Weekly News & Notes (10/13)
All the PS2 news that's fit to print!
(13 days until PlayStation2)
Published: October 13, 2000
Alot of news to get to, so I won't waste any more time.
+ TOP STORY - Sony is giving its rival Sega a lovely holiday gift, while offering lumps of coal to its investors and game developers.
The Playstation 2 game machine looks more likely than ever to be the most coveted gift of the 2000 holiday season, since Sony has announced that it will ship half as many units this month as it had expected.
But the underproduction of these new machines, due to Sony's component shortage, has resulted in lost opportunity for Sony and its software developers.
Sony has done a wonderful job creating a buzz around the product. It could have sold millions of units to holiday shoppers outside the hard-core gaming category since the console plays DVD movies as well as games. Many Japanese consumers who snapped it up were lured by the DVD function.
But the console's holiday impulse market in the U.S. has been eliminated because of a production problem with one of the product's parts--most likely a graphics component that Sony itself makes.
Sony had planned to ship 1 million machines on Oct. 26. Now it says that it will ship half a million units on that date, with 100,000 units per week shipped until the end of the year. So the only customers likely to get their hands on the new Playstations are serious gamers who have pre-ordered the machines or people willing to hand eBay auctioneers several hundred dollars over the $300 price tag.
"Nobody is more disappointed than we are, but this is not a gloom-and-doom scenario," says Molly Smith, a communications director with Sony Computer Entertainment in Foster City, Calif.
Sony will still meet its target of 3 million machines by March. But that quantity has disappointed the market all along. And while nobody disputes that consumers are excited about Playstation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox are lurking around the corner, expected to ship in 2001.
Sony should have had this holiday season to itself, but now it's essentially gift-wrapping customers and handing them to rival Sega. Sony has 50% of the $10 billion global videogame market, but Sega has been gaining on it.
"Six months ago, we were in a situation where too many developers were just drinking Sony's Kool-Aid," says Charles Bellfield, a Sega of America vice president in San Francisco.
Now, he says, third-party developers are deciding to port their games to Dreamcast more quickly than planned, and retailers are wooing the company. Sales of Sega's Dreamcast machine have been much stronger than expected, in part because Sega slashed its price to $150 for gamers who subscribe to its new gaming network.
The short-term victims of Sony's misstep are game developers and publishers. Investors, impatient with the industry's long "transitional period," have pounded stocks like Electronic Arts and Activision. Playstation 2 was expected to pull software sales out of a slump, but now Sony is asking investors to wait even longer.
"Sure, we wish they were going to have more product out there," says Paul Eibler, president of Take Two Interactive in New York City. Take Two will have two titles ready for the Playstation 2 launch. But Eibler says investors have hit game software stocks harder than they should have, given that Playstation will have a four- or five-year lifespan.
And Playstation 2 will see plenty of holiday seasons, says Bobby Kotick, president of Activision in Santa Monica, Calif. He says he expects the product to sell a total of 100 million units during its lifetime, compared with 75 million for the original Playstation.
Even so, Sony would have preferred to enter the U.S. with a splash, not a trickle.
+ HEADLINES - Electronic Arts has just announced that NHL 2001 has just passed through Sony's Quality Assurance program and will join Madden 2001, SSX, and Swing Away Golf as the fourth launch title for the PlayStation 2. EA representatives confirmed that the game will ship to stores on October 23, 2001.
At that point, it will be up to your retailer whether you can pick your copy up then or if you will have to wait. Some stores may want to get whatever pre-order stock they can out of their hair to help alleviate some of the stress come Launch Day so you may be able to get it early if you pre-ordered. On the other hand, some may prefer to just keep everything well organized and hold all your goodies for ransom until you come to pick it all up on the 26th.
Because it is a third-party title, it is not restricted to the October 26th street date put forth by Sony. However, don't get too excited, you probably won't see any first-party Sony titles in stores early as they will strictly adhere to the launch date.
+ OTHER NEWS - Namco is offering up it's answer to Sega's 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker in the form of Truck Kyosokyoku for the PS2. The game, which arrived in Japanese arcades this summer, is now scheduled for release on Sony's next-gen console. The game is scheduled to hit shelves on December 14 under its full name, Truck Kyosokyoku: Rodeo of Love and Sorrow. Let's all hope that name gets changed, or at least shortened, before it comes to the US.
+ FINANCIAL NEWS - Rebecca McPheters has been made vice president of strategic services at Ziff Davis Media Inc. This new area of the company will "provide advertising, consulting and research services for Ziff Davis Media's clients." The strategic services division will also aid the company in finding the appropriate target markets. Ziff Davis Media publishes Official PlayStation Magazine.
+ OTAKU NEWS - Just a few weeks after Dagon Quest VII's release in Japan on August 26th, sales data ahs been released stating that Enix's latest mecha-hit has sold over 3 million copies. That is more that most games sell in their lifespan. DQVII has even topped the "untop-able" when it officially out sold Square's Final Fantasy IX, which as sold 2.5 million copies. Enix plans to bring DQVII stateside, they just don't know when.
+ PICK OF THE WEEK - In my Pick of the Week for October 13th, I have selected Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, the COOLEST game for PSX ever. It incorporates great gameplay, great music and amazing replay value with all the different challenges and unlockable characters. Spiderman is by far the most unique player.
