PS3 not selling out in PAL regions?

PS3 News | That's a good thing, reckons Sony.

In an interview with Reuters, Sony Europe's David Reeves has denied that the PlayStation 3 not selling out in PAL regions this Friday would be a bad sign for the company. He went on to suggest that such a situation would actually signify that Sony had got the launch spot-on, a thought process that Reeves clearly shares with Jack Tretton.

"We don't want secret shoppers to go in there and say, 'Ah, it's not out of stock, therefore it's not selling,'" explained Reeves. "Indeed, what we're trying to say is we want to make it available to the normal shopper who goes in there and says, 'Do you have PlayStation 3?', and they will say, 'Yes.' And the same for the software."

Reeves also had some words for those who bemoaned the PS3 delay imposed on Australian and European gamers, arguing that the wait had greatly increased the number of PS3 units that will launch in PAL regions tomorrow. "It's rather like taking a bottle of soda water and we've shaken it so hard over the last six months that when we take the cork off, it's just going to explode," he mused. "I think that's a better way of looking at it than to say the delay is disappointing. It's not - it's really been beneficial for us. We're going to get it right."

Related Content

Sony: PS3 still on for March
14 Dec, 2006 Company dismisses new speculation over PAL launch.

PAL March PS3 launch 'still on track'
13 Nov, 2006 For the time being.

PS3 chip yields low
14 Jul, 2006 Not enough chips to Cell.

Page12 Next

29 Comments

DancesInUnderwear

4 years ago

That is some brilliant, brilliant PR speak. Good work Sony.

Gutsman Heavy

4 years ago

could be that no one wants it.

rodvcpetrie

4 years ago

You know, I made a product the other day that I really want people to buy so I can make money. However, even though I haven't sold any of this product it's still a good thing I have heaps sitting on my shelf

goodbye

4 years ago

At the risk of being unpopular, I'd agree. I worked at JB Hi-Fi over christmas and, just as importantly, the Wii launch. After opening wiikend if anyone came in wanting to buy it, we had to say no cause we didn't have the stock. A sell out isn't always a success, Nintendo would've sold plenty more consoles over the Christmas period if they had the stock available, you can put out a product you made and if you only release one or two and sell them both then yes it's a sell out, but not neccessarily a success.

What it seems to me that Sony are saying is that there will be plenty of stock available for the absolute ton of people who are extremely casual about this sort of thing and wander in a week or two after launch. Just because there's some left doesn't mean they didn't sell any, it just means they were able to meet demand which Nintendo failed on in a big big way.

DancesInUnderwear

4 years ago

True - or it could mean very little sold.

It really depends how much stock Sony gets out, but its seems to me this is purely to cover all bases (no sellout? Good, theres still stock available. Sellout? Good, we sold all units)

legend166

4 years ago

How can one company be wrong so many times?

Gamesta

4 years ago

Well I think that PS3 not selling is good from a consumers point of view. (sort of)I hope the PS3 sells a little bad at launch.That means there's more chance of getting one.

Fingers crossed I'll have one at midnight tonight.

Souless

4 years ago

Its not a problem, i dont care what other people think too much. Im happy it not being Wii-popular because i plan to pick one up launch tomorrow with no pre-order. Im glad i dont have to pre-order. So it works for me.

bluejay

4 years ago

well now they are stuffed either way - either they don't sell out, and people say it's not selling much at all, or they do sell out, and people say that even though they took all this extra time to prepare they still couldn't do it right...

Itachi

4 years ago

I personally don't care if it doesn't sell out just as long as i get one

Rush152

4 years ago

goodbye wrote

Just because there's some left doesn't mean they didn't sell any, it just means they were able to meet demand which Nintendo failed on in a big big way.

Did it occur to you that Nintendo might have had a bigger demand?

DancesInUnderwear wrote

(no sellout? Good, theres still stock available. Sellout? Good, we sold all units)

Yeah I 2nd this completly

Darkwing Sykeduk

4 years ago

I agree, sony and nintendo could have the same amount of stock. Nintendo sold out, sony didnt. Does that mean that nintendo still failed?

