GamePro compares PS3 sales to those of Gamecube
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Oct 2nd 2007 at 5:00PM }
There are differences, of course. Gamecube had a relatively short life span, with Nintendo reusing the technology in its currently best-selling Wii console. Sony has stated a potential ten-year life cycle for PS3, one that suggests they're planning for a much longer life cycle than that of the Gamecube.
Although a price cut and a redesigned system may revitalize sales, Sony could always follow Nintendo's footsteps in the years to come: simply duct-tape two PS3s together and call it the PS4.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Akamaru @ Oct 2nd 2007 5:15PM
I sure hope this isn't Sony's time-out phase. Kinda like the one Nintendo went through in the mid 90s. It will really suck if MS is leading the pack. I mean I will stop being a gamer for a while.
NastyN8 @ Oct 2nd 2007 5:32PM
oh god not this shit again.. wow how many times has there been articles on this shit, with psone and ps2 and now ps3. Once PS3 gets its flow goin like the otehr consoles. All these websites and mags are gonna suck sony's dick. Its getting old
Extinction @ Oct 2nd 2007 5:43PM
Can't help but notice they are only counting north american sales. PS3 is doing a lot better in the Japanese and European markets, both of which Gamecube did poorly in.
georgeZimmer @ Oct 2nd 2007 5:33PM
I wouldn't say that the interpretations of this graph can be entirely accurate. For one, both the PS3 and Gamecube were released around the same time in order to gain momentum in the pre-Christmas sales, something that both the 360 and the Wii also did. Therefore, the fact that the numbers are so much higher in the second month rather than the later months could simply be because that time period isn't exactly the "season" for entertainment systems to sell well. In order to truly glean any realistic ideas about the PS3 potential future as a console, a graph featuring the other competing consoles as well as other past consoles would be far more informative. I'm not saying that there isn't some truth in the similarities between the sale rates of the Gamecube and PS3, but that instead there needs to be more information to predict its future overall.
lovingps3owner @ Oct 2nd 2007 5:37PM
40GB ps3 pretty much guaranteed since they took all the model numbers off the Blu-ray savings page and just wrote "Playstation 3." So I'm guessing Sony is trying to cover this leak up... but its too late.
Seeing that the ps3 is 3 times as expensive than the Gamecube, its selling well. Whoever is comparing these two must be an idiot. The average consumer is much more willing to spend 200 than 600.
finelicker @ Oct 2nd 2007 5:38PM
Well, the ps3 has its first xmas coming up in the uk, it was only released in March so its not been out that long.
If you want figures, check the sales for the 360 and PS3 in the Uk for the last few months, they are neck and neck........go figure.?!?!
ekbigpimping @ Oct 2nd 2007 6:01PM
Fuck a gamecube and get off Sony dick you bitches. Sony is about to get the flow going again.
G26-VERCETTI @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:17PM
still cant belive i have a gamecube, ima give it to my lil sister, dam thats bogus how they keep on trating the ps3, just wait folks, when sony's time comes these people will be feeling salty. GTA4 BABY
Nate @ Oct 2nd 2007 6:06PM
I have high hopes the PS3 will stick around. It is very much future proofed, where the game cube was not. Hardware only gets cheaper as time goes by, so look for the price on the PS3 to steadily drop.
Also, the PS3 is backwards compatible where the game cube was not. It also uses an established media format where the game cube did not. As the article said, the PS3 is designed to stay around for 10 years, and my guess is only a couple of those years will be overlapping with PS4.
Random1448 @ Oct 2nd 2007 6:20PM
What's gamepro? I'm not just saying that because I don't like them or anything I honestly don't know, lol. Is it a magazine or something?
Paul @ Oct 2nd 2007 6:30PM
That is one of the worst graphs I have ever seen. It makes no sense. According to it, sony started off with 200k units sold. Then, sold 300k units in less then a month. But then it seems...folks returned 100k units and then everyone followed suit until it leveled off a bit. Then everyone started returning them again till about half way through the seventh month, where people started buying them again...and then changed their minds and returned them. As it stands now...according to that graph there are only about 175k PS3's out there. I love statisics...especially when they use graphs to validate their BS numbers.
drizzlelicious @ Oct 3rd 2007 2:24PM
That's depressing
Exo @ Oct 2nd 2007 6:30PM
@9
try clicking the links Smart one
Simstim @ Oct 2nd 2007 6:30PM
What GamePro didn't post was that PS1 and PS2 sales followed a similiar path, whereas with Nintendo's consoles N64, Gamecube and now I suppose the Wii sales spike early than drop off as time goes on. The PS1 and PS2 chugged along at steady modest paces with console sales with spikes in sales considing with the release of major AAA games. I expect the same thing with the PS3.
Hell I bought a launch PS2 and all I did with it for the first year was play PS1 games on it.
Mat @ Oct 2nd 2007 7:00PM
@11
Please tell me you're joking.
erx3 @ Oct 2nd 2007 7:00PM
@Paul
The graph makes perfect sense. You see the little tick marks that run on the bottom of the graph? Consider each one of those ticks to be a month. The numbers on the side should be self explanatory. The PS3 (which is the blue line) sold roughly 400,000 in the first month if you look at where the first tick is (month #1). Now look at the second tick (month #2) and where the blue line is at. I'd say about 400,000 again. If you add month #1 and month #2 together you'd get 800,000 in sales for the two months. Now do that for each tick mark. I really hope I don't have to add the rest up for you.
I'll give you one thing though, the graph was pointless. Just ignore the crap that these so-called experts say and know that you knew bought quality when you bought your PS3 and not that shatty gamecube.
Frank @ Oct 2nd 2007 7:23PM
Wow paul you just won at the internet!
Have you honestly never read a graph?
OrganicShadow @ Oct 2nd 2007 7:38PM
Wow im amazed that the Wii60 crowed isn't chiming in here with the comparison. Their presence was slim during the PS3DO thing too. What's the deal guys?
Anyway, I think that sure, you could try and use this to put the horse blinds on us and force similarities through partial information, but as was said before, place PS2, Xbox 1, and the 360 on there(hell even Saturn, DC, and Wii) and then we can see a true comparison.
Notice the initial spikes at the beginning. How many PS3's and GC units were available at their launches? Did the GC's spikes in sales come from resupplying the retail stream with units, as there was a drought of available consoles like the Wii?
If you compare the 360's current installbase-to-month ratio with the PS3's, the PS3 actually has a good ~55,000 unit lead on it, and if nobody else has heard, the recent 6-to-1 ratio of Wii's-to-PS3's sold is now down to 4-to-1. So SOMETHING must be happening to either slow down the competition or.....*GASP*.....cause people to BUY PS3'S!!!
I know a great deal of people that have their credit cards ready for when the 40gb PS3 hits, so I'll pretty much ignore all the comparisons until the end of the fiscal year.
mshimer5 @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:33PM
Okay, not trying to attack the PS3 here, so don't flame me: what I want to say, is stop bringing up the "slow" sales of the PS2 as evidence on how the PS3 is going to take off. Yes, the first couple months of the PS2 were crippled by a lack of production, but then it just took off. In fact, the Wii is just barely selling more then the PS2 in it's first year. Would you call the Wii's sales slow? So, that comparison is ridiculous. The PS3 is not the PS2, and it never will be. It will be successful, but not like the PS2! Move on. It isn't that big of deal if the PS3 doesn't sell over 120 million consoles.
dancingtosirens @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:46PM
@ Andrew Yoon.
Because we haven't heard those Wii/gamecube jokes before. You write this article with such contempt for Nintendo that it makes me feel like you think Nintendos the one who wrote the article.
Fanboys. Ugh.
Sammy @ Oct 2nd 2007 8:52PM
Graphs like that are fairly useless if you understand the factors surrounding it. It is true Sony's high price line and slow software support have hit them hard this year. But I would say when compared to Nintendo's Gamecube Sony seem to be making more moves to sort out the situation. I think we will see a boost in software quality, third party support and better games from early next year onwards. I also don't think Sony can reign like they have done in the past..but I think competition may actually bring the best out of them.
Look at this compared to the mindset of last year where it seemed the idea was to release it and the units were instantly going to sell even without software... I am glad they did not do well with that attitude.
This must benefit consumers in the end.
John @ Oct 2nd 2007 9:28PM
"The current momentum of PS3 seems to suggest that Sony's system may meet the same fate, if it continues to follow its current trend."
And then he tries to justify this lame spin. Which is an improvement from the old days.
The sentence should have been written, "A simple interpretation of this graph could lead one to conclude that the ps3 is heading toward the same fate as the Gamecube."
Then, you point out why a simple interpretation of one set of data (comparison of system sales over period of time) is erroneous.
You have to look at all the variables that affected things then, and which affect things, now-- which this writer did not do.
The Gamecube existed at a time when Sony's ps2 and xbox were big players, and they could do simple things it couldn't: like playing dvd's or cd's.
Now, the three are back, and Nintendo is winning, because they took the Gamecube concept and made it half the price of the competition, with an interface that had not been used by the majority of the public at that time. Two birds, one stone.
