Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton, in a talk to MSNBC talks about how the Playstation 3 launch was the let down to lead to the current position of the Playstation 3. One reason Jack goes into of many states that such reason for this was they was not able to ship more units because of the blue laser diode shortage which then went onto effect the Europe release of the console which was delayed because of it.
Tretton believes that the PS3 would be in a better position today if Sony had simply been able to ship more units. As you may recall, however, a blue laser diode shortage at the time put a damper on the launch (and led to the European launch being postponed).
"I don't think there's any question that there were missteps, but I don't think anybody is being honest with you if they say that the first year of any platform goes perfectly according to plan. I think the biggest miss for us was the launch, in that we had easily a million consumers in North America alone that wanted to get their hands on a PlayStation 3 ... and we had roughly 200,000 units to take advantage of that demand. ... I think that that was probably the biggest disappointment for the first year," Tretton admitted.
He added, "The reason why we don't end up on window ledges, where other people might not have the perspective, is we've been through this many, many times, and we're the only company that's gone out and had 10-year product lifecycles and sold over 100 million units — and we haven't done it once, we've done it twice. ... What we're trying to do here is ... refocus the game industry towards high-definition gaming, a real state-of-the-art, future-proof machine for the next decade. ... I think if you have that long-term perspective, while I fully admit we'd like to have sold more units, it's hardly cause for panic."
Interestingly, regarding his competitor Microsoft, Tretton said that they launched the Xbox 360 a year ahead of the traditional console cycle not so much to get a head start but because "they'd taken the Xbox as far as it could go, and so if they wanted to remain in the business, they had to go back to the drawing board."
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Launch could have been miles better.
Seeker, what hardware issue are you talking about? Never heard of it.
Do you know how much more the fans would have been pissed if they delayed the launch even a few weeks let alone few months. As the saying goes pick your poison and there move while risky was the better option.
However the Wii was lucky, that one they had massive sales in the 6 months of its release and the shortage of supply later on didn't really affect them.
The Wii was not lucky, why do you keep passing the Wii's sales off as some lucky break on Nintendo? Quit making bullshit statements about how one consoles success is just luck because the one you favor isn't doing too well.
Im looking at it as what has happened in the first year for both and so on, i don't see the 360 doing better in that aspect. But since this is basically theory and a taking both first year and so on. This has nothing to do with me liking the PS3 in fact i do like it but im gearing up to get a 360, i know i have said this 4 times already and yet im branded with that lovely word.....sigh
You need to chill and stop attacking me seriously.
As for the Wii yes they are lucky, why cause one the PS3 had price problems and limited shipments and the 360 had hardware problems that led the the Wii gain uncontrollable sales rise, and when they did have the shortages in the systems, since both the PS3 and 360 has some problems it wouldn't have effected them. Im not saying the Wii isn't a good console im just saying where they landed was actually very lucky, and being in the right place at the right time. The PS3 sales would have been probably higher if they didn't have those hardware problems with the blue diodes and then the price. And i bet the 360 would have still retain it top spot if it didn't have the RRoD issues that let people away from the console due to its lack of reliability during those times.
You're insane. You're annoying. You're the DEFINITION, to the TEE of a fanboy. Why do you deny it? Here's my suggestion to you: stop saying you'll get a 360 like it somehow exempts you from criticism. If I walk up to a black dude and say 'God, lemme tell you something, white people are great, amirite? Black people just kind of suck. But don't worry, I'm not a racist, I'm planning on getting a black buddy soon. So yeah, bye!' I’ll look like an racist regardless of some half hearted attempt at justification.