AfterDawn: Tech news

Sony PS3 manufacturing costs have dropped 70 percent since launch

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Aug 2009 2:47 User comments (33)

Sony PS3 manufacturing costs have dropped 70 percent since launch According to Sony Corp. CEO Nobuyuki Oneda, manufacturing costs for the PlayStation 3 have dropped 70 percent since the console's launch in 2006, leading to more speculation that a price cut is coming soon.
"The cost reduction since we introduced the PS3 is very substantial and this is on schedule," said Oneda, via GI.biz "We don't disclose how much of the PlayStation 3, specifically the cost deduction, was achieved during the past two years. But that is on schedule." When asked for exact figures, he added: "About 70 percent, roughly-speaking."

At launch, the console cost, (unconfirmed), $800 USD per unit, meaning Sony was losing a substantial amount of money on each console shipped.

As of January 2008, costs had reportedly fallen 50 percent to $400 USD and now, according to the latest report, the console will cost $265 to manufacture, meaning Sony is actually making money on hardware sales, finally.



The 80GB model of the console retails for $400 USD.

Previous Next  

33 user comments

12.8.2009 03:05

Heres a hint, drop it to 200$ and go for a land slide victory over gaming for a few years.

Face it software sales is what makes you money and slow hardware sales will gain you nothing.

22.8.2009 05:11

Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Heres a hint, drop it to 200$ and go for a land slide victory over gaming for a few years.

Face it software sales is what makes you money and slow hardware sales will gain you nothing.
Meh, xbox 360 arcade is already $200 and has been for a while. The only thing the PS3 has over that particular 360 configuration is an integrated hard drive, and blu-ray support. If I was in the market for either of these systems today, I'd go for the 360 arcade.

If Gran Turismo 5 ever comes out, I'll get a ps3. Or if a new GTA comes out sometime.

32.8.2009 05:18

Quote:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Heres a hint, drop it to 200$ and go for a land slide victory over gaming for a few years.

Face it software sales is what makes you money and slow hardware sales will gain you nothing.
Meh, xbox 360 arcade is already $200 and has been for a while. The only thing the PS3 has over that particular 360 configuration is an integrated hard drive, and blu-ray support. If I was in the market for either of these systems today, I'd go for the 360 arcade.

If Gran Turismo 5 ever comes out, I'll get a ps3. Or if a new GTA comes out sometime.
Here's the thing tho the 360 is played out its saturated the market and has a stigma of being an easy break oven. The PS3 has some meat on its bones as far as marketability goes and devs ARE slowly warming up to it(look at the the increasing updated not on the 360 ports it has). If they would go guns a blazing knock it down to 200-300$ it would drive so much interest devs would dev more for it thus it will all work out.

Don't get me wrong the 360 has become the new "PC" only wider and deeper as far as a demographic/market goes but if $ony would do this they would become the top "normal" console dog.

THe WII is solid but its demographic is to fractured to drive constant software sales well enough, thus why its sometimes hot sometimes not on sales..

All I am saying here is another great opportunity for Sony to make up for lost time,ect which they will pass up...again..........

42.8.2009 06:50

Its now or never for Sony,get the hardware out a a good price and watch the software sales grow.Out of the 100 people i work with not one of use owns a PS3.Every member of the team's family has a Wii or an Xboxe.

52.8.2009 08:09
pphoenix
Inactive

slo the price has dropped considerably but sony are now continuing their usual strategy of overcharging the public, & telling the world what it actually costs. i dare say foxconn helped reduce the costs of the PS3.


Quote:
Apple iPod factories reportedly ‘sweatshops’
Firm has P.R. headache as U.K. newspaper reports on labor conditions

The Mail on Sunday reported that a Chinese factory that manufactures iPods employs 200,000 workers who live in dormitories where visitors are not permitted. Workers toil for 15-hour days for as little as $50 per month, according to the article.

Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known by the brand Foxconn Electronics Inc.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13357555/




there is something deeply misguided with this company.

Time to bend over & lube up, its sony time!
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 02 Aug 2009 @ 8:15

62.8.2009 08:12

This should get interesting. Just drop the price to at $300 or less, and watch sales grow..

