rjcc said:
the thing is, the article is stupid and sensationalist. Sony/PS3 isn't "dying" but ridiculous hyperbole aside, it definitely isn't doing well, but that's not as exciting as saying "it's sinking".
Ye, that was the point i was trying to make
The article says that the PS3 is a sinking ship because it sold less in November 2008 compared to what it sold in November 2007. Here the writer of the article compares 2008 to 2007. The article (atleast not what i can see) doesnt mention anything that the PS3 sales in the 10 previous months was better in 2008 compared to the same 10 months in 2007. Why doesnt he compare those months as well?
Ye, i think that this a hyperbole too. As you say, the PS3 sales isn't doing well, but it is too early to say that the PS3 is a sinking ship based on 1 month of sales, atleast my opinion
I would atleast wait like 3-4 months to see if there was a trend that was going on before i would saying that the PS3 is a sinking ship and that the sales are plummeting.
Bending_Unit_22 said:
The main problem for Sony from this perspective is the PS3 will never make money. I haven't seen the latest update but Sony's gaming division had lost something like $3 billion from April 2006-March 2008 (despite the PS2/PSP making money during the period), more than they made during the 5 year PS2 heyday. Even if the PS3 could be everything the PS2 was it still wouldn't be a net profit. The comparison with the Gamecube is obvious given hardware sales, but Nintendo did not sell the Gamecube at a massive loss and had massive 1st party game sales to buck it up. Even then its profits couldn't make up the PS3's losses. At this point I would be more surprised than not if the PS3 ever makes a significant yearly profit (mostly because I suspect the WiiS4 will be out before then).
Sony was making some headway earlier this year but the recession is like a giant wave crashing over the deck of a ship already taking on water. With the PS2 on the decline, the PSP holding steady, Sony losing money like crazy company wide, and the credit crunch making borrowing more problematic more waves are coming. So I would agree the PS3 has reverted to sinking but it doesn't mean it is sunk, nor does it mean is may necessarily ever sink. To continue using the nautical metaphor, a systems lifespan is relatively short, like crossing the channel instead of the Atlantic. Even if a console is sinking it'll usually be able to ride it out until it runs aground on the other coast. Few post-crash major consoles suffer the ignominy of sinking outright (Saturn and DC essentially) and almost none are scuttled like the Xbox.
To sum my point, sinking equals losing money that cannot be afforded with no end in sight and is not the same as saying the PS3 is sunk (finished). In that case I think it applies to the PS3.
I agree that it doesnt look to good when it comes to that Sony could make money on the PS3 (as in that they will atleast break even and then start to profit from it after all the expences are payed), but who knows. How much is Sony losing on each PS3 that is sold now? Who knows, maybe sony will push out the PS4 (WiiS4) in some years, i guess it is possible
The example i did with the Gamecube, didnt Nintendo make a profit when all the hardware and all the software was basicly done selling? They might have lost some money on some of the games etc., but all in all, when you add all the money that they got in on the hardware sales and the software sales, and then you take away all the costs that they had around the Gamecube, both with the hardware and the software.
If Nintendo made money on the Gamecube in total, then i just wanted to show that being far behind the competition doesnt necessarily mean that you are a sinking ship, atleast in my opinion, so i just wanted to mention it
The way i understood it, it seemed that someone was saying that just because the PS3 was selling less units compared to the competition, then it was a sinking ship based on that it was so far behind the competition on the number of consoles sold. It might be that this isnt what they ment though, so it can be that i have been missunderstanding what was written, so please correct me if i am wrong
Sony seems to be losing money company wise as you say, but i dont think that is just because of the PS3. I think it also something because that their HDTV sales are going down or something. Sony did have a net income of around 20 billion yen (around 200 million US dollars i think) in the fiscal year of Q2 in 2008, i guess that is something atleast
They had a net income of about 74 billion yen in the fiscal year of Q2 in 2007 though, so it is quite a drop, but i have no idea of Playstation 3 is the main reason for this.
I like the last metaphor that you used about crossing the channel instead of the Atlantic, i agree
Ye, i would say it depends on how you define a "sinking ship". If it is about losing money, then it looks like the PS3 might be a sinking ship, i agree. When it comes to this CNN article that is in the first post in this thread, the guy who wrote that article only mentions (atleast what i can see) the numbers of PS3 consoles sold. It doesnt seem that he takes anything other into account. It seems that he just compared the PS3 sales in November 2008 to November 2007, and since the PS3 sold about 88.000 consoles less in November 2008 compared to in November 2007, then the PS3 is a sinking ship and the sales are plummeting, accoring to the write of this article atleast.
Of course, it might be that he have in mind that Sony is and has lost alot of money on the PS3 so far when he calls the PS3 a sinking ship and when he says that the sales are plummeting, so it might be that he takes this into account anyway, but i cant see that he mention anything about that in the article atleast.
And fair enough, the sales did go down quite a bit in November compared to last year's November, so the writer of this article is correct about that, but to use the words "sinking ship" based on 1 month of sales, i think it is too early to say anything about that
