BBC: PS3, Glass half full or empty?

BBC tech writer Darren Waters discusses the disparity between Sony lowering their PlayStation 3 sales forecast, and their game division's first profit for two years.

"First, the good news: Sony's games division has made the first profit in two years. Here's the bad news: Sony is cutting its sales goal for PS3 to 9.5 million units for the year from 11 million. So is PS3 succeeding or not?"

[niall77]

and sony will use it as a PR boost saying "wow look how good we did, we beat are 9.5mil target"

atleast they didnt over do it like when MS said the 360 would sell 14 million in its first year

[fenderputty]

If they're finally turning a profit on the system, that means we're that much closer to another price drop. Not to mention the fact that sales are holding steady through a usually tough month. Things aren't looking bleek like a lot of poeple were trying to claim last year. I can't believe how many people said the PS3 was going to fail. In a matter of a year the PS3 has caught up to and surpassed the pace of the 360. Great games and lowering the price to reasonable levels are only going to help Sony continue this momentum.

[WilliamRLBaker]

It got off 2 generations of having 100m+ console sales and within its first year it couldn't even break the 10m barrier and nearly all of its most wanted games have been delayed and all the games before that we're scored low and sold low, it has a total of what 4 1 million sellers all of which took how long to sell that many? 3-5 months?

[Meus Renaissance]

Sales predictions have been dropped because Sony made the mistake of assuming they could "educate" the consumers to shell out a heck load of cash for the platform. They realised this and dropped the price 4 months ago - of which now the console is selling decently well, and very well in Europe.

Where would it have been in total sales if it launched at $399? It was selling at a premium of $500 for almost an entire year, so its total first year sales considering it hasn't had one if recognised franchise titles launch, is acceptable to Sony and certainly impressive as a whole. But if you look at its brand, then you are justified with your criticism.

We can only look towards the future now, and how Sony will do in 2008 with a strong software lineup and possible price cut later in the year. They need to sell bucket loads of consoles - and the industry will start to put the spotlight on it when titles like MGS4 and GTA4 are released.

It's a make or break year. But I don't think its fair, from the point of view of the PS3's potential and future, to judge it on its sales performance up till now for the reasons in my first paragraph.

[DaCandyman]

This is bound to happen. MGS4, Killzone 2, LBP, and Resistence 2 will help the push over 9.5.

And with those titles releasing they may not need a pricedrop. Maybe a bargain (PS3 120G bundled w/ LBP & DualShock3)

[rawg]

If things don't turn out as bad as predicted then everyone will be happy.

I'm of the opinion that a recession will actually help console sales, as more people will stay in to save money then blow a few hundy every weekend going out.

[The Brave 1]

PS3 is almost at 10million worldwide according to vg chartz.there is still 2 full months left till march 31.Ps3 will meet its goal of 11 million worlwide by march 31st.

[fenderputty]

"It got off 2 generations of having 100m+ console sales and within its first year it couldn't even break the 10m barrier and nearly all of its most wanted games have been delayed and all the games before that we're scored low and sold low, it has a total of what 4 1 million sellers all of which took how long to sell that many? 3-5 months? "

Firstly .. it's on pace with the PS2 and the 360's frist year sales. Secondly ... not all games scored low, there just weren't a bunch of AAA titles. The only real dissapointment was LAIR. The delayed games have been pushed back to a year in which the PS3 is gaining steam. With another price cut, those pushed back game might be more of a good thing then a bad thing. Lastly, pull your head out of MS's arss and post in the other section where you belong.

[zambrota]

ps3 has beaten the x360 in terms of first year sales (same time in the lifetimes of both consoles).

x360 sold 8.3 million consoles at the same time of its lifetime.

PS3 has been comforatably beating x360 for the past few months in terms of worldwide sales.

How long did x360 take to sell 10m units to CUSTOMERS?

sometime in March ,2007.

ps3 will easily reach 10m sales sometime in february ,2008 (a month before x360)

also dont forget that ps3 has the best lineup for 2008

[WilliamRLBaker]

Lets see what was the common attitude among certain groups upon ps3s launch....Total domination of sales with atleast the total obliteration in sales scores of all competitors...hmmmm

What was the common attitude of all games released on this said system when compared to other systems in terms of scores, and sales?