72.8.2009 11:43

Sony as a whole are hemorrhaging money at a fast rate right now.
They are not going to make that worse with a massive PS3 price-cut.

They have also already said that whatever happens any cut must keep the console profitable after any cut.
This means that whatever room they do have (and since when did their public PR pronouncements ever become the Gospel truth?) it will not all be used on a cut.

In some ways this is a really stupid public announcement.
It just means that anyone thinking of buying a new PS3 will wait.

I'd lay odds we see nothing more than $50 by Xmas (which will be matched and probably beaten by not only another Xbox price cut but this time also a Wii cut).

All in all I can see no reason for anything much to change.
I just don't see that after 3yrs there's anything even close to a vast pool of would-be PS3 owners some insist on imagining is out there.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 02 Aug 2009 @ 11:44

82.8.2009 13:39

$199 now in the lead up to Christmas and Sony is King again.

Good Advice. Since Sony gave up a long time on making quality audio components, they should make sure they lead in something. (eg. their cheaply-made and often-breaking CD/DVD Megachangers)

92.8.2009 15:31

Originally posted by Interestx:
Sony as a whole are hemorrhaging money at a fast rate right now.
They are not going to make that worse with a massive PS3 price-cut.

They have also already said that whatever happens any cut must keep the console profitable after any cut.
This means that whatever room they do have (and since when did their public PR pronouncements ever become the Gospel truth?) it will not all be used on a cut.

In some ways this is a really stupid public announcement.
It just means that anyone thinking of buying a new PS3 will wait.

I'd lay odds we see nothing more than $50 by Xmas (which will be matched and probably beaten by not only another Xbox price cut but this time also a Wii cut).

All in all I can see no reason for anything much to change.
I just don't see that after 3yrs there's anything even close to a vast pool of would-be PS3 owners some insist on imagining is out there.
It would be ironic if sony went under and the main cause of it was being a Blu ray shill!

102.8.2009 16:46

I have both a 360 and PS3, and to be honest I have more invested in the 360 compared to the PS3 to get the same functionality, and that's not even considering Blu-Ray. Right out of the box the PS3 had 802.11 wireless connectivity, rechargeable controllers, and free online play. With the 360 I had to buy a wireless adapter $80, a charge and play kit (if I didn't want to use batteries) $20, and xbox live gold $50.

Bottom line is I like both systems, but in my case there were not much cost difference and the PS3 lets me play Blu-Ray for the same price by the time I bought the other extras for the 360. Granted not everyone will need the wireless adapter, but my Internet connection was at the other end of the house.

I would still expect to see a price drop now that the manufacturing costs have went down.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 02 Aug 2009 @ 4:47

112.8.2009 17:24
pphoenix
Inactive

Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
It would be ironic if sony went under and the main cause of it was being a Blu ray shill!
unless you've got money to burn or are going to buy into the 3D film marketing of blu-ray, as we still wait for 3D screens, its a complete waste of money unless you sit 2 foot from ur screen upscaled DvD is the best format atm.

but what about this:

Quote:
Homegrown CBHD discs outsell Blu-ray by 3-1 margin in China

The HD format war continues in China. TV Tokyo broke major CBHD news last week, but some of the numbers were lost in translation. It turns out that CBHD doesn't lead BD by 3 percent, as commonly reported, but by a factor of 3, owning 30 percent of the Chinese market.


http://arstechnica.com/business/news/200...ina.ars

122.8.2009 17:42

Originally posted by pphoenix:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
It would be ironic if sony went under and the main cause of it was being a Blu ray shill!
unless you've got money to burn or are going to buy into the 3D film marketing of blu-ray, as we still wait for 3D screens, its a complete waste of money unless you sit 2 foot from ur screen upscaled DvD is the best format atm.

but what about this:

Quote:
Homegrown CBHD discs outsell Blu-ray by 3-1 margin in China

The HD format war continues in China. TV Tokyo broke major CBHD news last week, but some of the numbers were lost in translation. It turns out that CBHD doesn't lead BD by 3 percent, as commonly reported, but by a factor of 3, owning 30 percent of the Chinese market.


http://arstechnica.com/business/news/200.../quote]


the rest of the world has DVD tho...plus you can find BR films as low as 4$, so its not really an issue in the developed world....