Maikii

4 years ago

The comment is a fair point - Mark Rein from Epic made the same comments - Sony sells out, it's a bad thing - Sony has plenty of stock, it's a bad thing...

THey'll never win with most bloggers (cough, Kotaku, cough). Eg if Sony sell 1m consoles and have 1m left is that a bad launch?, they way people make it sound it'll be better to have sold only 500k but to have 'sold out' signs.

Sony have had plenty of time to get in stock, it won't sell out, but it'll suprise some people (though they'll never admit it)

Would PALGN come up with a figure they'd call a successful PAL launch?

Crestfallen

4 years ago

Damn it!! I was really hanging out for admeister to eat a shirt....

admeister

4 years ago

crestfallen wrote

Damn it!! I was really hanging out for admeister to eat a shirt....

So, what did you say you were going to do if you lost the bet?

Anyway, they are certainly covering all bases with this, very typical. To me it sounds as though they're not all that confident of selling them all, bad for them, not that they want it to sounds that way.

Nev

4 years ago

If the PS3 sold out because there were only 20,000 systems available in Australia, and 40,000 people wanted to buy one, that would be bad. If it doesn't sell out because there were 60,000 systems available and 40,000 people wanted one on launch day, that's good.

I'd be more disappointed if, given the delays, they were STILL unable to meet demand. Consumers leaving stores empty-handed may look good in a news article, but it's no fun for the consumer.

The Brett

4 years ago

It's true- if anyone is going to argue that a console being sold out is a good thing, then you're a complete moron. The Wii was a debacle of a launch for that very reason, and quite possibly cost them a few sales. I'd much rather supply 40 000 and have 25 000 bought than supply 20 000 and have demand for 25 000.

Souless

4 years ago

The Brett wrote

Thats true also, i believe the ps3 will take some time to get into peoples homes. The price is a factor but if anything i believe it will have a big show in sales at christmas. Due to the price, the holiday being an excuse for parents to buy one. For people to buy one for others. Well thats how many of my friends and family are taking it.

DancesInUnderwear

4 years ago

Yes but 30,000 available with all 30,000 being sold (even with another 10,000 sales lost due to a lack of availability) would trump 40,000 available and only 20,000 sold.

That being said Sony should be able to easily out stock the Wii's rather dismal numbers and should outsell them too.

Souless

4 years ago

DancesInUnderwear wrote

Yeah but who cares, im grabbing one tomorrow and im excited - (says souless trying not to get into an argument

)
I guess its up to sony how they handle it. Aslong as they dont sudennly go out of business im happy.

Yug

4 years ago

Where can we see the original interview with Reuters, I can't find it ...

WilliamsF1

4 years ago

goodbye wrote

If you work at JB, then you can tell us how many consoles were pre-ordered? I suspect your on Sony's side, & don't want to publicise, they're going to flop worse than 40year old, at Playtime.

I work at BigW, & my store services a wide region, with very few competitors. The total amount of pre-orders we received were 0. This could be surprising, & I myself am surprised. I expected at least 3 or 4, but none at all? I only had 1 inquiry about it, but that's it. It's quite bad. All of our signage has been up, the catalogue have advertised the fact it's coming out, & no doubt it's been in other forms of media. My manager doesn't expect any to sell, but I think we'll be able to sell, at minimum 4.

Moving along, it's no doubt, not going to create the sales that have been promised, but what will Sony choose to do. Keep the Playstation 3, or PSP? They have to ditch one to succeed. They don't have the 'focus' to run 2 programs for consoles at once.

dullestrobert

4 years ago

As if. Like the 'normal shopper' has $1000 to just blow that easily.

renegadesx

4 years ago

dullestrobert wrote

As if. Like the 'normal shopper' has $1000 to just blow that easily.

Exactly why I am not getting one, I don't have $1000 to blow, and even if I did, there are other things in life besides game to blow it on, yes gaming is my favourite hobby, but a better espresso machine would be nice.

Page12 Next

View as forum topic

Add Comment