PSP sales sluggish?
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soundwave05
Member
Its way too early and the PSP will be fine, sales will pick up once word of mouth spreads on how cool this thing is (and the cool-meter is off the charts) ... but hopefully Sony will also have learned a few lessons.
For starters, STOP with the bundle bullshit. The Value Pack thing was bad enough, the Gretzky bundle in Canada and the various other bundle in the US that consumers are being forced to buy is even more ridiculous.
Secondly, don't meander into a market you have no foothold in with no TV marketing and limited demo kiosks. My EB still doesn't have a PSP demo unit up. Did someone forget to tell SCEA that the PSP was launching this week? Wake up boys. I've also seen no commercials for "God of War", which makes me wonder if this great title is headed towards the sales abyss like ICO did.
What the hell is going in Sony's marketing department?
For starters, STOP with the bundle bullshit. The Value Pack thing was bad enough, the Gretzky bundle in Canada and the various other bundle in the US that consumers are being forced to buy is even more ridiculous.
Secondly, don't meander into a market you have no foothold in with no TV marketing and limited demo kiosks. My EB still doesn't have a PSP demo unit up. Did someone forget to tell SCEA that the PSP was launching this week? Wake up boys. I've also seen no commercials for "God of War", which makes me wonder if this great title is headed towards the sales abyss like ICO did.
What the hell is going in Sony's marketing department?
soundwave05
Member
The only real marketing I think Sony has done for the PSP was that lame Carson Daly party in NYC. I mean hell even Nintendo got way bigger celebs to show up to their Cube Club parties in Hollywood.
Newsweek is advertising this thing more than Sony is.
Newsweek is advertising this thing more than Sony is.
soundwave05
Member
Yeah I still think the first million units will go realtively quickly, it just isn't gonna be maybe the "holy shit, sold out the first weekend!" type deal that maybe some were predicting.
gamergirly
Member
soundwave05 said:
But that's how many GAFers were hyping it up to be
i just caught the tail-end of a psp commercial. it's some jerk dancing down the street and turning into various things from psp games. with that franz ferdinand song in the background. hardly shows the system at all. it's pretty stupid.
anyway, if psp is underperforming, then maybe the value pack was a mistake. most people would end up buying at least a memory card and a case, but psychologically maybe a $199 price point would've been considerably better.
anyway, if psp is underperforming, then maybe the value pack was a mistake. most people would end up buying at least a memory card and a case, but psychologically maybe a $199 price point would've been considerably better.
It would be good if something like this happened and forced them to lower the price. But I'll wait for launch figures before drawing final conclusions. It does seem like there's significantly less hype for this launch than others before, but it might just be the handheld thing. PEACE.
soundwave05
Member
drohne said:
Well yeah I think its safe to say so.
Look at what happened with the GameCube. For months they offered that $150 GameCube with a free game (a $50 value), so essentially the system was $99 really. But when they actually dropped to $99, sales took off big time.
Consumers tend to really fixate on the sticker price, that's all there is to it.
First of all, I wish I could tag some of you fuckers. Be very, very glad they haven't given me that particular power yet.
Sony's marketing strategy is a bit puzzling. I have seen a few billboards or ads on buses, but that's about it. On the other hand, they have managed to get all kinds of media exposure -- I mean, there was a story on frickin' TODAY this morning. If the idea really is to do a kind of viral marketing with the first adopters, then this sort of slow start is to be expected...with a big upswing in the near future.
As I noted in the official thread, I strongly suspect that some of the slow sales are due to a Thursday launch. I was lucky enough to be able to go into work late so I could pick up my preorder, but many people wouldn't have that flexibility. I don't think anyone should be claiming any kind of vindication until the weekend is over.
On the one hand, price is a big factor. On the other hand, people buy iPods and cell phones and digital cameras and other kinds of "cool but not necessary" gadgets all the time. Also, I'm getting a little sick of the "games are $50!" whining. Every single game I bought was $40, not $50...and I strongly suspect that there will be pressure for everyone to adopt that price point very quickly.
Finally, even though what people are sharing is anecdotal evidence, I'm starting to see an interesting trend. Does anyone know if the NPD statistics can be sorted by geographic region? No offense, but the surpluses seem to be happening primarily in poorer parts of the country, and it would be interesting to prove that with some figures.
Sony's marketing strategy is a bit puzzling. I have seen a few billboards or ads on buses, but that's about it. On the other hand, they have managed to get all kinds of media exposure -- I mean, there was a story on frickin' TODAY this morning. If the idea really is to do a kind of viral marketing with the first adopters, then this sort of slow start is to be expected...with a big upswing in the near future.
