PS3 cut in half, delay in Europe: Our take
Covering PS3 news is anathema to some of our readers, but we must comment on Sony's surprise announcements today. In case you haven't heard, Sony set us up the bomb today that they will ship a worldwide total of 500,000 PS3s at launch, and only in the US and Japan at that. Given these numbers, Sony also readjusted their end of the year sales estimate to 2 million units (down from 4 million). Even more perplexing, Japan will only see 100,000 of the first shipment. Even more perplexing than that, Europe will see a grand total of zero (zed) PS3 units at launch. Which of course means that the PS3 won't actually be launching at all in Europe, at least, not this year. Our sad crumpet munching friends will have to wait until March of 2007 to snag a PS3. At least you have Dead Rising now. What, if anything, does this mean for the 360? Read on for our take.The meaning for the 360 is fairly clear. Lots of people will opt for a 360 (or Wii) that they can have right now rather than wait for the PS3 to be restocked. This urgency is even more pronounced during the holidays, when parents are pressured to put something under the tree, menorah, et cetera. Granted, Sony has mentioned nothing about how fast shipments will pick up after launch, but if the 360 was any indication, lots of folks could be waiting a long time to get their sweaty little hands on Kutaragi's wonder box.
So, people will stand in those stores, look at PS3 and 360 displays, and be forced to make a choice.
"Do I want to pick up a 360 and Gears of War, or should I wait for them to restock the PS3 and get a copy of Giant Enemy Crab Battle? Hmmmm ... well, I do love massive damage ..."
And let's not forget Japan. 100,000 PS3s will sell out very fast. And what's left behind? Lots of 360s and Blue Dragon. We know that many of you don't want or even care about Blue Dragon, but its potential importance must be understood -- not to mention Lost Odyssey. Blue Dragon is being made by Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy) and Akira Toriyama (Dragon Quest). These two already have some Japanese street cred under their belts, and the last time these boys got together they produced a little game called Chrono Trigger. That's a huge name in the RPG world and Microsoft undoubtedly knows it. If Blue Dragon is everything that it can be, it could prove to be a powerful incentive for the Japanese to pick up a 360 when there are no PS3s to be had.
In the end, no matter what kind of spin you put on this for Sony, it should be nothing but good for Microsoft.
See also:
North American, Japanese PS3 launch limited to 500,000 units
European launch of Playstation 3 delayed until March 2007
Blue Dragon, could it save Japan?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
joynt @ Sep 6th 2006 8:43PM
Is Canada getting any at launch? Don't care myself but I would like to take the chance to laugh at all my ps3 fanboy friends.
Justice @ Sep 6th 2006 8:50PM
As do I, joynt.
ctrl-alt-del @ Sep 6th 2006 9:23PM
Interesting that this post is only getting a couple of responses. I thought the 360 fans would just be laughing it up on this post. Check out the same post at PS3 Fanwhore.
http://playstation.joystiq.com/2006/09/06/oh-snap-europe-wont-get-their-ps3-on-until-march-2007/
Xfan @ Sep 6th 2006 10:34PM
This will be the first holiday you can actually go into the store and buy a 360. It was completely impossible last year if you hadn't already pre-ordered a 360. I know, I tried visiting every day. There was something like 1 initial shipment in Novemember, then a shipment before Christmas, and then another shipment after Christmas. I never tried so hard in my life to find something, and wasn't able to locate one until May 2006.
Xavier @ Sep 6th 2006 10:36PM
Because in general, most 360 owners don't care about the PS3 nor lame attempts at starting fanboy wars.
I'd rather hear 360 news than PS3 news. I've simply no interest in it, though it's understandable why it's here. Controversy and fanboywarism drives hits, which is why you don't see websites seeking to curb the immature and grade-school conflicts.
icemorebutts @ Sep 6th 2006 10:40PM
Oh come now; You just arn't seeing the whole picture. It's not just about giant enemy crabs or massive damage... it's also about the real time weapon switching. Stuff that advanced takes amazing amounts of proccessing power to achieve.
O'Neill @ Sep 7th 2006 12:09AM
These guys at Teamxbox hit the nail on PS# with this! Read on to laugh at Kutaragi's face.....fun real facts........PS3 embarass me. I feel ashame of them. They make me puke!
Read on!
http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/1725/PlayStation-3-Worldwide-Launch-PostPWNED/p1
DA360 @ Sep 7th 2006 12:48AM
It seems like Sony has really messed up with the PS3 launch. I also heard that PS3 isn't even in production yet, very bad news since the Xbox 360 was in production by September of 2005 (last year), there was even kodeks being shipped to stores, and it still had a shortage. So I predict there will be a MASSIVE shortage, probably a nearly six to even nine to ten month long one. Basically, far worse than the shortage the Xbox 360 had to go though.
Also, delaying the European launch killed their idea of trying to do a simuntaneous launch. First the PSP gets delayed in Europe and now the PS3. Seems like Sony has problems with getting their products to the European market, it seems.
Of course this is good news for Microsoft, this means they can use this opportunity to move in and sell the Xbox 360 with games like Gears of War, Forza 2 (though its release date got changed I heard), Fable 2, and many, many other games coming out this Holiday season and post-holiday. Because I am sure most casual people won't want to wait for the PS3 to come back into stock and these people will see the selection of games for the 360 and decide to get one.
But with horrible stock, a delayed European launch and many game developers making their once PS3 exclusive games (or dropping them from the console period), the PS3 launch is looking very grim currently.
Also, one thing that's has people concerned as well is the platform is only has two months left until launch and we barely know anything of any of the software features of the console. Like how the online service will be, if it will have a Xbox Live Marketplace like service (with demo downloading). If it doesn't, then having a bigger HDD in the $600 unit will be pointless because it will just be used for saves. We also don't know what their answer to Xbox Live Arcade will be either. We don't even know what media it will playback (if at all) and if it can have music during games.
aceR @ Sep 7th 2006 2:09AM
haha. i love it.
Tom @ Sep 7th 2006 2:40AM
Sony should just give up now. Their system will go the way of betamax soon enough... it's was a good 10 years, Sony; it was fun while it last, but anyways I'm looking forward to playing Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 once SquareEnix abandons Sony's doomed console. :)
rooot @ Sep 7th 2006 3:30AM
at least we DON'T have Dead Rising now. we'll have it tomorrow. (8th sept)
why do sony (and some developers) hate us europeans?
Joe @ Sep 7th 2006 4:34AM
*Chants* BE-TA-MAX
DannyOB @ Sep 7th 2006 5:11AM
I hate how us europeans get screwed on near on everything, but from a game developers point of view, i can understand on why we get screwed on release dates, i mean, think of how many different languages there are in europe alone compared to the US and Japan alone. But then again, i wouldn't mind getting the American version of the game, only in PAL, the french version can wait! :D
Sinnix @ Sep 7th 2006 9:01AM
@ #1 and #2
Yes, The 400,000 units shipping to North America are going to be split up. Some going to Canada and some going to the States. Which means that the States is really only going to get around 300,000 units... but I don't think that has caught on yet. ;)
tony @ Sep 7th 2006 9:21AM
way to go sony.every sony product i ever bought brand new messed up on me.the first PS2 i bought i waited in like 15 hours for only to get home and have it not work at all.then the psp i bought the buttons came off.so yea let me tell ya sony just makes some high quailty products.seems this time they are goin to get what they finally deserve.BANKRUPTCY!!to hell with sony, 360 rules!!no one will ever top the xbox for gameplay and online play.u just cant do it so just give up now sony before u emberass yourself even more.
Ken @ Sep 7th 2006 9:41AM
Sorry, fanboywarism (I think you coined a new word) is just fun to write. Plus Sony makes it so easy.
romo828 @ Sep 7th 2006 9:46AM
The delay of the PS3 gaming system is a minor blow, (and MSFT will benefit) but the big blow is with the big movie industry players. Sony really thought the PS3 was going to help them win the war of movie formats with Blu-Ray. Not only does it look like MSFT will benefit with the 360, but this also puts HD-DVD ahead of the game, and as no big movie industry signed an exclusive deal with Sony's Blu-Ray, they may jump ship and support the HD-DVD format as well to get sales this holiday season. With record sales of HD Tv's in past years, consumers will be looking to get the next best thing for their TV's this holiday season, and i think a good percentage will end up with HD-DVD players. I know I will.
insane_cobra @ Sep 7th 2006 10:27AM
What I don't get is how they still plan on delivering 6 million units until the end of their fiscal year. The answer is probably "they don't", but let's take a closer look at it.
Their initial plan was 2 millions for launch, another 2 millions until the end of the calendar year and final 2 millions by the end of March. Now it's half million for launch, another 1.5 million until the end of the year and FOUR millions by the end of March? How?
Let's take a leap of faith and presume they succeed in pumping out 1.5 million units between November 17th and December 31st. That's a bit more than 6 weeks so let's say 250,000 units a week. Remember that's with hoarding all blue diodes for themselves.
There are 13 weeks between January 1st and March 31st so presuming the same rhythm, it adds up to 3.25 millions. They'll probably solve the blue diode shortage problem by then so the goal of 4 million units will be attainable, but only if they keep hoarding the diodes (or at least most of them) for themselves. I'm not sure their Blu-ray partners would agree to such an arragement.
In any case, I'm pretty positive they'll have to adjust their projections at least once more.
Isagani @ Sep 7th 2006 11:45AM
Glad to see your comments are very fair and well balanced.. giving insightful opinion instead of the easy bashing you might see elsewhere on the net... I do still think that the numbers of PS3s in the US, if they are even able to meet their 06 estimates will be good enough since the system is so expensive and the Euro launch might actually be a blessing for them because they could potentially miss all the bugs in early systems and they get more games to choose from at launch. Either way, I'll be waiting to see when I can get my PS3 without paying any extra, but in the mean time my 360 should have some great games in many genres to tide me over and not think so much about the low launch numbers.
Cheers
NorCal05 @ Sep 8th 2006 12:45PM
Evevry time I see that picture, I can't believe they are still using that awful controller they came up with in 1994. They have tacked on analog sticks and motion sensing, but it's the same horrible design.