Huge PlayStation 3 shortages predicted, Sony stock sinks
By Ryan Block 
posted August 24th 2006 12:34PM
posted August 24th 2006 12:34PM
There's been a lot of speculation that Sony won't hit its PlayStation 3 launch targets for 2006 (which includes 2 million units at launch, and another 2 million units by the end of the year), but it sounds like they were dealt a pretty severe blow by Japanese brokerage Mitsubishi UJF Securities. The Japanese investment firm predicted major component shortages that would hamper sales by as much as a million units (trust us, that's a lot of units), and lowered its rating, causing Sony's stock to drop 3%. It's a harsh day in the office for Hirai, Kutaragi, and Stringer, but there's no doubt about it, and Sony's once again going to have to seriously prove itself come this holiday season.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
"I'm so sick of hearing all you girls talk about "Sony's days being numbered". Seriously, who's paying you to say this crap. Sony owns almost half of the market right now and are making a system that does everything the Xbox360 does without having to buy all the extra add-ons. If you own a 360, take a second and add up all the money you have put into it. I bet its over $600. If not then wait til you buy that super sick HD-DVD addon that they are releasing for $200. You've been owned."
*yawn* WOW! EXPENSIVE STUFF! AND IT'S SLIGHTLY CHEAPER! Look, talk to the average blue collar worker. Let's say he loves the environment. Is he going to buy an on-sale hybrid car, for only two-thirds of the price? No. He's going to get some used, four year old sedan, even though it eats up gas like anything, because it's all he can afford. The average guy in the united states makes something like forty thousand dollars, and Nintendo has begun to figure out how to tap into this humongous well. The "Average Joe" well. Look at the way that Nintendo has been marketing the DS. It has a kind of urban feel, to attract, well, the urban market. Marketing works so well in Urban settings because fads come and go all the time in cities, but this is one thing that it doesn't matter if the fad goes. You've already bought a DS. It's too late. And who's going to get the PSP? Avid gamers of playstation, aka the middle and upper class. Try actually talking to the people who work at the places where you fuel your addictions, like gamestop. Nintendo has been the only company not losing money for months, because the gamecube is a nice, simple design, cheap to manufacture, and because people are buying it, and because the DS is an equally good design, relatively cheap to manufacture, and they're SELLING LIKE HOTCAKES. Who the hell is sony marketing the psp to? Squirrels with nuts? No, of course not. Weirdos, aka gamers. People who are already in the industry, who they want to keep. The people they don't need to market to. Their strategy is just absurd.
Look, here's what's happening. Microsoft and Sony are squabbling over this one acre of land that already has some farming equipment on it, because it has the equipment. Nintendo just took a look around, and realized that there are greener pastures for miles around, and is running out to stake its claim.
Hmm, in a completely unrelated comment, I know that a lot of my friends, as well as myself, are thinking less and less of graphics. They've reached a threshold, and it looks really pretty, but gameplay isn't getting any better anymore. Nintendo has a solution for that. They experimented with that stupid Donkey Kong game with the bongos, and with the DS, and now they're going to try out this remote thing with the wii. I think it looks like fun. (Besides, the madden for wii is going to be amazing. I don't personally like sports games, but I know an amazing amount of sales come from Madden, and being able to actually pass the ball with the wiimote is going to be a huge hit.)
"Desert" hit the nail on the head...Us Sony fans will be more than enough to make PS3 the winner of Next Gen anyway. All you Microsoft guys you have a good console, but it had kinks at the beginning too, stop worrying about Sony...they'll be just fine with a truly next gen system, take your overpriced DVD player and be happy!
Who would have thought?
PS3 supply shortages?
Could this be true?
According to this, 2 million units by launch may be feasible:
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20060823PB203.html
People should really stop hating Sony so much, are they the new Microsoft?
Who cares about shortages?
As a rule dont ever buy a console till a year after launch when most bug and glitches have been revealed... then decide if its still worth it
YOu mean to tell me that ppl all around the world have $600 as disposable income? Sony your interpretation of world is so skewed!!!
NEWS FLASH
BACK LOG OF SONY'S PS3 $600 GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL
No matter what anyone says about Sony...we all know that the PS3 will sell like crazy in Japan/Asia. If you didn't know that, then go play your xbox/xbox360.
