Barkley said:
I don't agree with that at all, permanent price cuts seems to be exactly what affects how well a system does with a successor. After all, who would buy a $269 PS3 when they could get a $399 PS4? The price difference wasn't enough for the PS3 to keep selling. PS1 shipped another 29m units after the PS2 launched, it's last price cut was to $49 in May 2002. PS2 shipped another 48m units after the PS3 launched, it's last price cut was to $99 in April 2009. PS3 shipped just 7m units after the PS4 launched, it's last price cut was to $269 when the super slim launched in September 2012. PS3 price didn't go low enough and didn't get a cut after the PS4 and thus it had terrible legs post-successor compared to previous PlayStation systems. A PS4 that gets an official cut to $199 will sell a LOT more after the PS5 is released, then a $299 PS4 will. |
Yea, his reasoning is very suspect on that topic. He's mainly looking at increases in sales. But, price cuts late in the gen aren't about increasing sales. It's about slowing the decline. If DS and PS2 hadn't dropped below $100, basically dropping into impulse buy territory, there's no way they would have made it to 150M and beyond.
