Hong Kong’s grand total? 200 launch units sold?!

The line at the Gateway Shopping Mall

A lot of Americans must probably be sleeping right now because of the all lining up and losing their good night’s sleep. Hey, lining up takes a lot from you, y’know. Either that or they’re still wide awake at home, playing the hell out of their brand-spanking new next-gen consoles.

Now, freeze. Let’s rewind for a moment and check up on what happened on the other side of the world, shall we? Apparently, while everyone and their dog was clamoring for a PS3 in North America, Hong Kong had its own story to tell. Or at least, Martin Froejd from Kotaku does. He mentions that the release wasn’t hyped as much in HK and that the local news only covered it in passing. Here’s his report:

The event was simple enough – queue up for some tickets that will be released 7:30 a.m. on the 17th, and then go pick up your PS3 60GB, 3 games, 2 controllers and some Playstation branded clothes for HK$ 5,245 (US$ 670)… They confirmed what still is unbelievable – only 200 units, in addition to a small batch of pre-orders that were already sold.

Whoa. 200 units? Japan got 80,000-ish. US got 400,00-ish. And now HK fights back with 200? Oh well. Moving on, one curious aspect of his story was that he also reported that more than 50% of those in line were elderly women with no apparent interest in the PS3. In fact, the staff was quite honest in saying that they expected 90% of the people in line would resell their units.

Guess the ball rolls much the same anywhere else…

What line? - Image 1 What line? - Image 2

The line at the Gateway Shopping Mall

A lot of Americans must probably be sleeping right now because of the all lining up and losing their good night’s sleep. Hey, lining up takes a lot from you, y’know. Either that or they’re still wide awake at home, playing the hell out of their brand-spanking new next-gen consoles.

Now, freeze. Let’s rewind for a moment and check up on what happened on the other side of the world, shall we? Apparently, while everyone and their dog was clamoring for a PS3 in North America, Hong Kong had its own story to tell. Or at least, Martin Froejd from Kotaku does. He mentions that the release wasn’t hyped as much in HK and that the local news only covered it in passing. Here’s his report:

The event was simple enough – queue up for some tickets that will be released 7:30 a.m. on the 17th, and then go pick up your PS3 60GB, 3 games, 2 controllers and some Playstation branded clothes for HK$ 5,245 (US$ 670)… They confirmed what still is unbelievable – only 200 units, in addition to a small batch of pre-orders that were already sold.

Whoa. 200 units? Japan got 80,000-ish. US got 400,00-ish. And now HK fights back with 200? Oh well. Moving on, one curious aspect of his story was that he also reported that more than 50% of those in line were elderly women with no apparent interest in the PS3. In fact, the staff was quite honest in saying that they expected 90% of the people in line would resell their units.

Guess the ball rolls much the same anywhere else…

What line? - Image 1 What line? - Image 2

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *