I know, maybe no one gives a damn but I will post what I have seen in the last 3 days here in Spain. I came here from Mexico 4 days ago for some business and I visited several stores to see how are next-gen ( and also old) consoles faring at this point in time.
I visited several " Corte Ingles" stores which are big stores that are supplied with all sort of things. I also went to the " Fnac " electronic store at the very center of the city and some minor, smaller specialized video game stores. Here is the situation:
from the lamest to the most impressive anecdotes:
.- Gamecube stuff is absolutely gone for good. Nothing to been seen, whatsoever.
.- Gameboy advance consoles are still to be found but in very small quantities and I found the micro to be relatively cheap ( 50 Euros isn't that bad ). Software is almost gone, mostly shovelware and also in small quantities.
.- Xbox 1 is completely gone as well, nothing of any kind related to that console is in existence. Understandable since it's been many months since 360 came in the scene.
.- Xbox 360, as I expected, is looking to be a big loser this time. Shelf space was keep to a minimum compared to the other 4 next-gen competitors (ps3, wii, DS, PSP). There was software and consoles somewhere but no one would get near that part of the store. Consider that this stores have very dense traffic and are VERY crowded.
Spanish people hate the 360 just like they hated the original xbox. If 360 is performing in the rest of europe like it's doing in spain, 360 is lost, utterly and comlpetely lost..
.- Huge ammounts of PS3 consoles everywhere. Somehow, it didn't look well. People were playing at the demostations but noone got near a console to watch/consider/think about getting one. Far too many copies of the same games ( like 80 copies of call of duty 3, for example ). Some smaller stores have signs " PS3 in stock ". I must say, the presence of sony products is extremely strong here. PS3 had priority shelf space everywhere. I think that sony shouldn't have shipped that many... just my thoughts. In any case, PS3 will NOT lose to 360 in this land.
.- Spanish people aren't ready to stop using their PS2s. This system is amazing, it is as relevant as 3 or 4 years ago. There were many nice bundles available. Final Fantasy XII is on fire. There were like 8 people amazed at the god of war II demo, it looked VERY impressive. I think is one of the top 5 best looking games of all last gen. That game looks extremely good. PS2 is definitely here to stay.. MUCH longer than anyone may think and it will take much more than wii launch hype to dethrone it.
.- Guess what? No wiis available anywhere. Sony must be really afraid of this system. I saw people buying controllers, games and stuff and it wasn't your typical dad buying his kids nintendo stuff. It was definitely the new demographic nintendo is trying to reach. Some older guys, middle-aged couples, etc. I got to hear people asking for it. I can not believe that there were NO consoles availabe almost 6 months after launch. It's too fishy to be just " huge demand".
.- DS is selling to everyone as well, I actually saw an older guy buy english training. Software has also a lot of space, DSs were avaible in huge quantities and I got to see a guy that bought a black DSlite.
.- PSP stuff seemed somewhat irrelevant, games and movies here and there but no one was paying attention to anything. I can easily tell that it's receiveing a royal beating from the DS, which is clearly on fire.
yeah, it seems the situation is as expected, I just felt like typing it.
I visited several " Corte Ingles" stores which are big stores that are supplied with all sort of things. I also went to the " Fnac " electronic store at the very center of the city and some minor, smaller specialized video game stores. Here is the situation:
from the lamest to the most impressive anecdotes:
.- Gamecube stuff is absolutely gone for good. Nothing to been seen, whatsoever.
.- Gameboy advance consoles are still to be found but in very small quantities and I found the micro to be relatively cheap ( 50 Euros isn't that bad ). Software is almost gone, mostly shovelware and also in small quantities.
.- Xbox 1 is completely gone as well, nothing of any kind related to that console is in existence. Understandable since it's been many months since 360 came in the scene.
.- Xbox 360, as I expected, is looking to be a big loser this time. Shelf space was keep to a minimum compared to the other 4 next-gen competitors (ps3, wii, DS, PSP). There was software and consoles somewhere but no one would get near that part of the store. Consider that this stores have very dense traffic and are VERY crowded.
Spanish people hate the 360 just like they hated the original xbox. If 360 is performing in the rest of europe like it's doing in spain, 360 is lost, utterly and comlpetely lost..
.- Huge ammounts of PS3 consoles everywhere. Somehow, it didn't look well. People were playing at the demostations but noone got near a console to watch/consider/think about getting one. Far too many copies of the same games ( like 80 copies of call of duty 3, for example ). Some smaller stores have signs " PS3 in stock ". I must say, the presence of sony products is extremely strong here. PS3 had priority shelf space everywhere. I think that sony shouldn't have shipped that many... just my thoughts. In any case, PS3 will NOT lose to 360 in this land.
.- Spanish people aren't ready to stop using their PS2s. This system is amazing, it is as relevant as 3 or 4 years ago. There were many nice bundles available. Final Fantasy XII is on fire. There were like 8 people amazed at the god of war II demo, it looked VERY impressive. I think is one of the top 5 best looking games of all last gen. That game looks extremely good. PS2 is definitely here to stay.. MUCH longer than anyone may think and it will take much more than wii launch hype to dethrone it.
.- Guess what? No wiis available anywhere. Sony must be really afraid of this system. I saw people buying controllers, games and stuff and it wasn't your typical dad buying his kids nintendo stuff. It was definitely the new demographic nintendo is trying to reach. Some older guys, middle-aged couples, etc. I got to hear people asking for it. I can not believe that there were NO consoles availabe almost 6 months after launch. It's too fishy to be just " huge demand".
.- DS is selling to everyone as well, I actually saw an older guy buy english training. Software has also a lot of space, DSs were avaible in huge quantities and I got to see a guy that bought a black DSlite.
.- PSP stuff seemed somewhat irrelevant, games and movies here and there but no one was paying attention to anything. I can easily tell that it's receiveing a royal beating from the DS, which is clearly on fire.
yeah, it seems the situation is as expected, I just felt like typing it.
. That tells a lot about the Playstation brand importance here.