That's it for this week! Only one more WNN until Playstation2!
+ TOP STORY - Sony is giving its rival Sega a lovely holiday gift, while offering lumps of coal to its investors and game developers.
The Playstation 2 game machine looks more likely than ever to be the most coveted gift of the 2000 holiday season, since Sony has announced that it will ship half as many units this month as it had expected.
But the underproduction of these new machines, due to Sony's component shortage, has resulted in lost opportunity for Sony and its software developers.
Sony has done a wonderful job creating a buzz around the product. It could have sold millions of units to holiday shoppers outside the hard-core gaming category since the console plays DVD movies as well as games. Many Japanese consumers who snapped it up were lured by the DVD function.
But the console's holiday impulse market in the U.S. has been eliminated because of a production problem with one of the product's parts--most likely a graphics component that Sony itself makes.
Sony had planned to ship 1 million machines on Oct. 26. Now it says that it will ship half a million units on that date, with 100,000 units per week shipped until the end of the year. So the only customers likely to get their hands on the new Playstations are serious gamers who have pre-ordered the machines or people willing to hand eBay auctioneers several hundred dollars over the $300 price tag.
"Nobody is more disappointed than we are, but this is not a gloom-and-doom scenario," says Molly Smith, a communications director with Sony Computer Entertainment in Foster City, Calif.
Sony will still meet its target of 3 million machines by March. But that quantity has disappointed the market all along. And while nobody disputes that consumers are excited about Playstation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox are lurking around the corner, expected to ship in 2001.
Sony should have had this holiday season to itself, but now it's essentially gift-wrapping customers and handing them to rival Sega. Sony has 50% of the $10 billion global videogame market, but Sega has been gaining on it.
"Six months ago, we were in a situation where too many developers were just drinking Sony's Kool-Aid," says Charles Bellfield, a Sega of America vice president in San Francisco.
Now, he says, third-party developers are deciding to port their games to Dreamcast more quickly than planned, and retailers are wooing the company. Sales of Sega's Dreamcast machine have been much stronger than expected, in part because Sega slashed its price to $150 for gamers who subscribe to its new gaming network.
The short-term victims of Sony's misstep are game developers and publishers. Investors, impatient with the industry's long "transitional period," have pounded stocks like Electronic Arts and Activision. Playstation 2 was expected to pull software sales out of a slump, but now Sony is asking investors to wait even longer.
"Sure, we wish they were going to have more product out there," says Paul Eibler, president of Take Two Interactive in New York City. Take Two will have two titles ready for the Playstation 2 launch. But Eibler says investors have hit game software stocks harder than they should have, given that Playstation will have a four- or five-year lifespan.
And Playstation 2 will see plenty of holiday seasons, says Bobby Kotick, president of Activision in Santa Monica, Calif. He says he expects the product to sell a total of 100 million units during its lifetime, compared with 75 million for the original Playstation.
Even so, Sony would have preferred to enter the U.S. with a splash, not a trickle.
+ HEADLINES - Electronic Arts has just announced that NHL 2001 has just passed through Sony's Quality Assurance program and will join Madden 2001, SSX, and Swing Away Golf as the fourth launch title for the PlayStation 2. EA representatives confirmed that the game will ship to stores on October 23, 2001.
At that point, it will be up to your retailer whether you can pick your copy up then or if you will have to wait. Some stores may want to get whatever pre-order stock they can out of their hair to help alleviate some of the stress come Launch Day so you may be able to get it early if you pre-ordered. On the other hand, some may prefer to just keep everything well organized and hold all your goodies for ransom until you come to pick it all up on the 26th.
Because it is a third-party title, it is not restricted to the October 26th street date put forth by Sony. However, don't get too excited, you probably won't see any first-party Sony titles in stores early as they will strictly adhere to the launch date.
+ OTHER NEWS - Namco is offering up it's answer to Sega's 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker in the form of Truck Kyosokyoku for the PS2. The game, which arrived in Japanese arcades this summer, is now scheduled for release on Sony's next-gen console. The game is scheduled to hit shelves on December 14 under its full name, Truck Kyosokyoku: Rodeo of Love and Sorrow. Let's all hope that name gets changed, or at least shortened, before it comes to the US.
+ FINANCIAL NEWS - Rebecca McPheters has been made vice president of strategic services at Ziff Davis Media Inc. This new area of the company will "provide advertising, consulting and research services for Ziff Davis Media's clients." The strategic services division will also aid the company in finding the appropriate target markets. Ziff Davis Media publishes Official PlayStation Magazine.
+ OTAKU NEWS - Just a few weeks after Dagon Quest VII's release in Japan on August 26th, sales data ahs been released stating that Enix's latest mecha-hit has sold over 3 million copies. That is more that most games sell in their lifespan. DQVII has even topped the "untop-able" when it officially out sold Square's Final Fantasy IX, which as sold 2.5 million copies. Enix plans to bring DQVII stateside, they just don't know when.
+ PICK OF THE WEEK - In my Pick of the Week for October 13th, I have selected Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, the COOLEST game for PSX ever. It incorporates great gameplay, great music and amazing replay value with all the different challenges and unlockable characters. Spiderman is by far the most unique player.
That's it for this week! Only one more WNN until Playstation2!
