David Reeves, Sony Europe’s President said, “we simply have to suffer a little” when talking about the PS3, Europe and the competition. He was talking specifically about Sony’s loss of market share, mind-share and overall performance in the latest competitive console arena. While Sony’s president dismisses Nintendo as in a separate market, David Reeves said, “we’ve learned from Nintendo how to grow the market and move from hand-held device to device – they’ve done it brilliantly.”
What Sony may be dealing with is the fact that they’re not top dog in the latest battle for consoles. Europe has taken to the PlayStation 3 better than the United States and they’ve got plenty of fans in the region. There has been a recent upside to it all, some light at the end of the tunnel:
“PS3 games sales are up 53% and there’s a healthy 1.1m pre-order book for Killzone 2, the first of a new batch of IPs that Sony will be counting on.” (guardian.co.uk)
Although it’s reported the PSP says are down 15% and PS2 software sales are down 51%, at least the PlayStation 3 is filling in the gap for some of those losses. At some point you’d expect the PlayStation 2 to decline, gamers are probably migrating over to the new hardware.
They’ve got some things to be proud of:
- PlayStation Network increases revenues by 200% in 2008
- 55% of all PlayStation owners are on PSN
- 17.5 million PSN subscribers
- 53% rise in software sales on PS3
- Won HD format war
Unfortunately PS3 sales were down last quarter by about 9%, perhaps a response to the harsh economic times. And, of course, the fact that Sony’s VP’s are constantly defending their position in the market is a bit disconcerting. As David Reeves said:
“It’s like Ali v Foreman – go eight or nine rounds and let him punch himself out. We’re still standing, we’re still profitable and there’s a lot of fight in us. I don’t say we will land a knockout blow, but we’re there and we’re fighting.” (guardian.co.uk)
Sony is playing the defensive, guarding themselves against the punches of the competition. Nintendo making headlines for sales, Microsoft coming out of nowhere to try to build market share, while Sony holds out for the tenth round to win it in the end? We’re not yet sure if it’s Ali vs. Foreman or if Microsoft is the next Buster Douglas.
(Thanks, Guardian)
Sony takes a
Hi Guys.
You know it: thanks as always for the episode 🙂
I played a lot of Diablo 4 the last weeks, but besides this i only watched some tv series and did not play that much (not even Magic!).
Handheld discussion: i really love the Switch and my new “console” the steam deck, because i love to have the possibility to take it on a trip or to play some smaller games while in bed or on the plane or stuff like that. If i will buy a possible pS5 handheld … cant say …. at the moment there are not enough games out for ps5 which interest me … i am still playing god of war (not the new one, the remastered HDR 4k version of the ps4!).
Jagges Alliance: never played any of these … dont hit me too hard for this 🙂
Hifi Rush: neither played this one … i think now i will be dismissed, right? 😉
Gamescon: you only mentioned it in one sentence, but i am looking forward if there will be some new interesting indie titles, because these are more interesting for me than most of the triple A titles. If one of you will visit the gamescon, just give me a hint, maybe we can have diner together or if you need a place to sleep.
Keep on the good work and stay healthy and happy!
Greetings from germany,
Ralf