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War of the Game Consoles
Dear American Capitalist Readers,
Sony is driving me nuts! Here’s a company with one of the hottest new products of 2006, and they can’t get it right. So far, all they’ve done is disappoint. There’s a lack of supply and plenty of glitches to drive a sane guy nuts. And if they don’t clean up their act, it’ll cost Sony billions in the long run as they lose market share to the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Lesson learned : I f you’re selling one of the hottest gadgets of the year, it’s a good idea to make sure there are no glitches and plenty of supply.
But even after countless glitches, and shipment and supply issues, Sony still hasn’t learned its lesson. And those “lucky” enough to get their hands on the console are already having “minor” problems. In Japan, for example, the PS3 is having problems running PS2 games. Here in the U.S., even though Sony is gearing up to deliver another round of PS3 consoles in December, “consumers… have encountered problems with the console, including overheating, inability to start up the console, and a lower display resolution from its Blu-ray Disc (BD) player,” according to Digitimes.com.
Nice selling points, huh? It’s no surprise, given the PS3 supply and inoperability issues that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is rumored to have better sales than the PS3 and the Wii. Consumers would rather pick up the Xbox than wait for the PS3 or deal with PS3’s glitches.
Analysts, according to RedHerring.com, already estimate that Sony will “sell between 300,000 and 400,000 units this year. Microsoft, however, will sell 10 million Xbox 360s by the end of the year.” Sony, it seems, has some catching up to do. Worse yet, according to RedHerring.com, “Consoles selling for between $250 and $400 do best, with some of the gaming industry’s biggest disasters straying above that mark. At $500 (or $600 fully loaded), the PlayStation 3 is among the priciest consoles ever sold.”
Sony’s PS3 problems aren’t just tricky for Sony; they’re problematic for the likes of Electronic Arts, which is developing some 30 new games for the PS3. If PS3 loses the war of the consoles, gaming companies like Electronic Arts stand to lose as well.
Take care,
Ian L. Cooper
Editor, EVS / Early Alert Trader
