US sales of Sony PlayStation 3 decline 19% in November
According to the Wall Street Journal, US sales of the PlayStation 3 in November declined 19 percent from the previous month. This decline comes at a time when Nintendo Wii sales have doubled and Xbox 360 sales have risen 8%. In Black Friday sales alone, the Xbox 360 reportedly outsold the PS3 three to one and we all know the Wii continued to dominate. No holiday rebound is projected for Sony as analysts expect December PS3 sales to continue to remain flat while sales of its competitors are expected to remain strong. Sony is also expected to miss its goal of selling 10 million consoles in the current fiscal year ending in March 2009. Despite the somber projections by analysts Sony remains optimistic, focusing on the console’s year to date sales which have risen 60% and stating that “it is working hard to close the quarter strong”. With sales sagging and competition heating up, will 2009 be the year Sony finally cuts the price on the PS3?
@ Jesterhead…I have to agree with you in terms of what you buy your consoles for. However the issue is not just that alone because the format the games come on will play a big roll soon. The fact that games are not made on CDs anymore but rather DVDs should be an indication that sooner, rather than later, (since we’re heading in the next-gen direction) DVDs will be forgone, and in its place will be the blu ray standard, which Sony is the main investor of.
@likeabite
@likeabite
Thank you for seeing my point. Yes Microsoft might be winning the battle and the 360 has become profitable for them, but let’s face it, they don’t give a shit about gameplay or what not, they are in the business of making money however that may be. Whether it be a casual gamer or the hardcore gamer. Microsoft might attract the hardcore gamer with their catalog of games, but what happens when their format, (dvd) is dead in the water?
@jesterhead
Another lesson for you. Even though Blu-Ray was developed jointly by some of the corporations you mentioned, Sony OWNS the rights which is where the money is at. So whoever and whenever someone decides to use their tech, they better be ready to spare some change. Which brings me back to my original point. Microsoft has the edge, I don’t deny that and I applaud them for that, but in the long run I think their profit margin will eventually shrink when their format (DVD)is no longer the format of choice. Every major studio has put their weight behind Blu-Ray and what is Microsoft to do? They cannot possibly offer a full catalog of downloadable games because ISP’s cannot handle that kind of bandwidth. SO what will they do? They will have to adapt to the format of choice which eventually I feel will be Blu-Ray, and where would that leave them? behind the 8 ball my friend.
PLEASE..the day I learn a lesson from you is the day i buy a 400 dollar system. Unless you have a canny ability to see in the future nobody knows what the fate of Xbox or Sony will be. We have all learned lessons from Sega about predictions. Xbox doesn’t care about gameplay?? I feel dumber just talking with you about this. Xbox paying Sony for rights to use Blu-Ray…maybe (I think they would have the money after outselling Sony 3 to 1). Did you ever think of games on flash mem cards? My point is you have no idea of what will happen and the point of the article is that PS3 is struggling right now. Not what you and the future tellers think will happen.
@jesterhead
Ok I guess reading is not one of your strong points nor is implied logic. Did I say I was stating what was going to happen. Everything I write is purely and solely my opinion. Sort of like you except I don’t look like a jackass in the process. These corporations are a BUSINESS, if you think they give a shit about gameplay then you are sorely mistaken. They just care about making the most money out of you that’s it. The video games developers are the ones that care about gameplay, that is their job. The job of the console developers, IE Microsoft and Sony is to make the console that can make them the most money, which by the way Sony is doing a very bad job at. Again, I never said I knew their fate it’s called having a conversation and making points which apparently you have a hard time doing without getting your panties all in a bunch. Dumbness is not something you are taught, it’s something you are born with, unless you have a canny ability like yourself that it just comes natural.
@librapaj
I guess I am dumb because I am not sure what your point you were making there was besides childish remarks. It was a nice speech on gameplay I guess, even though that wasn’t my main argument which now you have no reply but to give me a lesson on business. I also like how I am the one with the panties in a bunch when you make comments about me being born with ‘dumbness’. I believe we were talking about the ‘fate’ of the next generation system of Xbox right? I feel more dumbness just talking with you about this.
-Final
I did give you a reply. I said these companies Microsoft and Sony don’t give a shit about gameplay. That is the job of the game developers and in regards to your comment about me predicting the fate of the consoles, it was just me stating my opinion. If I knew what was going to happen, I wouldn’t be here shooting the shit with you. And I never said you were born with dumbness, I complimented you and stated you a “canny” ability to be dumb.
What amuses me is how many people are arguing the fact that it is a gaming console, and it should only be used for gaming. Everything else is just a peripheral (wireless, blu-ray, hddvd, hard drive, etc…)
Why can’t a game console strive to do more?
Look at all the other devices you have that do more than just what it was originally intended to do.
