It has become all to clear that Sony isnt king of the videogame industry anymore. Sure, they still have the PS2, but their future is so uncertain that support and anticipation for the Playstation 3 aer beginning to disappear. While the move from a 2006 UK launch to a Q1 2007 launch was necessary, its also complete suicide. The Xbox 360's biggest failure at launch was its inavailibility. There just werent any Xbox 360s last year for christmas. With 1.5 million Xbox 360s at launch, Microsoft was still critically short of the demand for the console, even though there were 500k units in each major reigon (UK, US and Japan). The lower than expected sales for the xbox 360 are still to this day attributed to the low stock of consoles at launch. Demand doesnt last forever, and MS didnt do a hot job of taking advantage of it. Sony is pulling one better! They are having a launch in only 2 regions, and launching only 400k units at launch with few more expected by the year's end. In short, demand will without question outsrip supply tenfold. Even those who have the money and the will to invest into the ultra-expensive Playstation 3 will probably be denied one at launch.
As far as number of launch units go, Sony is putting less than 1 million PS3s out at launch, making it one the smallest number of units ever launched for a major console.
Launching like this wouldnt be such a problem if Sony could supply the same amount again or several more times before the holiday season ends, but they simply dont have the units or the time to do that.
On top of all of this, Sony has chosen not to launch their console in the UK this year, delaying the european launch until 2007. This is their biggest mistake for several reasons: The first reason is that most analyts agree that the UK is the true battleground of the next gen wars. The US will take a split in the race, each console will sell their to some degree more or less, and Japan will see excellent sales of the wii and the PS3 without question. The UK is the only demographic that isnt historically tied to one console or another, and its the only console that can be won (that isnt already won by another company). There is a reason why TGS and Leitzpeg are the biggest gaming shows on earth now that E3 is no more, and its because Japan and the UK are now the battlegrounds of teh enxt generation. But since Japan is already bought and paid for, MS and Nintendo are goignt o put all their force into selling console in Europe, and too bad for Sony, they are going to show up late and weaker than the competition.
With their low launch numbers and delayed european launch, Sony has effectively cheated themselves out of being a compeditor this year and probably the entire first half of 2007. At this point, the 2006 launch of PS3 is all but voided by Sony, they have deliberately bet out of 2006, pushing their competition forward and moving themselves back further into the hole they have been digging for themselves since the PS3 was delayed from Spring 2006 to November 17th.
The PS2 and what Sony did with it was a mastery of gaming, and art that allowed Sony to harness the game industry and milk it for all its worth. That time has come and is absolutely gone.
You probably didnt realize just how important the 12 month lead the Xbox 360 had was until now. By the time the PS3 launches worldwide the Xbox 360 will have a game library of over 150 titles including Gears of War, Mass Effect, Too Human, Halo 3 and Forza 2. The Xbox 360 will have sold over 10 million units globally, have an Xbox Live userbase of over 5 million people and have had the benefit of sales from not one, but two holiday seasons unmatched without direct competition.
All the money in the world and every marketting scam known to the human race cant take the PS3 past the Xbox 360 with a lead as huge, as influential as that. 2 holiday seasons, a stronger and larger game library, a popular and well established online community, a cheaper price tag......Xbox 360 is now beating the Playstation 3 in every way, and statistically has the larger slaes demographic under its control.
Sony has effectively killed their shot at being the dominant company in the videogame industry for 3 generations in a row. Bad planning, the wrong technology for the wrong price at the wrong time, the wrong marketting scheme and the wrong support for the wrong console have left the plasyation 3 campaign on rough and unforgiving ground. Sony has all but given Microsoft first place this time around.
With almost no units at launch, the Xbox 360's unit lead on the PS3 will only grow until Q3 2007 if not longer, which means that the lead the Xbox 360 had has been extended from 12 months to 18 months, and more time is more consoles, which gives XBox 360 an even larger unit lead, possibly too big for the PS3 to ever overtake.
Ever since E3 it has been suspected that Sony would have problems with the PS3, but nobody expected that the genious behind the PS2 would lose to the competition, and not because of an inferior product, but because their tactics and their plan that won them the gold in 2000 failed them in 2006, when it counted for so much more.
Playstation 3 will now rank last in the console race, miles behind the 360 and atleast some distance behind the Wii in sales for 2006 and all of 2007, meaning the only chance for redemption woulld be Sony pushing the PS3 to the max and selling the PS3 just like the PS2 ever day for the next 5 years. With the price point so high and the hype continually falling lower and lower, PS3 isnt going to do it.
Sony lost this console race, and not to the competition, but to themselves. Now all there is to do is watch and wait.
One way or another, we will have a new market leader this generation, and thats where the war truly begins.....
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