14 DAY TRIAL // The NPD hardware and software charts arrived at the end of last week, giving the PR departments of all the three major companies in the industry, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, plenty of time to analyze the numbers and put a positive spin on them, in order to make it look like their company is doing great.
April's charts showed a pretty grim outlook for Sony, as its flagship PlayStation 3 console was beaten by the older PS2, thanks to a price cut that offered the model with a very attractive 99 dollar price tag. Sales of the PS3 and PSP were down by 32 and 39 percent, respectively, as opposed to April last year.
But all of this doesn't mean that Sony is sad, as the company's Director of Corporate Communications Patrick Seybold is quite confident that the upcoming lineup of titles and the fact that the PlayStation 3 is one of the most multifunctional consoles available on the market will make this year a fulfilling one. Sadly, momentum hasn't been mentioned in his statement, as the company made quite a habit out of mentioning the sales and how they will continue to grow.
“We're revving up the new fiscal year with a broad tent of content and services across our platforms with envelope-pushing PS3 games like inFamous, Mag, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,” revealed Seybold. “We often hear from our customers that they're surprised by everything the PS3 does in addition to what they purchased the device for — including features like DLNA, free access to Wi Fi and Internet browser.”
He continued by saying, “In some ways, this serves as a reminder that there's more we can do to relay the full breadth and power of the PS3. We know our consumers have varying entertainment lifestyles from the Blu-ray movie fanatic to photo enthusiast, so we've outlined our most aggressive marketing plans to help showcase this tremendous value proposition to all our consumers. We've got a proven history in delivering the best entertainment experience and there is no doubt the PlayStation brand is staged for another big year.”
Overall, Sony continues to keep its optimistic face on and is quite confident in its major console. Hopefully things will look up for the Japanese company in the following months.