What was the common thread with the online service?

here is the games via gamerankings.com

http://www.gamerankings.com...
^ hope that search works for ya

3 games via gamerankings have received an avg ratio of 9.0 all of which are....multiplatform titles...

The system via VGchartz has only sold 9.62m and those are sold through to users because who knows what numbers sony uses oh they say sold to users but we all know its shipped.

lets see via vgchartz again 7 games in its year and 3-4 month life span that Certain system have sold 1m+ sales....most of which took up to 1-4 months if not longer to reach that sales mark....

hmmmmm so yes...the common thread was....hyped to hell it will destroy all competitors upon release all of its games will garner AAA scores and all of its games will sell massively, its online service will be the bee's knee's and will see massive sign up....that certain system with the 9m+ sales only has last count 3 million users...

Oh and last i checked you had no power here, I can post any where I want what I've posted follows the TOS but I would say people like you whom continue to tell others to post in the other zone are...breaking the TOS by telling them thus, you have no right and you certainly aren't better then me infact last I checked your worse then me....Because unlike you, i actually own all 3 current gen systems, and I actually play most of the games you talk about and dont play.

There is an ignore option if you dont like it then deal with it.

[Lucreto]

There is a problem with analysts there will be another who will say the opposite of what it says here.

9.5 million is very good as some here said it won't even make 7 million.

[ravinash]

Some here are still saying its not past 7 million.

[Maldread]

I just need a price drop and i`m buying a PS3 Sony ;)

From the article : "I don't believe titles like Haze or Metal Gear Solid 4 will shift that many more PS3s. But I do think Blu-ray's impact will begin to bite Microsoft."

Well, if MGS4 comes out before a price drop (don`t think it will, but...)i`ll buy it anyways, so the author is wrong in my case at least ;)

[rawg]

I didn't bother looking up his credentials and just wrote him off as someone regurgitating gaming rhetoric to get hits from search engines.

[coolfool]

Yes that doesn't mean he comes and visits gaming websites but it does mean he has an influenced/educated opinion on the market. Whether he is right or if you agree with him is a completely different matter.

His comment about MGS4 is probably a relative one. I think he means that MGS4 won't shift consoles in the same way as the fact that the PS3 can play bluray movies.

I personally disagree with him. I think titles like MGS will shift a heapload of consoles, maybe not to the casual user who would pick up the PS3 for the bluray, but to the gamers who still are playing their ps2 and haven't quite had enough of a reason to get the ps3 so far. And there are potentially millions of those.

[Maldread]

rawg - hehe yeah i think you`re right on that one ;)

coolfool - MGS isn`t for every one, but i agree, it will do well for itself and the PS3 ;)

I don`t really know if i think that many people are buying the PS3 for only the Blu-ray. I think people just discover it as an added bonus and that the PS3 price drop is the real reason for the PS3`s gaining momentum. Of course it can`t hurt that Blu-Ray is doing well also, but i`m not sure enough people have heard about it yet, believe it or not ;)

[MikeGdaGod]

if they sell 9.5 mil, thats way better than 11 mil shipped

[mintaro]

one price drop to rule them all..... as for me, if the price dropped i'd buy a PS3 in a heartbeat, hopfully the ceramic white one

[Rice]

"the ps3 is still camping in the forest"- well from my balcony i can see ps3's campfire....
A couple of my friends are deciding to purchase a ps3, i think it was mostly because of the new advertisments, they stated how the commmercials wanted them to buy a ps3 and how crazy looking the ceramic white ps3 looks.

Justify your reason of thinking for disagreeing with me? Anyone can answer this.

[PSWe60]

The worst times are behind Sony and the PS3. They've made the greatest improvements in a year. price drops, using 45nm tech, great games coming in the next few months, Blu-Ray's victory, Sh*t-box sales slowing in Europe and none existant sales in Japan, Wii's lack of AAA titles all add up in Sony's favor in '08.