132.8.2009 17:52

Originally posted by pphoenix:
but what about this:
Homegrown CBHD discs outsell Blu-ray by 3-1 margin in China
This means absolutely nothing when 93 percent of all movies sold in the country are pirated (2007 estimates - Source). The winner in China - by a very large margin - is still the $1 pirated DVD or VCD that you can buy on every street corner.

142.8.2009 19:49

Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Heres a hint, drop it to 200$ and go for a land slide victory over gaming for a few years.

Face it software sales is what makes you money and slow hardware sales will gain you nothing.
Meh, xbox 360 arcade is already $200 and has been for a while. The only thing the PS3 has over that particular 360 configuration is an integrated hard drive, and blu-ray support. If I was in the market for either of these systems today, I'd go for the 360 arcade.

If Gran Turismo 5 ever comes out, I'll get a ps3. Or if a new GTA comes out sometime.
Here's the thing tho the 360 is played out its saturated the market and has a stigma of being an easy break oven. The PS3 has some meat on its bones as far as marketability goes and devs ARE slowly warming up to it(look at the the increasing updated not on the 360 ports it has). If they would go guns a blazing knock it down to 200-300$ it would drive so much interest devs would dev more for it thus it will all work out.

Don't get me wrong the 360 has become the new "PC" only wider and deeper as far as a demographic/market goes but if $ony would do this they would become the top "normal" console dog.

THe WII is solid but its demographic is to fractured to drive constant software sales well enough, thus why its sometimes hot sometimes not on sales..

All I am saying here is another great opportunity for Sony to make up for lost time,ect which they will pass up...again..........
See, I just don't really see it that way with the 360 and the PS3. Nearly all the games seem to be cross-platform. Dropping the PS3 to the same price as the 360, I'm just not sure how much it would really boost the sales. Both systems seem so similar. The PS3 has more features on it, but when it comes to the actual games it looks like you'd get the same experience with either system.

Quote:
I have both a 360 and PS3, and to be honest I have more invested in the 360 compared to the PS3 to get the same functionality, and that's not even considering Blu-Ray. Right out of the box the PS3 had 802.11 wireless connectivity, rechargeable controllers, and free online play. With the 360 I had to buy a wireless adapter $80, a charge and play kit (if I didn't want to use batteries) $20, and xbox live gold $50.

Bottom line is I like both systems, but in my case there were not much cost difference and the PS3 lets me play Blu-Ray for the same price by the time I bought the other extras for the 360. Granted not everyone will need the wireless adapter, but my Internet connection was at the other end of the house.
Sorry I was unaware that the 360 didn't include integrated wifi. It's something that seems to be even in toasters now. I just use rechargeable AA's for my wii. Rechargeable NiMh batteries are a great investment, because you'll never need to go out and spend $5 on 8 AA batteries again. Instead you spend $10 on 4 of them that can be recharged and used roughly 1,000 times each. Essentially you're paying $10 for 4,000 AA's :)

152.8.2009 21:13

Originally posted by bomber991:
Sorry I was unaware that the 360 didn't include integrated wifi. It's something that seems to be even in toasters now. I just use rechargeable AA's for my wii. Rechargeable NiMh batteries are a great investment, because you'll never need to go out and spend $5 on 8 AA batteries again. Instead you spend $10 on 4 of them that can be recharged and used roughly 1,000 times each. Essentially you're paying $10 for 4,000 AA's :)
But you still would have to buy the charger and batteries anyway so that is an added expense to the "options" of a 360 (though you get the benefit of using it for other devices). Hell, if you even drop the cost of the WiFi adapter and just the cost of a 360 Pro (not even Elite or an Arcade model with a separate HD which actually comes out to more funny that) you still have to account for the past 4 years of LIVE! which comes to $200 (and counting!)...that does not equate to being "cheaper".
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 02 Aug 2009 @ 9:19

