PS3 Seeing Stronger Pent-Up Demand, Shortages Possible

[Shin-Ra]

(relevant to North America)

PS3 Seeing Stronger Pent-Up Demand, Shortages Possible, says Analyst
Posted September 15, 2009 by James Brightman

Since Sony dropped the price on PS3 to $299, launched the new model PS3 Slim and kicked off an appealing new marketing campaign, sales have really picked up, both here (up 300% at top retailers) and overseas. In fact, according to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, PS3 hardware appears to be ahead of market expectations this month.

"Our channel checks show that PS3 hardware sales remained strong in the second week of September following very strong sales in the first week of September. The first week of September saw a 300% lift at top retailers according to Sony. Our checks suggest stronger pent-up demand than expected. We now believe PS3 hardware sales in September have the potential to be up as much as 75% y-o-y versus our most recent upwardly revised expectation of +50% y-o-y. We believe this is stronger than market expectations," he said.

If Bhatia's right, some consumers could even have some difficulty finding the PS3 by the end of the month - a stark comparison to the post-launch months when PS3 boxes were sitting, collecting dust on store shelves. "We believe PS3 sales for the month of September could be up even more than our estimate of +75% depending on supply. Our contacts indicate that while PS3 supplies are currently normal there is risk of shortages by the end of this month," he said.

Not only is Sony gaining some steam going into the holiday season, but Bhatia indicated that PS3 sales do appear to be eating into Xbox 360 sales - music to Sony's ears no doubt. "In contrast to the PS3, our checks show that hardware sales of Xbox 360 have shown only a slight lift of around 5% to 10% following its recent price cut. We attribute this to the fact that Microsoft’s lower priced Arcade model remained unchanged in price at $199 while the Elite model, while lowered by $100, really just replaced the Pro Model (which is being phased out) at $299. In addition, given our checks on the PS3, it does appear that the PS3 is picking up some share at the expense of the 360," he said.

We're going to be very curious to see what NPD's September figures show us next month. It's going to be an interesting battle this holiday for sure.

[Bizdady]

!! I might get another just because! My wallet is already going to hurt with Ratchet, Uncharted, NBA2K10 CE, Modernwarfare 2 PE, GoW plus so many more games in such a close span!

[Shin-Ra]

I haven't preordered anything yet (except Uncharted 2 for the beta)

[Bizdady]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

I haven't preordered anything yet (except Uncharted 2 for the beta)

Im using ECA discounts so it helps a bit. So If I make any sales on old BDs or PS3 games I send that towards the balance for the bigger priced games (im staring at u Night Vision goggles!!)

[TL OWNS U]

The only way people wouldn't get a PS3 now is if your a microsoft biggot

[Idealsupra]

I love how M$ AND Nintendo lowered their consoles prices again to try to make up for the Sony price lowering and its still not helping.

Sony is going to take over this Xmas. Book it.

[TL OWNS U]

Originally Posted by Idealsupra

I love how M$ AND Nintendo lowered their consoles prices again to try to make up for the Sony price lowering and its still not helping.

Sony is going to take over this Xmas. Book it.

WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT, nintendo lowered the price of the Wii?

[ZedsDead]

The tortoise may just beat the hare after all.

[DarchAmonNagar]

Originally Posted by Idealsupra

I love how M$ AND Nintendo lowered their consoles prices again to try to make up for the Sony price lowering and its still not helping.

Sony is going to take over this Xmas. Book it.

Would be cool if this did happen.

[Stephie_is_a_dork]

Way to go PS3! Knew you could do it!

[Neil_Luv's_BLU]

And Neil laughs heartily to himself at the so-called "games journalist's" who always failed to mention the pent up demand from the millions upon millions of people who own PS2's that have been waiting to pick up the PS3 once the price came down!

[mikejet]

I only see slims everywhere. All the old models have sold out. Even the Uncharted bundles.

I doubt there will be any around by the time Black Friday hits.

[Navster]

this is great news... my cousin whos not even a gamer just bought a slim and some games...

"Christmas time is laughter... to buy aaaaa ps3"

[T DUB]

This doesn't surprise me at all. The 360 isn't nearly the great deal of the PS3 because for the exact same price with the PS3 Slim you get an outstanding BD player.