@Michael
Yes, "people" hate Sony. Why because they delayed there console in Spring 2006, and because the Sony MUSIC division used a copy-protection software that could be compromised, oh and apparently because betamax failed to beat VHS, and minidisc is no longer mainstream, and um UMD movies are going bye-bye.....
These same "people" forget that Sony managed to fit in a HiDef player into their console for $100 less than the competition.
The also forget that after the root-kit "fiasco" Sony/BMG sent out replacement CD's. They also forget the Betamax was a better medium but more costly and proprietary, while Blu-Ray is NOT, and MiniDisc is not Dead, its actually alive and doing well, also UMD movies ARE going bye-bye cause Sony is moving towards online distribution to Memorystick Duos for the PSP.
more anti-FUD, now you know and knowing is half the battle...
I think you may be wrong. This round, in Japan, the Wii is the console to watch.
1st Wii
2nd Xbox 360
3rd PS3
No matter what anyone says about Sony...we all know that the PS3 will sell like crazy in Japan/Asia. If you didn't know that, then go play your xbox/xbox360.
Posted at 6:04PM on Aug 24th 2006 by Red
I think you may be wrong. This round, in Japan, the Wii is the console to watch.
1st Wii
2nd Xbox 360
3rd PS3
Posted at 6:23PM on Aug 24th 2006 by back door delivery [ ]
I highly doubt xbox360 is a console to watch in Japan in the long run. PS3 and Wii will be huge in Japan at both their launches, but PS3 seems to have the edge in terms of longevity due to it's specs. If I had the money, I'd buy both and go for the PSWii combo instead of the infamous Wii360 duo.
If I'm lucky, my sister will buy a Wii.
"The also forget that after the root-kit "fiasco" Sony/BMG sent out replacement CD's."
Nice spin take-it-up-the-***-from-Sony-boy.
They only released replacement CD's after they were dragged kicking and screaming through court by consumer groups with class action lawsuits. They didn't even offer to fix any of the PC's they had wrecked with their rootkits. Consumers had to pay to repair the costly damage Sony had inflicted on their machines themselves.
Yeah... really pro-consumer matie. You are f***ing rediculous.
Nakamura - very insightful!
Sony is so focused on competing with the 360 over hard-core gamers, they are completely ignoring the Wii. Sony has no answer for the Wii's price, and no offering of games to tempt people away from the Wii.
Hard-core gamers are a minority of game console buyers. Last gen, the XBox1 was the must-have system for hard-core console gamers, and it sold under 25 million worldwide. Meanwhile, the PS2 sold over 100 million worldwide by appealing to a wider audience.
But unlike the PS2, Sony is positioning the PS3 almost exclusively for hard-core gamers! Only hard-core gamers will pay the PS3's high price, and most of the games Sony is demonstrating and hyping are shooters and combat sims with excessive realistic violence. The PS3 won't exactly be a parent-friendly system this Christmas.
really though everythings not all about which system has the best graphics i am not a fanboy of anykind i just like all systems i mean xbox 360 suppose to be best graphics and all that good stuff, ps3 suppose to be blue ray and all that good stuff, Wii is a new "revolution" to gaming and i would personally buy the Wii because Hey its not all about graphics i would say that if you have decent graphics and your having Fun. The system is worth it
I think Sony are hedging all their bets on brand loyalty to sell the first x million systems. Many people posting here seem to think that hey, they bouht the PS2 so they will buy the PS3. Thats just not going to happen.
People who are willing to spend a lot of money on gaming will already have the 360, I had a PSOne a PS2 and now have a 360. I would spend $600 on a system that was again the same power jump that the 360 has over the PS2, but not for a marginal gain.
The 360 sales are in the exact same market as the PS3 is hitting, so the 5-6 million xboxes are a direct cut from the potential PS3 sales.
The PS2 sold so well because it was the cheapest system, you could hack it and use copied games, all your mates had one. None of those ring true for the PS3, no hardcore gamer with disposable income is oing to have waited more than a year to get High Def gaming.
All the hype by the 14 year old Sony fanboys, I've seen it all before - these are the kids who spend christmas day crying because they assumed their parents would pay $600 for a gaming system. The people with the biggest mouths online are the ones that have the least say.