162.8.2009 21:56

Quote:
Originally posted by bomber991:
Sorry I was unaware that the 360 didn't include integrated wifi. It's something that seems to be even in toasters now. I just use rechargeable AA's for my wii. Rechargeable NiMh batteries are a great investment, because you'll never need to go out and spend $5 on 8 AA batteries again. Instead you spend $10 on 4 of them that can be recharged and used roughly 1,000 times each. Essentially you're paying $10 for 4,000 AA's :)
But you still would have to buy the charger and batteries anyway so that is an added expense to the "options" of a 360 (though you get the benefit of using it for other devices). Hell, if you even drop the cost of the WiFi adapter and just the cost of a 360 Pro (not even Elite or an Arcade model with a separate HD which actually comes out to more funny that) you still have to account for the past 4 years of LIVE! which comes to $200 (and counting!)...that does not equate to being "cheaper".
I understand your point Oner. Honestly the initial price is what gets people with the PS3 even if you end up spending more on the xbox360 in the long run. You have to look at it like we do a car or house morgage. Someone says you can get a car for $299 for 5 years or $699 for 2 years. Most people will choose the lower initial price at $299 even though in reality they will end up paying a lot more in interest in the long run. I guess its just the american way.

172.8.2009 22:30

Oner
You have to admit LIVE is a online power house and would not be one if it was not a premium service. Now do it really need to remain exclusively premium, I would say, no it dose not.

Offer 10 hours a month of "LIVE TIME" this would allow for MPing,voice and messaging, and 1MB a minute for normal subscription downloads(some of the newest demos,ect) but not much else. then keep the normal subscription setup and toss more extras at it. Hell give as extra minute for every whole dollar you spent on live in a months time.

The wifi thing for the 360 is a joke, really if anyone bothers to research the 360 it still has a 16% fail rate so I would not trust my money to it....


The PS3 is languishing there is interest for it but not at its price devs want to dev for it but its not selling well so they avoid it so IMO it would be best for them to drive its sales with a 100+(to around 250 a unit,200 preferable) price cut. It dose not matter if the compensation can go lower they have already saturated the market the PS3 has yet to really do that and they will continue to languish if nothing drastic is done..

182.8.2009 23:52

I think going for broke and cutting to $200 would be the best thing for SONY in the console war. It's now or never. But SONY's shareholders will have none of that. It's more realistic to predict a $100 price cut. Maybe not even that. Maybe just a $50 cut.

192.8.2009 23:56

Originally posted by inagasake:
I think going for broke and cutting to $200 would be the best thing for SONY in the console war. It's now or never. But SONY's shareholders will have none of that. It's more realistic to predict a $100 price cut. Maybe not even that. Maybe just a $50 cut.
This is true, they are placated and predictable, just like MS and nin if they have to do anything "good" it will be have to be dragged out of them by force....

203.8.2009 04:28

Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Oner
The PS3 is languishing there is interest for it but not at its price devs want to dev for it but its not selling well so they avoid it so IMO it would be best for them to drive its sales with a 100+(to around 250 a unit,200 preferable) price cut. It dose not matter if the compensation can go lower they have already saturated the market the PS3 has yet to really do that and they will continue to languish if nothing drastic is done..

31 million 360s vs 25 million PS3s isn't a bad spread considering the 360 had a 1-year head start AND is cheaper.

213.8.2009 10:56

Quote:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Oner
The PS3 is languishing there is interest for it but not at its price devs want to dev for it but its not selling well so they avoid it so IMO it would be best for them to drive its sales with a 100+(to around 250 a unit,200 preferable) price cut. It dose not matter if the compensation can go lower they have already saturated the market the PS3 has yet to really do that and they will continue to languish if nothing drastic is done..

31 million 360s vs 25 million PS3s isn't a bad spread considering the 360 had a 1-year head start AND is cheaper.
I thought is was more like 8 Million but Honestly this is beginning to be the oldest, most played out excuse. If you look at it in a logical perspective people would stop playing this sad love song as "Sony was released after the Xbox 360 and therefore Xbox360 had a year head start."

