by Playfuls Staff |
11th September 2006
It is no breaking news now that Sony postponed the previously established launch date in Europe for PS3. But this new disaster is just the tip of the iceberg.[more]
Let’s turn back in time and remember what caused the previous delays. First, PS3 was meant to conquer the world and smash its opponents (…) back in 2005. No. It didn’t happen. Microsoft on the other hand managed to release Xbox 360 and it now has a very strong momentum on the market compared to PS3 and even Wii. Moreover, Microsoft reports impressive numbers concerning Xbox: more than 50 million downloads were made from Xbox Live on September 1st; Xbox Live hosted more than 2 million hours of gameplay (this is equivalent to 228 years of online gaming in the first seven days alone); an average of 1.3 million text and voice messages are sent via Xbox Live every day, with half a billion messages sent amongst the Xbox Live community per year; and the list goes on…
What does Sony boast with? Well…nothing. No Blu-Ray, no PS3- this is what Sony officials are probably thinking. According to the most recent official statement, the decision to postpone the launch date in Europe was taken following "the delay in the mass production schedule of the blue laser diode within the Sony Group, thus affecting the timely procurement of key components to be utilised in PlayStation 3."
But the Blu Ray issue was exactly the same back in March 2006, when they first announced the simultaneous world wide launch of their long-expected gadget! Is it so serious that in more than 7 months they couldn’t deal with it? And let’s be frank: an official statement of this importance for Sony will always try to “sweeten” things instead of revealing the real dimension of the disaster, wouldn’t you agree? If I were an important company that couldn’t keep my promises or keep up with my competitors I would definitely try to reduce the impact of another lie, isn’t it?
And why is it a lie? Well, what rational human being would now believe that Sony WILL meet its latest goals (500,000 consoles totally, 100,000 in Japan and 400,000 in US)? What credibility does Sony boast with now (at least concerning PS3)?
Let me remind you another case of Sony lie: in July, there were some rumors about Sony’s gaming console being already in production at some of its Chinese partners.
Both Apple Daily and Commercial Times (Chinese-language newspapers) have spoken in their articles about the fact that Asustek Computer had already begun shipping PlayStation3 to Sony. Apparently this initial shipment had debuted at the beginning of July, in a small volume at start, but expected to rise until November 11, PS3’s (still) official launch date.
The publications were speaking about an actual monthly shipment of 200,000 units, which should gradually increase up to 2 million pieces by October 2006. The total amount of PlayStation3 consoles established by contract is 4 million pieces for 2006. They were all to be delivered in due time to meet customers’ demand for the Christmas shopping season…
Moreover, Phil Harrison President, Worldwide Studios at SCEI confirmed the report in one of his statements from the beginning of August: “It’s all going well. We are in full swing, from a developer point of view, and over 10000 development kits have been shipped. Developers now have final hardware in their hands, though there will be some upgrades to the operating system – there’s nothing unusual about that. The new controller is now in developers’ hands, so all the pieces of the puzzle are there.”
But, surprise! Sony Computer Entertainment US president Kaz Hirai admitted in late August that PlayStation3 has still not entered the production phase…
"We haven't started manufacturing yet. Some of our ops guys were actually just in China, and also in Japan just reviewing the [production] lines and everything else. But they are, again, preparing as we speak to get the manufacturing going. We've not announced and we haven't set really a specific date to say, 'As of this day we're going to start manufacturing' ".
Sony’s PR department tried to fix Kirai’s slip-up in a press release: “Unfortunately Kaz Hirai's comments in the recent interview regarding PlayStation 3 production were misunderstood. We are still on schedule to ship 2 million units for our mid-November 2006 launch and additional 2 million units by the end of the year for a total of 4 million units.”
Whatta difference from that announcement to the one they gave last week! We’re talking more than 1,500,000 consoles simply vanishing into ether! And even worse, we are talking about the biggest gaming market in the world (which numerically speaking is Europe) left out! Houston, we have a problem…
There is a lot to say about what European gamers are now thinking and what they’ll be thinking when eventually (…) PS3 comes out. It will be even worse than what happened when Xbox 360 was launched with the same type of shortages in November 2005. But back then, gamers in search for next-gen games and a console to play them had only one choice: the Xbox 360. By the time Sony will have its PS3 on the market, Xbox 360 will have already gained a lot of fans and game developers, will have already prepared an HD-DVD player to compete with the PS3’s Blu ray drive, will have already packed a lot of attractive titles (Halo 3, Gears of War, the Xbox version of F.E.A.R. …) and will have already offered its XNA Game Studio Express program, an offshoot of the company's more robust XNA Framework, which allows users to (almost) create their own game.
Gamers all over the world will feel frustrated, with Europeans on the first place. And they will definitely remember what a Microsoft official said at E3 this year: that there is no use in buying a PS3 since for the same price you get an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo Wii. How much would you bet on the fact that in March 2007 PS3 will register disastrous sells in the European space?...
And let’s not forget Nintendo Wii since I mentioned it. A post-E3 poll organized by Famitsu, the ultimate gaming magazine in Japan revealed something no one would suspect: Nintendo Wii tops Sony Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in customers' preferences.
The big question was, "What gaming hardware are you looking forward to the most?" The Nintendo Wii did three times better than its closest competition. Wii: 68.8%, PS3: 21%, Xbox 360: 7.2%, and NDS: 3%. As for the price of the future PS3, 88.4% said the price is too high, 10.9% said the price is appropriate and only 0.7% said the console is inexpensive. And just think that this is a poll from one of the world's richest countries and the traditional dominant market for Sony Playstation...
All in all, PlayStation 3 has small chances of fulfilling the prophecy made by Yankee Group, that it will win by 2011 the gaming-consoles war. I honestly feel sorry for Sony because I know they have tried their best to offer to their faithful fans the best product ever. But they ended up totally covering themselves with shame and this calls for some high-ranked heads to fall. Otherwise, even the most true-blue fans will dump PS3 and a chain reaction will ignite, causing Sony to painfully remember the Betamax-VHS lost battle.
