GIVING away PS3s – a sign of desperation?!?
Posted by Konrad on December 2, 2007
I briefly mentioned a National retailer that was giving away PS3s along with top tier TV packages in a comment on someone else’s blog. At the time I considered it to be more of a curious twist of fate, however I heard on the radio today that now AOL are also giving away PS3s! Admittedly they are only given away with, what I assume to be exorbitant contracts which last for 24 months.
This idea of giving away games consoles is not new, over a year ago mobile phone companies were offering free PSPs along with 18 month contracts. Initially I was tempted until I compared Free PSP contracts to Vanilla phone contracts and did some subtraction and multiplication. It turned out that the total overal cost of the PSP would have been ~1.6 times the store price. Needless to say I just went out and bought a PSP (with a nice game bundle) and renewed my contract with O2.
Its curious that at no point have Microsoft nor Nintendo needed to take such steps in order to sell their consoles, although this could be to do with being first to market and being highly sought after repectively. Sony is having a very bad time with the PS3 (the PS2 is still apparently outselling it) and recent surveys showed that at least 40% of PS3 owners did not even realise their console could play Blu-ray DVDs. At points this year, the Wii was outsetting the PS3 6 to 1. Sony’s profits are down, with the company reporting a multi hundred million dollor loss in its gaming division. Luckily other parts of the company are doing quite well (e.g. ATRAC and TVs) so its unlikely Sony will go under any time soon. Slashing the price of the PS3 has definitely boosted sales considerably, but considering they were making a loss at the higher price, I wager the Sony Computer Entertainment Execs are hoping volume and game sales will save their presently sinking ship.
goldcoaster said
Gee, iot’s hard to beleive that nearly half the ps3 owners didn’t know about bluray movie playing – but then again!!
I think the ps3 is good just over here is way too expensive – even the lower spec 40gig model. But then again I was in a retailer buing a Wii game and my son was playeing a game demo’d on the ps3 – it looked really average – no better the the Wii or xbox.
cheers,
– GoldCoaster
goldcoaster said
Sorry about the spelling above …
whyamistilltyping said
To be honest I think a lot of people (bar the fanboys) are tired of the fighting between the top consoles. People are more interested in what has the better games not just from a graphical prospective, but also from gameplay. Thats why the Wii is enjoying such great sales, its new, its fresh and it offers a different, new experience. How long that lasts is another story :p