Just in case you need anymore evidence that the launch of the Playstation 3 has not lived up to the game industry’s expectations, the CEO of NotifyWire.com has issued a statement expressing surprise about the easy online availability of the Playstation 3.

Waning interest in the PS3

NotifyWire.com is a service which that tracks online retailers and sends “in stock” alerts to members via email and cell phone text messages.

“I wasn’t expecting this much volume before Christmas,” said Ian Drake, the CEO of NotifyWire.

“I think we’re already at the point where many people won’t pay a premium for the console or be forced into buying bundles,” he continued, explaining the common practice of bundling consoles and games to force anxious buyers into higher margin items.

Compared to last year’s Xbox360 release, Ian says the PlayStation 3 has been available at more retailers, more often, and for longer periods of time.

“Last year, at NotifyWire.com, we tracked several one thousand dollar Xbox 360 bundles which would sell out in less than two minutes after becoming available.”

When asked about PlayStation 3 availability this year, he sited a recent example. “Just today, a one thousand dollar PS3 bundle was in stock at eToys.com for over 12 hours. This sort of thing didn’t happen with the Xbox 360 until well after Christmas.”

Perhaps Sony should be worried.

More evidence that suggests waning demand for the PS3 is available on eBay. Days after the PS3 was released, consoles purchased at retailers for six hundred dollar were consistently flipped on eBay for over two thousand dollars. As of this writing, the same console is selling for slightly above retail and in some cases not at all.

Although Ian said he’s not currently tracking eBay auctions, he did comment “I think people are tired of being gouged on eBay and services like NotifyWire.com are making it easier for the every day person to buy the PlayStation 3 online from a retailer they know and trust.”

While the Playstation 3 is not readily available from retailers online or off, it looks like level of enthusiasm for the console is moving closer inline with the supply and this is clearly not what the industry was expecting.

It may also be that Nintendo’s Wii games console, with its wider availability after launch and its growing popularity, has taken customers away from the Playstation 3.

Related:

Entry was posted on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 at 7:44 am under Uncategorized.

Read more entries by John Pospisil.
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