That means that the racy/sexy/home-media-center race is now carried out between Microsoft and Sony.
But families will see, of the two expensive consoles, that 360 is a 'gamer' machine and ps3 is a 'family' machine.
Obviously, Nintendo's Wii is both.
But when FAMILIES are shopping around for the best console, they will generally choose the ps3.
So these are just a few other data to juggle, when looking at this picture. I haven't gone into all the other stuff, like the change in consumer perceptions of electronics (women use electronics, now-- the iPod helped make that happen) since the 90's, the differences in manufacturing and availability of systems, the public's perception of systems (remember that Sony is still a top-10 rated company, consumer-wise-- Microsoft and Nintendo are not).
When you understand that accurate predictive analysis of this whole thing needs to take into account a vast amount of variables and data, you begin to see that a statement like,
"The current momentum of PS3 seems to suggest that Sony's system may meet the same fate, if it continues to follow its current trend."
Should not even be published. Or are the intellectual standards here so low that it doesn't even get noticed?
Simstim @ Oct 2nd 2007 10:58PM
@ mshimer5
You are wrong. You just need to check out the data to see it. It's not that the three playstation consoles had slow starts, its that they were always slow sellers. It's like the story about the turtle and the hare, Sony being the turtle in this. The PS1 and PS2 had gradual steady sales, nothing significant unless a major AAA title came out then sales would spike. The PS3 has been consistent with this model thus far.
Also the major criticisms against the PS3 are similiar to the ones against the PS2. The PS2 in its early stage was doomed because it was too expensive, it had no games, the Emotion Engine was crappy and the DVD player (which was a relatively new format at the time) was a waste. What suprises me is how gamers who have been around for more than seven years can forget all this.
tyba @ Oct 3rd 2007 12:53AM
Hey Andrew, I really like the way you tossed the idea of a redesign into your article. It isn't the most far-out idea I've ever heard and would seem to make a lot of sense. I personally like the design of the PS3, but maybe some new colors for the Holidays or a slight face lift would make for a pretty decent announcement.
exolstice @ Oct 3rd 2007 7:32AM
Well if no one else is going to: "OMG Wii rocks! PS3 sucks! GameCube 4ever!"
Seriously though, you can use graphs and statistics to prove pretty much any point. 43% of people know that.
Personally, I'm waiting for a price drop on the PS3. If I haven't bought one buy the time GTAIV comes out, I will then.
Lorinis @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:34AM
@18
So you're surfing a fanboy site and the fact that fanboys post here blows your little mind?
Phantom @ Oct 3rd 2007 12:25PM
I am not trying to question Mr. Snow/Game Pro's creditability here. However, before Mr. Snow posted his chao theory about Sony and the PS3, perhaps he should have broaden his viewpoint first.
It's easy to understand why Mr. Snow or anyone else would use Gamecube as a model for PS3. After all, both systems suffer from lackluster sale figures. However, beyond the surface level, Mr. Snow's article or others similar to his just simply stop to make sense. And, I am not saying this simply because I own a PS3.
So, the question is, what does it take for Sony to shelf the PS3 like Nintendo did with Gamecube or Microsoft did to the original Xbox? Well, based on Sony's track record, I can't say for sure. After all, Sony didn't abandon the PSP. In fact, with mildly revised PSP & current/upcoming blockbuster titles, the future for the almost 3 years old PSP system is brighter than ever. As for PS3, it's barely 1 year old. The sales figure doesn't look too bad compares to Xbox 360's at the same period. And, PS3 has yet to receive some heavyhitting titles from well established series such as MGS & FF yet. So, why would Sony abandon PS3 now or anytime soon? Not to mention Sony is also selling PS3 as a very damn good blu-ray player to to mass as well. Another thing to take into consideration is that Sony is "NOT" Nintendo. If folks at Nintendo fails to sell consoles, it would be hard for them to keep anything going. Sony on the other hand has a multi-front business. If PS3 is bleeding Sony's money, Sony can always make more from the consumer electronics, movies, musics, and so forth. Much like Microsoft, Sony has the resources to keep PS3 going without a problem.
So, will Sony ever fail the gaming industry then? No one can say for certain. However, in the short run, PS3 is not going anywhere. There will also be great exclusive games in the future for the PS3 as well. Still, I am pretty certain that Sony is not planning to be in the gaming industry to bleed money. So, Sony should continue to do whatever it takes to not necessary to win the war but to obtain a larger share of the gaming industry. With that said, Sony should still put more effort on making games and help 3rd party developers to make games for PS3. After all, price drops & non-gaming features can only go so far.