PS3 Facing Shortages in US, Problem to Last a Bit Longer

If you thought that your retailer was slacking and missed purchasing enough, then you were wrong - according to SCEA comms boss Patrick Seybold, the company simply struggles to cope with demand.

if you frequented gaming forums recently then you must have heard of a certain issue - one of there not being enough PS3's on the shelves and not enough PS3's being supplied to retailers either. This latest report comes from the US, and today, Sony officially recognized the problem with SCEA comms boss, Patrick Seybold, saying the following regarding the issue:

"There is incredible pent up demand for PS3 right now and with incredible software momentum right for PS3 with Heavy Rain, MLB: The Show, BioShock 2 and God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, so we expect to see
inventory to be tight for a bit longer," said Seybold, speaking ahead of GDCthis week.

"We're working hard with our retail partners to meet that demand."

SCE UK sales director Mark Howsen told MCVin February that British stocking was struggling to maintain levels against demand.

"Whilst it is hugely pleasing that PS3 slim has been greeted so enthusiastically, we understand that this has lead to some stock issues, particularly with the 120Gb model," he said.

"We are doing our best to address these issues and hope to catch up in the next few weeks."

It's nice to see that the company is working on getting the store shelves plentiful with PS3's once more... they wouldn't want to lose potential buyers, now would they?

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

doobie1975

Ya because Sony cares about SWs and fanboys ownage xD.

Come to any retailer here in the 802, plenty of PS3's to go around. tbone802

Shortage doesn't mean it's inexistent on the market. It means the product doesn't live up to demand.

Sony is deadly stupid, they should have increased the production to meet the demand specifically in this month, games like FFXIII, GOW3, HR, Yakuza ..etc shall have a mass effcect on the hardware sales. Damn, now lemmigs will think they have won this month in US despite all the great line up for the PS3 :? .

i wonder what places are having trouble... there are plenty here in Los Angeles

Someone on slickdeals.net says their cousin from Sony of CA says:

"he said that all employees have been getting huge discounts on ALL CURRENT PS3 inventory bc new models (packaged w games/extras) is coming.

No Costco in MI, ToysRUS, Best BUy, or Walmart within a 50 mile radius to Detroit has a PS3.

Everyone should just hold off a few weeks (03/16/10) bc thats when the new bundles are about to be released"

Not saying this is true, just throwing that out there. I actually live in that exact area he's talking about, but I haven't been to any Best Buy or Toy R US. Maybe I'll take a look when I go out today.

[QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

Kashiwaba

Ya because Sony cares about SWs and fanboys ownage xD.

no, they care about their investors... who also check npd numbers

[QUOTE="Kashiwaba"]

[QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

ogvampire

Ya because Sony cares about SWs and fanboys ownage xD.

no, they care about their investors... who also check npd numbers

Because they want their investors to blame them for being lazy or because NPD is the whole world?

they are trying what nintendo did with the wii its first 2 years. keep stock low to force people to buy on sight. not a bad idea this time of year....

there like tons of PS3s hanging in UK and in Asia they should recall those,are the Fats still in retail? if not,then thats baadddd and that sucks,with GOW3 and FF13,i think PStriple would be swimming for once in money!Ratchet_Fan8

people will wait for a good thing

i wonder what places are having trouble... there are plenty here in Los Angeles

ogvampire

i wonder what places are having trouble... there are plenty here in Los Angeles

ogvampire

Well look at all the websites(Amazon, Newegg.com, buy.com and bestbuy.com) and you will see it is a real problem. I mean even do a search at gamestop and it is spotty at best. Unfortunately Sony just underestimated demand and probably was worrying about making too many Slims and not having enough buyers like they had with the Phat. Unfortunately this bad forecasting is costing them new customers espcecially at a time when the PS3 is rolling out great games. Just sounds like Sony doesn't really know what they are doing. Hey where are the GOW 3 commercials? I know they didn't have a HR commercial which was stupid but come on the GOW 3 commercial should be out by now. I know the 360 might not be as good of a machine but at least they know how to market their product and games. I only have 2 phat PS3's so this doesn't effect me directly but does when it comes to game support if they don't have enough people buying them especially the mulitplats.

[QUOTE="ogvampire"]

[QUOTE="Kashiwaba"]

Ya because Sony cares about SWs and fanboys ownage xD.

