PS3 Shortages Might Hamper God of War Launch

[John Funk]

PS3 Shortages Might Hamper God of War Launch

The PS3's most anticipated exclusive of the year is finally upon us here in the States, and is a surefire system seller - or it would be, if there were any systems available to sell.

With the price cut and introduction of the PS3 Slim last year, Sony made great strides in closing the gap that kept the PS3 in third place worldwide. But one of Sony's most powerful weapons had yet to be introduced: God of War III, often cited as the game that would convince people to pick up a PS3. GoW3 would be Sony's triumphant roar.

And yet, there's a problem. When I went to pick up a replacement PS3 last week for Final Fantasy XIII (my last one having suffered a terminal case of falling-off-a-shelf syndrome), I couldn't find one at Gamestop. I couldn't find one at Best Buy. I couldn't find any at FYE or Wal-Mart or any other place I could think of. Simply put: PS3s are extremely rare to find on store shelves these days.

So Sony may find itself in the ironic position of having its biggest potential system-seller hit shelves when (here in the States, at least) there aren't any systems on the shelves with it to sell.

"It's not ideal, I won't kid you," SCEA boss Jack Tretton told the LA Times [http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-godofwar16-2010mar16,0,4271362.story]. "But I firmly believe we'll get our hardware back in stock and keep selling God of War III for a long time."

"We ultimately don't make investments on a product-by-product or month-by-month basis, but rather we invest in our platform," he added. "This game will pay off for us with the people who own a PlayStation 3 and the ones who will buy one in the future."

In all fairness, Tretton probably does have a point - I can't imagine that all too many people would go to the store eager to buy GoW3 on launch and pick up a PS3 to go with it, find that the PS3 was unavailable, and give up on the game entirely. Consumers will likely wait - but there's always the potential for this to impact sales even once supply is once again under control, and that has to be a frustrating situation in which Sony finds itself.

(Via CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=239369])

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[MurderousToaster]

I don't think it will impact it all that much.

Sure, the 'system seller' status is fairly hard to attain if there are not any systems available to sell, but I doubt people will get all that upset about it. You can still buy plenty of Sony's console online (i.e on Amazon or Ebay)

 

[ddq5]

This won't be a problem for me because I have three PS3s.
http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/182/Three-PS3s

But that was over three years ago, they really should hire some new dudes in charge of production estimates.

 

[Proteus214]

It took me three weeks just to find a used one in New York, and as I was buying it, someone called in to reserve it (too late sucka lol). In my searching I found that nearly every retailer in the state of New York was completely dry.

I wonder if this is part of an effort to extend the life of the current console generation or some sort of ploy to keep the price of the consoles from dropping too quickly.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Well anyone needing one i'd put one on hold at my target cause we never sell any of those buggers. I guess it's all where you live though.

I think GoW might cause a few purchases but not enough to where a shortage will cause ppl to jump ship.

It took me three weeks just to find a used one in New York, and as I was buying it, someone called in to reserve it (too late sucka lol). In my searching I found that nearly every retailer in the state of New York was completely dry.

I wonder if this is part of an effort to extend the life of the current console generation or some sort of ploy to keep the price of the consoles from dropping too quickly.

Must just be where you live, we've had to send out old sku PS3's(the 40 gig and a lot of the "fat" ones recently) cause they didn't sell

 

[Jared]

I think they are overhyping this way too much...its not like PS3s are new anymore

 

[Monshroud]

Since God of War 3 is the main reason I bought my PS3 I can understand what they are talking about. I bought my PS3 about 1 month ago now and it was not easy. Where I live in the U.S., Wal-Mart, Target, Game Stop were all sold out. I finally found a Best Buy about 45 miles away that had 2 in stock.

When I bought it, I asked the folks at Best Buy why it was so hard to find one, they stated that they had not received any new systems since Christmas. Now that may not be the case for all retailers, but I found it quite interesting to here that Best Buy hadn't received any in about 6 weeks.

 

[SaintWaldo]

Did anyone who really wanted one NEVER buy a Wii due to shortages?

In other words, for a large scale manufacturing company, barring production issues, shortage in the pipeline is the sort of "problem" that usually indicates good things, like increased demand.

 

[Vigilantis]

Eh, my Best Buy you practically trip over a box of slims that are stacked up from the entrance, actually me n my buddy recently went searching for a new one and literally every store we went into had atleast 4+ on their shelves. Dunno...if you can't find one order it from Newegg...no tax ^_^

 

[Phoenixlight]

Hmm I don't think It'll make much of a difference because most people who will be buying the game will already have a PS3. I personally won't be getting god of war 3 though because I don't like the gameplay or the idea of playing as the bad guy.

 

[Vaccine]

Be smart and buy one online a few weeks before release?

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Nah. There being a shortage of PS3's just means they're selling more. I don't see any negative impact there, except maybe a slight delay in the sales figures we all know will come from God of War 3

 

[wooty]

Not sure if this is affecting the UK, seems to be a few knocking round where I live

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I think most of the reason people are buying PS3s is for God of War III... Probably won't affect sales at all.

 

[Xanadu84]

As a mainly PC gamer who already has access to all 3 consoles, and an interest in the medium as a whole, this is very interesting. It's nice to see the PS3 make such strides forward in sales, in order to encourage competition. It makes the balance of power that much more entertaining to watch. I always thought that PS3s approach of a very powerful system that needs a little time to grow into its niche was a very intriguing idea, and I'm glad to see that its starting to bear fruit. It's also interesting to see PS3s sold out, as opposed to the traditional Wii shortage.

 

[Snotnarok]

This won't be a problem for me because I have three PS3s.
http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/182/Three-PS3s

But that was over three years ago, they really should hire some new dudes in charge of production estimates.

Sadly ...I have 2, I got another one way back when Bluray players were insanely expensive for my dad on xmas. It was 500 dollars vs 1,000. so a no brainer basically. Also I totally forgot about that video I saw that a loooong time ago. Neato!

God of War is insane looking, it's by far the best looking game I've seen. It's partially cause of the special fake antialasing they have running that resembles 16x, but it's also just that god damn pretty. It's just beautiful.

 

[Scrythe]

Or they could just, you know, sell a PS3/GoW3 bundle...

 

[Little Duck]

Bwahahahaha.

It's not like they have wearhouses full of them up and down this country. Although, since they have been discontinuing older models, maybe...

But on a serious note, the PS3 I think still isn't taken that seriously in the UK. We still don't have alot of games that people go nuts for, so essentially, you only buy a PS3 if you want a console that plays all the games the 360 plays, but fewer.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I picked up my copy of GoW3(ultimate edition :3 ) and fully planned to buy a ps3 along with it, but at the same time I didn't expect my local gamestop to have any in stock, after all the manager had warned me when I reserved the game in January that there probably wouldn't be any to speak of. I can wait though to play it and its probably a good thing I have stuff that needs doing this week, and I know they wouldn't get done if I had a ps3 sitting in my room calling to me

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