[InfectedDK]

..

[ruibing]

Their gaming division for the third quarter of 2007 has just posted a positive net income, so they are finally making a profit again. And it is hard to listen to this from BBC, which is the only Warner Bros affiliate that has not stepped out of format neutrality.

[ry-guy]

What great games are coming in the next few months?

All I see is MGS4 and LBP.

The rest of the list that people spew off any time someone questions the PS3's game library isn't projected until late 2008 or 2009.

The holiday season 2008 will be very telling of the PS3's future. It won't be until then we know pretty well what is probably going to occur.

[shine1396]

I think your stretching the use of the word affiliate just a little bit. The BBC have to justify going blue ray exclusive to the British Government, before anything else. It works differently to Warner Bros etc. Warner Bros don't have the same leverage over the bbc like they do over Lionsgate etc...
by reading the above, it looks as If I'm anti-BD. I'm actually not. And yeah this format war is all but over.

[shine1396]

Devil may cry?
Burnout paradise?
Even if all three end up being crap games, their going to net platinum status just becuase of the name if not anything else.

[lawman1108]

And the PS3 does NOT sell well in NA

[HCS]

when are these stupid articles going to stop???????

not one of the companies have reason to be shaken in their boots

[GrooveChampion]

I think they all have reasons to question the future.

If UK sales for the 360 stagnate, they're really in trouble and will only have the US to fully support the 360. Having already failed in Japan and fighting a losing battle in the rest of Europe, the 360 looks like it could go either way at this point

Wii is in danger of weakening because people could stop playing it just as quickly as they started. The long term benefits for third party development are in question as the short term is proving quite futile.

The PS3 still has a mountain of negative perception to overcome and tones of potential to live up to. It's nice that people believe in the PS3, but if they can't truly deliver in 08, the damage may be too great to reverse.

This gen is far from over and everyone of the systems has something to prove. While we may enjoy calling one winners and two losers, it's really going to look much different in 6 months let alone a full year.

[AceLuby]

Very well thought out +bubbles for you sir.

[Wraith001]

he also forgot GT5 RFOM2 Killzone2, i bought mine jus after crimbo and im pretty happy with it along with my 360, which i bought at launch and, wait for it, has only broke once! I think hes talkin pants the PS3 will do well this yr. I was an avid 360 fan and swore blind i wldnt get 1 but i want the best of both worlds! Im happy :D Off topic i thght lair was a great game, i dont understand y it got pulled down so much, hey ho.

[crck]

won the HD format war for Sony, it can only be seen as a success. Not as big of one as Sony would have hoped for so far but winning the HD format war will create a ton of revenue for Sony that will NEVER be credited as it rightly should to the PS3.

[rawg]

But it looks like it's going to pay off in both bluray and PS3 sales. Bluray won because of PS3 and now PS3 is more attractive because it includes a Bluray player. Well done!

[eddierivera]

I paid 600 dollars for my 60 gig and i feel like it was a great bargain. I hope that sony doesnt drop the price again, because I think that they give more then what they are selling it for. It used to cost them 800 dollars per unit to make, and now its down to 400. Do you really think its right to rip sony off like that? Then you guys freak out cause the stock market drops,, hmmm, I wonder why?

Oh yeah, i think its funny that one guy said his xbox only broke once. Yeah my girlfriend only cheated on me once, lol,, not really but thats how stupid that sounds.

[GrooveChampion]

I agree, I purchased a ps3 at the launch price and have absolutely zero buyers remorse. While a lower price is always nice, it's a steal at $399.

[psycho360]

Are you Kaz's nephew or have sony shares? If they think dropping price is ok then whats your problem? Many people waiting to buy it will jump on the oppotunity to buy it in the lean period.

[shine1396]

whatever you were trying to say...

[rawg]

The PS3 will have a long tail, just like the PS2, so they'll eventually break even on the hardware. I don't think the PS2 broke even until they came out with the slim.

