PS3 Sales spike in Japan -- flame retardants are ready
by Nick Doerr 
{ Dec 27th 2006 at 12:45PM }
So, after the initial launch of the PS3 in Japan, many people took solace in the fact sales quickly declined. They thought this was proof that Sony had failed. But you've got to remember, when there's not a very big supply of the systems, there aren't going to be very high sales numbers. Something changed the week of December 4th... there was a 60% increase in sales with, what we can imagine, was a large influx of supply for the holidays. The actual numbers for that week were a little over 50,000 units moved in Japan. Upon launch, the PS3 moved over 81,000 units. If we just average it all out, with general sales of 30,000 per week outside of these two, Japan has moved a good number of units -- over 200,000. So, where's my market analysis degree? Kidding, kidding.What does this mean? Whether or not you see some sitting in your Target wherever you live (still completely gone in the Atlanta/Athens area for me), that's not at all representative of the world. When PS3's arrive, for the most part, they also depart. At least, in Japan. Makes you wonder what games they're playing, though.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JClarke @ Dec 27th 2006 8:26PM
1st...hahahaha...
PS3s selling like hotcakes
Wii360dsPC @ Dec 27th 2006 1:13PM
Remember that the Japanese already have Motorstorm among other Japan-only PS3 titles right now. The U.S. market is not being served very well at the moment. We need more games in the states.
In the Philly area, I have seen actual PS3s on the shelves. They're available for anyone willing to actually go looking for one. Common? No, but they are obtainable in these parts. The 360 was impossible to find last year. The Wii is impossible to find this year. While you'll have to do a little work, you can buy a PS3 if you want one.
Again, the PS3 could really use more compelling titles. It's got them in the "pipeline", but they need to get on the shelves.
KilgoreTrout XL @ Dec 27th 2006 2:20PM
Three comments, two anti-sony.
It was funny at first, and since I thought it would have absolutely zero effect on the success of the system, I may have even played along at times.
But now it's this amazingly lame media snowball effect that people are blindly buying into. It reminds me when Fox News warns you all week about the "freak storm." But then on the day it hits, it hardly moves your wind chime. Fret not!- Fox News is right there with all the surprising coverage of the non-storm, how they devoted all week to it, and how high pressure systems and the hjet stream took the moisture up to Canada, whouda thunk it, etc...
But what they're really saying is "we have very little else to talk about, so.... here's more receycled garbage."
I've gone out of my way to tell people how dope I thought Motorstorm looked, Gears-quality from what I saw. Holy teh shitballs. The PS3 is gonna be fun. Shocker. People need to get their heads out of their asses and stop listening to the same story just because they tell you it's slightly different this time.
Have I mentioned that I'm a pretty huge 360 and Halo 2 fan? Halo may have (oh, it did) cost me a girlfriend once. Yeah, sad. I know.
Michel @ Dec 27th 2006 2:22PM
ppl seeing PS3s sitting on the shelves gathering dust while others have yet to see one in ANY store means just one thing: Best Buy, EB Games, Walmart et all are clearly unable to manage their supply allotments well enough to match them up with demand. Lots of PS3 reported in the boonies where nobody wants them. Impossible to buy them in more affluent urban areas (NYC, LA, Boston, Seattle - heck - even Charlotte where I live - which is not exactly a metropolis...) Hence all the conflicting reports (on the shelves gathering dust vs. can't be had at all).
We'll see what the demand actually is once there is enough product in the channel (say, a mil or 2) - so that anybody who wants one can simply walk into their Best Buy or Walmart and get one. For now - stories of PS3 sitting on the shelves for weeks at a time in East Bump Frack, Idaho don't exactly help me getting my hands on mine in Charlotte, NC and thus don't prove that I don't want to buy a PS3 (or anybody else who has yet to see one - anywhere; and no, I will not be buying my on ebay)
BTW - I'm not sure PS3 launch is comparable to 360's launch - because from what I understand - three simply was no supply of 360s a year ago and also 360 was the ONLY next gen console at the time. So of course ALL of the 7 consoles available at the time sold out and promptly showed up on eBay for 28 times the retail price.
Michael
Michel @ Dec 27th 2006 2:58PM
Japanese PS3 sales figures are utterly meaningless as far as demand in Japan in concerned simply because all consoles introduced into the Japanese market promptly sell out. So the sales figures are simply equivalent to the number of units Sony manages to manufacture and put up for sale in Japan.
Just like the original article hinted - the only thing that the rising sales indicates is that Sony may be doing better with its manufacturing.
Michael
regrezz @ Dec 27th 2006 3:10PM
Here in Phoenix I have yet to see any PS3's just sitting on the shelves. I grabbed one 6 days after launch by chance, walking into a Best Buy as the shipment arrived (it sold out in less than 2 minutes). I have seen tons of Wii sitting on the shelves at a Best Buy in Scottsdale. As of lunch time today there were at least a couple of dozen.
I remember a year ago when the 360 was sparkley and new, after about a month I was able to find them in at least two stores, Target being one of them.
Again, it comes to demographics. Put the systems where the demand is and they all fly off shelves.
allmodcons @ Dec 27th 2006 7:45PM
Living in NYC game systems last about a NY minute on the shelves here. While shipments of Wii's and 3's continue to arrive unexpectedly and seemingly randomly they do not last long. Actually you can't even find DS lites around here these days. Talk about a bull market.
Sin Adam @ Dec 27th 2006 8:29PM
cool! more people online!
Cage @ Dec 27th 2006 9:17PM
"Impossible to buy them in more affluent urban areas (NYC, LA, Boston, Seattle - heck - even Charlotte where I live - which is not exactly a metropolis...)"
Try here in Sacramento, CA. Chose a BestBuy...
Figboy @ Dec 29th 2006 12:58AM
here in Los Angeles, i can't find them at all. and LA is a big place...
like people before me have said, these retail chains need to learn how to allocate their supply with the demand for the area.
i've been going to the Best Buys in my area ever since launch, and they simply don't have PS3's in stock. they don't have Wii's either. plenty of 360's but that's expected, as the console is a year old. problem is, i want a PS3, not a 360. i'll get my 360 next year (maybe. my roommate has one, and he never plays it, so i just play his).