50 Millionth PS2 Symbolizes PS3′s Errant Ways
January 13th, 2009 | Written by Anthony Perez | Topic: Play, PlayStation 3
Today is one weird day for Sony. The news that the company has sold its 50 millionth PlayStation 2 comes on the same day that it looks bleakly into its future as it gazes at the $1.1 billion operating loss it has to deal with in the present day. The 50 millionth PS2 looms over Sony’s current management like a highly successful father wondering where he went wrong raising his drug-abusing son.
Personally, I don’t care on which platform I play a good game. If a publisher makes a good game, I’ll play it, no matter which of the consoles there one. After all, they’re platforms on which to play games. That’s why they’re called “platforms.” But in following the gaming industry as a member of the press, looking at sales figures is almost unavoidable. In fact, it’s intoxicating because of the inherent drama of it all.
And no single story is more interesting than the story of the Sony PlayStation. Some gamers wonder, “Why do sites continually cover Sony, wondering why the PlayStation 3 is doing ‘bad’ when it’s not doing bad.?”
50 million PlayStation 2′s. That’s why.
And that’s just in the US. Sony has sold over 140 million worldwide. The PS2 absolutely dominated the competition last generation.
According to the most recently available figures from the NPD Group, which tracks U.S. sales only, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft sold 14.5 million of those Xbox consoles. Nintendo Co.’s GameCube, another PS2 competitor, sold 12 million units in the country.
So seeing it struggle to even stay in the #2 position in this war is, to put it bluntly, f*cking interesting. Does it mean the PlayStation is “dying?” As I’ve said over and over: hell no (See: Attention Doomsays: PS3 Is Not Dying). But news such as the note about Sony’s billion dollar loss and this one which reminds us all of its former dominance, make us wonder and wonder and wonder some more. We wonder to the point where we sicken you.
For me personally, it reinforces my previous theory. Here’s an excerpt from my article, The Fall of Sony: From #1 to (Barely) #2:
What’s unfortunate for Sony from a business perspective is that it got so caught up in a graphical penis-measuring contest with Microsoft, that it lost sight of the fact that it didn’t need a multi-core, 8 SPE pixel generating doomsday device. That’s not how it won the last console war and it’s why that even in the event they stay on course to take the #2 position behind Nintendo, they will still have lost this generation.
You can read more of my reasoning in the full article.
Related posts:
- Wii’s Remarkable 2008: $60 Mil in US alone? 360 Paints Black Friday Green
- Attention Doomsayers: PS3 Is Not Dying
- December 2008 NPDs Released. Nintendo dominates the charts.
- Microsoft Enjoys Best Xbox Christmas Sales Ever, then Cuts Thousands of Jobs
- Sony Posts $1.1 Billion Loss; Dragged Down by Electronics Division
Comment by Swizza on the January 13th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I think excluding backwards compatibility from its $399 model was a huge mistake. It’s one of the reasons why I haven’t purchased one. Oh, and last time I checked, video games sell consoles, not Blu-Ray, hard drives, or Linux capability. Far from surprised that they are over a billion in the negative. They had NO launch titles, nor do they have any system sellers today. Sure Metal Gear Solid 4 and Little Big Planet are cool, but not enough to slam down 400 bucks on.
The PS2 is an awesome console. I’m not surprised that they are still selling. Sony needs to go back to basics if they want to sell any systems, especially since they already screwed up by not dropping the price during holiday season. Right now, God of War 3 is the only game I’m interested in that might trigger more motivation in me to purchase a PS3…and even that is a BIG might.
Comment by the internet on the January 13th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
nothing like a bit of sensationalism to get hits.
the only “inherent drama” is from people who like seeing others fail, and those people are the type to blow someone’s candle out so theirs shines brighter.
losers, if you will.
Comment by Danreb on the January 14th, 2009 at 3:58 am
Considering Sony blasted away the PS3's backward compatibility, I'm not surprised.
It's a dumb point to make, but the PS3 is an insanely huge console that takes up a lot of room. Add that to the fact there's only about five games worth playing on it, and you've got an insane waste of space. Sure, it's a BluRay player, but come on. If it can't even play my old PS2 or PS1 games, what makes it so useful?
I actually just bought a pre-owned PS2 slim with 3 games of my choice for $90 at GameStop, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
The PS2 is just a great console. Plain and simple.
Comment by fdinolfo on the January 14th, 2009 at 4:14 am
The trouble really is that the PS2 was too successful for its own good. Everyone expects the PS3 to do the same kind of numbers as the PS2 did, but realistically that'll never happen. I don't think the PS3 is doing all that badly, and it's not a bad system either. Let's also not forget that the first couple of years that the PS2 was out were not the greatest years for the system. Much like the PS3, its predecessor had a long lull where there weren't that many games for it. What held it up were DVDs. Sony was hoping that Blu-Ray would prove to do the same thing for the PS3, but it didn't. Part of the reason for that is that many people still find DVD to be "Good Enough" and don't really see a reason to spend extra for it.
Comment by Josh S on the January 14th, 2009 at 4:30 am
The PS2 had everything for anyone, which to me is why it was such a huge success. Sony's decision to get rid of the PS3's backwards compatibility was ridiculous if you ask me, to limit such a huge mass or great games in possibly the best library ever for any system is beyond me. Sony has to realize the extent of its choices sooner or later.
Comment by TonyP on the January 14th, 2009 at 9:02 am
It's not sensationalist if you actually read the article and understand my views.
I sometimes hate writing these kinds of articles because they're typically not read and quickly lumped in with the rest of the mindless drivel that's typically spewed out about the PS3 and its sales. So let me set some things straight:
* I have said publicly in the article linked in the blog post, that I think the PlayStation 3 will end this generation in the #2 spot in sales behind the Wii.
* My main thought is that the PS3 could be doing much better in sales had it not deviated from the basic strategy of the PS2. Good software on so-so hardware at a more affordable price, making an upgrade from the previous PlayStation to the next not an incredible burden on consumer's wallets.
* Instead, they have kind of adopted the strategy of the original Xbox. (Really advanced hardware, high price point, high production cost, etc). That has caused them to alienate possible consumers, allowed the 360 to hit a mass market price earlier, split the market and let some PS2 owners opt for the 360, this means it doesn't have the vast majority of gamers and because of that publishers now have to rely more heavily on a multiplatform strategy so they reach all potential gamers. This makes it hard for them to hold on to exclusives, as has happened.
I still think the PlayStation brand is good enough to carry them past the 360, but at what cost? With the fragmentation of users between Xbox and Playstation a bit more even, what effect will this have on the next gen war of the Xbox 720 vs the PS4? Will Xbox continue to move into the Playstation's territory?
I could be wrong, but I don't believe I just rant. I'm just looking for intelligent discussion and hope that my article is read through and considered.