The real money is in the software anyway, which is why they need to drop the price as fast as they can to increase the install base early in the cycle.

Higher adoption rates increase incentives for developers who produce better games which increases the desirability of the platform which means even higher adoption rates... in a virtuous cycle that goes on and on until we all collapse exhausted from our game fueled consumer orgy

[THUNDERMARE]

When he talks about recoup from R&D, its almost like he actually never study BA101. You dont have to regard R&D cost because its a sunk cost. Its the money spent, its illogical to look back and try to recoup the money. The logical way is, now we have the technology how should we use it to make a profit.

BTW, I agree that Haze or MGS4 will not shift much more unite, in long run, I think we will see sale spike like what Halo did to the 360 in short run. However, in a long run, it will have to be the collection og great games and yes, the ultimate victory of Blu-ray that will shift the PS3 to the point of it previous glory.

[tfur]

LTD 10.49M
.
http://www.scei.co.jp/corpo...
.
.
.
.
PS3
Period ---------- 2006 ------ 2007

Jan-Mar -------------------- 1.91M
Apr-Jun --------------------- .71M
Jul-Sep -------------------- 1.31M
Oct-Dec ------- 1.66M ------ 4.90M
============================= =====

Total----------- 1.66M ------ 8.83M

LTD 10.49M

[INehalemEXI]

Indeed. Its probably the only console in history that launched at such a high price and was still adopted.

The good thing is we know what the money went to, so it was not just some inflated price either.

[WilliamRLBaker]

10,480,000

and thats weird...i think sony would be up in arms with we've sold 10m!

yet they haven't had a press release...
and that page says since april 2006....lol lol

[tfur]

Actually you are wrong. It is 10.49... And I guess you do not know what LTD means? Please read first...

The PS3 has sold 10.49 million units since it has been on the market, as of December 31st 2007. And it has not even been out a full year in Europe.

[Silverwolf]

If they're making a profit they are succeeding.

[davez82]

who cares

[Graphics by ATi]

Doesn't anybody ever get tired of these articles?

[Mr PS3]

Is overflowing !!
Half full or empty my A$$

[DJ]

10.5 million sold already since launch? At TGS, they had only sold 5 million consoles total, so that's a fairly surprising number. It's obviously less than what they wanted, but they've taken the necessary steps to increase sales performance. Also, it's obvious a few people need to get educated on terms like Fiscal Year, LTD, etc.

That's actually not too far behind Microsoft's LTD figures; only about 6 to 6.5 million consoles behind?

[Graphics by ATi]

Yep....it would appear that Sony's gaining quite a bit of momentum, no?

[Arkham]

They broke 8 Million LTD sold through (install base) as of early January, so either way things are definitely looking up.

For reference, the 360 had shipped (not sold through) 10 million units after their first year/13 months.

Comparatively speaking, things are pretty equal. PS3 sales need to increase steadily over the next few months to at least increase the pressure.

[InYourMom]

sure whatever it is it not Sony's fault or there is some excuse it's fanboy armies will make.

[mighty_douche]

Well alot of people refer to it as nothing more than a DVD player (im not one of them) so id say 9.5 million is good sales for a DVD player right?

[mithril]

PS3 do very well if you compare same number of moth since launch of each console.

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunc...

[KILLERAPP]

He really doest know what Metal Gear is, really to say that is just to shot yourself in the foot the PS2 won because of Metal Gear so what's to say the PS3 won't get a boost is just stupid the Ps3 will kill the WII when MGS 4 comes out in Japan and Europe, the USA effect is going to be really good but not as big as the other two parts but all the games that will come after and in between will boost the US and by the end of the year Sony will be back when it should have been back in 2006.

[Graphics by ATi]

MGS4 will push a lot of PS3s, guaranteed.

