Record-breaking 165,000 PS3s sold at UK launch

Kevin2006

Who said the PS3 launch was a flop?! Also, considering the price of the thing and the time of year - then I would call the launch a success!

Link - http://www.mcvuk.com/news/26261/Record-breaking-165000-PS3s-sold-at-UK-launch

WarZoneBrother

lol i think in my local store 1 has been sold in monaghan so if i get mine this week i could be the 2nd person in monaghan to own one

scrapland

call me skeptical - but errrr I'm skeptical


seems like every bleeding console launch in the UK gets this kind of response - and yet boxes of them left on shelves seems to say otherwise.

Say a console is the most successful, the most successful, the most successful, the most successful - repeatedly and it enought people will believe it.

LookingFor

Well, figures are provided for previous launches. It's an independent entity that tracks these. I guess if successive launches are each more successful than the last, then it's probably a good sign for the industry.

In this case, I think it's down to Sony simply having more stock. PS3 didn't sell out, but that didn't mean it couldn't have the largest launch to date (165k out of 200/220k were sold).

Software sales also looked pretty good. Attach ratio was 1.65:1, about the same as at the PS2 launch, but in absolute terms they sold three times as much software. 6 of the top 10 in the UK for the week are PS3 titles.

Citizen_Erased

I have a theory that goes that only the fanboys who had the funds and were fully decided on the matter were willing to buy these consoles and being fanboys went out and bought them instantly on the release date thus giving a sharp spike in sales but i would guess that its sales within the first two months could be less than the wii sold in its first two months. (no this isn't nintendo fanboying , just an unbiased theory - I dont own either console)

horgan_p

smyhts in cork had 300 ps3s - they still have 150
theres no rush. i walk into gamestop today and picked one up - the resistance and motorstorm pack. the guy said it was the last one left - until i pointed ut the pile of them behind him!!!

NotorietyH

horgan_p wrote:

smyhts in cork had 300 ps3s - they still have 150
theres no rush. i walk into gamestop today and picked one up - the resistance and motorstorm pack. the guy said it was the last one left - until i pointed ut the pile of them behind him!!!

Well I was 112 on the list for preorders and I ordered back in september, I was talking to the manager at the launch and she said it was the highest number of pre-orders they'd ever had.

horgan_p

just relaying what the girl from smyths said

Retr0gamer

I think it's a case of Sony having a huge amount of stock and therefore got 4 days of sales, while the Wii and 360 basically sold out on the first day of sales. Still it's doing quite well for sony in the UK but the rest of Europe didn't repond as well so I hear.

I predict a sharp drop in sales as the price point puts it out of the impulse purchase range.

CiDeRmAn

Yup, that price is going to hurt it come christmas too, depends if MS can market the 360 as a comparable machine with great games, if they don't they will have a Dreamcast on their hands, great machine but the great unwashed don't care so long as the console beneath the Tv has the word "Sony" on it,
I can see a 360 price drop by Christmas and a nice Halo3 packs to combat a PS3 pack, a 360 plus Halo3 for, say, €300, while the PS3 and a game goes for €660 or so? I know what I'd go for, but will kids and their parents come Christmas feel that way?

Burning Eclipse

Retr0gamer wrote:

I think it's a case of Sony having a huge amount of stock and therefore got 4 days of sales, while the Wii and 360 basically sold out on the first day of sales. Still it's doing quite well for sony in the UK but the rest of Europe didn't repond as well so I hear.

Hit the nail on the head Retr0. Thats exactly the case I reckon. Also, the overall record for a console (portable or non) is 185,000... for the PSP, and that's a resounding success, isn't it?

LookingFor

The PSP and the PS3 are different kettles of fish altogether. Their challenges are very much different. PSP's problem is that it's too close to the PS2 experience, and the home experience. People like me bought it, then just played it at home, and ended up wondering why they had it alongside a PS2. It needs to differentiate itself as a portable, and validate itself as a portable.

PS3's main challenge is really 'just' price. It is a desirable system, it has and will have a lot of great and differentiating content, and the hardware all makes sense in the context of being a home system. I think Sony knows they need to drop the price this year (MS will be, maybe even this week), and I think it will happen before Xmas. You can see Sony has already been very aggressively trying to cost reduce on the system in just the few months since the US and Japanese launches. Compare the European PS3 motherboard to the original US/JPN one - it's already visibly simpler in a number of areas (the BC hardware being the most obvious). Going forward, there should be a 65nm shrink for Cell in the Summer. Blu-ray should be always getting cheaper and cheaper - Sony is going from $1,000 players last November to $300 players by Xmas 07, apparently. I think for Europe, they'll introduce the 20GB system and knock €100 off both packages.

I think another thing Sony hopes will be happening for Xmas 07 and beyond is for the penny to drop more dramatically with the public in terms of HD movies, and Blu-ray. If they can increase the value of that to more consumers, the higher price will start looking smaller, if you get my drift. That should happen, the only question in my mind is on what scale, and how soon.

Ciaran500

Citizens, beware AXIS propaganda!

