Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

[Icemage]

Link

TOKYO, Nov. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that the highly anticipated launch of the PlayStation®4 (PS4™) computer entertainment system resulted in 1 million units sold through during the first 24 hours after it became available on November 15, 2013 in the United States and Canada.

"PS4â„¢ was designed with an unwavering commitment to gamers, and we are thrilled that consumer reaction has been so phenomenal," said Andrew House, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. "Sales remain very strong in North America, and we expect continued enthusiasm as we launch the PlayStation 4 in Europe and Latin America on November 29. We are extremely grateful for the passion of PlayStation fans and thank them for their continued support."

Confirmed by Shuhei Yoshida as being sold through, not shipped.


These are US + Canada sales only so far. PS4 doesn't release in Mexico and most of Europe until Nov. 29.

By comparison, the Wii sold 476K in its first month, Wii U sold 425K for the month of November 2012 in NPD, PS2 sold 500K in NA in its first two days, and the Xbox 360 sold 326K in its first week. (all figures in North America)

EDIT: Updated figures for other consoles to sold-through rather than shipped figures for better comparisons.


Icemage

[Etra]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

Doesn't really surprise me. The kids that grew up on video games (well, ps2 era) are old enough to have jobs now and spend the cash on a PS4. Video games are just a lot more conventional among that generation than even mine (which is right next to it.) It just makes sense for the console to have sales that high with the growing consumer base. Also, it might help that the xbox is failbox and the Wii U is Pii-U.

[Malacite]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

Well, let's see how "teh lulz bawks" does this Friday

[Icemage]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

I think Xbox One will probably do OK in North America. Not 1M, but certainly 400K++ unless Microsoft are having supply problems.

What will be more interesting is the numbers out of Europe; EU was already mostly Sony-land even in gen 7 aside from the United Kingdom, and with Xbox One basically a no-show until next year in many of those territories, I'm expecting some hilariously lopsided sales numbers out of the Eurozone, even the UK.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

Likewise, I don't think the XB1 is going to be super popular outside of the U.S., possibly not even in Canada (if they at least had NHL as a thing on there instead of just that NFL deal, or Soccer for Europe, then it'd be a diff story).

[Feba]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

Wii U confirmed for dremcast


srs note, MS does realize that there are major publishers in the EU/JP, right? The more they neglect those regions, the fewer games they're going to have left to import to the US and draw in American audiences.

[Icemage]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

srs note, MS does realize that there are major publishers in the EU/JP, right? The more they neglect those regions, the fewer games they're going to have left to import to the US and draw in American audiences.

I'm pretty sure Microsoft management thought TV passthrough would be their killer app. I suspect that the idea was to turn the Xbox One into a replacement cable box, which on the surface would be a good idea, IF you could convince cable companies to adopt it. That would let Microsoft sidestep the whole problem of trying to market the box to customers because the cable companies would be paying for it (and goes a long way toward explaining why the box looks so much like an old school VCR). Unfortunately for Microsoft, that hasn't happened, and the public found out about the rest of their plans, which has pretty much derailed them everywhere.

They still have a loyal following, though. Hard to say how large, and perhaps not as numerous as Nintendo's faithful, but likely enough to sell out their initial shipment.

$500/500 Euros/429 pounds is a problem though. They need to jettison Kinect and bring the price back down, or just eat that $100 price difference or the PS4 will bury the Xbox One in the next critical year. Microsoft has very little time to turn the ship around; once people commit to a console at the start of a new generation, it's very hard to get them to switch, and a lot of people are switching right now.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

Plus it's worth pointing out that it doesn't even actually replace said cable box, as you need an adaptor of sorts. Kinda funny.

GT's Marcus Beer tore them apart over it months ago calling it (paraphrasing) "The one box to rule them all... that's actually several mini boxes."

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

Wii U confirmed for dremcast

Nintendo would need at least three consecutive hardware flops for that (and in massive debt) to be true with Wii U.

Stuff like Megadrive, Sega CD and the Saturn for example. Dreamcast became the straw the broke the camels back and Sega couldn't stay in the hardware game after that. Plus Sega had always bore an Arms Race mentality and all Nintendo or Sony had to do to make Sega jump to the Dreamcast was mention their next gen plans.

tl;dr - Don't compare Wii U and Dreamcast as their situations are not comparable. Wii U, PS4 and XB1 are entering a very different era of console gaming with different challenges.

Their financial situations are more telling than their hardware sales anyway.

[Icemage]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

Nintendo would need at least three consecutive hardware flops for that (and in massive debt) to be true with Wii U.

Nintendo doesn't need to exit the console market for the Wii U to be a failure, BBQ.

That hasn't happened yet, but Nintendo have basically squandered their 1 year head start and now have a nearly impossible road to recovery for the Wii U, which has not one but two bigger cousins who share hardware architectures and superior processing power now hitting the market. Moreover, the longer the Wii U languishes, the worse 3rd party relations get, and the harder it will be for them to make another home console.

Nintendo needs those third parties to come back. Not "wants". Needs. Their first party studios just don't produce enough games - and not enough coverage of genres - to support a console single handedly.

What Nintendo needs to learn is something that Microsoft and Sony have figured out: if you build it, they will come. You don't need 100% stellar first party output to have a great library. Having a good install base + acceptable hardware + an audience willing to buy the games means that third parties will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

Microsoft and Sony diverge beyond that point on the value of first party software as a support role, of course. Microsoft feels first party should be a blockbuster differentiator, and they don't generally bother with pushing the envelope of gaming with their first party efforts because they're targeting the mass market. Sony for their part feels that investing in creative first party output as a support structure to feed more niche tastes and make developers feel at home by fostering an audience with wider gaming tastes is the way to go.

Nintendo's track has always been making hardware for their own needs, and let the third parties use what they end up with as best they can. This is biting them in the ass right now because Nintendo games tend to have very low power and spec requirements due to simple art styles. They don't generally make technically demanding games; it's not in their DNA, and the hardware capability shows it. This doesn't help the likes of Activision, EA, Bethesda, Capcom, and everyone else who are trying to appeal to an audience that is growing up and demanding more visually spectacular and unique experiences. Not every game can or should look like a Mario game, but Nintendo hasn't figured that out. Until they do, they will continue to struggle in the console market.


Icemage

[Etra]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

I don't know anyone who buys Nintendo consoles for third party games... Sooo...

[Firewind]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

It is also worth pointing out one important thing about the Wii U:

All the good Nintendo exclusives, and all the ones worth buying are on the 3DS. Why the fuck would you buy a Wii U if you already own a 3DS?

While Nintendo would be far from sunk if the Wii U dies out tomorrow, dismissing the comparisons to the Dreamcast and Gamecube is just delusional.

[Malacite]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

^ that's true, Smash Bros is going to be on both Wii U and 3DS.

"X" is still Wii U only though.

[Etra]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

I have no idea what this X is.

[Malacite]

Re: Sony PR: 1 million+ PS4s sold in North America in first 24 hours

Monolith Soft's "X" - Wii U E3 2013 Gameplay Trailer [HD] E3M13 - YouTube