Console sales down 76 per cent in US News

Flame On!

Wow... In hard times, people buy less consoles... Who would have known... :P

This article is FULL OF FAIL.

Comparing December figures with January!? WTF!?

Of course they're going to be lower!! How about comparing it to the same month last year. Ellie obvious doesn't have ANY business sense.

Nintendo in "more popular than breathing" shocker.

If it (PS3) hasn't started closing the gap on 360 by now you have to start thinking it never will. The fact that even after the software lineup has strengthened, after MGS4, LBP, GTA4 etc it's still selling less than it was this time last year is pretty bad for Sony.
@ Seesthroughall - Wii and 360 sales are up on this time last year....

Wii, DS, 360 Saw year-on-Year increases. All other consoles/Handhelds (PS3, PSP, PS2) saw decreases year-on-year. Sony needs to drop their PS3 price ASAP if they are to compete in 2009.

Console gaming is dead!

"NPD has released US sales figures for January, shockingly revealing that people bought a lot less consoles than they did at Christmas."

No shit.

So top 10 is 4 Wii, 2 DS and 4 360?

Sony is set for its worse year ever


Good work lads, way'd to f'up a brand

@woodnotes

I agree!

The gap in sales between the 360 and PS3 went from half a million peak holiday season to 100,000 off peak Jan sales, so it does suggest that if Sony can offer a lower price point at some point in the year and more games to appeal to US gamers, they can still compete in the US.

Couldn't care less about defending companies (will probably get flamed regardless) just food for thought.

20 of the top 30 selling games were for Wii or DS (according to Nintendo's PR anyway).

To some of the above:
The comparisons are from NPD, not EG + Ellie is being ironic.
Then again, maybe so are you.

On average console sales fell by 76 per cent , with PS3 suffering the lowest fall (72 per cent)

Ellie, are you pitching for a job writing the Sony press release? ;)

The PS3 was the only home console to lose sales compared with this time last year. The rest were up on their Jan 2008 numbers. Comparing January sales with Christmas ones is a bit silly, really.

The biggest fail is the top ten games. Clearly, the world has no taste ;)

"The gap in sales between the 360 and PS3 went from half a million peak holiday season to 100,000 off peak Jan sales"

Which is still people buying three 360s to every two PS3s. That's not good. PS3's over in the US, it's a GameCube. This will affect US game releases, knock on effects for Europe and JP.

The biggest fail is the top ten games. Clearly, the world has no taste ;)

Clearly not all of the world considering Left 4 Dead is finally getting the respect it deserves.

@Woodnotes: I think you missed the huge amount of sarcasm in the article.

Most expensive console still sells appealing than cheaper models, eh? Perhaps it is time that Sony re-examined its overall strategy before it loses mind-share as well as market share.

BTW: Killlzone 2 rocks. The PS3 is actually ON in our house. Which is nice.

(The Wii isn't even in standby mode any more. Anyone fancy buying it?)

Oh, and while technically correct that headline is horribly misleading... shame on you.

This article if full of HUMOUR. Look it up, it's in the dictionary.

No playstation family games in top 10...amazing

Comparing january numbers with christmas sales is stupid, the writer was looking for any postive slant at all for the ps3, obviously it dropped less in january concidering the small sales in december

Whats more relevant is comparing to january 08 but i dont expect that to be done as sony is way down on all platforms compared to last year. everyone else is up

Who cares for christ sake. Microsoft up when cheaper in America no shit...lol

The price is hurting Sony but they cant just drop the price and the may as well wait until it has the biggest impact probably afther the costs on the console somes down.

Crap article and the just fanboy bait. All consoles sold okay despite the recession

utterly useless news, of course there down in jan from december! ever heard of christmas eurogamer?

this joke backfired

"utterly useless news, of course there down in jan from december! ever heard of christmas eurogamer? "

The percentage drop from dec to jan is not the news. The news is the RELATIVE percentage drops between platforms and the amount of software sold to back up those platforms.

In both cases it's looking very grim for the PS3. The poor thing really is the ginger step-son of this generation, and continues to fall behind in hardware and software sales.

What can Sony do about it? Stop releasing such awful games, stop charging for tech demos and stop developing social networking applications. Games sell consoles. Games that play well and are not simply technical display pieces.

Release some decent 1st party games, give better dev tools to 3rd parties and the software, and in turn hardware, will sell. Simple as.

Actually the PS3 games are great, and its a really good machine, of course you wont know that cause all you do fart is come on here and slate it. ;)

Wow the Xbox sells more even though it is considerably cheaper, but it still didnt sell a truck load more, but you seem to ignore that fact.

I have no issue with PS3 or Xbox, but seriously stop being such a muppet all the time.

@Weezer

I'll give you £90 for it.

@Farticus
The PS3 had the lowest RELATIVE fall (72 per cent).

It's fairly clear from recent interviews that the PS division were ordered to show a profit by those higher up at Sony and that's what they've tried to do and probably succeeded - now they have shown that I think a price drop is what they really need.

I agree this is a completely pointless story without comparing them to Jan 08 figures.

Serious lack of proper analysis in this article, and far too little attempt to put things in proper context.

@DrDamn

"The PS3 had the lowest RELATIVE fall (72 per cent)."

...but still ended up with the worst actual hardware sales figures of the current gen, and the worst software sales too.


"It's fairly clear from recent interviews that the PS division were ordered to show a profit by those higher up at Sony and that's what they've tried to do and probably succeeded"

I've no idea if the hardware is making a profit - I very much doubt it as they have not moved to the smaller Cell chips yet. They will not be making much from the poor software sales though, especially when they spend around 3-4 years development time per title.