I love UK:R

Paulw

It's not a matter of how many were left on the shelf, more a matter of how many were supplied.

If Sony made sure that there were more sent to shops than needed, then it's a good thing.

The Wii was very popular and still can be hard to find, but that's because the shops were sent so few units. Just because they're sold out doesn't mean it's popular.

juanjo

ehem... Well actually sony had 4 MONTHS to ensure that there were gonna be stock enough in europe to supply all the europs3 fanboys, whereas nintendo released wii globally. Not a chance of making a comparison here.

Anyways, I've heard as well, that the ps3 launch wasn't very big in france, or australia.

scrapland

Actually what's funny is ebay.ie

Generally you can pick up a machine on ebay for about €100+ less than it would cost in the shops. The more expensive ebay listings have Zero bids and will probably stay like that.


http://videogames.search.ebay.ie/ps3_Consoles-Systems_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfltZ9QQfromZR8QQsacatZ139971

Karmafaerie

PS3 Launch Weekend - Outsold By 360?

PS3 Fails To Beat Launch Record In Australia

February NPD Madness

'Nuff Said.

It's far from over for the PS3 like some people are harping on!:rolleyes:, but you have to admit, Sony will be flustered by this.
Great sales in the UK, doesn't make up for very low sales in the rest of Europe and Australia, and being so far behind everyone else in America, with stock on the shelves!
I mean come on, they're being outsold by the DS, the Wii, the PS2, the 360, and the GBA(:eek:)!
Sony will have to pull the thumb out!

Retr0gamer

Paulw wrote:

The Wii was very popular and still can be hard to find, but that's because the shops were sent so few units. Just because they're sold out doesn't mean it's popular.

The Wii is still incredibly popular with a demand that exceeds the supply even 4 months after launch. Take a look at the PS3 in every other territory. After the big sales on release they haven't sold well at all.

Just because it's been sold out for 4 months does mean it's popular.

Karmafaerie

Retr0gamer wrote:

Take a look at the PS3 in every other territory. After the big sales on release they haven't sold well at all.

Like here in North America, the worlds biggest gaming market for instance!;)

Karmafaerie wrote:

February NPD Madness

Blowfish

Well I'll say one thing for Sony, at least they've killed off the touts for the european launch, no-one is going to pay more for a console if they can still buy it for the original price in the shops.

Pity they didn't manage to do that for the other launches though.

Pacifico

Karmafaerie wrote:

PS3 Launch Weekend - Outsold By 360?

PS3 Fails To Beat Launch Record In Australia

February NPD Madness

'Nuff Said.

It's far from over for the PS3 like some people are harping on!:rolleyes:, but you have to admit, Sony will be flustered by this.
Great sales in the UK, doesn't make up for very low sales in the rest of Europe and Australia, and being so far behind everyone else in America, with stock on the shelves!
I mean come on, they're being outsold by the DS, the Wii, the PS2, the 360, and the GBA(:eek:)!
Sony will have to pull the thumb out!

Wow thats quite a large amount of **** you managed to pack into a single post....good man

You seamed to have missed:

"Under terms of strict anonymity, however, SPOnG was told by our contact at one branch of a major retail outlet, that on both Saturday and Sunday it sold more 360s than it did PS3s."

Yes they failed to beat the launch record in Australia by about 10,000, selling over 20,000 units. For a "complete launch failure" thats not bad

Karmafaerie

Pacifico wrote:

Wow thats quite a large amount of **** you managed to pack into a single post....good man

You seamed to have missed:

Yes they failed to beat the launch record in Australia by about 10,000, selling over 20,000 units. For a "complete launch failure" thats not bad

Back in the hole fanboi!

Back....

Back!!!

Good, now read my post again.

The link you referred to is posted as what?
Hmmm...let me see.

PS3 Launch Weekend - Outsold By 360?

The official figures aren't out yet, as was mentioned umpteen times in the article.
Hence the question mark.
There is however no doubt that the Continental launch was nowhere near as big as it was either in the UK, or Ireland.

As for the Australian sales figures.
How come you didn't quote from that?
Oh I know, cause fanbois can't read bad things about their baby.

Please, allow me.

According to national newspaper The Age, which previously described the Australian launch as “feeble”,

Even so, the launch sales figures compare slightly negatively to the Xbox 360, which sold over 30,000 units in its first four days and broke the then record for a console launch in the country.

This record was subsequently broken again by the Wii launch last December, which sold 32,901 units in its first four days

The 360 broke the record, then the Wii broke that record, then the PS3.......fell well short!

Plus, please tell me what's "****" about the well publicised NPD figures?
The most accurate regional sales data in the world, data which Sony use and quote when it suits them, is "****" because it shows bad PS3 sales figures!
:rolleyes:

Lastly, as I said in my initial post, Sony are not in any serious trouble at the moment.
The PlayStation name is always going to bring out the fanbois in droves, but it's complete dominance is slipping very fast, and unless they do something soon, I personally can see very even sales figures for all three consoles by the time the next gen rears it's head!