Do you just watch over the air TV on your tv?
Do you just use your computer to work on spreadsheets and edit documents?
Do you just make phone calls on your telephone?
I think everyone is missing what the Playstation 2 brought to the table in the 90’s.
At the time the Playstation 2 was released, it was the cheapest DVD player on the market.
But think about it. One machine that you can play games and watch movies on. It was unheard of back then.
So why is everyone complaining now when consoles try to do more?
Buying a console in 2008 with the sole intent of playing games is like buying a cellphone with the sole intent of making calls. There are a few that will forever ignore that we are in an age of technological advancement… the rest of us are recognize that bleeding edge technology isn’t cheap and don’t mind the extra cost. We are BGR readers for a reason, not because we buy consoles for games or cellphones to make calls, we do it all for our unsatiable hunger for more! I’d be very upset if I were an early adopter of the Xbox360 because for the same price of a current PS3 I would have sacrificed WiFi, Blu-Ray, Non-Proprietary hard disc upgrades, BlueTooth, Free Online Gaming, Built in Web browsing, HDMI, 1080p gaming and problem free hardware. New Xbox investors have fared a bit better. The PS3 lags behind the XBOX because of multiple variables including but not limited to cost, games and marketing. I am personally very satisfied being a PS3 owner. It is a casual gamer/home theater & media server enthusiast/geek’s dream.
@ bemusedchunk I completely agree and the console equipped to do more is the PS3. The 360 has its strong points but it does not have more features than the PS3 and thus I think it will be hurt in the long run when everyone wants a blu ray player. The idea is not that Microsoft cannot use flash cards or another format for gaming but that would that format be more feasible than blu ray? Would it look better than blu ray? Would it cost less than blu ray? Would they still be willing to include a blu ray player in their machine when every movie is out on blu ray and then say “we’re going to use flash drives for our games instead?” The answer, IMO, is NO and that is when Sony will win. And point of correction, the 360 is not outselling the PS3 three to one…that is only in the US…which makes up a very small part of the gaming market.
All i hear is PS3 will be better “in the future”. By the time “the future arrives”, Nintendo and Microsoft would probably have released their next consoles. So far I have regretted every Sony product I bought when the profits don’t roll in and Sony bails out and leaves the consumers with a “shiny door knob”. Lets face it, Sony is losing money with PS3 and PS3 game developers are not selling enough PS3 games compared to Wii and XB360. PS3 is a bad execution of the right idea. We have learn from past history that better specs do not always make a product successful. Sony has not yet learn from their “Betamax” loss.
this is a dying thread.. but I’ll add to it again.
several of you are talking as if the xbox 360 has no “periphreal” abilities, the only thing it cannot do is blu-ray (some of you still write it blue-ray I noticed). as for streaming videos, it is ahead of ps3. 360 brought videos to marketplace first, brought netflix first, brought downloadable content first. I still think xb360 beats ps3 from a gaming device standpoint, but it also holds its own from a “periphrial/multi-media” standpoint. Options to stream to your xb360 from your PC came before PS3, and (unfortunately for competition), it ties with windows media center/vista, are allowing it to be even more streamlined.
either way, I don’t see the gaming console as the solution in this periphrial realm. Yes, these devices can do blu-ray, streaming, etc.. but other devices are better at it and more convenient (more people have cable/sattelite boxes instead of gaming consoles). If the xbox/ps3 was better at it, it would be selling a lot better than it is right now and outselling the wii, but its not (or not advertised enough to get the sells)
On the other hand, these other devices (DVR’s, Blu-ray players, DVD players) cannot be gaming machines, but they still sell well because they do what they do best, or are tied to services that cause them to use it.
If either machine is to win out in the periphrial department (blu-ray, streaming), it needs to be in every home, so that developers will want more reach, and as we can see, xbox has that advantage for developers.
Back in the ps2 days, there were no streaming options, and thats how the playing field/battleground has changed..
can’t never find an active thread. anyway the ps3 still sold over 20 million worldwide and the 360 28 million. it is not like the things arent selling at all. If the info was credible, the first day available to the end of december 2007 the xbox 360 sold +- 18 million. the ps3 sold +- 20 million in the same number of years, with competition having a stronhold in the market. does that even count for anything. ”’same time period better numbers”’. Another note
are you fanboys so close minded that you would buy the 360 and just play two games gears1(2) and halo. instead of broadning your game library to include resistance1+2, mgs4, and killzone 2(great games btw) and other ps3 exclusives. gamer disgraces what you are. no longer gamers but microsoft sales statistics. Also when they ported bioshock not having to compress data on the blu-ray format did make a difference worth them mentioning. but 360 will just keep compressing rather than pay sony royalties. theyd rather watch a next gen format die.