12.22.06
The PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 VS. Adam Smith part 1
So it’s a cold day in hell I find when your significant other says you can go by a video game system, let alone that they will get it for you. But such is my plight this holiday season and I would like to thank the Nintendo Corporation for making such an innovative back to basics products to encompass a greater gaming audience.
After waiting in line twice on the same Sunday morning without success to get one of the fabled Wiis I became interested in just how desirable these items were and wanted quantify some of these behavior patterns. Clearly some people were willing to pay a premium. Infact one story made the nightly news, that on eBay the Playstation 3s had been bid up over $2,000.
Incredible I thought!
So what about the Wii or the Xbox 360?
So back to my story, at the second location I frequented last Sunday morning looking for a Wii I came upon a PlayStation 3. I was 2 people too late for one of the 8 Wiis shipped to the EB Games in NE Washington DC, but they had a 20gb Sony Playstation 3 (PS3), so I thought I would become involved in video game console arbitrage.
Unfortunately, not doing my research a priori to the purchase of said PS3, I did not realize the market dynamics had changed! Not only was the market flooded with these units, I had not purchased the more desirable version (PS3 60gb with Wi-Fi).
In the next part of this series I will break it down to the brass tacks per model and get into average selling prices, price elasticity, market strategies, ect…