'Marketing to blame for PS3's failure'

NewsPosted 17/11/2009 - 11:58am GMT

Research firm believes Sony's launch campaign impacted sales much more than the high price.

According research firm EEDAR's Jesse Divnich the poor sales of the PS3 back at its launch should not be attributed to its high price point, but the bad marketing support for the console.

"There are times when marketing fails, you can spend so much money but it doesn't matter. Sony spent $150 million globally on the launch of the PlayStation 3," said Divnich at the Montreal International Game Summit.

Divnich then showed the audience the PlayStation 3 baby commercial.

"They honestly thought they could release any type of commercial and it would sell. It truly is a WTF moment in marketing history. It creeped people out. Sony got complacent, they were on top of the world and they thought they could say 'here's the PS3 go out and buy it'."

Divnich added: "A lot of people want to blame the high price points for the PS3's failure, but I don't think so, I blame the marketing, it impacted the success of the PS3 much more than the price."

Likewise, Divnich believes much of the PS3's current popularity is a result of a stronger advertising campaign, not the lower price point.

"Sales went through the roof and a lot of people attributed that to the price drop. I disagree, I actually think it's the marketing. It's how you distribute that message to your consumers. I truly believe Sony's success in late 2009 had less to do with the price drop and more to do with how they delivered their message," he said.

Via GamesIndustry.biz

Have you picked up a PS3 since the price drop/slim was introduced? What swayed you to make the purchase? Let us know by posting in the comments section below.

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User Comments

JJLopez17

Did anyone see that crazy baby commercial?? Holy crap, I have no idea who thought of that but I'm 29 and that freaks me ME out! And the girl with the crazy eyes is no better.

Posted 08:44 on 18 November 2009

Wido

Anybody could tell you that the marketing for the PS3 was a huge disaster and the main reason behind its huge setback.

Posted 21:02 on 17 November 2009

El-Dev

One thing that is always missed out is that the uptake on both "HD" consoles has been slow. The 360 is only considered a success in comparison to the original XBox while the PS3 is seen as a failure compared to the PS2. It appears that only in the 4th years of both consoles lifecycles that the sales picked up dramatically, last year for the 360 and the last few months for the PS3. It is strange to see that despite the often negative spin put on the PS3 sales figures it sold better in the first 3 years after launch than the 360 did. I suppose it's all relative.

Posted 18:51 on 17 November 2009

Mr_Ninjutsu @ pblive

Oh! My bad! I only read the title. That's what i get I suppose!

Posted 17:20 on 17 November 2009

SubjectiveTruth

I think we should stop beating on a dead horse. Why bring up such an old subject, huh? Was it a slow work day for you guys or just need to increase your hit count so you got back to the old "lets bash Sony and the PS3 once more". It's clear to all that Launch of the PS3 was poorly handled and Sony has made the right move since then.

Someone should also notify this "researcher" that it's 2009.

Move on.

Posted 17:11 on 17 November 2009

David-Macphail

I think the lack of AAA exclusives at launch hurt just as much as the advertising of said AAA exclusives. That's what put me off more than anything from picking one up on launch. Still, the PS3 is seeing fantastic sales accross the board now, outperforming the 360 week - on - week so it can't be described as a failure anymore.

Posted 16:02 on 17 November 2009

pblive

No, they were saying it failed to sell next to expectations at launch, it's selling now.

The arguement is that advertising at the time wasn't good enough, but is now.

Personally, I think it's a mixture of things, cost being the main one and then, as Karlius said, using the media advertising to justify that cost.

Posted 14:25 on 17 November 2009

Mr_Ninjutsu

PS3 hasn't failed...yet. It will only fail if no one buys it and it slowly grows into mere memories like Dreamcast.

Posted 14:06 on 17 November 2009

Rickitis

If you launch a console for £425 its always going to start really slow. I bought one at launch and wish I'd waited as there were few decent games when it initially came out. Also the 360 was very aggressive with getting exclusive DLC and advertisements so its not wonder the PS3 sames were slow at the beginning.

Posted 13:29 on 17 November 2009

Karlius

I do think it's purely price point thats driving sales and was the hang up on launch sales. The original advertising should have been selling the consoles abilities to justify the price point. You may think this brash advertising has worked for cadburys and has got everyone talking. This is true but Cadburys Chocloate bars retail at 60p and are products we have trusted for years!

These new adverts don't have to concentrate on jusifiying the price point as it is reasonable for the tech and the consoles are flying out as of the price. The new campaign should be all about the games and obviously the new low price.

I recently saw the Assassins Creed 2 PS3 ad when the TV was on mute while doing my work. I thought Yes Sony Advertising has got it right finally. I later saw the advert with sound, everything is still great except the sound track. Who in their right mind chose that track for that game? Who ever did needs their head read. It's a step in the right direction at least just hopefully the next advert may get it right!

Posted 12:30 on 17 November 2009

El-Dev

I dunno about this guys argument. It's hard to prove whether the new campaign had as much to do with the increase in sales as it came about at the same time as the price drop. Also Karlius thought the new campaign was sh*t while this guy is claiming it has a lot to do with the increase in sales. Different opinions I suppose.

Posted 12:18 on 17 November 2009