DAILY MANIFESTO

REALLY!?! Can't Keep the PlayStation Move In Stock?

Posted on Thursday, March 24 @ 13:17:24 Eastern by Anthony Severino

After being bitch-slapped by the Nintendo Wii in sales, both Microsoft and Sony were looking to bank on the motion-controller craze the Wii started in November of 2006. Late last year during the holiday rush, Microsoft and Sony each released their own form of motion-controller to the public...

Microsoft had a runaway success on their hands (or actually, no hands are required) with Kinect for the Xbox 360. Not only has Kinect sold over 10 million units worldwide, becoming the fastest -selling consumer electronic of all time, but it also helped to boost Xbox 360 sales dramatically, month over month, since its release. And Kinect has managed all this while it has taken a good ol' fashioned internet beating by the people who had been buying the Xbox 360 for the first 5 years of its existence, the hardcore gamers.

Sony on the other hand, has been struggling since day one with the PlayStation Move. Everyone seemed to agree - the PlayStation Move was well-built, affordable, and the tech has some serious potential. It just needs the software to take advantage of the tech. Unlike Microsoft, Sony had always pegged the Move as working just as well for casual games as it would for "core" titles. Killzone 3 and SOCOM 4 prove that they weren't kidding. But even with those titles, the PlayStation Move still isn't selling. Sony themselves aren't talking numbers, which is never a good sign. Last we heard was back at the end of November when Sony revealed they had shipped over 4 million Move controllers to retail channels.

So we're left with no choice but to be a little shocked to see GameStop President, Tony Bartel, saying he is "struggling" to keep the PlayStation Move in stock. Either Sony is making them at a crawl, or he's merely trying to create a false sense of demand (remember, you weren't supposed to be able to find a Kinect at Xmas, yeaaahhh). If it were selling like Bartel would like you to believe, Sony would be singing from the mountain tops of its success like Microsoft has been with Kinect. Nobody can blame us for being skeptics.

The lack of sales aren't good for the PlayStation Move, mainly from a development standpoint. With a small install base, it means much more risk for a developer to try and do something unique and creative for the platform, which the platform sorely needs to thrive. With Kinect having an install base of 10 million, developers have a much wider audience to potentially sell their games to, and it's already leading to timed exclusives for Kinect.

Sony needs to find a new strategy for the PlayStation Move - what they're doing right now just isn't working.

Tell us: do you believe that GameStop can't keep the PlayStation Move in stock? And what do you think Sony needs to do to make the PlayStation Move a success?

Related Games: Kinect, PlayStation Move

Tags: Move, Kinect, GameStop, Sony, Microsoft

Comments

Nick_Tan
Joined: Jul 2006

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
But look at all those great games for the Playstation Move. Wait...

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Jesse_Costantino
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
I *still* can't find a nav-pointer combo package in stock anywhere. Something very screwy is going on with how Sony is manufacturing and/or distributing these things.

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Rinnon
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
What can Sony do to make Move a success? They can't. Hardcore gamers don't want motion controls for our serious gaming, we already learned that from the Wii. Casual gamers already HAVE a Wii. The market just isn't big enough for Sony to sneak it's way in. Microsoft had the right idea by making something new. Sony just took Nintendo's idea and made it better. Sorry Sony, you're about 4 years too late.

Side Note: I believe there is a grain of truth to this to Game Stop having trouble stocking Move. Game Stop/EB Games are renowned for not stocking things effectively. Last Christmas I was told they had been sold out of Rock Band guitars for 6 months. I get the buzz is dying down, but if people keep coming in and asking for them, don't you think you should at least stock a couple? I wouldn't be surprised to walk into an EB Games and find out they are sold out of Move. Not because they sold through so many, but because they don't order more than like 2 at a time.

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213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Look at my Dusty Kinect..... But No problem with that honestly. Looking for a good exclusive soon Poor Sony.... Never cared for them anyways as of the announcement of their Motion stuff...

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Xer0Signal
Joined: Mar 2011

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
why are you so upset about this?

and you pull absolutely no facts to base your argument that they aren't selling.

yeah, i'm sure the president of the company is straight up lying to everyone.

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Bretimus_v2
Joined: Jan 2009

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Move on Killzone can be a serious advantage. Almost as easy as double-clicking heads on the computer.

Rinnon is on the right path, I think. Just bought a Move and didn't buy it through them because it wasn't there. Plenty of used Moves though.

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hanz007
Joined: Dec 2005

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
I thought I'd never get one, but now I'm thinking about the socom 4 combo pack.

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doa766
Joined: Jan 2011

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
if one thing I learned from movie sites is that you should never believe that the internet popularity is in any way a reflection of real popularity

otherwise, Serenity and Grindhouse would've been blockbusters, Move is very popular, I would even say that in relation to the amount of advertising is even more popular than Kinect

but to see this you have to look beyond your regular field of view

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De-Ting
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
You can easily make hardcore game for the Move. The problem is, nobody's doing it. Even the new PlayStation Heroes game turned out to be just minigames instead of an epic adventure.

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213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
lets talk about the only good motion game. Children of Eden. its about time ubisoft made a good game. that isnt tom clancy

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De-Ting
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
Assassin's Creed...

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213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
@De-Ting My point is i feel that Assassin's creed doesn't count as much as i like assassins i don't like that game at all. Too repetitive execute execute stab stab what assassin runs into a group of guys and wins?

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De-Ting
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: Mar 24th, 2011 at 7:18 pm
A good one.

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Klandathu
Joined: Apr 2008

Posted: Mar 25th, 2011 at 12:07 am
@ De-Ting: Seconded.

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DarthDiggler
Joined: Mar 2011

Posted: Mar 25th, 2011 at 9:07 am
Well so far no console maker or developer has come up with a Motion Solution that doesn't get put on the shelf after 6 months of use. By and large most of the people I know that own the Wii don't play it as much as they used to.

While motion controls are here to stay they certainly are not going to take over standard control formats this generation. Sure Wii is sitting pretty with it's sales but 3rd party devs only have limited motivation to try to do anything risky on the Wii, which is why most of their games are clones of other games successes.

Time will tell if Kinect has the same fate as Wii, as for the PS Move it's just like many other features that developers could be taking advantage of. Here are a few others that often get ignored by 1st and 3rd party developers alike: In Game Music, You Tube Video Upload, PS Eye Support (Prior to the Move being released even).

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MyUserName
Joined: Mar 2011

Posted: Mar 25th, 2011 at 11:17 am
"Struggling" could mean too that he is finding it hard to keep this in stores due to the fact that no one wants it!

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Blazin13
Joined: Dec 2010

Posted: Mar 26th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
The only reason you would have trouble keeping PS Moves in stock would be because you haven't had any shipped to your store in the last six months. People who want motion sensing technology usually stick with the Wii's overall cheaper price tag and far more robust game line-up.

To me the Move seems to be just a more precise Wii with no games to play on it and it sells exactly like a Wii substitute (that is to say not at all). On the flip side the kinect is a new, almost revolutionary way to have an intereactive entertainment experience and is now gaining market recognition and customer support.

I would say Sony should let this little competition go in the same way that Microsoft gave up on their HD DVD players. Also Assassins Creed rocks.

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