As I noted in the official thread, I strongly suspect that some of the slow sales are due to a Thursday launch. I was lucky enough to be able to go into work late so I could pick up my preorder, but many people wouldn't have that flexibility. I don't think anyone should be claiming any kind of vindication until the weekend is over.
On the one hand, price is a big factor. On the other hand, people buy iPods and cell phones and digital cameras and other kinds of "cool but not necessary" gadgets all the time. Also, I'm getting a little sick of the "games are $50!" whining. Every single game I bought was $40, not $50...and I strongly suspect that there will be pressure for everyone to adopt that price point very quickly.
Finally, even though what people are sharing is anecdotal evidence, I'm starting to see an interesting trend. Does anyone know if the NPD statistics can be sorted by geographic region? No offense, but the surpluses seem to be happening primarily in poorer parts of the country, and it would be interesting to prove that with some figures.
mashoutposse
Ante Up
I think those who were bullish on PSP's immediate launch performance expected a better marketing job from Sony.
I don't know why in-store demos weren't set up two weeks in advance of the launch. They're being over-reliant on word of mouth (although I believe it will eventually make the system a success on par with other Playstations, anyway).
I don't know why in-store demos weren't set up two weeks in advance of the launch. They're being over-reliant on word of mouth (although I believe it will eventually make the system a success on par with other Playstations, anyway).
-jinx- said:
TODAY covers jam pressing and old people's birthday. What's your point? Congrats on trying to justify the okay/soft launch with
-jinx- said:
I don't think you should attribute slow launches to day of week. If its hot, it'd sell. The price point scared away a lot of punters.
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
Drek said:
I agree, iPod and PSOne, didn't exactly set the world on fire initially. Maybe Sony is going with the Slow Burn technique. With a 3-day weekend coming up, I would expect steady sales for the next few days, though I wouldn't expect anything through the roof. Just steady sales. The advertising has JUST started for this thing, I am really not sure why Sony would choose to do that, but maybe they didn't feel like getting burned by buying a ton of ad space, then have a PStwo-like unit shortage. Not sure exactly what is going on, but one thing I will give Sony's Playstation division, everytime I felt like they were being idiots, they ended up being the ones laughing while counting an obscene amount of money at the end of the day.
IGN PSP seems to believe that most systems are already gone or will be tommorrow.
That seems to be very different from what we are hearing in this thread. Hard to know who to believe. I wonder if Sony will have a press release tommorrow. Don't companies usually do that the day after, saying something like "$100 million dollar in 24 hours", or something similar?
That seems to be very different from what we are hearing in this thread. Hard to know who to believe. I wonder if Sony will have a press release tommorrow. Don't companies usually do that the day after, saying something like "$100 million dollar in 24 hours", or something similar?
dskillzhtown
keep your strippers out of my American football
bionic77 said:
Seems like it is a hit or miss thing. I have heard reports about some stores in Houston selling 200+ units and others selling 15. This is in the same city. It has really varied. But the average sales per store seems like it would be pretty high. So, I would think sales are probably good, but not GREAT!!!! Then again we have no idea what Sony's target was for first day sales either. With no advertising, I wouldn't think they would be that disappointed. Now if sales just take a massive nosedive or the sales aren't atleast steady, then I am sure they would get worried.
Like an earlier poster said, there are alot of relishing in the "SONY IS TEH DOOMED" sentiment in this thread. I am not understanding why though. Let's just say PSP is a failure, do you really think that would be a good thing for any gaming company or the industry as a whole? Well, I enjoy gaming and would hate for any platform or company to just start losing money hand over fist. It would have a negative effect on gaming.
Well, I did not go through every post In this thread, so excuse me If this was stated. Here In New York the PSP and 1 gig memory sticks are all sold out at the big retail shops. There are a few small game shops that may have a couple of units left, but they are selling them at about a 50.00 mock up.
If Sony had released 200,000 units instead of a MILLION, there would be 20 threads with "holy fuck PSP a hit i cant find anywhere" or "i had to fight off a retard for the last PSP, sony has a hit on their hands"... maybe Sony should have faked a supply shortage, since a lot of you seem to fall for it oh so well. :lol
http://psp.ign.com/articles/598/598794p2.html
Hehehehe, Serramonte Mall is the local mall in my area. Seems the Circuit City nearby might have systems, so I should try there if I can muster up the cash.
Hehehehe, Serramonte Mall is the local mall in my area. Seems the Circuit City nearby might have systems, so I should try there if I can muster up the cash.
Shogmaster
Member
pcostabel said:I went to four different stores in LA today: all sold out. If it's true in that other part of the country there are plenty of PSP left, Sony should have allocated them better.
