Sony Aussie PS3 sales hamstrung by price

Stan Beer
Monday, 26 March 2007 15:06

Opinion and Analysis

While there were no bone crushing queues at the Australian midnight launch of PlayStation 3 a couple of nights ago, Sony stills claims that it has sold AUD$25 million worth of product since launch, according to Aussie games site Gamespot. However, since 20,000 PS3 units were on pre-order according to Sony, it would appear that initial off the street sales could well have been pretty thin.

As one poster to Gamespot pointed out, at AUD$1000 per console plus the cost of games at AUD$100 each and and other peripherals, it would appear that not much more than 20,000 consoles have moved in total. This number falls well short of the initial launch figures for Wii and Xbox 360.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the lack of enthusiasm for PS3 in Australia so far is due almost entirely to one factor - price. As expensive as PS3 is in the US, on pure exchange rate figures, PS3 is about 30% more in Australia. At around AUD$1200 if add a game and an extra controller, you would hardly expect casual gamers or anyone who isn't an absolute games freak to be camping overnight at the doorways of overstocked stores.

Since more than 100 million PlayStation fans bought each of the previous two generations of the Sony games platform, it would be fair to assume that a fair percentage of those would also like to own a PS3. It's also fair to assume that one day they will. However, for most that day won't come until Sony comes to its senses and slashes the price.

Right now, however, consumers are voting with their wallets and, as far as the PS3 is concerned, the wallets are staying firmly lodged in pockets. {moscomments}