systems. Yes, the ps3 will help, and has helped sell all these products. Ps3 is an investment. A smart investment, thats has already proved worthy, with the victory of Blu-ray.

Take a lesson. Or just stop trying.

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ultimolu - 420 days 3 hours ago

...You know nothing about Economics so don't try.

Sony is focused on making a profit for the PS3, which is why they're not dropping the price.

I implied they should keep doing that so they can drop production costs further.

Spinning what exactly?

Go eat some breakfast.

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PirateThom - 420 days 3 hours ago

Heh, do you really thing Sony are losing money on PS3 hardware?

The most expensive things (Blu-ray and Cell - Blu-ray diodes were $100, they reduced to $8 at the end of last year) both took a nose dive in price, a lot of the components like the HDD and wireless card are standard stock parts and bought in bulk. A lot of the size of the components was reduced, which reduces cost (RSX, Cell).

Considering they were losing $241 on the 60GB PS3 at launch, I'd say Sony are making profit, if not breaking even now in the US (and making profit in Europe where the consoles retail at higher prices). In fact, I'm tempted to go through and find the current price of each component.

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thebudgetgamer - 420 days 2 hours ago

the fact that the console with supposedly no games crap online a worthless blue-ray player is not only keeping up in some months dominating the cheaper console is still pretty impressive.

:)

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GrandTheftStreetcar - 420 days 1 hour ago

PS3 sells movies too. Profit probably goes to another Sony division, but it's money earned by PS3 anyway.

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Tony P - 420 days 1 hour ago

Back to the matter at hand, PS3 isn't doing as badly as extremist fans would suggest. The subject matter of the article lends solid proof to that fact. That's not to say the PS3 is meeting ALL expectations, no. Monthlies could be a lot better, imo. But please, credit where it's due.

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Death - 419 days 22 hours ago

Sony has been losing money in their game segment for a couple years now. Here's a link to SOny's last quarterly financials: http://www.sony.net/SonyInf...

Due to cost reductions and increased software slaes they managed to cut the loss from 57 billion yen to just under 40 billion yen. That means they reduced their operating losses to only $380 million this year. So to answer your question, yes they still lose money on each system sold.

-Death

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Death - 419 days 10 hours ago

My source is directly from Sony. Click the link and look yourselves. If you disagree with Sony's own financial statement, who exactly are you listening to?

-Death

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darkride66 - 420 days 2 hours ago

Think about it. How long did it take the 360 to hit 15 million, with no competition. I don't understand how people can look at the PS3, selling faster than the 360 ever did with a higher price point and stiffer competition and can somehow view that as a failure. Unless you considered the 360's sales a disappointment as well, those people are just being hypocritical.

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Software_Lover - 419 days 23 hours ago

But people have to admit that they didn't see this gen working out like it has been thus far. Sony was forced to get off their high horse and make cheaper versions of the ps3 in order to finally get their sales going in a better direction. If it weren't for all the price cuts and different cheaper sku's introduced in the first year things would be worse.

Sony is the worldwide video game juggernaut. How can Nintendo pass Microsoft, after the crap gamecube (for the most part), and the dominating forces of the ps1 and ps2 hasn't allow Sony to take over Microsoft? Microsoft is only really loved in the states but yet they are maintaining their lead. They even beat ps3 for a couple of weeks in Japan. I dont care how much they beat them by or how little, just the fact that they sustained a few weeks ahead is a milestone in itself. WHO SAW THAT COMING?

This holiday season will be an interesting one. Im not one to care about sales, but it will be funny to come on here and read you guys comments in January. There will be a fanboy explosion that anyone who loves to laugh will be a fool to miss.

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Death - 418 days 22 hours ago

Both the PS3 and XBox 360 sold approx 17 million units the first 24 months. PS3 sales took off once Sony dropped the retail price to $399 which was actually lower than the Elite by $50 and only $50 more than an Xbox 360 Pro. The reason people make a big deal about the PS3's sales pace is due to the fact they sold better than the Wii last generation and commanded well over 75% of the market for over two console generations. The fact that they are fighting so hard to keep pace with a competitor that held a little over 12% of the market is pretty astonishing. When you consider the company that was in last place last gen is currently number one by a long shot makes it even worse.

