March 23 is a day that many will remembered as a day that was just a normal day, and that is probably what is irritating Sony the most. March 23 is the launch day of the PS3 in Europe, and by early accounts of what has been happening overseas, Sony seems to have thrown a party that few showed up to, according to reports by Kotaku.
IN AUSTRALIA
Sony did literally throw a massive PS3 launch party in Australia to kick off the event, but with only 20 minutes to the midnight launch, a reporter from Kotaku described the eerily vacant exhibition hall. "A few more people have trickled in. Still, counting actual customers (and not their mates/girlfriends/crazy homeless people loitering to score free coffee and a movie) we’re looking at 50, 60 tops. Only a brave man would say this is meeting expectations. Who knows why the turnout is so low? We’d have asked the non-attendees themselves if they’d attended."
IN THE UK
GAME, the largest game retailer in the UK, had less than spectacular traffic on launch day, despite the extreme hype it was slinging in order to generate more sales. Anna Macarlo, the marketing director for GAME, tried to put a positive spin on the missing hoard of customers by saying, "It’s very unusual that we’re going to be in a situation where we’ve got enough stock to fulfill demand in the short term — that’s never happened before…The good thing is that we’re not going to have this whole raft of disappointed consumers on launch day who won’t be able to buy the console for another month." But of course, the cynic would say, "What customers?" But we won’t say that.
IN SPAIN
Redfield, a member on Kotaku, described what he saw on launch day in Spain. "3 out of 4 stores had less than half of the pre-orders expected for launch day (ie. a store received 16 PS3, and had only 7 pre-orders). At the same time, 4 out o[f] 4 stores claimed in their posters and adverts that the pre-orders were ‘about to sold out!!!’. Again, it’s their job, but I don’t like when we gamers (and casuals) are treated as morons. "Every single store had one or another type of discount: 25% off in PS3 software; 10% youth discount; free Blu-ray movies given with the PS3; free HDMI cables after the purchase… Not a good sign."
IN FRANCE
During a cold and dreary night, while the Sony faithful were standing in line for their chance to buy a PS3, a large boat sailed by with huge banners and signs hanging over the railings which said, "Xbox 360 LOVES YOU!" NextGen reported, "Outside the Fnac store, right on the large side walk of "la plus belle avenue du monde", security people in red jackets were ready to guard a big line of PS3 lovers. All that was missing was the line itself. At 8pm, a young man sauntered along. A bevy of cameras and microphones turned to him. But he didn’t have anything to say."
So was the PS3 European launch a huge success? If everyone is really honest about the matter — probably not.
