Sony Responds To Crashing Sales with Management Shift

ps3Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has made some leadership changes in response to their in-ability to get things going in the sales department of the PlayStation 3. Gamer’s continue to refuse to believe the PlayStation 3 is in a bad situation by explaining how badly Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is doing in Japan and Europe compared to the Sony console. And, of course, the Wii isn’t competition to Sony.

“Andrew House, Chief Marketing Officer and Group Executive of Sony Corporation, has been named President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Chief Operating Officer (Co-COO) of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) as of May 1, 2009.” (smarthouse.au)

We’ve been told this is the year of the PS3, this is when they bring it all together. Nintendo’s losing some of their grip on the industry with slower sales, even in Japan. The economy isn’t playing nice with any of the consoles and sales continue to drop, reportedly 17% in March compared to last years numbers.

Australia isn’t proving to be any help to Sony, “for example in Australia a consumer can now buy the Xbox 360 for $299 and a separate Blu ray player and DVD upscale player for $199. Combined this is $200 under the recommended retail price for a Sony PS3.”

Here in the United States, we’ve bought more Wii balance boards than PlayStation 3 consoles. One can argue that the Wii is a novelty system but that really casts a dark shadow on the PlayStation 3. The PS3 is being beat out by a novelty item? Can the new SCEE management change the direction of Sony?

0 thoughts on “Sony Responds To Crashing Sales with Management Shift”

  1. Sony’s in big trouble. There’ve been a few articles talking about the PlayStation 3’s death spiral, and you have to wonder if changing from Reeves to House is going to do anything.

    I mean, what can they do – aside from the obvious move of cutting the price, and doing that is financially destructive for Sony.

    As a PS – if you see the graph they include – the PS3 is about $130-140 more expensive in Australia than it is in the US if you convert the currency. It’s brutal.

  2. Sony’s in big trouble. There’ve been a few articles talking about the PlayStation 3’s death spiral, and you have to wonder if changing from Reeves to House is going to do anything.

    I mean, what can they do – aside from the obvious move of cutting the price, and doing that is financially destructive for Sony.

    As a PS – if you see the graph they include – the PS3 is about $130-140 more expensive in Australia than it is in the US if you convert the currency. It’s brutal.

  3. Maybe its high time that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft bring their prices lower… they jacked their prices so high as if their game consoles are necessity. the world economy is going down and they can help a bit if they bring their prices lower.

  4. Maybe its high time that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft bring their prices lower… they jacked their prices so high as if their game consoles are necessity. the world economy is going down and they can help a bit if they bring their prices lower.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Gaming Podcast 219: ColecoVision RulesGaming Podcast 219: ColecoVision Rules

Paul crows about Nintendo’s dominance over the ColecoVision and Dreamcast, while Jonah and Jordan reminisce about this week’s Gaming Flashback, Electronic Arts’ Barnstorming for the Atari 2600.

The news also includes the following topics:

  • Duke Nukem Forever review fiasco
  • Harrison: Apple will be the games industry in 10 years
  • Tretton: No need for PS4, PS3 now hitting its stride
  • Slimmer PS3 coming?

This week’s Gaming History looks at the husband-and-wife developing team Freefall Associates, while the Question of the Week is: How much weight do you give the score of a review? Let us know what you think.

PlayStation 3, March 2009 Price Drop RumorPlayStation 3, March 2009 Price Drop Rumor

With so many people wishing Sony would cut the PS3 price to something more reasonable, it’s no big surprise we see constant rumors about potential “price cuts.” This time, a March 2009 rumor “supposedly” came out of the Sony Annual Briefing in London where a butt ton of information was “rumored” to be leaked.

The anonymous source is running around with a bunch of neat rumors, such as a LittleBigPlanet release on the PSP but the one that may hit home most with gamers is price cutting. The PS3 has been around for a few years now and hasn’t budged on the price tag; they’ve had fire sales on obsolete products (smaller disk drives mainly) but no official drops.

Sony won’t comment on speculation, of course, but we’re sure they want to catch Mr. Anonymous from hiding in their meetings and giving away their information… if it is real. D+Pad published the rumor-mongers message saying the “SCEE will be getting more competitive in price from March 2009 onwards.”

Easter would be a fine time for a price cut, if the speculation is real. This upcoming holiday would have made the most sense, to consumers, but Sony apparently has no plans to reduce the price around the time their sales will be increasing anyway. As the PlayStation 3 is doing okay in PAL territories Sony is relying on them, it would seem, to kick up the numbers and show Microsoft they’re not the only second-place game in town.

The Wii continues to dominate and we’re sure a PS3 price drop won’t impact Nintendo’s sales strategy or gamers decisions on one console versus the other as a price drop wouldn’t bring it to a competitive Wii price.

What is your magic number? What price would you buy a PS3 at if you don’t own one already. For us? Drop it a bit and throw in a free LittleBigPlanet.

TD Gaming Podcast Kickstarter Fundraising DriveTD Gaming Podcast Kickstarter Fundraising Drive

Well, we hinted at it in the last few podcasts, and now it is live: TD Gaming Podcast is now looking for listener support through Kickstarter.

It’s very easy to donate: just visit our Kickstarter page and click that donate button. The goal is pretty modest, a mere $1500. If all our listeners each donated even just $5, we’d blow by that amount.

What will we do with the money? Make sure we can keep old episodes without having to delete them due to limited server space, and get pro mics for every podcaster. The more money, the longer we can go without worrying about server subscriptions.

We have a few fun reward tiers – our most hardcore fans will definitely want an MP3 of one of the crew or any of the crew recording a voice mail or answer machine outgoing message, or the entire podcast bantering for a few moments. There’s also the requisite T-shirt, which will have the awesome Gaming Podcast logo.

And if you’re in the NYC area, or plan to be, Jonah Falcon will have dinner at a nice restaurant with you. If you’re going to plop that much dough down, how could we refuse a free dinner?

Keep the TD Gaming Podcast alive – donate. We’re counting on you.