Sony unconcerned over November drop
Back in November, we were besieged by too many video games, and Black Friday meant a boost in sales for all three major platforms. Sony's PlayStation 3 reportedly suffered a 18.8 percent drop that month over the previous year, but the company is dimissing the dip in sales as nothing more than an anomaly.
The apparent difference between November 2007 and 2008 is attributed to the "abnormally strong" surge in sales in 2007 due to a price cut and the then-new $399 40GB PS3. Overall, PS3 sales went up almost 40 percent in 2008 with the holiday season seeing a 130 percent sales increase.
Sony Computer Entertainment America sales VP Ian Jackson reassures fans of the console's success:
"We've had a solid holiday season and have delivered consistent growth throughout this year. Two thousand eight was a pivotal year for PlayStation with the best software line up in the industry, a dramatic expansion of PlayStation Network including the launches of the video delivery service and the beta of the PlayStation Home. Early internal data points to an increase of more than 130 percent of PS3 hardware sales for the holiday season--since Black Friday--and we're also seeing a growth of nearly 40 percent in total PS3 hardware sales for the calendar year. We remain confident this momentum will continue into the new year."
Damage control aside, both the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 saw a year-over-year increase. While PS3 sales declined comparatively, from 466k units sold in November 2007 to 378k in 2008, Wii sales went from 981k to 2.04 million, resulting in a year-on-year increase of 108 percent. The Xbox 360 enjoyed a modest 8.6 percent rise, going from 770k to 836k units.
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As such, pretty heavy spin from Sony again.
Besides, their numbers last year weren't great in the first place.
Furthermore, that 130% figure is from Black Friday on, and a week or so (give/take a few days) is already included in the November NPD. And frankly, there is that ambiguity of what that 130% is up from, as they did not specify.
The spin is that they cannot trump the December sales directly; instead they have to use a roundabout way to show positive growth, yet trying to explain away why one of the more crucial months in sales ended up in a decrease from last year.
Even so, good job for Sony for increased sales, but it's not the best news in the world.
Note: Today, I'm in bad mood regarding Fu###@# OFLC.
Playstation 3 isn't going anywhere. Even if it didn't sell as many consoles as some other companies, there are still tons of Playstations around and it is a very capable console.