1. Wii was also release in US approximately a year after the xbox360 and it did not take it long to make up ground. Sony PS3 should have already outsold the xbox360 regardless of release date. Do you forget that the PS2 fanbase was a huge majority in the previous generation and they had all the supporters, including myself. Sony had more than 60% of the console support compared to microsoft and Nintendo. The killing point was the PS3 price which still hinder this great console in this generation. A lot of my friend got tired of waiting for PS3 to get a reasonable price and a lot of people bought a xbox360 instead. Sony lost a lot of supporters.

2. Xbox360 has taken a shot in the foot as well with the RROD legacy. You have to take that into account as well. How many people do you think didnot or havenot bought a xbox360 b/c of this. This could be holding back maybe say another 10 million in worldwide sales for xbox360. Who knows. But one thing is for sure, a bad reputation has shown to stunt sales.

3. Sony PS3 is the most difficult console to dev for when compared to its competitors. They are getting better i admit but this is another thing that hurt is with devs who would rather make games for the xbox 360 just b/c it is not as much a headache. Because of this Sony lost a lot of exclusive rights to big software titles b/c no one really wants to release a game exclusively for a console who lags in last place in sales. That would hurt a dev profits. Games like the soon TBR Tekken 6 should never have been allowed to cross platforms. How many other games did Sony loose exclusive rights to? Devil May Cry, SoulCaliber, and many others. If you cant keep exclusives, how do you expect to keep your fanbase?

So actually 31 million xbox360 vs. 25 million is actually horrible and nonacceptable b/c Sony PS2 was the peoples choice of consoles. All Sony had to do was play its cards right and if the console was a flop it would have still sold if it had released for the same price as it competitors.


Honestly i dont know if PS3 sales will ever surpass the xbox360. From reports here in the US the xbox 360 usually still outsells the PS3 on a monthly basis.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 03 Aug 2009 @ 11:41

223.8.2009 14:34

Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Oner
The PS3 is languishing there is interest for it but not at its price devs want to dev for it but its not selling well so they avoid it so IMO it would be best for them to drive its sales with a 100+(to around 250 a unit,200 preferable) price cut. It dose not matter if the compensation can go lower they have already saturated the market the PS3 has yet to really do that and they will continue to languish if nothing drastic is done..

31 million 360s vs 25 million PS3s isn't a bad spread considering the 360 had a 1-year head start AND is cheaper.
I thought is was more like 8 Million but Honestly this is beginning to be the oldest, most played out excuse. If you look at it in a logical perspective people would stop playing this sad love song as "Sony was released after the Xbox 360 and therefore Xbox360 had a year head start."

1. Wii was also release in US approximately a year after the xbox360 and it did not take it long to make up ground. Sony PS3 should have already outsold the xbox360 regardless of release date. Do you forget that the PS2 fanbase was a huge majority in the previous generation and they had all the supporters, including myself. Sony had more than 60% of the console support compared to microsoft and Nintendo. The killing point was the PS3 price which still hinder this great console in this generation. A lot of my friend got tired of waiting for PS3 to get a reasonable price and a lot of people bought a xbox360 instead. Sony lost a lot of supporters.

2. Xbox360 has taken a shot in the foot as well with the RROD legacy. You have to take that into account as well. How many people do you think didnot or havenot bought a xbox360 b/c of this. This could be holding back maybe say another 10 million in worldwide sales for xbox360. Who knows. But one thing is for sure, a bad reputation has shown to stunt sales.

3. Sony PS3 is the most difficult console to dev for when compared to its competitors. They are getting better i admit but this is another thing that hurt is with devs who would rather make games for the xbox 360 just b/c it is not as much a headache. Because of this Sony lost a lot of exclusive rights to big software titles b/c no one really wants to release a game exclusively for a console who lags in last place in sales. That would hurt a dev profits. Games like the soon TBR Tekken 6 should never have been allowed to cross platforms. How many other games did Sony loose exclusive rights to? Devil May Cry, SoulCaliber, and many others. If you cant keep exclusives, how do you expect to keep your fanbase?

