Sony’s recent flips: vouchers and shipping counts

Vouchers on and vouchers off. They say 100,000, then 80,000. Huh? In the last week of October, Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda said that Sony was thinking about selling vouchers for the PS3 in Japan.

In other words, because there weren’t enough PS3s to go around, the Japanese would buy vouchers instead, and as soon as more PS3s were manufactured, the vouchers would mean you already have a PS3 reserved.

Then, as recently as November 8, Sony Computer Entertainment denied this voucher plan in IT Plus. The IT Plus article also said that 100,000 units will be shipped on launch day (for Japan – more about the US later). But more recently, Kaz said it’s 80,000 units for Japan and 400,000 for the US. So what is it?

The last thing we need before launch is ambiguity. Look, I’m a bit of a Sony fanboy, but when Sony keeps flip-flopping like this, it does not make me feel safe. Vouchers on. Vouchers off. They say 100,000 units will ship. Then it’s 80,000. [paranoid mode on] What’s to stop them from suddenly announcing that they’re only going to ship 200,000 units to the US? Heck, why not suddenly announce that we’re only going to get vouchers? [paranoid mode off]

We at QJ do not doubt that the PS3 is a great console. We’re looking forward to playing those games. But we sometimes don’t understand what Sony is trying to do! When you’re this close to launch day, the last thing the public needs is ambiguity.

“The coupons were a mistake.” Why the heck did Oneda mention vouchers anyway? Was that just him talking out of his ass? Was Sony just tossing the idea out there to see how buyers would react? Whatever the case, mentioning vouchers was a mistake – and it became a bigger mistake when Sony came out in the IT Plus article and said “the coupons were a mistake.”

It would be nice if they sounded more confident. It’s not a good sign that the public relations division of Sony thinks that 100,000 units will ship in Japan while Kaz Hirai thinks 80,000 units will ship (a difference of 20%).

At this point in the game they need to get their divisions and branches and head honchos together and agree on what the hell they’re doing – or at least agree to present to the world one, solid, unified, and in-control facade.

They need to stop scaring the public. It’s “just” news to us when confusing announcements happen to the Japanese, but if Sony pulls these stunts in the US, it won’t be “just” news anymore – we’ll be victims. We’ve already adjusted to the idea of having “only” 400,000 units for the US. It’d be tragic if some other Sony representative comes out in exactly two days and drops that number by 20% to 320,000.

Still, to end this on a positive note, all this confusion is worth it. It’d be nice to have a smooth launch. It would be nice to have lots of units for everybody. But who cares if it’s not all smooth and predictable? It’s business! In a couple months, when we’re too busy playing, none of this will really matter. Right?

Vouchers on and vouchers off. They say 100,000, then 80,000. Huh? In the last week of October, Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda said that Sony was thinking about selling vouchers for the PS3 in Japan.

In other words, because there weren’t enough PS3s to go around, the Japanese would buy vouchers instead, and as soon as more PS3s were manufactured, the vouchers would mean you already have a PS3 reserved.

Then, as recently as November 8, Sony Computer Entertainment denied this voucher plan in IT Plus. The IT Plus article also said that 100,000 units will be shipped on launch day (for Japan – more about the US later). But more recently, Kaz said it’s 80,000 units for Japan and 400,000 for the US. So what is it?

The last thing we need before launch is ambiguity. Look, I’m a bit of a Sony fanboy, but when Sony keeps flip-flopping like this, it does not make me feel safe. Vouchers on. Vouchers off. They say 100,000 units will ship. Then it’s 80,000. [paranoid mode on] What’s to stop them from suddenly announcing that they’re only going to ship 200,000 units to the US? Heck, why not suddenly announce that we’re only going to get vouchers? [paranoid mode off]

We at QJ do not doubt that the PS3 is a great console. We’re looking forward to playing those games. But we sometimes don’t understand what Sony is trying to do! When you’re this close to launch day, the last thing the public needs is ambiguity.

“The coupons were a mistake.” Why the heck did Oneda mention vouchers anyway? Was that just him talking out of his ass? Was Sony just tossing the idea out there to see how buyers would react? Whatever the case, mentioning vouchers was a mistake – and it became a bigger mistake when Sony came out in the IT Plus article and said “the coupons were a mistake.”

It would be nice if they sounded more confident. It’s not a good sign that the public relations division of Sony thinks that 100,000 units will ship in Japan while Kaz Hirai thinks 80,000 units will ship (a difference of 20%).

At this point in the game they need to get their divisions and branches and head honchos together and agree on what the hell they’re doing – or at least agree to present to the world one, solid, unified, and in-control facade.

They need to stop scaring the public. It’s “just” news to us when confusing announcements happen to the Japanese, but if Sony pulls these stunts in the US, it won’t be “just” news anymore – we’ll be victims. We’ve already adjusted to the idea of having “only” 400,000 units for the US. It’d be tragic if some other Sony representative comes out in exactly two days and drops that number by 20% to 320,000.

Still, to end this on a positive note, all this confusion is worth it. It’d be nice to have a smooth launch. It would be nice to have lots of units for everybody. But who cares if it’s not all smooth and predictable? It’s business! In a couple months, when we’re too busy playing, none of this will really matter. Right?