Despite the fact that the Sony PlayStation 3 remains one of the best Blu-ray players available, it seems Sony is getting verbal abuse from everyone these days. The most recent assault on Sony and the PS3 came via CNN Money, where a writer called the PS3 a "sinking ship."
The PS3 not surprisingly was again dominated by sales of the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii game consoles. In November, Nintendo moved more than 2 million Wiis, Microsoft sold 836,000 consoles, and Sony, in a distant third, sold just 378,000 units.
The lack of buyers has led to more published articles and blogs questioning if the PS3 is already dead.
Analyst group NPD said PS3 sales are down around 17 percent from last year, while the Wii and Xbox 360 sales are higher. Sony ca't blame the global economy and U.S. recession, because the video game industry has had solid numbers the past two months.
Even more pessimistic writers have wondered if the PS3 is going to eventually lead to Sony's demise.
Sony is a big enough company where I have a hard time believing just one bad product would spell the end for the Japanese electronics giant. Furthermore, Sony's recent launch of Home should help generate new interest in the game console. But it appears that just one piece of software isn't going to be Sony's saving grace, and the company needs to prepare for a slow road back to relevance.
If Sony wants to see sales numbers increase, the company really needs to drastically cut prices to better compete with the other consoles. The Xbox 360 can be found for $199 while the Wii remains $249. The Wii entered the market with the same price tag and it obviously is doing just fine at the $249 price point. Microsoft decided to slash prices to help give it an advantage on Sony, and it obviously has worked; the console's sales overtook the PS3 in Japan, a market very supportive of Japanese companies. Sure, it was just one month -- and was due to a price cut -- but analysts agreed that the news was still significant.
No game catalog. The Xbox 360 has the most extensive game catalog, with the Wii also having a good variety of titles. "LittleBigPlanet" was a good game, but it wasn't anything overly special compared to other video games. Considering the hardware power of the PS3, game studios need to create new game titles that harness the PS3's computing power.
It's true that games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance 1 and 2 were available and sold well, but software sales still are higher with the Xbox 360.
Built-in Blu-ray player? According to the CNN blog, no one cares! Sony used the built-in Blu-ray player as a major selling point during the Blu-ray, HD DVD battle last year. Blu-ray movies still remain too high, and consumers aren't interested in upgrading from their DVD catalog, and that trend isn't expected to end any time in the future.
I'll give Sony a little bit of slack, as I believe people will eventually adopt Blu-ray in the future, with PS3 owners becoming more interested in playing Blu-ray movies.
Do you own a PS3? If so, what made you decide to purchase it over the Xbox 360 or Wii?