So actually 31 million xbox360 vs. 25 million is actually horrible and nonacceptable b/c Sony PS2 was the peoples choice of consoles. All Sony had to do was play its cards right and if the console was a flop it would have still sold if it had released for the same price as it competitors.


Honestly i dont know if PS3 sales will ever surpass the xbox360. From reports here in the US the xbox 360 usually still outsells the PS3 on a monthly basis.
Its 32(360) to 23M(PS3), 8-10M gap and the attach rate is still a joke, why? Because they screwed up the console launch and were arrogant enough to think it would sale ok to good being twice as much and twice as hard to code for.

COnsumers want it but at a much slower pace than the others because games/price. And games won't be easily fixed until the price falls.

233.8.2009 14:50

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Oner
The PS3 is languishing there is interest for it but not at its price devs want to dev for it but its not selling well so they avoid it so IMO it would be best for them to drive its sales with a 100+(to around 250 a unit,200 preferable) price cut. It dose not matter if the compensation can go lower they have already saturated the market the PS3 has yet to really do that and they will continue to languish if nothing drastic is done..

31 million 360s vs 25 million PS3s isn't a bad spread considering the 360 had a 1-year head start AND is cheaper.
I thought is was more like 8 Million but Honestly this is beginning to be the oldest, most played out excuse. If you look at it in a logical perspective people would stop playing this sad love song as "Sony was released after the Xbox 360 and therefore Xbox360 had a year head start."

1. Wii was also release in US approximately a year after the xbox360 and it did not take it long to make up ground. Sony PS3 should have already outsold the xbox360 regardless of release date. Do you forget that the PS2 fanbase was a huge majority in the previous generation and they had all the supporters, including myself. Sony had more than 60% of the console support compared to microsoft and Nintendo. The killing point was the PS3 price which still hinder this great console in this generation. A lot of my friend got tired of waiting for PS3 to get a reasonable price and a lot of people bought a xbox360 instead. Sony lost a lot of supporters.

2. Xbox360 has taken a shot in the foot as well with the RROD legacy. You have to take that into account as well. How many people do you think didnot or havenot bought a xbox360 b/c of this. This could be holding back maybe say another 10 million in worldwide sales for xbox360. Who knows. But one thing is for sure, a bad reputation has shown to stunt sales.

3. Sony PS3 is the most difficult console to dev for when compared to its competitors. They are getting better i admit but this is another thing that hurt is with devs who would rather make games for the xbox 360 just b/c it is not as much a headache. Because of this Sony lost a lot of exclusive rights to big software titles b/c no one really wants to release a game exclusively for a console who lags in last place in sales. That would hurt a dev profits. Games like the soon TBR Tekken 6 should never have been allowed to cross platforms. How many other games did Sony loose exclusive rights to? Devil May Cry, SoulCaliber, and many others. If you cant keep exclusives, how do you expect to keep your fanbase?

So actually 31 million xbox360 vs. 25 million is actually horrible and nonacceptable b/c Sony PS2 was the peoples choice of consoles. All Sony had to do was play its cards right and if the console was a flop it would have still sold if it had released for the same price as it competitors.


Honestly i dont know if PS3 sales will ever surpass the xbox360. From reports here in the US the xbox 360 usually still outsells the PS3 on a monthly basis.
Its 32(360) to 23M(PS3), 8-10M gap and the attach rate is still a joke, why? Because they screwed up the console launch and were arrogant enough to think it would sale ok to good being twice as much and twice as hard to code for.

COnsumers want it but at a much slower pace than the others because games/price. And games won't be easily fixed until the price falls.
Hey Zip, I have read a lot on the attach rates and Xbox360 seems to have the edge on all consoles. Its seems that PS3 really had some nice games to come out this past year and this year looks to have a few good titles as well so what is really keeping PS3 attach rate so low? Do you think the price of the console is hurting the attach rate d/t the economy?

243.8.2009 14:51

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Oner
The PS3 is languishing there is interest for it but not at its price devs want to dev for it but its not selling well so they avoid it so IMO it would be best for them to drive its sales with a 100+(to around 250 a unit,200 preferable) price cut. It dose not matter if the compensation can go lower they have already saturated the market the PS3 has yet to really do that and they will continue to languish if nothing drastic is done..

