Following the January NPD results, which revealed that Sony sold a little over 276,000 units of the PS3, Sony Computer Entertainment America has responded, noting that inventory for the console is currently in short supply. PS3 had its best month ever in December, but it would seem that, like Nintendo, replenishing the channel hasn't been easy.
"We're working very hard with our retail partners to meet consumer interest, but the demand is tremendously high for the PS3 and we expect tight inventory in the coming months,” said Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications at SCEA.
Although the PS3's third-place sales performance in January is disappointing considering that the console sold 1.36 million in December and beat the Xbox 360, Sony's console still experienced year-over-year growth for the month. "We’ve hit the ground running in 2010 and have continued our momentum into January as the only hardware console to see double digit growth of 36% for PS3 hardware sales compared to last January," said Seybold. "This momentum is fueled by a stellar holiday and with the recent launches of MAG and BioShock 2, as well as the upcoming line up of the industry's most anticipated games such as Heavy Rain, God of War III and ModNation Racers."
6 Comments
February 12, 2010
I don't remember any stores I went to last month(Besy Buy, Target, Walmart, Sears, etc.) that didn't have PS3's in stock. I wonder if they are talking about a certain region of the US or maybe just Gamestop.
February 13, 2010
it really depend on where you from i go to the same stores you listed and there out of ps3 lol i don't lived in a large city so you would think bigger city would have this problem . Sony is going to sell alot of ps3 from now to dec because of there line up lol i was thinking they were going to slow down in may, june and july guess i was wrong.
February 16, 2010
so I dont hear anyone accusing sony of creating shortages in this case....interesting
February 16, 2010
That's because PS3's are running low after a major hardware relaunch (PS3 Slim) followed by a busy holiday period, not a chronic lack of supply taking place over multiple years in the case of the Wii.
February 20, 2010
Yes, but I think the idea that Sony or Nintendo are creating artificial shortages at this point in the cycle is ludacris (Ludicrous, even!). Sony had not been able to generate sufficient sales numbers for the PS3 prior to the Slim launch to justify increased manufacturing investment. When the Slim proved successful and brought them back into the game, there was inevitably going to be a delay in Sony's ability to ramp up production enough to satisfy demand. In Nintendo's case, after boosting Wii production multiple times to desperately try to satisfy white hot demand, they finally reached that point in March 2009, for the first time since launch. After that point the market began its year on year declines, and Wii sales were especially hit hard because the casual audience cut back on spending more than the hardcore, which was predictable. After the price drop, and that RIDICULOUS December which saw the Wii break the sales record for most consoles ever sold in a single month, it's no surprise that Nintendo is now playing catch up. They did actually reduce production over the summer when it became clear the retail channel was well supplied, afterall. I imagine they're gearing back up to full capacity again. Hopefully upcoming releases like Red Steel 2 and Metroid: Other M (seemingly a throwback to traditional 2D gameplay) will continue to drive sales throughout the year.
June 2, 2010
I bought an xbox as everyone at work has them and i feel its online gaming is alot better than the PS3.
I had to get a really good broadband package as my usage is quite heavy i ended up trawling through loads of broadband deals to get a good package