Lost in the PS3 Weeds
Sony is learning the hard way that games are about more than higher end graphics - they are being outsold 5-1 in Japan by the Wii:
Sony sold 45,321 units of the PS3 in May, compared with 251,794 units of the Wii. In April, the ratio was four to one in favor of the Wii, according to Japanese game magazine publisher Enterbrain.
That's got to hurt - and it has in terms of revenue losses: they lost $1.91 billion last year in the games division. That's not really a sustainable level of loss - bear in mind that their direct competition is for "hard core" gamers, and Microsoft can afford to burn a lot more cash on that battle. Meanwhile, Nintendo actually makes money on each console sold, and they're mostly hitting a different game demographic anyway. Depending on how the other parts of Sony do over the next year or two, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Sony exit the game console business completely.
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Comments
Re: Lost in the PS3 Weeds
[ Troy Brumley] June 6, 2007 13:16:05.809
Comment by Troy Brumley
Recall that they exited the PDA market several years ago. They had a good product, the Clie, and I know three that are still in use, but they just couldn't crack the space and compete properly. Sounds like more of the same. It's a pity.
Casual Success
[Patrick Logan] June 7, 2007 12:47:24.822
My folks were in town for the first time since my son got his wii. My mom was still too intimidated to try it.
My son showed him the wii and wii sports. My dad talked about my nephew's attempt to get him to play madden football with a traditional controller. (xbox?)
Well, first, my son made a "me" for my dad -- which was fun for all of us to watch and looked a lot like him.
Then my dad, a long-time golfer, tried wii sports golf. My son coached him through getting started, just a bit... and my dad just took off with it. He nailed it right from the first tee and *loved* it.
That is a tremendous success story. I've not played the wii with anyone as "casual" as my dad -- very impressive.