-Death

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darkride66 - 420 days 2 hours ago

The PS2 is still selling remarkably well and Sony is just introducing it to new markets in Asia. They just finished a new version, smaller and with the power supply built in. With PS2 games still routinely breaking the top 10 lists, why on earth would Sony kill the goose that laid the golden egg? It's not like people are going into stores looking for a PS3 and saying "Wow! A PS2? It looks great, and it's so much cheaper!" and walking out with PS2's. They're not really even competing in the same market. You might as well say the PSP is cutting into PS3 sales.

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GrandTheftStreetcar - 419 days 23 hours ago

... and its user base had no choice but to jump on 360 wagon. That definitely added to its current numbers. Smart business move as long as the original XBox owners don't realize or don't want to admit they've been betrayed.

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Death - 419 days 21 hours ago

Any chance I can get tomorrows lotto numbers? That's less than 24 hours from now. Hit those and I will believe your truths about two years from now. Look at Sony's growth with the PS3, so far it is pretty much on par with the Xbox 360's. The biggest differance is the PS3 is one year behind. Looking into the past shows the PS2 selling 40 million in it's first two years on the market. The PS3 is selling at less than half that rate. How can you apply past numbers whne it is clear the PS3 is on a much differnet path?

-Death

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shine1396 - 419 days 20 hours ago

I think (from memory) it was around 25 million by the end of the second year, and this included the chrismas sales. which is to say your numbers are probably way way off but I get what your saying. And though I kind of agree, I have to say, Ps3 is still more expensive then the Ps2 launch prices (over here anyway), and this is an even bigger factor, because of the current worldwide situation. I'm fairly sure the ps3 would have dropped in price again, had things in the wider market place been different.

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Death - 419 days 16 hours ago

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/...

-Death

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Ramzadel - 420 days ago

A weird commercial just came out for the PS3, with a boy I think coming outside putting away trash and staring at the sky as if something big is going to happen, and then it said something about the holidays coming up

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ultimolu - 420 days ago

Ramzadel, I think I smell bundles. :)

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Ramzadel - 420 days ago

Maybe Dark Knight???

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ultimolu - 420 days ago

That would be awesome. Better count the lucky stars that Sony does this.

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ultimolu - 420 days ago

And they're starting to make a profit.
That's absolutely fantastic.

They need to focus on what's best for them and not the competition. Sony has some good marketing strategies but I think they need to advertise more.

I think they have something BIG planned for the holidays.

C'mon Sony, turn up the heat!

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Ramzadel - 420 days ago

@ 7.1

Look at 6.1 quote

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Lord Xire - 419 days 20 hours ago

PsN accounts cannot be taken seriously at all...

It's free and theres probably countless numbers of people who just recreated more PsN accounts. Like myself who has 3....mainly because I wanted a different name for my clan, which many others have done on the PsN.

Or for the 2, 3, 4 brothers and sisters who all want different screen names.

Or one of the sorry morons who got caught game sharing and Sony slapped them across the face with the ban hammer.

or you just feel like making another account..it's really simple.

XBL has 12million registered Gold Members. Meaning there alive and paying for the great service that is XBL.

So yeah you can trust those PsN numbers that Sony throws at the public as much as you can trust a crackhead with the keys to your house.

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PirateThom - 419 days 15 hours ago

"Or one of the sorry morons who got caught game sharing and Sony slapped them across the face with the ban hammer. "

You're allowed to game share, Sony actually said they have no problem with this.

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socomnick - 419 days 8 hours ago

Yea psn accounts are a joke, I have 3. 1 for japan, 1 for europe, and 1 for the US. All my friends that have ps3s and arent even hardcore gamers have 3 accounts.

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GiantEnemyLobster - 420 days 1 hour ago

P is doing marvelous at lying.

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