"now they have shown that I think a price drop is what they really need."

I still believe that genuine hit titles are more important than console price, and the PS3 doesnt have a single genuine mainstream hit title. You can pick up PS3's at quite reasonable prices now, but it doesnt have a decent enough software library to sell well.

@Farticus
"...but still ended up with the worst actual hardware sales figures of the current gen, and the worst software sales too. "

Good back track ...

"I've no idea if the hardware is making a profit"

Last Reeves interview indicated that that as a division (at least in Europe) they would - whether this was on hardware or software wasn't clear, but as a division they would. So one or both would be. They don't have to shift to smaller cell chips to make a profit. The internals are changing all the time with consoles as they refine manufacturing processes and component prices come down.

@DrDamn

"Good back track ... "

The semantics, thematics, spelling, grammar, cast, creed or sexual orientation of the sentence are not as important as the message, which in this case is that the PS3 is not selling anywhere near as well as it needs to, to prevent it being shunted to the back of the queue when it comes to publishers deciding which platform their software will make them a good return on.

Multiplatform developers had started actually putting some effort into getting the PS3 to perform close to the 360's standard. If the PS3 continues to fall behind at the rate it is right now they will think twice about spending the extra time to get those results, as they won't get the required return.

Well that I agree on - but it's not exactly what you said originally ;)

I'm happy with what I get from my PS3 as for me the PS brand is not for the mainstream stuff it's about the more diverse stuff they tend to try - whether it works or not. It compliments my 360 well in that regard - that's me though.

I'm not sure how well understood the multi-platform release differences are known in general though. If you read a lot of multiformat stuff then you know the 360 has a decent edge in this area - but does the general public at large know?

"Wow the Xbox sells more even though it is considerably cheaper, but it still didnt sell a truck load more, but you seem to ignore that fact. "


No no no.... remember the 360 is actually the most EXPENSIVE machine. The PS3 is dirt cheap with lot's of extra stuff! Quite shocking that the cheapest machine is actually selling so badly.

@DrDamn

"I'm happy with what I get from my PS3 as for me the PS brand is not for the mainstream stuff it's about the more diverse stuff they tend to try - whether it works or not. It compliments my 360 well in that regard - that's me though."

That's all well and good, but if the platform isn't supported by mainstream titles then it simply won't survive to have those interesting, niche titles published on it. The current economic climate will not allow a platform to survive on low return niche titles.


"I'm not sure how well understood the multi-platform release differences are known in general though. If you read a lot of multiformat stuff then you know the 360 has a decent edge in this area - but does the general public at large know?"

I very much doubt it. We, as entheusiasts who do research as well as the actual playing of games, have a very different view of the console world I think. It's a bit like being able to 'see the matrix' except we dont get to dodge bullets, kick sinister agents in the face or wear leather and latex 24 hours per day. :)

This is partly where Sony's current failling is. They are targetting the ubernerd, they are targetting the people reading this website and that is NOT the general game buying public. They are using hugely protracted development schedules to produce the most accurate lighting model possible and a squillion physics operations per frame but forgetting to bolt a gripping gaming experience to that technical achievement.

The gaming public in general dont give a stuff about the technical side though, as is adequately proved by the success of the Wii. Playability will bring in the big numbers. Pride is blinding Sony to this harsh truth though, at the great detriment of the platform.

@Farticus
I think they will do well enough this round to continue producing the stuff I want and survive to fight another day. A strong Sony last time played a big part in MS doing such a good job this gen so it's in most people's interests for them to survive and do well. The kick in the teeth they have had this time from MS & Nintendo should hopefully see them come back stronger too.

"The kick in the teeth they have had this time from MS & Nintendo should hopefully see them come back stronger too."

That won't happen unless they change their strategy. The current strategy they have isnt working, as is proved by sales figures.

Your assumption also relies on MS and Nintendo not changing strategy. The one and only reason that the Sony gaming division is not bankrupt, dead and buried right now is Microsofts initial hardware problems. Without the RROD issue the PS3 would almost certainly have been axed by now, Sony execs openly admitted it was on lifesupport for most of that time.

So, let's say Sony continue limping along into the next generation as they are now, and Microsoft produce another equivalent machine but without the hardware issues. With Sony's current software strategy, they simply will not survive.

It requires a change of software strategy from Sony NOW before they lose what's left of their declining market share. You get mainstream hits to float the platform THEN develop niche titles and non-gaming additions.

I too hope Sony come back stronger next gen as I'd love to own a Playstation again, but that doesnt happen overnight, and we're getting relatively close to next-gen announcements and I'm not seeing any signs of change.

@Farticus
The guy who replaced Phil Harrison, Yamada(?), and now heads up Sony Worldwide studios has acknowledged software issues and mistakes made in the past. He has talked lots of sense in interviews. It just depends on how much power he is given to change things.

I doubt devs are going to cease making PS3 games, especially as the porting gets cheaper by the day. Sony's problems are mostly in its money issues. They're losing it and therefore can't afford to take one in the ass to try and make their product more popular.

Meanwhile, MS keeps making money hand over fist and can afford giving its customers the best there is to offer.

You do wonder why some put so much emphasis on January sales, everyone realises Sony are steadying the ship before implementing price cut(s) later in the year to capitalise on titles such as Killzone 2 and GT5.

Always makes me ;augh when people put "everyone realises" something is true to try and pressure others into agreeing

2008 v 2009 sales

360:
2008 - 230,000
2009 - 309,000

PS3:
2008 - 269,000
2009 - 203,000

Wii
2008 - 274,000
2009 - 679,000