I'm not going to get into an argument with a fanboi - because, well, I'm not nine! - I simply responded to the OP's quoting sales figure from one market and saying that the launch wasn't a flop.
The PS3 sold well on launch in the UK, but that seems to be the only place in the world where it broke a record, unlike the 360 and Wii which both posted record sales initially in most of the world. (MS obviously can practically just forget about Japan!:D)

Kevin2006

Portugal sold 90% of their PS3's!

Link - http://www.n4g.com/ps3/News-32026.aspx

The PS3 sold well on launch in the UK, but that seems to be the only place in the world where it broke a record,

Apparently not so!

Italy selling out 100%, UK selling out 75% and Holland selling out 90%...

Ciaran500

Kevin2006 wrote:

Apparently not so!

Italy selling out 100%, UK selling out 75% and Holland selling out 90%...

Where are these from?

Stephen!

K im not reall ygood wioth business and stuff, but as far as im aware Sony are selling PS3's at a loss, as they are dearer to make than they sell them for (which is commmon in video games as they make profit on liscensing games out to people) but alot of games are gonna be on xbox 360 and ps3, and for the exclusive games, if Sony lowers it price so much they'll lose even more money right? and then instead of payin a bigger price to make up for the ps3s loss, the games developers go to microsoft which would be hceaper to make and then they can get the games for cheaper.

i dunno, maybe that doesnt make sense but thats what i was thinkin there when i was reading all these things.

one last question, should i wait to get my 360 incase it flops and turns into a dreamcast, or has it sold too many to become a dreamcast?

savemejebus

If you want a 360 get a 360 however it would be smart to wait and get the 360 elite if and when it launches. It doesn't matter if it becomes a dreamcast as the dreamcast had lots of great games.

ps It won't become a dreamcast

Retr0gamer

I doubt MS are running out of money anytime soon.

LookingFor

The BBC says they sold 600k across Europe over the weekend. Sony expects to sell 1m by the end of this week (pay-day coming up!).

Stephen! wrote:

K im not reall ygood wioth business and stuff, but as far as im aware Sony are selling PS3's at a loss, as they are dearer to make than they sell them for (which is commmon in video games as they make profit on liscensing games out to people) but alot of games are gonna be on xbox 360 and ps3, and for the exclusive games, if Sony lowers it price so much they'll lose even more money right? and then instead of payin a bigger price to make up for the ps3s loss, the games developers go to microsoft which would be hceaper to make and then they can get the games for cheaper.

Sony offsets hardware losses with revenue from more than just developer license fees. They won't increase fees to compensate for a price cut. In fact, they will be trying to increase license fee revenue with a price cut by increasing the number of games they're selling (to a bigger audience) without changing the per-game fee. Sony offsets hardware losses with revenue from software sales, peripheral sales, downloadable content sales, and they'll also even be looking at things like Blu-ray revenue when considering PS3's price. There's a lot of different potential revenue streams for them to consider on PS3. They can also use profits from other platforms to help offset losses on PS3 also, like PS2 profits (from both hardware and software).

From what it's worth, Sony expects to start turning a profit on PS3 hardware starting in September 07.

Kevin2006

The BBC says they sold 600k across Europe over the weekend. Sony expects to sell 1m by the end of this week (pay-day coming up!).

lets see what the xbox fanboys say to that...;)

Karmafaerie

Kevin2006 wrote:

lets see what the xbox fanboys say to that...;)

Not that I'm an MS fanboi (Go Sega!!!), but if I was, I might say something like this!

The exact same kind of figures came out of North America after their launch, now they're only selling 127,000 a month, unlike the 228,000 360's and 335,000 Wii's!

Vegeta

LookingFor wrote:

Sony expects to sell 1m by the end of this week (pay-day coming up!).

What, the months of delay wasn't long enough to save up

only joking, I have no doubt of the future success of the PS3 (as much as it pains me as Sony are cnuts) but it was a shaky launch at best.

Stephen!

LookingFor wrote:

The BBC says they sold 600k across Europe over the weekend. Sony expects to sell 1m by the end of this week (pay-day coming up!).



Sony offsets hardware losses with revenue from more than just developer license fees. They won't increase fees to compensate for a price cut. In fact, they will be trying to increase license fee revenue with a price cut by increasing the number of games they're selling (to a bigger audience) without changing the per-game fee. Sony offsets hardware losses with revenue from software sales, peripheral sales, downloadable content sales, and they'll also even be looking at things like Blu-ray revenue when considering PS3's price. There's a lot of different potential revenue streams for them to consider on PS3. They can also use profits from other platforms to help offset losses on PS3 also, like PS2 profits (from both hardware and software).

From what it's worth, Sony expects to start turning a profit on PS3 hardware starting in September 07.

Thanks for clearing that up dude.

You seem to know what you're talking about, so would you say the 360 will be goin strong in the next few years? With as much games as the PS3

Ciaran500

Stephen! wrote:

Thanks for clearing that up dude.

You seem to know what you're talking about, so would you say the 360 will be goin strong in the next few years? With as much games as the PS3

Both will definitely still be going strong for the rest of the generation with the gap between 360/PS3 being much smaller this time around.

Stephen!

Thanks a bunch dude