Japan to get fewer PS3 launch units due to part problems

by Blake Snow on Oct 30th 2006 2:55PM

Looks like Sony can't get a PS3 shortage break. The Nikkei Keizai Shimbun paper reports today that due to component shortages, Sony will only have 80,000 PS3 units ready for Japanese launch instead of the originally planned 100,000 units. That's a 20% cut. First the European launch gets delayed because of production issues, now the Japanese launch availability is crippled even more than it previously was.

No word yet if the shortage will effect North American units but, if proportional, they could be cut to 320,000 available systems. Keep in mind that's six thousand less than the Xbox 360 sold in its first nine days, and a far cry less than the 900,000 360 units they managed to move in North America by the end of '05.

IGN also reminds us that the PS2 sold out of almost a million units when launched back in March of 2000. Expect Star Wars like lines a week before the November 11 Japanese launch. Not the day before or day of, the week before. May the force be with you, Japanese padawans.

[Thanks, Steve]

[Quick fix: corrected '06 to '05. Thanks in-field editors!]

Source

Tags: PS3

Reader Comments (75)

This sucks for Sony fans, hopefully they can get this worked out sooner rather than later. This must be getting close to the most troubled launch in the history of gaming consoles.

I dont find anything appealing about the PS3 that I would wait a week in line for it.

Id much rather wait in comfort knowing I will, eventually, get one. I never think of myself as having to be the first to get everything.
However, I understand that there are a lot of people that are like that.

In any case, I still plan on purchasing a PS3 in the future, but after I get a Wii and HDTV, as I already have the 360, and love it.

gonna be some classic launch day fiascos ...i cant wait

I wish Sony would get it the fu& together... Oh well, it was hard to get my 360 too, but a year passes and now it's easily available everywhere. So will it be for the PS3... Eventually.

wow, ebay campers to make fortunes..

i can see JAPS lining up at least a week early.... crazy good

You people, with your "I got the last one at EB preorder" receipt.

Yeah you guys.

You guys are boned.

*Slide whistle sound*

I just have one thing to say.

AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAA...

I wonder on launch if when I walk out of Gamstop with PS3 in hand and the swam of Non-Preordered people stand before me will they:

1. Beg for me to see them it?

2. Attack me like a swarm of crazed badgers?

3. let me pass by only to be held up at gun point when I reach my truck?

Well if the last two should happen is it in my right to defend myself by any means? Cause it would even enhance my day to be able to legaly beat the Sh*t outa some crazy people.

The gamer in me says "this really sucks for a lot of people", but the Nintendo fanboy in me says "nyah nyah nu-nyah nyah"

I really feel sorry for Sony especially now that they are having problems in their home market and you dont want the die hards going insane in downtown Tokyo maybe they will catch a break and bluray will winn the format wars.

"Sony will only have 80,000 PS3 units ready for Japanese launch instead of the originally planned 100,000 units. That's a 20% cut."

XD

I'm sorry... that was just so blatant an "duh"-worthy, I had to laugh. ^_^;

But seriously, why am I not surprised to hear this? I actually figured Sony would eventually push their launch to March a few months back. I figured it just wouldn't be feasible or wise to launch this year... that they wouldn't be anywhere near ready to.

Looks like I was right, but they're doing it anyway.

"to move in North America by the end of '06."

Shouldn't that be "by the end of '05"?

As someone who just liked to play games (on any system)... but also has their electronics engineering, I really question the build of the first gen PS3s.

I have worked in manufacturing plants and know all well how the first items off the line are always the worst build... especially when wanted parts are replaced with available parts during shortages.

I think the first gen PS3s are going to have a lot of problems. I waited almost 4 months for the X360, you might want to wait even longer for the PS3.

At least get yourself the extended warranty... good luck.

I understand having a launch coincide with the Christmas season... of course, this would only be relevant if it was feasible (with a little effort) for people to be able to pick one up. That isn't the case anymore, and it really doesn't make any sense anymore to even pretend that this could even be classified as a launch. A piddly 400k units are only likely to be "available" (if that's what you want to call it), and Sony, in their haste to rush this thing out, has lost sight of what to do with this thing. Why even bother launching at this point -- they might as well just delay it again until they get their production problems worked out and are able to release more units to the public.

lol.

Personally, I'm a bit curious - how much will this affect the eBay price of the console? A 20% drop in the supply will result in how much of a free-market markup?

I think I'll attend the PS3 launch with some popcorn and a gift of hard liquor for the poor guys at GameStop who will be trying desperately to contain the madness.

UHHHH,

"Keep in mind that's six thousand less than the Xbox 360 sold in its first nine days, and a far cry less than the 900,000 360 units they managed to move in North America by the end of '06."

You mean the 360 hasnt even sold 900,000 units in N.A. yet? wow.

My dell laptop was so shocked by this that the battery exploded. I think that's the reason anyways.

