Sony coughs to PS3 stock shortfall
Demand too high, spins console giant
Sony has admitted it is not shipping enough PlayStation 3 consoles into the UK.
The company told the trade paper MCV today that it is experiencing PS3 "stock issues". Sony UK Sales Director Mark Howsen said: "We are doing our best to address these issues and hope to catch up in the next few weeks."
The shortages - which Sony says are particularly hitting the 120GB PS3 Slim - affect the US too. The company's US wing said earlier this week that would-be buyers can "expect tight inventory in the coming months" - 'sold out' signs in shops, in other words.
Howsen paints the shortages as a sign of strong demand for the console - 20 per cent higher than Sony had forecast.
And it does Sony no harm to keep eager buyers unsatisfied. It helps sell the consoles it is feeding into the UK: if it's sold out, it must be popular; if it's popular, it must be worth having, some punters assume.
But too many 'sold out' signs, on shelves for too long, will eventually irritate buyers to the point that that the give up - and Microsoft's Xbox 360 takes the sale. Sony doesn't want that, especially with the arrival of the latest title in the Final Fantasy franchise, FF XIII, less than a month from release. ®
COMMENTS
RE:The Xbox fanboys are out
"The Xbox fanboys are out" ..."constraints of the shitebox360"
I take it oyu are a PS3 fanboy :)
for streaming I recommend them cool lacie Upnp/DLNA network drives over the network, they work a treat with the ps3 :)
Sony should try selling the media angle of the ps3 a lot more, I find their advertising inexistant in that realm.
re:No Demand
The Xbox fanboys are out. Pick ANY PS3 exclusive title that does not have to cater for the constraints of the shitebox360, and it will clearly show a game simply not possible on other systems. The list of them is pretty long now.
Killzone2,
Uncharted 1&2
Heavy Rain
and so forth.
And as for UPnP streaming, try using a DLNA server, as the PS3 is DLNA compliant, stop using the free and pikey UPnP ones.
..more likely..
The 40Gb isn't a prized model: The Slim has taken over as the article of choice for most, and the 60Gb has a prized covert of being able to play PS2 games (and with places like Gamestation etc selling 60Gbs within a day of placing them on the shelves). The 40Gb and the 80Gb just aren't favoured anymore, even if they are cheap and sitting with zero scratches on.
re: No Demand
as a streaming media player it works very well for me, you need to switch it on first though
To the subject at hand, MarkOne is right, the leadtimes for components has gone mad. And, let;s face it the PS3 has to be one of the most painful and expensive thing to produce.Let's hope for Sony that the ps4 is just a PS2 with a clever infra red +motion sensor :D
