Australian and European PS3 launch a flop, as Sony gives away free £2,000 HD TVs in London
By John Pospisil
The hoped-for crowds stayed away from the PlayStation 3 (PS3) launch in Australia and much of Europe. In London, Sony managed to get about 125 people to the launch event, unexpectedly giving each of them a high-definition flat-screen TV.
The official Australian launch was held at midnight at the Myer department store in Sydney’s central business district, the first person in the queue arrived at 9pm, and it was only at 11 pm that there were more customers than officials. By midnight about 40 turned up.
About 500 stores around Australia opened at midnight to sell the first available PS3 consoles, but most were very quiet.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, media crews were so desperate for a news story that they tried to rev up the crow to creat a sense of excitement, and staff from one radio station resorted to doing the cheering themselves.
Across Europe the reception was mixed, with few gamers turning up at the midnight launches in France and Amsterdam.
In France, Sony set up a floating electronics store, moored on the Seine near the Eiffel tower, to sell the PS3. According to Next Generation, there were more journalists than gamers at the launch.
As Next Generation observed, “who wants to wait several hours in the freezing cold for a €599 machine?”
The situation was much the same in Amsterdam, where only a few gamers turned up to snap up a PS3.
About 125 gamers did turn up to the official PS3 launch in London, and each of them were unexpectedly given a 46 inch Sony Bravia flatscreen TV worth £2,000. Sony obviously wasn’t expecting a huge turn out, or maybe so few turned up that it could afford to give everyone a free TV.
And in Germany several hundred games turned up for a launch event at the Sony Center in Berlin, while about 100 gamers turned up to buy the PS3 at a midnight launch in Prague.
Microsoft crashed launch events in both London and Paris. In London Microsoft handed out folding chairs to people queuing for a PS3. An associated website scolded Sony for being so late with its next-generation console. In Paris, a Microsoft boat with Xbox 360 logos cruised up and down the Seine not far from the Sony’s floating electronics store.
So why the lack of interest in the PS3?
Well, first, it could be that the PS3 is relatively more expensive in Europe and the UK than it is in the US and Japan, even after taking into account the differences in sales taxes.
Second, gamers don’t appreciate that the PS2 chipset has been taken out of the PAL version of the PS3, so the Australian and European version of the console relies on software emulation for backwards compatibility, which means that not all PS2 games will work correctly.
Third, probably the biggest reason for the lack of interest in the PS3, is that its arch rival, Nintendo’s Wii console, has stolen its thunder by being available in both Australia and Europe for several months. Despite not being as powerful as the PS3, the Wii has attracted a following due in part to its innovative motion-sensing controller.
Let’s hope for Sony’s sake that the underwhelming Australian and European launch of the PS3 is not a sign of things to come.
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Stumble It!
March 23rd, 2007
Many people did not go to these launch events because they had pre-ordered the console (like my self) from an online retaier, or they are simply going to pick it up later in the day
March 23rd, 2007
Adam, a very good point, and thank you for making it. However, it begs the question of why on earth did Sony persist with a very corny midnight launch approach, when it’s been done to death over the years.
It might have been a cool idea in 1995 with Windows, but come one, this is now 2007.
Given that the PS3 has already received so much bad publicity why pursue a marketing tactic that has a significant risk of going bad – and that’s not even talking about Microsoft’s attempts to spoil the launches in London and Paris.
For the reason you mention, plus the cold weather in Europe, it’s hardly surprising that thousands of people didn’t turn up.
Personally, I’m starting to warm towards the PS3 – it is a good machine and has a lot to offer – I just worry that Sony marketing has run out of ideas, and that Wii and Xbox have too much of a head start.
March 23rd, 2007
Thanks for more anti-Sony propaganda. I swear, it gets more and more preposterous everytime I see it. I think its great that there didn’t need to be swarms of people lining up all over the place – there was an abundance of stock and anyone who has read stories in the news recently knows that Sony preorders were far above and beyond any other next-gen console launch.
Get it right:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=23523
“While detractors are citing the fact that consumers are still able to take pre-orders this close to the consoles’ release as evidence of a lack of interest, retail sees it as one of the first times they’ll be able to actually sell hardware to punters who haven’t pre-ordered on launch day.
“The doom-mongers can say what they like about stock, the units I’ve seen Sony ship out shows that it’s pulled an absolute coup in terms of supply,” commented Don McCabe, MD of Chips.”
March 23rd, 2007
How could the free TV be the motivation when it wasn’t announced? Bugger, had I known I would have made the trek.
March 23rd, 2007
The problem is not just the price, but the fact that many former PS3 exclusive games (Devil May Cry 4, Assassin’s Creed (Game Informer claimed it to be), Virtua Fighter 5, GTA franchise, Ace Combat franchise, etc. ), have emigrated to the Xbox360, thus making the purchase of an expensive game console, less & less attractive. Besides, all this talk about the PS3 being a winner in 5 or 10 years is not a good selling point. People care about the “now”, they want to enjoy their game consoles now, not in a few years down the road. And presently it’s obvious the Wii and 360 seem to provide this need TODAY. No wonder they call this generation of game consoles the Wii60 generation.
March 23rd, 2007
Sony has definately sacrificed gaming this time around to stay on the blu ray side of things, and it isn`t turning out the way they wanted! How much money and time can they withstand?
March 23rd, 2007
WTF?!?! I want a free HDTV for my PS3 purchase too! I love Sony but hate them at the same time! I’m jealous!!!!
March 23rd, 2007
“WTF?!?! I want a free HDTV for my PS3 purchase too! I love Sony but hate them at the same time! I’m jealous!!!! ”
No different than M$ creating a new xbox 360 with hdmi and 120 hdd,
Now i`m pissed—WTF!!!
March 23rd, 2007
LOL! You’re telling me there’s no difference between Sony giving away TVs worth $2000+ and MS coming out with a new limited edition xbox for $80 more than the current premium? How is this even remotely similar?
MS is charging more for a new Xbox…Sony is giving away TVs. Yeah…that’s real similar…
I’m still jealous!
March 24th, 2007
Apparently Sony’s going to have a much bigger launch at GO3 next weekend. They’ve got over 50 different media companies coming and are expecting tens of thousands of people to come through the doors. Sony might yet make up for this disaster.
March 24th, 2007
Today I was looking in Argos and toys r us and Argos had 32 machines in stock and toys r us must have had at least 30-40 in stock. I smell a price cut coming sooner than we may have expected at this rate !!
so just hold out and we could be in luck.
March 25th, 2007
I was looking at the aWest Australian newspaper on Friday 23rd. GameTraders are already discounting the PS3 and including some free games.
apparently you can buy this package at the GO3 Expo 30th March…seems the price cuts are allready stating.
It certainly looks like the GO3 Expo is where Sony intends to have it’s big show case…..
I looked at the media that are attending the show….MTV, Game Trailers, Atomic, Famitsu…..looks like the Who’s who list…..
looks like Perth is the place to be….
October 11th, 2007
Ps3 is the gayest thing that sony ever thought of they have not even sold alot and the 360 is way better because everything is better not only one thing Blue-ray omg. who cares about that thats why you got dvd players
October 11th, 2007
PS3 sucks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!