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Jeetil Patel: problems and issues with the next-gen consoles |
Listed in: PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 Tags: Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime, Sony
To Deutsche Bank securities analyst Jeetil Patel, the sales of the Xbox 360 and PS3 are just flat out disappointing, and
that in Sony's case a price cut is "critical" in order to stimulate the
market. The analyst put all three consoles on the block in a recent interview and had surprising things to say about the "next-gen" consoles.Jeetil Patel talked about the Xbox 360 and PS3 and their problem with lack of demand:
Next-gen hardware sell-through of 700K units in Feb-07 brought its total HW installed base to 8.0mn in the US, still 30% less than the prior cycle at 11.2mn units at equivalent stages. Xbox 360 (230K) and PS3 (130K) unit sales were below expectations of 250K-300K and 200K respectively. Retail checks reveal that ample supply exists, suggesting a demand problem for next-gen consoles.
Patel also spoke about the PS3: "PS3 consoles are available at retail but sales are lackluster. Its 130K units sold in February was less than Xbox 360 sales last year (160K) and even less than the original Xbox sales of 140K in Feb-2002."
Deutsche Bank was equally unimpressed with the Xbox 360, with Patel stating:
"Particularly disappointing is Xbox 360 HW sales of 230K in February,
which puts its installed base at 5mn or in-line to the original Xbox
which was an unproven console and faced substantial competition from
the PS2."
The Wii however, has a different problem. It seems that Nintendo is having a problem keeping up with demand: "With Wii shortages likely in the next 1-2 quarters (and potential PS3 re-allocations to Europe), we are concerned that next-gen sales could further disappoint."
Nintendo has taken the lion's share of the market recently. In fact, combining the sales of the DS with the sales of the Wii shows that Nintendo grabbed 54% of the market in February. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has reiterated that Nintendo is doing the best it can to alleviate shortages; "... there are hundreds of thousands of consumers still waiting to get their hands on the system so we continue to both ship more units to retail every week and work non-stop to build capacity," he said.
All told, it seems that the Wii could be dominating the market now, but a market leader has yet to emerge for this generation of consoles.
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Comments
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But I will say Blu Ray and Hd-Dvd is doing nothing to the console sales other than annoy people with their sales claims which in reality are almost ZILCH compared to the DVD.
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September is when things ramp up. I remember owning the 360 last year when I bought it in July. I was horrified; I hated they system; then Gears Of War came out; two days after that; I experience the Three lights of Death! I had to wait another 2 months before enough people got pissed off at microsoft before they changed the warranty to a year. Thankfully, it was time for the PS3 and Wii launches; My 360 was finally repaired free of charge but I can count the times i played it since it came back (about 4 to 5 times)
Anyway, this time of year you're usually reading about what is going to be unveiled at E3; no blockbuster titles from Jan to August. They are all announced for september, most are moved to October or November. Systems begin to sell again from September through February (Gift cards have made January a profitable month)
Perhaps tax time will eventually reel in a few hundred thousand more but nowhere close to September through January sales.
Personally, I say the PS3 wins this war hands down by the same time this year in 2009. The PS2 will be dead by then and people will be ready for the upgrade to a cheaper PS3.
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http://www.metacritic.com/games/wii/scores/
39 games and only 4 above 80? That's barely 10%. (360 is at 28% and PS3 is at 40%)
I keep hearing how unique the control is on the Wii and how great the games are "going" to be, but right now people are paying $250 for potential, not games. Sure, there's the retro downloads, but Nintendo has to come through with games that actually make good use of the new control system or the shine is going to start to wear off that new gadget pretty quickly and they'll have a bunch of disenchanted gamers on their hands. In some ways, it may actually hurt to be so popular so early. Right now I fear a N64 repeat. Great potential but only about three games worth playing.
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ALL consoles are doing poorly...even your beloved ps3. the sales are LOWER then the XBOX was LAST year at the SAME TIME.
Jesus man.
And guess what?
By this time in 2008 we will see all the problems the ps3 has...just like what happened a year after the ps2 was out...DRE!
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Even with the supposed price drops in the coming 2 years, these systems still cost too damn much to the average consumer (you know, the one that buys millions of PS2s every few months...). With prices being where they are, no one can possibly expect this generation of consoles to be nearly as successful as the last. Even with the Wii having its mainstream appeal, the fact is that $250 is still a lot to ask of the average consumer. As for the core gamer, many (not all) view the Wii as the weakest system. I'm starting to ramble, so I'll come to the conclusion. There's no way we'll see any system ship 100m+ units like last time...
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