Sony announces PS3-related job cuts in US -- forgets to mention when or how many
By Thomas Ricker 
posted June 7th 2007 5:00AM
posted June 7th 2007 5:00AM
It's not like we didn't see it coming or anything what with Sony's game division -- home of the PS3 -- recently posting a $1.91 billion loss for the year. But man, our hearts go out to those whose jobs at Sony Computer Entertainment are now on the chopping block. Thing is, Sony, while announcing plans to cut jobs in the US, is only turning the screw deeper by not providing any details. The move comes as Sony struggles to keep up with Nintendo which again snagged top-honors for the 4th consecutive month in the US market: 360,000 Wiis sold to the PS3's 82,000 while Microsoft sold 174,000 Xbox 360s. The gap between the Wii and PS3 sales in Japan is just as bad, if not worse. Fortunately for Sony, their Bravia LCD TVs, VAIO computers, and Handycams are all doing well enough to (mostly) offset the PS3 related losses. We'll have to wait and see if Sony's summer game catalog, bigger disks, and possible price cuts can reverse SCE's fortunes.
LET ME HELP YOU OUT.
that's a very bold statement considering that the 360 is outselling the ps3 and has done for all except the launch month in europe. the ps3 atm is a flop because no one other than fanboys will purchase an overpriced console that has few games to play on the dam thing!
http://www.vgchartz.com/eweekly.php
Europe total:
Console Weekly Total
DS: 127,670 13,837,201
WII: 70,268 2,101,659
PSP: 52,441 7,746,000
360: 24,529 3,178,459
PS3: 18,713 951,885
UK:
Console Weekly Total
DS: 43,922 3,551,120
WII: 27,572 661,558
PSP: 16,361 2,031,685
360: 13,366 1,292,728
PS3: 5,446 285,940
the month by month data with a full Euro breakdown can be found at the above link!
the real reason for the ps3 is the next gen format war as Sony Europe VP Matt Brown confirmed with the Guardian news paper: http://ps3.qj.net/PS3-A-smokescreen-for-Blu-ray-/pg/49/aid/88299
sorry copied and posted the wrong thing
I want to purpose a question. DO anyone else thinks that if the hd with blu-ray player works well before the next game console is avaliable, that Microsoft will make an all in one blu-ray and hd-dvd player for the xbox360? And if you think so how will or will it affect ps3 sells and other companies that make the all in one hi-def player?????????
Sony is arrogant and always has been. Microsoft is just as arrogant and always will be. To those who commented about buying Micro$oft to be patriotic...ummm, when is anything made in the USA anymore? And you aren't protecting US jobs by buying from MS, quite a few research jobs are foreigners on hi-tech visas in Redmond.
I have noticed that whenever there is a Sony or PS3 post that there are a lot of MS fanboys who reply. I run 2 Vista machines, a Linux and have a PS3. I despise Vista, my computer (top of the line) is slower now than my XP machine.
To put it simple, they needed a launch title, and did not have a decent one like the Xbox did or the 360 at critical lift off!! Plus the timing was off with the Wii launching shortly after... I think the Wii is a blast to play but it doesn't have the wow factor like HD on the PS3 or Xbox 360.. This thing is far more than just a gaming system and a lot of non-gamers are now buying them because as a Blu-Ray player it is very good and now as a up-converting playe is as good as many stand alone DVD-Players. The main issue so many people started on the Sony bashing bandwagon was there music division royally "F"ed up by trying the RIAA anti-copying software BS, which I disagree with, but Microsoft has done far worse and that seems ok......
noob, your name says it all........ LOL....
Mak: don't forget that there are droves of Xbox 360 is repair shops accross the country in droves as well... I toasted my first one about 6 weeks after launch, and just went through another one and I only game a couple of hours a week.
Teetdogs @ Jun 7th 2007 5:02PM
All i said is that Grand Turismo by itself Will not Sell Ps3s by the bucket load maybe you should learn to READ
Ok ok calm down sunshine. Oh, and it's Gran not Grand.
And also, MGS4 not exclusive to Playstation 3? Erm, it sure is believe me. And FF is exclusive to the Playstation brand. There you go, 3 of the biggest gaming franchises on the planet are Playstation exclusives. Why does it bother you so much? XBox has its own exclusives right?.......
Uhhhh.... In case you people don't know, the PS3 is soon to have a bunch of great exclusives; Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Grand Turismo, Lair, and these are just a few. These games look freakin' awesome and I guarentee they'll sell PS3 consoles!
It's all about the games. Sony is not stupid, they are fully aware of there position in the market and also fully aware that lower income families will not drop 600 on this unit. They have the cojones and the financial backing to do this. The unit is 600 bucks for a reason - you can't even buy a consumer blue ray player for that. it's obviously the highest performance system right now, and will be for the forseable future. It's targeted at the high end market - people that can afford the Hi Def plasma or LCD to connect it to. Nintendo is targeting a completely different market. Xbox has Halo - if I buy a 360 - that's the only reason I would. PS on the other hand has an insanely huge library of titles in there library - that will all eventually migrate into the PS3 arena. Just because you can't afford the box doesn't mean you should knock it.
I'm just guessing that Sony will be just fine.
this from Sony:
A report stating that 80-100 people lost their jobs circulated in some gaming blogs several days ago, causing distress in the Sony turf. Karraker, however, said that less than 50 people actually got laid off and that they were treated fairly in what he calls "normal business procedure."
Karraker also clarified that these employees were not from game development departments and that this area of their business will not be affected in any way. Those who lost their jobs were mostly marketing and operations people.
ooooooo - 50 people from "marketing and operations"
I thought this board may have been legitimate, but it obviously isn't. yeah it would suck to be one of those 50 people, but come on - how many people does Sony employ? 10,000 - 15,000? or more? give me a break.
The #1 problem with the PS3 is the price point. Hardcore gamers will spend whatever to get the newest system. But hardcore gamers won't get you a profit. You need large market penetration to recoup your investment. Remember the release price of PS2? $300. Around the year into it's lifespan, it was down to $250. A reasonable price for most people, even if you had to save for a while to get it. PS3 starts at almost double that price point. Sony would have to have a 1/2 price off sale just to get it down to the price of the PS2 at the current stage of the PS3's life cycle. Mass penetration starts at the $199 price point. How long will it take Sony to hit that price point when the PS3 is released at $500/$600?
Developers will make games for any system that can sell game units. If the PS3's price point keeps the PS3's installed base under 10 million for a year or two, developers will start to scale back development for exclusives to the PS3. I'm not talking 1st and 2nd party games, I'm talking 3rd party games.
It's sad...Sony really overplayed their Playstation hype hand on this one. They figured that the "kewlness" factor would shield them from the problems of such a high price point. Didn't happen. IT'S A GAME SYSTEM! A commodity, not a necessity. Most people, like 99%, don't think that playing some cool video games is worth $600 just to play them. That's why the Wii is kicking ass and taking names. $200-250 is that magic price point that moves systems.
Get the PS3 down to $300 today and I'll buy one. Or I will just wait a few years and buy it then for $300 and have every awesome game that comes out from now until then for $10 on ebay.