Kashiwaba

no, they care about their investors... who also check npd numbers

Because they want their investors to blame them for being lazy or because NPD is the whole world?

um... there no source for world-wide SALES.... they combine media-create, npd, and chart track for customer sales. so yes, they do look at npd

its better to be blamed for low supplies to retailers than low sales, btw

[QUOTE="ogvampire"]

i wonder what places are having trouble... there are plenty here in Los Angeles

3rdbass

Well look at all the websites(Amazon, Newegg.com, buy.com and bestbuy.com) and you will see it is a real problem. I mean even do a search at gamestop and it is spotty at best. Unfortunately Sony just underestimated demand and probably was worrying about making too many Slims and not having enough buyers like they had with the Phat. Unfortunately this bad forecasting is costing them new customers espcecially at a time when the PS3 is rolling out great games. Just sounds like Sony doesn't really know what they are doing. Hey where are the GOW 3 commercials? I know they didn't have a HR commercial which was stupid but come on the GOW 3 commercial should be out by now. I know the 360 might not be as good of a machine but at least they know how to market their product and games.

[QUOTE="ogvampire"]

i wonder what places are having trouble... there are plenty here in Los Angeles

3rdbass

Well look at all the websites(Amazon, Newegg.com, buy.com and bestbuy.com) and you will see it is a real problem. I mean even do a search at gamestop and it is spotty at best. Unfortunately Sony just underestimated demand and probably was worrying about making too many Slims and not having enough buyers like they had with the Phat. Unfortunately this bad forecasting is costing them new customers espcecially at a time when the PS3 is rolling out great games. Just sounds like Sony doesn't really know what they are doing. Hey where are the GOW 3 commercials? I know they didn't have a HR commercial which was stupid but come on the GOW 3 commercial should be out by now. I know the 360 might not be as good of a machine but at least they know how to market their product and games.

[QUOTE="ogvampire"]

i wonder what places are having trouble... there are plenty here in Los Angeles

3rdbass

Well look at all the websites(Amazon, Newegg.com, buy.com and bestbuy.com) and you will see it is a real problem. I mean even do a search at gamestop and it is spotty at best. Unfortunately Sony just underestimated demand and probably was worrying about making too many Slims and not having enough buyers like they had with the Phat. Unfortunately this bad forecasting is costing them new customers espcecially at a time when the PS3 is rolling out great games. Just sounds like Sony doesn't really know what they are doing. Hey where are the GOW 3 commercials? I know they didn't have a HR commercial which was stupid but come on the GOW 3 commercial should be out by now. I know the 360 might not be as good of a machine but at least they know how to market their product and games. I only have 2 phat PS3's so this doesn't effect me directly but does when it comes to game support if they don't have enough people buying them especially the mulitplats.

let the spin...begin

[QUOTE="Kashiwaba"]

[QUOTE="ogvampire"]

no, they care about their investors... who also check npd numbers

ogvampire

Because they want their investors to blame them for being lazy or because NPD is the whole world?

um... there no source for world-wide SALES.... they combine media-create, npd, and chart track for customer sales. so yes, they do look at npd

its better to be blamed for low supplies to retailers than low sales, btw

And why do you think they will have low sales?

*facepalm* Jesus Christ Sony

I'm looking for a job right now and I feel like I could replace your entire PR and Marketing team,

It only does shortages

[QUOTE="ogvampire"]

i wonder what places are having trouble... there are plenty here in Los Angeles

3rdbass

Well look at all the websites(Amazon, Newegg.com, buy.com and bestbuy.com) and you will see it is a real problem. I mean even do a search at gamestop and it is spotty at best. Unfortunately Sony just underestimated demand and probably was worrying about making too many Slims and not having enough buyers like they had with the Phat. Unfortunately this bad forecasting is costing them new customers espcecially at a time when the PS3 is rolling out great games. Just sounds like Sony doesn't really know what they are doing. Hey where are the GOW 3 commercials? I know they didn't have a HR commercial which was stupid but come on the GOW 3 commercial should be out by now. I know the 360 might not be as good of a machine but at least they know how to market their product and games. I only have 2 phat PS3's so this doesn't effect me directly but does when it comes to game support if they don't have enough people buying them especially the mulitplats.

they have been dropping the ball on that one, at least in my experience. so far, i have seen just 2 GoW3 commercials, and they were from gamestop, not a real gow3 commercial

[QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

Kashiwaba

Ya because Sony cares about SWs and fanboys ownage xD.

for the month of GOW3 and FF13 coming outsony really dropped the ball

*facepalm* Jesus Christ Sony

I'm looking for a job right now and I feel like I could replace your entire PR and Marketing team,

It only does shortages

Zaibach

[QUOTE="Kashiwaba"]

[QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

HarlockJC

Ya because Sony cares about SWs and fanboys ownage xD.

