Black Friday sales for the video game industry were excellent. Nintendo sold 1.8m systems for the week ending November 29 while machines from rivals Microsoft and Sony combined to sell about 1.1m units.
Software sales were quite strong as well, but the vast majority of the spike this week is simply from the fact that Americans spent $10 billion ($30/per American if every American shopped) on Black Friday according to various reports, and a lot of that went to video games.
Last year, Black Friday week sales were strong as well, but Wii, DS, and Xbox 360 saw significantly better sales this year. PS3 had the weakest Black Friday to Black Friday growth, at 13%, and PS2 declined.
Sony's machines accounted for about 1 out of 3 video game machines sold (31%) during Black Friday week in 2007, this year that ratio is down to about 2 out of 9 (22%) as the shares for Microsoft and Nintendo increase.
Although Wii had a smaller percentage incr... More »
Sony has moved to dispel Microsoft claims that Xbox is outselling the PS3 in Europe, revealing internal figures that say its console has sold 300,000 more units than Xbox 360 in PAL territories.
And the company doesn’t feel it has to follow Microsoft and further ignite consumer interest with a price cut of its own anytime soon.
SCEE president David Reeves told MCV that Sony will remain focused on the value offered by the PS3 and its extra functions and services – at its current £299 SRP.
“No we are not going to go down in price; neither are we going to go down in price on PS3 in spring time either. Absolutely not, whatever you might have heard to the contrary,” he said – referring to purported ‘leaks’ from a Sony meeting two weeks ago that claimed Sony had a price cut planned for March ‘09.
The answer is no, they are not. In fact, they are doing pretty well for the difficult position that they are in at this point in time.
What Sony really needs to focus on right now is profit, and NOT the fanboys nor the console war. A lot of PlayStation fans out their feel the need for Sony to drop the price of the PS3 so it can “beat” the 360 in the console war, and in my opinion that is selfish.
Sony is currently losing profit on every PS3 sold and the only thing they need to focus on right now is making profit. If you factor in all the obstacles in front of the PS3, you would come to the conclusion that the PS3 is doing rather well for it being the most expensive console on the market especially with the economic recession and Sony’s lack of marketing.
Now look at all of these challenges the PS3 is going through and then look at the PS3’s sales. You cannot deny the fact that the PlayStation brand is the strongest in the industry.
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Various video game publishers have spoke out recently to either condone or criticize second-hand video game sales for eating into their profits.
Atari president Phil Harrison isn't worried though, as he says their future strategy is to make games that people will want to keep hold of stating: "it's no coincidence that the most valuable games, the one's that have the most lifetime as a game experience, are the one's that don't get resold, that don't get traded.
The games that have the embedded community, the embedded commerce, the extended, expandable experiences, are the one's that you would never want to trade, the one's you want to keep hold of. And that's perfectly in line with our future strategy so we're not that concerned about it," he said.
To quote: Speaking at the Atari Live event in London yesterday, the publisher said t... More »
There can be no doubt that sales of the Xbox 360 in the US have remained strong over the last 12 months, surprising many who had claimed that 2008 would be the year of the PlayStation. With the holiday season fast approaching sales can only go one way - up.
Back in late 2007, Microsoft was heading into the festive season having wrapped up Halo 3 and Gears of War - both huge system sellers that helped the Redmond giant put it’s stamp on the year as having the most consumer £/$’s spent on its platform.
But many questioned whether Microsoft could continue its dominance through 2008 - with only a few anticipated titles on it’s schedules for the year ahead such as Fable II and Too Human (lol?).
Tell that to those crazy folks below though - This was spotted during Black Friday sales in the US as bargain hunters stalked Xbox 360 Arcade units. Only in America...
If we look back on 2008 and start ticking off the top names of 2009, one will want to assume that the PlayStation 3 has the momentum.
Not only does it have the obvious exclusive edge over Microsoft's Xbox 360, but it has several other factors going for it.
It's $200 cheaper than it was upon launch two years ago, the launch of the PlayStation Home open beta is scheduled for this month, Blu-Ray has won the HD movie war (and it's certainly the more preferable software format for games), the PlayStation Network and Store have taken gigantic strides, the machine is far more reliable than the 360, and yes, as we just said, the exclusives have really been impressive.
We saw Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Resistance 2, Wipeout HD, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, Valkyria Chronicles, and LittleBigPlanet this year and we can expect Killzone 2, God of War III, Gran Turismo 5, the recently unveiled Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Heavy Rain... More »
It's no secret that iPhone has turned the mobile phone industry on its head, sliding past its smartphone rivals with its sexy design. We know Apple has opened a new chapter in mobile technology, but the real story behind this is how the iPhone is quietly taking over pocket gaming.
Business Week has already pointed out what is clearly becoming a new player in the handheld market. Apple has set iPhone on the right track to contend with Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable as the definitive portable gaming platform new figures show. Sales of iPhone continue to increase with each passing month, not to mention downloads from the App Store.
Momentum behind iPhone can't be discredited either as developers both large and small are flocking to the system. It all points to the strong possibility that iPhone could become the leading device for handheld gaming in the coming years.
The argument isn't a new one, as we were one of the first to identify the pote... More »
Leading in-game advertising company Double Fusion will offer premium ad opportunities with THQ, SEGA, Eidos and Midway PlayStation 3 game titles.
Press Release: SAN FRANCISCO– December 1, 2008– Leading independent in-game advertising company Double Fusion has strengthened its PLAYSTATION®3 portfolio by securing exclusive advertising opportunities with the world’s top videogame publishers, including THQ, SEGA, Eidos and Midway.
The announcement comes during a record-breaking sales year for the videogames business, which propelled Double Fusion’s high double-digit revenue growth. The company continues to pave the way for advertisers looking to reach young consumers in an increasingly challenged and fragmented media landscape by offering immersive in-game marketing programmes available nowhere else.
“One only has to look at the recent videogame sales figures to realise that games are the one form of entertainment consumers don’t want to ... More »
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