PS3 Shipments Halved.

[Shayne]

Gamespot and others are reporting that Sony will ship only 3M PS3s before April 07 down from 6M.  This begs the question of how valuable these things are gonna be on eBay and such.

I decided a couple months back to use my "in" over at Rogers to score a couple on launch day with the pure purpose to eBay them.

[Lazybones]

Ya, I was thinking of grabbing one on the CC and pooping it on eBay my self. It sounds like there will be shortages, and crazy fans with too much cash, just like with the 360.

Maybe we should pool together and list them all under an account that already has a decent seller rating.. I don't exactly have many eBay purchases nor any sales in my account history.

[Cova]

Hehe - a small investment pool to buy as many PS3's as can be gotten and put them back up for sale.  I can supply a little financial backing to up our initial inventory if someone wants to take care of all the ebay crap and all that.

[Shayne]

My parents have an account with over 100 feedbacks and a 100% rating, thats probably good enough to list a few PS3s on.  Rogers got 5 360s last year, if the same thing happens for the PS3 I can probably get all of them if we had the cash to do so.   If i go this solo im gonna probably do 3.  Really though in all honesty the worst thing that happens is that I take it back to Rogers if I can't sell.

Set the starting bid at the retail price + $50 for shipping (shouldnt be more then that).  Ya, i think its a quick way to double the cash.

[Mr. Analog]

I'd like to get in on this action!

[Lazybones]

I guess everyone should keep an eye out for pre-order offers then.. The only thing we would need to worry about is ensuring proper shipping and insurance to hopefully avoid fraud.

Hey Mr. Analog, what is your ebay standing like as a seller?

[Mr. Analog]

Hey Mr. Analog, what is your ebay standing like as a seller?

Not especially high (i.e. under 20).

[Melbosa]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/?articleID=4926

Even more bad news on this front:

Digital Journal ? Poor SonyPlaystation 3. The upcoming video-game console is not getting any love in light of recent headlines about its high cost ($600 US) and head-scratching delays.

But don?t shed too many tears. Sony is digging its own grave with a recent announcement that it plans to cut its target shipment this year by half. And if you live in Europe or Australia, don?t expect to see a PS3 on shelves until March 2007, five months after the North American and Japanese launch.

Ken Kutaragi, the head of Sony?s game unit and lovingly dubbed the ?father of the PlayStation,? told Reuters Sony would ship two million PS3 units this year, half a previously forecast four million, but would make up the lost ground to hit a target of six million consoles shipped by March.

A shipping delay in Europe and other countries stems from the same problem crippling the target shipments. There?s a problem in mass producing a key component in the Blu-ray disc player part of the console, Kutaragi said. Mass production of the console is set to begin later his month.

The repercussions of these disappointing announcements will undoubtedly hurt PS3?s chances in winning the next-gen console war. Delaying the PS3 past the Christmas season in Europe will frustrate gamers and investors, while forcing Sony to shelve its Christmas TV advertising campaign in the U.K. Also, Sony?s bottom line is taking a beating with this succession of bad news ? financial analysts Goldman Sachs predicts Sony will lose nearly $2 billion US on the PS3 by the end of this fiscal year in March.

There?s a lot at stake in the $30 billion US video-game industry, and Sony has always been a market leader. Now, it is facing hurdles it needs to overcome before Nintendo and Microsoft reach the top position. Forget the easy ride PlayStation once enjoyed; now, Sony is scrambling to save face and maintain its street cred.

[Adams]

Sure, I would jump in on that.

[Tom]

I'd love to hit this. See if I can't scrape up the cash by launch date

[Shayne]

A few days ago, an executive over at video game giant EA had gone on record saying that the number of PS3 units shipped in 2006 could be almost half of what was originally predicted. In what seems to be further fuel for the rumor fire, an anonymous employee of the electronics retailer, Best Buy, has informed Neowin that management let it slip out that Best Buy, itself, would be getting approximately half of the original number of units promised by Sony and is banking on Wii, 360, PSP, and PS2 sales to carry gaming through the holidays.

Source: http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=36041

So, now we are at 200,000 launch consoles.  Microsoft has 6M already out in the wild, with 10M by the end of fiscal year.  Wii will be shipping 6M by the end of March 2007.  While Sony might get all the hype, it just wont get a lot of shelf space when there is nothing to put on the shelf.

[Darren Dirt]

I amused myself by visiting the Southgate "Sony Store". Walked up to young man in suit, said

me: "I HAVE $250.00, I WANT TO BUY A PS3."

Dead air. Paused for about 5 seconds.

me: "Haha, you must get that a lot."

He rolls his eyes.

me: "But it must be worth 600 bucks, after all it makes Rubik's Cubes float and fix themselves..."

He says something half-witty about the string of commercials.

"Cool marketing is great and all, but do you have any videos showing any PS3 games actually being played?"

He says no, laughs -- *suggests I visit GAMESPOT to see Actual Gameplay Footage*

me: "But this is the SONY STORE -- you'd think you guys would have a DVD playing on your cool flat screens, getting people perhaps almost actually willing to plop down $600 bucks..."

He says that the first issue will sell out no prob, doesn't make a comment about how MANY will actually be shipped. I say something about how, I guess, word of mouth will determine how well the PS3 sells in early 2007. (I think, but don't say, that maybe that's WHY they keep shrinking the first shipment )

He then goes on a 3 minute diatribe about how Blu Ray is supported by everybody but Universal, and it's not just Sony who copies instead of being innovative, and of course, how the Xbox totally sux and is losing money and is gonna be "Number 3" once November 19th rolls around...

I leave the store, a permanently converted Sony fanboy

[Adams]

I would have hired 2 goons to beat him silly... then told him that he never dare speak badly about Microsoft again.

Muhahah, I never liked stony, 3X as expensive for most of there merchandise and well it might work well, but it's the same as everyone else's merchandise.

Oh well.

[Lazybones]

I amused myself by visiting the Southgate "Sony Store". Walked up to young man in suit, said

me: "I HAVE $250.00, I WANT TO BUY A PS3."

Dead air. Paused for about 5 seconds.

me: "Haha, you must get that a lot."

He rolls his eyes.

At this point I would probably have asked you if you where going to purchase anything, then wondered off to help a real customer.

Did your customers harass you in the same way when you worked in retail?

[Darren Dirt]

I never worked in a retail front for a marketing firm

Seriously, though, I wasn't intended to "harass" at all, I started with a light hearted sarcastic statement to "test the waters", and pretty quickly this guy who has "only worked for Sony for 7 months" ended up echoing the Official Sony Info without any interest in actually *persuading* me to buy anything in his store. If anything, it was *he* that was prejudiced/presumptuous -- there were electronics and media in there that caught my eye but his unwillingness to be open-minded (and honest) made me wander over to The Source and HMV instead :p