Being blamed for shortage at such a crucial time for them when their biggest games are coming out would be worse for them.

Lulz at all the comments about how Sony are spinning things. GOW III is Sony's biggest announcedgame this year (GT5 is TBA as far as I am concerned),along with FF XIII, MLB The Show 2010 &Yakuza 3 also releasing,so, yeah, I am sure they love having a PS3 shortage :roll:

[QUOTE="Zaibach"]

*facepalm* Jesus Christ Sony

I'm looking for a job right now and I feel like I could replace your entire PR and Marketing team,

It only does shortages

mD-

Here in the UK MS are marketing ff13 like its an exclusive...here we have a better game that is actually exclusive and theyre keeping it a secret

[QUOTE="ogvampire"]

[QUOTE="Kashiwaba"]

Because they want their investors to blame them for being lazy or because NPD is the whole world?

Kashiwaba

um... there no source for world-wide SALES.... they combine media-create, npd, and chart track for customer sales. so yes, they do look at npd

its better to be blamed for low supplies to retailers than low sales, btw

And why do you think they will have low sales?

exactly. they are giving reasons why their sales would be low... could be seen as 'damage control'... has nothing to do with fanboys or SW

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

doobie1975

[QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

Chutebox

lol! so bizarre

remember when Wii's were hard to find? that seems like a lifetime ago

[QUOTE="mD-"][QUOTE="Zaibach"]

*facepalm* Jesus Christ Sony

I'm looking for a job right now and I feel like I could replace your entire PR and Marketing team,

It only does shortages

Zaibach

Here in the UK MS are marketing ff13 like its an exclusive...here we have a better game that is actually exclusive and theyre keeping it a secret

[QUOTE="Chutebox"][QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

ogvampire

lol! so bizarre

remember when Wii's were hard to find? that seems like a lifetime ago

[QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

Chutebox

no most likely PS3 will win 360 innpd think about it if they are having a shortage means that all the ones they had out were sold while 360's still sit in shelves waiting for someone to buy them.

[QUOTE="Chutebox"][QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

drakecool1

no most likely PS3 will win 360 innpd think about it if they are having a shortage means that all the ones they had out were sold while 360's still sit in shelves waiting for someone to buy them.

I don't necessarilly think it is just to great sales as it is to low production. Sony just was way too conservative with their forecasts. Wasn't there an article that they were having issues getting some key parts for production of them?

[QUOTE="Chutebox"][QUOTE="doobie1975"]

sounds like pre NPD damage controller.

drakecool1

no most likely PS3 will win 360 innpd think about it if they are having a shortage means that all the ones they had out were sold while 360's still sit in shelves waiting for someone to buy them.

not really

ps3's will sell like they did the past few months (minus the holidays), but if you dont supply the retailers with enough units to make up for the sold ones, then its called a 'shortage'

they are trying what nintendo did with the wii its first 2 years. keep stock low to force people to buy on sight. not a bad idea this time of year....

monson21502

[QUOTE="monson21502"]

they are trying what nintendo did with the wii its first 2 years. keep stock low to force people to buy on sight. not a bad idea this time of year....

lhughey

Sales up 76%, you still think they are trying to limit production?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTKB00664920100107

Also keep in mind, PS3 has had an increase worldwide since the release of the slim, not everything revolves around just NPD

[QUOTE="lhughey"][QUOTE="monson21502"]

they are trying what nintendo did with the wii its first 2 years. keep stock low to force people to buy on sight. not a bad idea this time of year....

EmperorSupreme

Sales up 76%, you still think they are trying to limit production?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTKB00664920100107

Also keep in mind, PS3 has had an increase worldwide since the release of the slim, not everything revolves around just NPD

honestly, it could be seen either way... or both

maybe they didnt forecast it right.... under-manufactured cause they didnt think it would get such a boost in sales

First there was the economical crisis, and now the PS3 crisis!! *Dramatic music*

Sony is deadly stupid, they should have increased the production to meet the demand specifically in this month, games like FFXIII, GOW3, HR, Yakuza ..etc shall have a mass effcect on the hardware sales. Damn, now lemmigs will think they have won this month in US despite all the great line up for the PS3 :? .

2mrw

More fake shortages?!?

well good thing i got mine 3 years ago. ;)