Is this a marketing ploy by Sony? Who knows. What is certain is that if they wanted to avoid this situation, then they should have begun production way before August (I think that was it). But no, they wanted to keep adding more and more to the system, develop the craptacular sixaxis (by most accounts of people who have actually used it) and piss the general population off. Fine. I don't want one now, I didn't want one then and I may never want one. Maybe I'll change my tune in three years as I did with the PS2 but until then, I'll just wait to hear how many systems the US is REALLy going to have on launch day and laugh at those who are disappointed.

How sad for Sony, the DS sells more than 80,000 units A WEEK in Japan. Even if you were to add the recent weekly sales of the PS2 in Japan to the total number of launch PS3's in Japan they still would be beaten by the weekly sales of the DS.

Hey, the launch is still a couple weeks away so that gives sony the opportunity for more major announcements such as fewer ps3's in North America... and another delay in Europe due to the fact that an incredible amount of systems were defective which has caused them to relocate shipments from Europe to parts of Japan and North America. In other news.... the Xbox 360 reaches 10 million while the Wii sells an astonishing 6 million during the Holiday Season.

I was under the impression that Sony has reasserted several times in the past week that they are on target to make their shipments and that they've overcome the manufacturing issues a long time ago. At this point in the game, if it doesn't come from a Sony executive I'll take it with a grain of salt.

Also, people keep referring to the numbers available for launch day, but Sony (unlike Microsoft) will have a weekly flow of consoles hit the retail chain. As long as they keep the consoles coming for the month following launch, people will be able to have their hands on it for the holidays. Hence, the more important numbers to focus on is the 1 million and 1.2 million consoles by the end of the year and 6 million by March.

What exactly is your point in bringing the 360 into all of this (besides just making your post truly anti-Sony). So, the PS3 sells 320,000 in 1 day, but the 360 sold 6,000 more in 9 days, how is that bad for Sony.

Say they sell a total of only 800,000 units by the end of 2006, whereas MS sold 900,00 during the same period in 2005, so what? What exactly does this have to do with this story???

BTW, I own a 360 (and like it very much thank you) and plan on getting a PS3 when I have the money. I just don't get your point in bringing the 360 into this...can't you just report news without turning into some fanboi bull???

Someone please answer me this one question.

How in in the hell is Sony supposed to sell this system that "people will buy even if it came out with no games" if the system cant even be manufactured?

I swear this post made my day. lol :)

#14

ya just how it is.....

you delay to have tons for launch, people complain..

you launch with what you can but demand is huge with low supply, people complain...

just do your best and pump out extra units as fast as possible

@24

The reason it is relevant is that they make the bulk of their profits from the attachment rate per console (how many games are sold per console.) If they had more consoles to sell that would mean that more games would be sold, which in turn means more profits.

DBX00 - "At this point in the game, if it doesn't come from a Sony executive I'll take it with a grain of salt."

I think you said that wrong. I think you meant to say DOES - because so far no one official at Sony has been able to open their mouth without lying at least a little bit.

"Also, people keep referring to the numbers available for launch day, but Sony (unlike Microsoft) will have a weekly flow of consoles hit the retail chain."

And you know this how? I hate to burst your bubble, but Microsoft ALSO had a weekly flow of consoles. The problem for Sony will be the same as it was for Microsoft - the retailers will not want to let 1 or 2 consoles hit the shelves at a time, they will let inventory build up in their distribution centers so they can let several hit at the same time. For example, Best Buy last year held ALL of their weekly shipments until they had enough so that each store could have 30 units in inventory for a sale ad. They're already planning on doing the same thing with the PS3, since they know it'll be short.

Ethan - "You mean the 360 hasnt even sold 900,000 units in N.A. yet? wow" - Shut up and grow up.

jc - Dittos on what you said. You KNOW they're going to have trouble.

I was at Best Buy talking to their media dept. over the weekend, and they said they've been notified by Sony to expect less PS3s than previously anticipated. The person expected 3-4 PS3s at most and stacks of Wiis.

Quick someone call the other Sony Defense force theres another "negative" joystiq blog about the PS3!

Damn you Joystiq I hate you that why I will never visit this site again.

(sarcasm)

24: Yeah really, why would anyone want to bring up the 360 in a story about the impending Sony launch fiasco? Drawing comparisons between the scanarios surrounding hyped new system launches? Come on, there isn't anything that be learned from that. Not in the least bit. It's not like this upcoming holiday season, and the respective new console launches, have anything to do with with product launched last year. I mean, it's not like they're all video game systems or anything. The Wii is clearly a toy, and we all know the PS3 is really a computer. So lets not go talking about those product launches as if they might somehow relate to each other in someway. Cause, you know, that would just be wayyy off base for a video games blog. Toy blog. Computer blog. Whatever..

The actual numbers don't matter, this is terrible because Sony _still_ doesn't have their act together. They are a hardware manufacturing company. If they can't get this right, what else is going to go wrong? EB/Gamestop and ToysRus waited as long as possible to get an _accurate_ count for their customers, and yet Sony changes their mind _again_!