31 million 360s vs 25 million PS3s isn't a bad spread considering the 360 had a 1-year head start AND is cheaper.
I thought is was more like 8 Million but Honestly this is beginning to be the oldest, most played out excuse. If you look at it in a logical perspective people would stop playing this sad love song as "Sony was released after the Xbox 360 and therefore Xbox360 had a year head start."

1. Wii was also release in US approximately a year after the xbox360 and it did not take it long to make up ground. Sony PS3 should have already outsold the xbox360 regardless of release date. Do you forget that the PS2 fanbase was a huge majority in the previous generation and they had all the supporters, including myself. Sony had more than 60% of the console support compared to microsoft and Nintendo. The killing point was the PS3 price which still hinder this great console in this generation. A lot of my friend got tired of waiting for PS3 to get a reasonable price and a lot of people bought a xbox360 instead. Sony lost a lot of supporters.

2. Xbox360 has taken a shot in the foot as well with the RROD legacy. You have to take that into account as well. How many people do you think didnot or havenot bought a xbox360 b/c of this. This could be holding back maybe say another 10 million in worldwide sales for xbox360. Who knows. But one thing is for sure, a bad reputation has shown to stunt sales.

3. Sony PS3 is the most difficult console to dev for when compared to its competitors. They are getting better i admit but this is another thing that hurt is with devs who would rather make games for the xbox 360 just b/c it is not as much a headache. Because of this Sony lost a lot of exclusive rights to big software titles b/c no one really wants to release a game exclusively for a console who lags in last place in sales. That would hurt a dev profits. Games like the soon TBR Tekken 6 should never have been allowed to cross platforms. How many other games did Sony loose exclusive rights to? Devil May Cry, SoulCaliber, and many others. If you cant keep exclusives, how do you expect to keep your fanbase?

So actually 31 million xbox360 vs. 25 million is actually horrible and nonacceptable b/c Sony PS2 was the peoples choice of consoles. All Sony had to do was play its cards right and if the console was a flop it would have still sold if it had released for the same price as it competitors.


Honestly i dont know if PS3 sales will ever surpass the xbox360. From reports here in the US the xbox 360 usually still outsells the PS3 on a monthly basis.
Its 32(360) to 23M(PS3), 8-10M gap and the attach rate is still a joke, why? Because they screwed up the console launch and were arrogant enough to think it would sale ok to good being twice as much and twice as hard to code for.

COnsumers want it but at a much slower pace than the others because games/price. And games won't be easily fixed until the price falls.
Hey Zip, I have read a lot on the attach rates and Xbox360 seems to have the edge on all consoles. Its seems that PS3 really had some nice games to come out this past year and this year looks to have a few good titles as well so what is really keeping PS3 attach rate so low? Do you think the price of the console is hurting the attach rate d/t the economy?

253.8.2009 15:05

Originally posted by lxhotboy:


Hey Zip, I have read a lot on the attach rates and Xbox360 seems to have the edge on all consoles. Its seems that PS3 really had some nice games to come out this past year and this year looks to have a few good titles as well so what is really keeping PS3 attach rate so low? Do you think the price of the console is hurting the attach rate d/t the economy?
And some of its specific titles are having more of a attach rate than the 360 version, its crazy. But IMO it all starts at where the PS3 started slow hardware sales=slow dev response=slow game ps3 production=slow sales for hardware/software.

Its not that the PS"X" brand has lost power/ability its just its stuck in the mud and has yet to drag itself out of it.

Its like the WII ,well possibly opposite its situation realy, its meandering software sales Zelda TWP 7M sold,COD 4/waw 1M+ each even the RE rail shooter did 1M plus so far where games like madworld,HOTD:OK and conduit are bearly hitting 1M combined if that.

Its not that the WII dose not drive interest its just its interest its demographic is fragmented thus you can not get consistent sales, the PS3 has more consistent sales but due to its mitigating circumstances(see above) it can be as annoying to push a title on it.

