I am still expecting price cut in 2009 for Sony. They need to retain as much market share as possible to have a fighting chance next round. To do that, Sony can not let MS get too far away. So a price drop in 2009 is a sure thing for me. With all the bad news, they may bite the bullet and do it sooner than later.

To continue that analogy... You're going to increase cigarrette sales by lowering their price much below profitability point. At the same time, your other businesses are all doing worse and you have a loan you have to pay every month in order to keep your house.

@ kowenicki: I just wanted to change the analogy a bit, since yours is purely about spending money and doesn't involve possibly making money from the expenditures :p

@ NJ5: thanks for the clarification ^^

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

I like my beer and cigarettes though.

SCEI needs to focus on profit. The PS3 will sell well enough at $399, if they put the software people want on it, and market it correctly. Right now PS3 has enough market share that the majority of third party games are going to show up on it. Be realistic, which 3rd party is going to loose out on the 750k - 1M extra sales the PS3 usally offers right now? If Sony stays at $399, foucuses on gettting the games out that are supposed to release this year, and markets them accordingly, then they are in a a good spot.

To make things even better Sony can, and will continue to expand their software beyond gaming. The PSN Store will see a lot more content, and I am completly expecting a music side to the store. It would make no sense that Sony bought out the rest of BMG just to let it sit there and not take advantage of it. Playstation Home is going to grow 10 folds this year, and should become a real selling point to a sertant sector of the market. IPTV will be coming to 360 and PS3 at some point, and I don't see why it can't happen in 2009. This will allow them to really push the systems as set top boxes. On the East and West coasts of America the networks are easly ready to support this feature.

To wrap things up I will get to the point I have been using sense the Q2 results came in. It makes sense to loose money to keep the Playstation brand alive, and well. With the current install base PS3 will survive this generation getting the good majority of third party offerings. At the current $399 price point Sony should be able to move at least another 6 million units in 2009, but I can see close to 10M as a realistic bet considering the games coming out. At this point in time it makes no sense to loose money just for bragging rights, and that is all a price cut is trying to accomplish. To all the marketshare must not be lost people, just look at the Wii. if Sony ends with 20% marketshare this gen is it really impossible to have a comeback with a new machine?

@ KBG29

Not to mention the slim PS3 Sony is no doubt working on.

Reeves (SCEE president )said that in 2009 they could be more competitive in pricing ....I think he knows way better that a rumour in The Times dont you think ?

Im not going to expect anything... I won't be surprised if they do the price cut but at present theres so much convoluted thought and a lack of information that its hard to say.

So im just going to track them, and see what happens. Im pretty much in a wait and see mode on the PS3.

At present the PS3 is in decline so one can say that without action there will be trouble. I cannot however say what positive effect a pricecut may bring or whether it will happen. I cannot also say when they need to make a cut, which is probably the most important piece of information that noone here has access to.

When something becomes a necessity then you can expect its chances of happening to rise substantially, but will that be Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 or even some time in 2010? I do not know.

And one should note: Despite the lack of a price drop for the past 1 year and 2 months, sales have been bad vs. the X360 and Wii, but not very bad considering the insane cost of the product ($400-$500) and the further fact that sales haven't abated very much on the console. Sony cut the price last time when sales were in the (literal) gutter.

Even if it declines YOY, it's still in a decent position given the cost of the product. Sony may not *need* to cut the price for awhile, unless the PS3 starts seeing major YOY decreases.

I guess that's a good position for Sony to be in - not being forced to drop the price due to continued mediocre (but good for the price) sales.

Of course they can! It's just that negative PS3 news is ALL Gebx talks about.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you'd have someone who only posted RRoD and mediocre JRPG threads