Ohhhh. I sense anger in me young Skywalker.
No wonder the great s0nY are failing.
I’m a game developer by "trade" and I’m amazed how little s0nY cares about the developer.
We’re struggling to make a "launch title" submission date and there’s at least a 2-3 day(!) average delay on any question made to the "only next gen" console manufacturer.
Kutaragi must be on ACID! XBox360 only Xbox 1.5? Nah.
Tool chain quality? Debugger that works properly (and is integrated into the IDE?) The SNSYSTEMS PS3 debugger resembles the SNES(!) one from about 11 years ago. OMG!
There’s no doubt, the PS3 is a powerful machine (in the right hands (MGS”X” will be a showcase), and with a SIZEABLE don’t care budget) but, c’mon s0nY throw us developers a bone. MS give us XUI, XACT, great dev-tools VS and debugger that works. What do s0nY give us? A bunch of crap Linux command line tools, a 5-10 year old debugger design, “they work just fine for now”(I paraphrase) and "If you re-re-write to use the cell you’ll get at least 10X++ performance of the PPU"(Again I paraphrase). Hmm.. emm.. Mr s0nY? I’m on a tight deadline and I don’t have time (a year + and unless you can afford to do so you’ll fall far short of what the Xenon can do.) to re-write an engine for some flash in the pan, bitch to use marchitecture.
Say what you like about MS but they treat their developers (code, help & tools) very well.
No wonder s0nY haven’t started manufacturing yet! They haven’t even got a 1.0 library set!
AND, How can you make a supposedly online enabled console without any concept of how your DRM or DLC model will work!?
How can you make a “next-gen” console without a stable bios / library set?
More wine please, it dulls the pain.
:oP
@sycks,
What the hell are you taking about? Sony fixed their root-kit disaster by give out free CD? Big F_cking Deal… they shouldn’t have put the DRM inside the CD to begin with! Duh!!!!!
By that “Pretzel Logic”, it’s perfectly OK to rob a family at gunpoint. Well, just because the thief got caught, and the items were returned, justice was served – everything’s cool now? Come on, there isn’t enough “Fanboy” in the world, that you would be stupid enough to believe that lie.
Where exactly IS the MiniDisc doing well? I don’t see ANYBODY carrying a MD player – but I sure as hell see EVERYONE with an iPod? Or are YOU living on a different planet?
Oh this is perfect. You know this is gonna be vary affordable for a few years. Than like always Sony will come around latter and really rise up. Reality? You have to be a idiot to not realize their machine is still gonna come threw by 2009 at least. Smart ones will buy now. But you cant just play it off their Playstation. Their a major company. Playstation are just a spec of their area. But it could be a solid investment. Knowing you cant keep a system set well for those coming years down. This is one to defiantly look at. Sony's came threw every time. The gaming kids are stupid. They will buy into a launch being important, and stocks will fall big time. Latter they will get everything together. And if you all have seen this machine. Its nuts for 600. Everyone knows going to rip the competitors, once they go into the future with it. Smart business knows this. And people realize what it is. And that the 360 is really the rip off machine at 400. Once the public gets this it will shoot threw the roof. This is one that is going to be played well and good on the market. But like I said even thow their gamming area is sure to lower than Shoot like a star latter. That does not mean their whole company will. So don't look only one way and get trapped. Defiantly keep and eye on this one for long term.
I just want everyone to post these comments six months after the ps3 ships and there are some games and users out there online. Lets just see what people say then. Can we all use this wiki to define what speculation means. I am just wondering if you guys have any basis for these comments. I am pretty sure the ps3 will do fine and sony too as soon as people start buying these things. If you think about it, there is a demand, and when the supply catches up, there will be a pretty good foundation for developers and people to make and buy good games.
Sony is letting me down...
And I love the Playstation. but they are cheap with only bringing out 400,000 ps3's to the united states.
That's just freaking plain retardedness right there and whoever thought of the idea of doing that was really stupid.
[note:] and I thought Japanese people were supposed to be sMaRT!
I just got back from trying to track down a PS3 (any HDD size). I went to 2 Gamestops, a Best Buy (that checked with 3 other area Best Buys), 2 Wal-Marts, 2 Targets and I checked NewEgg.com... Everyone is out.