Obviously you went to the wrong stores. All the Best Buys, Targets, Walmarts all over LA have tons of PSPs left over. TONS! Southbay, Los Feliz, Westside, Valley, all reproting plenty of stock left (hardly touched).
The weird thing, is that all through the handheld wars, Nintendo has almost always offered the most inferior hardware. And people have bought their product time and time again because of the software and the Nintendo name which assures people that support and games will continue to be made for the system and not abandoned like so many other handhelds have done in the past.
But I do think that the fact that Nintendo has become almost nonexistant in the console business may end up having a pretty big impact on their handheld monopoly. And the fact that it is generally accepted that the PSP is light years more advanced than the DS, as far as hardware is concerned, is going to end up having a huge impact on the success of the DS.
Once people get to see the PSP in person, and see what it is capable of, sales will start to greatly outsell the DS. I firmly believe that when it is all said and done, the PSP will end up outselling Nintendo's handheld which would be a first. My only question is why didn"t Nintendo go out of their way to insure that the DS was just as powerful as the PSP.
I truly believe, that if Nintendo would have just given the DS as much power as the PSP, Sonys handheld wouldn't have stood a chance at competing with it. But they didn't for some reason and i think it will come back to bite them on the ass.
But I do think that the fact that Nintendo has become almost nonexistant in the console business may end up having a pretty big impact on their handheld monopoly. And the fact that it is generally accepted that the PSP is light years more advanced than the DS, as far as hardware is concerned, is going to end up having a huge impact on the success of the DS.
Once people get to see the PSP in person, and see what it is capable of, sales will start to greatly outsell the DS. I firmly believe that when it is all said and done, the PSP will end up outselling Nintendo's handheld which would be a first. My only question is why didn"t Nintendo go out of their way to insure that the DS was just as powerful as the PSP.
I truly believe, that if Nintendo would have just given the DS as much power as the PSP, Sonys handheld wouldn't have stood a chance at competing with it. But they didn't for some reason and i think it will come back to bite them on the ass.
HEre, in Quebec city, you can find both the Regular and Gretzky pack pretty much evrywhere in huge numbers
Today I've been to Futureshop, wal-mart, Toys r us, Zellers and EB and they all had most of their stock
Futureshop Place Laurier, one of the most profitable futureshop in canada had barely sold 25 units by noon, and had most of its stock by mid afternoon, and they had 140 units!
I went to wal mart at 6pm and they had like 80 units still, most of them beeing regular value pack
I bought 4 today, for me and friends, and had no troubles at all, retailers were quite surprised by the luckwarm response to the PSP today
Today I've been to Futureshop, wal-mart, Toys r us, Zellers and EB and they all had most of their stock
Futureshop Place Laurier, one of the most profitable futureshop in canada had barely sold 25 units by noon, and had most of its stock by mid afternoon, and they had 140 units!
I went to wal mart at 6pm and they had like 80 units still, most of them beeing regular value pack
I bought 4 today, for me and friends, and had no troubles at all, retailers were quite surprised by the luckwarm response to the PSP today
captmcblack
Member
Fellow Noo Yawkers - anyone check out J&R Music/Computer World yesterday? Are they sold out of PSPs yet?
Pedigree Chum
Banned
Fularu said:
Well it is March afterall. And I don't think people know what to expect from a Sony handheld yet as its there first entry into the market. With PSX the sales at teh beginning were slow too, with PS2 everyone knew that Sony's PS Console brand was gold and rushed out to buy it. Sony needs to to push hard to establish the PSP in the coming months, then everything will be gravy.
"
Obviously you went to the wrong stores. All the Best Buys, Targets, Walmarts all over LA have tons of PSPs left over. TONS! Southbay, Los Feliz, Westside, Valley, all reproting plenty of stock left (hardly touched)."
Wait, you have no intention of buying one, yet drove to all those stores checking PSP stock, Then the stores from other town were reporting their stock to you? :lol
Obviously you went to the wrong stores. All the Best Buys, Targets, Walmarts all over LA have tons of PSPs left over. TONS! Southbay, Los Feliz, Westside, Valley, all reproting plenty of stock left (hardly touched)."
Wait, you have no intention of buying one, yet drove to all those stores checking PSP stock, Then the stores from other town were reporting their stock to you? :lol
Sounds like good news for the european launch. If the 1.5million or so dont sell anytime soon, they can use the 50k a week they dont sell in Japan for us european gamers.
From the latest Sony press it sounded more like a xmas launch in europe, but they were still hoping to ship all their units to US retailers til end of this month.
