Industry Idiocy Watch: Sony Edition
February 28th, 2007I really wanted to post something on Sony last night, but LucasArts stupidity really overshadowed Sony’s, so I let Sony go. Well, sorry Sony… your time has come, and unfortunately, with yet another idiotic comment. Kotaku reports that Jack “$1200” Tretton will have PS3 “Shortages” fixed by “April or May.” Yes, the same “hard-to-find” PS3s that can be found here, here, here, and even at Sony’s own site here, all WITHOUT bundles. This, of course, doesn’t include the countless places you can easily buy a bundle online, or the countless “brick and mortar” stores that I’ve gone to that have stacks of PS3s, either in plain view or “in back” as many salesman have told me.
Jack also said “Our goal is to fill shelves across the United States. Our goal is not to have empty shelves, it’s to have full shelves. If we have empty shelves, that’s one less consumer who could have bought a PLAYSTATION 3.” Well, mission accomplished Jack… it was already done back in January, perhaps even earlier. It certainly makes life easier when you set your goals so low as to simply having shelves and shelves of unsold PS3s sitting in stores.
It’s time to actually keep track of all the stupidity that comes out of Sony’s mouth. This and Jack’s $1200 comment make 2. SCEE’s CEO David Reeves who said essentially that “Games Don’t Matter” makes 3. Phil Harrison is responsible for a ton of these, but since we’re counting, I’ll only add the last 3 things (that you can look at your self in those links), for a total of 6 so far. I’m sure there are many many more that I’m missing, so please feel free to use the comments to add them. We’ll make sure to keep a running total from now on, so it would be good to get a good base.
And while it’s hard to imagine that we’d find quite as many stupid comments from Sony’s competition, don’t think we’re letting off Nintendo and Microsoft… Don’t worry guys, you’re up next.
*EDIT* How could I forget Sony’s dumb response to breaking backwards compatibility for the PAL consoles? While not quite the lead you’ve wanted, Sony, you’re up to 7.
Posted in Idiocy, Industry, Jeff, Sony |
February 28th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Good stuff. They never cease to amaze. I just blogged on the recent comment made by Michael Ephraim, of SCE Australia, who says you shouldn’t compare the PS3 to the Wii since the PS3 is a “digital hub” whereas the Wii is “a games console”.
Genius.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:09 am
The shelfs are full at the store next door, and they have even more PS3s in the shops basement.
February 28th, 2007 at 11:32 am
I love this.
They expected the PS3 to help push Blu-Ray as the dominant HD movie standard, but these lackluster sales must be hurting that strategy. The only reason I would buy one right now is if I absolutely had to have a Blu-Ray player right now.
I feel like a 360 fanboy, but Sony is really dropping the ball here. This is very reminiscent of the PSP release; which is only now coming out with a decent lineup of games for the platform, nearly 2 years after its initial release.
February 28th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Matt -
I don’t disagree that Sony screwed up - the launch didn’t go well - but it takes a while for a company to recover from something like that due to the long lead times involved in software development, etc. Even if they’re throwing a lot of money and people at game development to try to compensate for the meager pickings so far, it’ll take a while for that to come to market.
February 28th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Umm… you are familiar with simple statistical concepts right? Sony did not say that it was not possible to buy PS3s. Certain areas have trouble keeping units in stock (hence shortages, plural). Los Angeles area Best Buys, for example.
You finding random retail outlets with units in stock does not mean that other retail outlets in other areas are finding supply is not reaching demand.
If you insist on using the logic of anecdotal evidence, I can go take a picture of a Best Buy that is sold out of Playstation 3 right now if you like…
February 28th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
WTF-
Statistically speaking, you find a PS3 with probably an over 95% success rate right now without even trying… just buy it online. Sure, some places may be sold out of PS3s, but calling it a “shortage” is ridiculous. You could probably have gone to an EBGames the day Zelda: Twilight Princess came out and it would’ve been sold out, but was probably readily available at Best Buy, Circuit City, and many other places… You didn’t see Nintendo come forward and say “We’re working on the shortages.” (As an aside, I heard the GCN version of Zelda WAS hard to find temporarily, but as far as I can tell that has been resolved now). All the places that I pointed to are ONLINE retailers. You can order it from them right now, without a bundle, without even the hassle of checking if your local B&M store has it (which, yes, based on the anecdotal evidence, as well as my own experience, also seems to be fairly easy).
If there are certain places that don’t seem to have any PS3s, well, it’s an allocation problem then. The PS3s are out there, and Sony just needs to get them to the right place… I don’t think Tretton was actually trying to convey this… instead, he’s going with the same line that the company has been touting that there have been no problems, and that it’s selling more than they could’ve possibly hoped for (see the $1200 quote).
Even so, the fact that they are so easily available online, typically the most difficult place to find any “hot” items, INCLUDING Sony’s own store, seems to be a good indicator of how widespread the “shortages” are.
Please understand that I’m not anti-Sony. Rather, I’m anti-idiotic comments that are easily disprovable and basically show contempt for your user base. Sony also seems to have a bit of a God complex with their new console… obviously their PR is supposed to promote it and spin things so it looks good for them, but their company line, even before the launch of the console, has basically been that the PS3 is “God’s Gift to Mankind”. Because of this, Sony has just been making a truckload of stupid comments recently, but I will also get to Nintendo and Microsoft as well once I have a chance. Please feel free to join me or disagree with me there as well.
Thanks for the comment!
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