USA Today calls out Sony: 'from top dog to underdog in record time'
USA Today, who purports to have the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, published a story today discussing Sony's fall from an almost monopolistic first place with the PlayStation 2 to less-than-stellar sales with the PlayStation 3.
Drawing from the February NPD figures, writer Mike Snider places Sony in third place with 127,000 in PS3 unit sales, behind home consoles Xbox 360 (228,000) and Nintendo Wii (335,000). This is in addition to anecdotal evidence that the PlayStation 3 is easily available in stores while the Wii is still hard to find. Total Wii sales in the U.S. are estimated to 1.9 million while Sony has 1.1 million.
Newsweek's N'Gai Croal chimes in on reasons for Sony's ranking, including price, software lineup and negative press. Of course, early runnings mean nothing long-term, and the PlayStation 3 could easily pick up steam following release of heavy-hitting games, PS Home and a possible price drop. Still, when you got one of the biggest newspapers giving less-than-complimentary status reports it can't be good for business.