From the latest Sony press it sounded more like a xmas launch in europe, but they were still hoping to ship all their units to US retailers til end of this month.
cloudwalking
300chf ain't shit to me
Odnetnin said:
If you've ever worked in retail, you know that day of week has a HUGE part to do with sales. Weekday sales goals are always way way way lower than weekend goals. Highest grossing days are always Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. People are off work, so they shop. This is America.
Most people are at work on a Thursday. It's much easier for them to say "oh, I'll just pick it up on the weekend." Not everyone is super hardcore about getting something on the first day it comes out.
I'm pretty damn certain a lot more PSPs would have sold right off the bat if this had been a Saturday launch.
Ninja Scooter
Member
i doubt sales will be that bad. YOu have to take into account that Sony actually shipped ENOUGH units so there isn't any kind of inflated hype like with PS2, and the fact that there just wan't the same kind of hype as the PS2 (obviously). Im sure this is a nice bit of crow for all those people thinking today would spell the end of Nintendo's dominance over the handheld industry. Even if it sells at an Ipod or cellphone type gadget pace, it'll be hard pressed to touch the numbers Nintendo puts up. I've always felt the Ipod comparisons were off base anyway. They both might be "sexy gadgets", but the despite all the features of the PSP, the perception will always be that its a videogame player first and foremost, that its basically Sony's version of a Gameboy. Videogaming is still a fairly small market, while EVERYONE listens to music. Everyone from a 10 year old kid to a 90 year old grandma could use an Ipod with no trouble.
DIrtyWeasel
Member
It seems to be selling well around my area. I had to get the display copy of Ridge Racer in Gamestop because it was sold out everywhere else.Rorschach said:
satterfield
BIGTIME TV MOGUL
In west LA pretty much every store had them available at 8PM except the EB at the mall on Pico. I'm quite honestly shocked. I really thought there would be plenty of early adopters to suck up the launch inventory.
I picked up my brother's pre-order at EB today around noon, talked to one of the guys working there, he told me they only sold 18 out of 40 units they got with the majority of them being pre-ordered. I agree with you guys that the reason it didn't do so well was because it wasn't advertised much.
I'd like to compare CITY vs. REST OF COUNTRY sales figures.
Here's my theory: PSP is selling to older gamers and most older gamers would rather game at home UNLESS they commute on a subway, bus, or other public transportation in the CITY. Therefore only city sales will be good
I-Pod sold really well in city's at first as well. It's where the early adopters and trendsetters settle. Gameboy on the other hand sells to all kids because pretty much all kids deal with car rides.
Here's my theory: PSP is selling to older gamers and most older gamers would rather game at home UNLESS they commute on a subway, bus, or other public transportation in the CITY. Therefore only city sales will be good
I-Pod sold really well in city's at first as well. It's where the early adopters and trendsetters settle. Gameboy on the other hand sells to all kids because pretty much all kids deal with car rides.
Cerebral Palsy
Banned
I would have got one if the launch lineup was decent. Plenty of places here still have them.
Any1 said:
GameBoy, like iPod, Walkman etc. offerend a perfect balance of technology, portability and features.
People who dislike Nintendo and GameBoy choose to ignore this very simple fact and feign ignorance as to why so many IDIOTS would want an inferior product.
Sony is trying to rewrite the rules by targeting the PSP as a kind of high end consumer device where people expect flashy technology and premium prices, but that market may or may not exist. The larger existing mainstrain portable games market however still play by the same rules as it always had. Whether the PSP will have the right mix is up in the air. But I wouldn't be really surprised if it doesn't catch on in the way the 'bullish' PSP supports expect it to.
Odnetnin said:
I think it's hard to say how slow the launch really is, but I was surprised places still had the system in stock, knowing how many people went home disappointed after not getting the $450CDN PS2, which, IIRC, also released on a weekday. There are more PSPs though, so who knows what that means (if anything).
I would be absolutely stunned if the PSP didn't start to dominate sooner or later (maybe after a price drop), because it's so much more impressive in my eyes than the DS it's not even funny.
dskillzhtown said:
I don't think it was the same for the iPod. I had a 1st gen iPod and no one knew what on earth it was. It took off slowly because it was only available for Mac owners and it was a completely new experiment for Apple. When they made it Windows compatiable though, they knew they have a hit on their hands and they backed it up with probably one of the best marketing campaign or the decade and it took off quite quicly. Likewise for Pokemon, Nintendo didn't expect a hit, but it gradually took off in Japan, when they took it to the US they backed it up with complete marketing package with the cartoon series and it took off immediately. If PSP is to reach that level of popularity, i think it'll have to do it in the next few months because by next Xmas, who knows what other gadgets would be on the horizon.
So, would they have done better if they stuck with the europe launch?
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