E3 2007: How To Lose Buisness 101
July 13, 2007 · By Matthew
Sony just announced today that the 60 GB PS3 model, which had its price lowered to $500 USD (but yet $550 CAD despite a near-par dollar!) will be discontinued in a matter of months! In other words, you will still only find $600 USD ($650 CAD) PS3s by Christmas time. Does anyone else see this as not only a negation of anything positive Sony did this week but also a major PR disaster that is going to cost them big time? Seriously people, what is your take on this? I’m personally astounded!
I called it before the PS3 and the Wii hit the shelves… the PS3 was going to be a disaster, and the Wii was going to take off. Now, 8 months after they were released, you can buy a PS3 anywhere, and they’re already discontinuing models.
The Wii? YOU STILL CAN’T FIND ONE TO BUY ALMOST ANYWHERE! (and when you do, they’re all gone within hours!)
I half-suspect that Sony must have changed the people in charge of the Playstation division. They seem to have forgotten that a) profit derives from software, and b) software does no good unless you can deliver the hardware at a reasonable price.
Paying $650CDN for a game console makes absolutely no sense when for the same amount of money you can replace your desktop computer and play the games associated with that.
Wii works because Nintendo recognized, a long time ago, that people will only pay X amount of cash for the hardware, but will buy a large number of games if there’s a large enough library of software. It’s why the Game Boy line dominates the handheld market, and why Nintendo has stayed profitable despite not being an industry leader until recently.