This is too late, it's a complete mess. It's like GM in the eighties all over again, only MS is Toyota and Nintendo is Honda.

@9

"1. Beg for me to see them it?"

It sounds to me like you've been playing to many poorly translated Japanese games.

Come on people. If you're going to post, at least make it legible. I really hope that this pays off for all of you. I don't know, perhaps writing "I got a PS3 on launch day" on your resume is as enticing to some employers as "I got an A in organic chemistry." Actually, it will probably be written like, "I get PS3 on lonch day an pwned noobs al day. woot!"

Yeah, impressive.

many a fanboy was roasted in the belly of the Sloar that day, I tell you!

if anyone is willing to wait a week in line for a videogame system they deserve to get a broken one.

looks like sony is up to the task =)

i love that even though the ps3 has the uber cell it still has 15 second load times. hahaha
take that sucky xbox 1.5 with your crappy 12 second load times. let a real company show you how to do load screens
(see psp)
(source: Joystiq genji article re: hard drive use)

This is a surprise?

The numbers are going to fall more and the launch day may not even be met.
Now that we know that the PS3 consumes more than twice th e power of the 360:
http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/sony_playstation_3_further_details.php
that means more internal heat as well.

I predict date problems, shortages, stupid people hurting each other and defective consoles.

Anonymouse Rep

You're making the assumption that each weekly PS3 shipment will equal the weekly shipments for XBOX360. In order for Sony to obtain 1 million by the end of the year, they would need to ship approximately 83,000 per week. Assuming you have approximately 15,000 - 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. that equals apprximately 4 - 6 consoles per week at each store. I don't disagree that stores that don't have preorders will build inventory, but the stores that do take preorders will be releasing those consoles on a weekly basis.

If Sony has shortages before the launch, how on Earth are they going to raise their numbers to meet weekly shipments? People try to assure us by saying Sony will produce enough in a timely fashion to avoid the same pitfalls Xbox 360 launch had, but one has to wonder how that is even feasible if they cannot meet the numbers that keep going down and down. Obviously, I assume most of Sony's resources to be invested into producing PS3s, but even those are failing to meet the numbers. Barring some major cost reductions or completely new method of production, Sony could not pull even a million by the end of the year.

Comes with the arrogance, I supposed. Surprised they haven't spent millions of dollars to ensure that every time you type PS3 or playstation on the internet it gets wordfiltered to PLAYSTATION 3 in bold with the spiderman font.

WOW!

This doesn't seem like its going to be pretty. Here we are roughly 2 weeks away from launch and we're cutting back quantities...

At least they were smart enough to sacrifice the Japanese units and not the NA units. They know the Japanese consumers are loyal to them...

Goodbye, you just made my day!

How's that for a "hidden cost." You'll be spending so much on Kilowatt Hours for the PS3 that $60 a year for LIVE is a BARGIN! In winter, its a space heater!

One thing I just realized today is that if this shortage thing comes again and again, also knowing that the European launch in next march, there is no way that we, general gamers in the US, can walk into a BesyBuy or Costco etc and go home happily with a PS3 in the back of the car before next SUMMER!!! Whenever SONY has plenty PS3 manufactured, they need to reserve them for the European launch or make up for their own territory in Japan.

Sony sucks!

My brother and I intend to camp out as Besy Buy or Circuit City the WEEK of the PS3 launch.

...I just hope that's enough time to get one here in the 'States!

#6

LOL

"At least they were smart enough to sacrifice the Japanese units and not the NA units. They know the Japanese consumers are loyal to them..."

That could backfire, depending on how well the 360 is received once Blue Dragon is released.

Was anyone suprised at this news? I sure wasn't, but it sure is going to make opening day so interesting...

The part that made me laugh was the portion about Xbox 360 sales in the first nine days. By my recollection (at least in my area-- California), the 360 was on sale only the first of those nine days, selling out before the stores open, and then had one small shipment mid December. It was impossible to find, unless you pre-ordered, and even then not all those were filled until March. Those that camped out the night before, were in line longer than 24 hours waiting for their chance to get a system.

It was by far the worst experience I've had with a console launch. Too little available. It bothers me that Sony is going down the same path. They really should not attempt a worldwide launch.

to #48 nick

The Europeans take offence at your statement, Sony is NOT doing a worldwide launch.

The problems is that they're having problems despite it not even being worldwide... I still say that they should wait until end 06, and launch with their proposed 2 mil consoles then.

Can you say EXTENDED WARRANTY??? And not just a 1 yr one....GET THE 5 YEAR One......

Who wants to be they top their 5-10% Launch System Failure rate of the last 2 consoles??

What was the official failure rate of the systems bought at launch for PS One and PS Two??

I can say from my families experience....100%....within 2-3 years (Always conveniently immediately after warranty ran out)

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Japan to get fewer PS3 launch units due to part problems

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