Clutching at Straws

Nearly two weeks on from the launch of the PS3 and after what looked like a brief respite for Sony things are once again looking pretty bad. Even after all the PR blunders and the growing tide of media criticism perhaps we'd all got it wrong and everyone still did love Playstation. There were some good announcements at GDC and a solid first weekend of sales.

But then this week two things happened and news of an older but never the less representative publicity blinder hit the web.

Firstly Chart Track have confirmed that after the estimated 165,000 sales during the launch weekend, hardware sales have plummeted by 82% for the second week. This means that as little as 30k units could have been sold, which wouldn't be so bad, but there is no strain on supplies. This is clearly going to be a slow burn at best. Of course, despite the huge publicity budgets being blown on the PS3 this is exactly what some guess Sony want on order to retain the long tail of PS2 sales.

Secondly prices on the PSP have been slashed in the US. Sales of both hardware and software have been lacklustre since this console had its' own record-breaking launch. But while this was hailed as being a DS killer with it's increased power and media features, it's failed to follow through. Software for rhe handheld is often hidden away in shops in the UK and heavily discounted. Meanwhile DS software fills shelves in key positions and prices rarely shift. So this move, making the PSP in effect cheaper than a DS Light could be seen as being good for consumers, but it's nothing but more bad news for Sony. They're desperately trying to shift units of this thing - especially as there are so many plans for integration of the PSP and PS3 - rumours of a new and updated iteration being true or not. Expect a similar but possibly not as deep reduction in price on this side of the pond soon.

So what's the final part of this unholy trinity. Over on Mr Biffo's Blog is a sad tale of Phil Harrison's failed and cynical attempts to garner interest and publicity for the PS3 at a Marillion festival in Holland. The abridged version of this tale begins when a fan won a signed t-shirt in a raffle and selflessly auctioned it off for charity (raising a cool €650). Then friend of the band and Sony's head of Worldwide Studios appeared and offered to auction off a console paid for out of his own pocket. Nice gesture, if he'd have then shut up and let nature take it's course. Instead he restarted the auction - which had previously begun at €100 - with an opening bid of the full retail price of €600. As the deluded exec got into stride pimping up his wares and the audience went quiet it appeared as if the band, their entourage and all the fans just wanted him to go away and stop Clutching at Straws. What adds interest is that the article - in itself an interesting personal account of something most of the gaming press would have missed or not been aware of - was deemed too personal and critical to be published by Edge. A shame as I think it gives a better picture of a company than any press conference at an 'industry' event or any discussion of sales figures.