Sony Computer Entertainment America president Jack Tretton was interviewed by the LA Times about the PS3 being off to a slow start that leads some game-industry insiders to question whether Sony will dominate this generation of consoles like it did with the 115 million selling PS2.
So far this gaming generation Sony is in last place with 1.2 million PS3s sold at $599 from November 2006, when they hit the market, through March. At the same time as the PS3 Nintendo launched its $250 Wii that sold 2.1 million. Microsoft jumped in early, 18 months ago, and consumers have snapped up 5.3 million Xbox 360s, which cost $299 to $479, depending on the features.
“We didn’t get into PS3 for the first six months of 2007 — we’re into this for the next 10 years and beyond,” said Jack Tretton, president of Sony’s U.S. PlayStation unit, to defends the PS3’s position and continued: “A million units one way or another at this point isn’t going to worry us.”
The Gamesindustry points out that Mr. Tretton’s argument are backed up by IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon, who agreed that Sony is playing a longer game. “The PS3 is ahead of the market, while the Xbox 360 and the Wii were designed for immediate market impact,” he said. He projects that PS3 sales will take off in 2008.
However Kyoshi Shin of Japan’s International Game Developers’ Association was less positive, and said many game creators there were shifting their focus to the Wii. “When people talk about the PS3 on chat forums, they say it’s like going to a very expensive restaurant and not getting anything to eat,” he added. Ouch! How do you feel about the PS3 right now?
ISuppli says Sony has lost more than $240 on every PS3 without hard drive sold since launch. Sony won’t confirm that number. But now that they no longer sell the PS3 without hard drive the $306 loss on every standard PS3 with 20GB hard drive ramps up the company’s costs. After five consecutive years of profit, Sony’s game unit posted a $455-million loss in the 2006 Christmas holiday quarter. Sony reports its full fiscal year earnings Tuesday.