The 360 through might and focus of the industry is what the PC was 10-12 years ago only refined market wise to the point a game can be easily sold due to the vast unit numbers,were as PC has numbers but so many different hardware types it becomes a mess, perhaps even more so than the WII, to hock a normal game on it.


Also I am starting to notice there is not a real advertising drive for gaming. In the coming years gaming needs to run more adverts and flash as much screen time to as many games as it can in one video ad.

I think 10 secs of game time with the name in large bold print at the bottom would do more to drive interest to a larger spread of games than just a normal 20-30 sec single game ad spot.

At least this is how this idiot sees it.

263.8.2009 16:44

Sony did have the best advertisement back in the day. The URNOTE marketing attracted alot of attention and like you said. The commercials dont have to be long.

273.8.2009 18:19

Originally posted by lxhotboy:
Sony did have the best advertisement back in the day. The URNOTE marketing attracted alot of attention and like you said. The commercials dont have to be long.

Well its not just sony, IMO the game industry needs to rally together against as one league of many teams, at least as far as advertising goes. If they as a whole could equal what film as a whole dose they could easily double their consumer market.

But the game industry is not so desperate to really do it and just having the "main brands" on TV won't cut it..

283.8.2009 19:00

one has to remember they still need a profit so selling it for $240 isnt optional, als remember taxes, shipping, RnD costs etc etc.

293.8.2009 19:06

Originally posted by shaffaaf:
one has to remember they still need a profit so selling it for $240 isnt optional, als remember taxes, shipping, RnD costs etc etc.
Well it is since they have a low fail rate taxes go onto it so the over all price is still low enough, shipping is part of doing business and frankly they need to drive interest in it to help them gain more profit in the long run than contenuie to languish.

Frankly a 250 price point will be good enough. 300+ is moot.

304.8.2009 14:54

Software is what's keeping 360 above the PS3. The PS3 needs to stimulate development of quality third-party games. The 360's software sales is monstrous.

I looked at the American charts and believe it or not but 360's total software sales are only a little bit behind the Wii's even though the Wii is killing them hardware wise. And the PS3 is way behind in software figures. The 360 has more than a 2:1 ratio all-time on the PS3 and they're still maintaining more than a 1.5:1 ratio on a weekly basis. And unless a game is very Japanese, the 360 versions of games tend to outsell the PS3 versions. (Blazblue is about as Japanese as you get and the 360 version had strong sales that were surprisingly close in North America. That puts an END to the shooterbox/360 owners = Halo fratboys myth. Yes, there are plenty of western consumers of Japanese entertainment that own a 360.) Even worldwide, the 360's attach rate and software dominance is pretty strong too.

Considering how many people bought extra 360's because of the high failure rate, that attach rate is very impressive. I don't believe the PS2 had an attach rate like that (probably due to rampant piracy).

Telling from these figures, it confirms that PS3 owners tend to want a more multimedia experience than a pure gaming experience.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 04 Aug 2009 @ 3:11

314.8.2009 18:17

"As of January 2008, costs had reportedly fallen 50 percent to $400 USD and now, according to the latest report, the console will cost $265 to manufacture, meaning Sony is actually making money on hardware sales, finally." There's no excuse to see NOT a price cut. Even though I'm not getting a PS3 anytime soon, Sony has got realize that to stay ahead, and the only way I see that is by seeing a price cut at least no later than Thanksgiving/Christmas period. - BLEUBOY

325.8.2009 06:31
pphoenix
Inactive

wow this thread has descended into a, "mine is bigger than yours".


even the staff appear to digress wtf?

who, is being paid by whom i ponder?



from how i see it sony are going wow we can make this very cheap now but we have been charging you an extortionate amount for X period, bend over & lube up ppl.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 05 Aug 2009 @ 6:32

335.8.2009 09:58

Originally posted by pphoenix:
wow this thread has descended into a, "mine is bigger than yours".


even the staff appear to digress wtf?

who, is being paid by whom i ponder?



from how i see it sony are going wow we can make this very cheap now but we have been charging you an extortionate amount for X period, bend over & lube up ppl.
Do not think your passive insult based on PURE false assumption would get by anyone. You will only get this warning. Don't do it again.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

News archive