[LaChance]

I thought sony had sold almost 10 million in 2007 , this just shows that the ps3 and 360 are sellin at exactly the same pace and that vgchartz are inaccurete with Europe hardware sales

[niall77]

the 9.5 mil is what the sony want the ps3 to sell from March 07 to march 08.

it isnt counting the first 3 million sold betten november 06 when it launched to march.

some people just want to bash with out getting the facts and READING the actual story

[LaChance]

I didnt get it , i did read the article though , but i didnt pay attention to the dates .Thanx for the enlightning lol

[2 cents]

I`m a relatively new ps3 owner (2 months) and i`ve had the x360 for 2 years, but i must say i`m far more happy with the ps3 than i have ever been with the 360. Now i`m buying more and more multiplats for the ps3. There`s certain something when using the ps3, feels almost like a privilege. Is like driving your dad`s expensive car. Although there aren`t too many games to get hyped over like the x360.

[travelguy2k]

Isn't 9.5 million like 2 million more than the 360 sold this year?

[WilliamRLBaker]

is empty...and broken on the floor with less then 10 m sales in a lil over a year and what 3 months under its belt, with no games that surpassed the hype they got.

4 or so million sellers that took 3-4 months to sell a million on an system with 9 or so million users, a online service with 3 million users or so and 9 million systems sold?

lol thats dreamcast/saturn sad.

[tfur]

LTD 10.49M
.
http://www.scei.co.jp/corpo...
.
.
.
.
PS3
Period ---------- 2006 ------ 2007

Jan-Mar -------------------- 1.91M
Apr-Jun --------------------- .71M
Jul-Sep -------------------- 1.31M
Oct-Dec ------- 1.66M ------ 4.90M
============================= =====

Total----------- 1.66M ------ 8.83M

LTD 10.49M

The PS3 has sold 10.49 million units since it has been on the market, as of December 31st 2007. And it has not even been out a full year in Europe.

[WilliamRLBaker]

learn how to read sonydit

That lil sales thing you posted? it says Since launch...april 2006!
lol

[Mr Tretton]

um, hasn't the PS3 already reached 9.5 million?

[Arkham]

I'd much rather have a half-pint of good beer than a full pint of Coors or Bud.

It comes down to whether or not you prefer gulping or savouring. I prefer savouring, for the most part, and the steady flow of quality games and innovations has been more than satisfying.

It looks like the best is yet to come, so I'm really looking forward to getting enjoyably inebriated by all the quality games on tap for the next year or so.

(Oddly enough, I feel like a grabbing a beer right about now.)

[LevDog]

This guy didnt even mention HOME.. MGS4 will boost sales in short term.. So will Haze did he forget KILLZONE 2 and one of my personal faves Resistance 2.. so hmm if you add the short term spikes of these together over a year isnt that a long term gain.. HAHA maybe Im speaking out of my arse but to me these titles seem like console salers.. OH GOD WHAT ABOUT a lil racer called grand turismo.. Hmm or geez the game that is creating more buzz among Non gamers than any on console or game.. Lil BIG PLANET.. I mean I could even be missing games.. Oh well

[Area_51]

Laugh at me if you want I think that the game that will sell the ps3 will be........LBP,I think that this game will be a big hit. This is a game that is willing to try something new IMO it will work. 1st day buy for me, and i'm more of a FPS and sports guy. but man this game look cool.

[gamesblow]

The ps3 is at 9.5 already, Sony did this to make it look like they're breaking their expectations when march rolls around and they're sitting well over 10 million. Sony's as crafty as ever.

People "average gamers/consumers" will see the numbers and say (wow, they exceeded their expectations) when they have not 1 clue that in order to beat them they had to drop them.

[Fezthebest]

i say the the glass is two times what its supposed to be(thanks Mr. M). seriously i think people expect just way too much of everything, not just the PS3.

[s8anicslayer]

an anylist is just a damn wanna bee fortune teller, they are full of crap, and get paid alot of money to tell fairy tails! those biatches!

[incretin]

surely as with anything in life it is to show progression, certainly from what i have seen from ps2 to ps3 and ninga gaiden to sigma i have seen evolution. a bit put off by 360 ( no failure from any consoles ever, that i have possessed ). the ps3 is about to take a big deep breath in