Despite recent rumours that the highly anticipated God of War III will be pushed back to 2010, Sony have today issued confirmation that it will be released on the PS3 this year. Although no definite date has been given, we would expect it in time for the all-important pre-holiday sales period.
Sony have announced that they have sold 21.3 million PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide up to 31 December 2008. They do not split the figure down into territories.
Let’s see what figure Microsoft come back with for Xbox 360 sales! It should be much more considering their one-year head start and the recent sales performance reports.
Further to the NPD hardware figures released last week (Sony sees PS3 sales slump), Sony has hit back, claiming that their future blockbuster software releases will continue to drive sales figures Sony’s Peter Dille has commented “The PlayStation brand experienced a record year in 2008 and we believe our blockbuster line-up combined with PS3′s position as the best Blu-ray player and sophisticated entertainment device will continue to fuel increased marketshare and momentum into 2009.”
I suppose only time will tell whether these comments will hold true.
According to figures released by research group NPD, Sony’s PlayStation 3 console has seen a year-on-year sales slump of almost 25% percent this January (US sales figures). In the preceding year it sold 269,000 consoles, whilst this year the figure is 203,200. Sony must be worried as their rivals see a major growth in sales (see previous post – Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii see sales surge) as well as Sony themselves suffering their widely publicised financial woes. The reasons for this sales slump cannot be solely due to the world’s current economic climate considering the performance of the PS3’s chief rivals. In my opinion it is down to two factors. The first is the consoles high price. It is over two years since launch and we have only seen one relatively minor price drop. The RRP of a PS3 is almost double that of either an Xbox 360 or a Nintendo Wii. Sony must have to drop prices to compete but this lead to another problem for them – they are still loosing money on each PS3 console sold. In light of this I would assume that they are better off selling less until they reach a production cost where they can make money on each unit. The second factor concerns the integrated Blu-ray player. Since the formats launch the PS3 has been widely recognised as the best and cheapest Blu-ray player. Within the last six months new stand alone players from the likes of Sony and Panasonic have tipped the advantage away from a PS3 towards owning a dedicated Blu-ray player. It appears to me Sony is stuck in a hole with the PS3 that it may well struggle to get out of. Have you still not purchased a PS3 due to the high retail price? Why not obtain a free PS3 80GB console?
Sony has told T3 magazine that total length of time the PS3 will remain on sale will be longer that that of the PS2. Their comment went along the lines of ‘the PS3 won’t celebrate its 2nd birthday in the UK until March 2009, and we’ve always stated that the life-cycle for this generation will be longer than that of previous models – we will see the PS3 sales far outlasting the PS2’. We would estimate that the PS4 won’t be around until 2012, thus leaving the PS3 to remain on sale a long time after its successors launch.
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Konami has revealed that an all-new downloadable Metal Gear Online mission will be available on January 27. The PS3 exclusive will be available free of charge to all registered users of the game. Contestants are split into two different teams. The first team is tasked with detonating and protecting a bomb it until it explodes, whilst the second team must protect its base and neutralize any nearby planted bombs using a unique spray.
According to London media company VidZone, digital media will be available to download from the PlayStation Network from 4th June this year. This will enable PS3 users to stream music based videos to their PS3 without any cost. The music comes from over 7,500 independent and major music distributors.
According to a thread on the LittleBigWorkshop forums, gamers playing the PS3’s LittleBigPlanet are experiencing a problem that results in some of their saved profile information being deleted. Due to the holiday season, there has been no official word from Sony or the developer. More news on a fix as we get it.
Futuresource claims that sales of Blu-Ray disc movies are defying the odds and going again the current credit downturn. Jim Bottoms from Futuresource stated that ‘The Blu-ray disc format offers an unparalleled home entertainment experience. We expect Blu-ray to continue its rapid growth, stimulated by falling prices’. Surely this goes some was to vindicate Sony’s decision to include a Blu-ray Player with every PS3 sold throughout the world. Don’t forget that you can get yourself a free PS3 simply by visiting our friends at Gadgets-4-Free, completing an offer and getting a few friends to sign up. Get yourself over there now!
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has today confirmed that the company is currently testing wireless microphones as an add-on to their SingStar game. Release of the mics was hinted at early 2009.