The PS1 and PS2 started at $299
The PS3 started at $499/599

3DO $700, NEO GEO $649, Apple Pippin $600

Sony made a big mistake with the PS3 pricing !!!!!!
They tried to cram technology and blue-ray into a gaming console.
This next holiday season if/when HD/blue-ray pick up, then their market
share will increase.

The NES, SNES, N64 and GC all started at $199
The Wii is $249

With a game (Or tech demo if you want) ...

Without it $199 (Japan)

I agree with you, but it hasn't hurt the sales of the PS3 too much as the console is in line with the PS2 for the same time in its lifetime :D

^The PS2 was launched in Japan only for the first 6 months. The PS3 was launched in NA and Japan. The price was high at launch but the PS3 has improved significantly.

 Haven't we talked about this before??? or are you being "funny"???

its doing good now and it doesn't have that many system sellers, just wait until summer an fall.

You do realize that's because the PS3 has a huge head start right? The PS2 was in Japan only for it's first 7 months. It also released in europe well after the US.

In other words. The PS3 has a huge head start. Here look what happens when you look at them with sperate align launches instead of world wide align launch.

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=PS3&reg1=Japan&cons2=PS3&reg2=Japan&cons3=PS2&reg3=Japan&weeks=156

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=PS3&reg1=America&cons2=PS3&reg2=America&cons3=PS2&reg3=America&weeks=156

http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=PS3&reg1=Europe&cons2=PS3&reg2=Europe&cons3=PS2&reg3=Europe&weeks=156

As you can see the only market it's matching PS2 sales is europe.

In America and Japan the sales are WAY lower.

Oh, i suppose!

The WW one is very misleading then :P lol

"Sony made a big mistake with the PS3 pricing !!!!!!"

Yes they had a difficult year because of this. The future will show if it was a mistake. After all they already have the first win for this difficult strategy. BluRay killed HD-DVD. Which would not have happened for years if at all without the PS3.
For me they made the right decision.
The Microsoft approach of offering a console withoptional HD. Optional WLAN, optional controller chargers, HDMI in some consoles, optional HD-DVD drive etc. pp. would be going on my nerves. I want most of these add-ons so I would have to pay more. They paid too much by trying to get console with PC-capable hardware out for a lower price (I am sure some of the money they saved was Quality assurance)
The Nintendo approach of offering a low-powered cheap console wouldn't have worked either. Without the innovative motion control the Wii would be a joke. So a cheaper lower powered PS3 would have been killed by the competition (unless they would have also had some new input/play scheme which until now always bombed. In this regard Nintendo made some great innovations)

It was a difficult year but by providing an awesome hardware platform they have a more than even chance of having a successful generation. Perhaps even of winning. But yes the start sucked because of the price. (But even more because of the terrible, terrible gaming line-up of the first year.)

PS:
“Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign for a diseased mind!”
Terry Pratchett

I think THE big mistake was having crap launch titles, it was OK for the 360 to launch with crap games since it was the only one on the market but Ps3 launched with the 360 already in and Wii preparing to go. If it had better games at launch it would've justified the price.