Yes, despite the launchtime scarcity, the PLAYSTATION®3 is now in absolute abundance in stores, because nobody is buying it. While browsing Yodobashi Camera on Saturday, I noticed behind the counter there was a huge stack of PLAYSTATION®3 boxes, unsold. Why? I asked. Because nobody is buying it, replied the knowledgeable sales assistant. A quick glance through the PS3 games section revealed a very limited selection, and internal memos of several high level games companies seem to be indicating that until such time as sales pick up it's pointless to develop PS3 games, because it appears that nobody is buying it. I used to get a couple of hundred hits on my blog a day coming from Google with the search theme "PS3 resetting composite output" or similar, because people who had bought the machine were having the same problem I had on the developer box at work and blogged at the time. These enquiries have largely died down now, no doubt due to the fact that at this point in time, nobody is buying it. And in Europe, where the PLAYSTATION®3 isn't even on sale yet, retailers are getting scared. In order to pre-order (“and we HIGHLY recommend you do because they're going to be hotter than hot cakes come launchtime”) you must buy an almost equally unpopular PSP. Retailers are creating a situation of artificial scarcity to panic the consumer into buying. Retailers are terrified, because they know that nobody is buying it. Nobody is buying the PLAYSTATION®3. The PLAYSTATION®3 is a flop.But why is it doing so badly? Could it be the price? Surely 60,000 Yen isn't too much to pay for a High Definition media player of one questionable yet to be established standard currently competing with another slightly cheaper but also yet to be established standard, I mean games console. After all, it can do almost everything that the much lower priced Xbox 360 can (though it hasn't quite gotten “playing games” figured yet, due to there being none), and can even do some things that the much much lower priced Wii cannot, such as output in High Definition, if you happen to be among the minority that owns such a TV.
Or could it be the pushing of yet another expensive and unnecessary proprietary format that sacrifices interoperability and the needs of consumers (who must also burden the expense), while passing the savings onto the whimsical rights holders with fickle temperaments and no sense of proportion?
Or maybe after scandal upon scandal upon scandal upon scandal, Joe Average has finally come to realise that Sony is simply not to be trusted.
Whatever the reason why nobody is buying it, it is clear that nobody is. And if nobody else is, then why should you?
PLAYSTATION®3. Don't waste your money.
1 comments: