| HappySqurriel said: I really don't see it happening in this calander year ... Sony has to report a profit on their gaming division for fiscal 2009, and with how close to losing money they were on their last quarterly statement they simply can't afford much of a price cut. If their holiday season goes really well and they move enough hardware and software that they will easily turn a healthy profit on their year end statement I could see them reducing the price of the PS3 early in 2009, but I would still expect them to wait until (fiscal) Q1 2010 to make that price reduction. |
Normally in Autumn come components new price lists, a $50 cut should be feasible. At $349 a PS3 is not an exceptional bargain , a must have for everybody, nevertheless it becomes more appealing for just another slice of potential buyers. Anyway, $300 and $250 thresholds will be much more important, just I wouldn't expect the former before June 2009 (but then it could have a much better result in Autumn 2009, when people is back from holidays and more likely to play instead of going to the sea and going out by night) and the latter before PS3 Slim is released.
But you're right that we shouldn't expect the same price for PS3 and XB360 anytime soon, for at least 3 years PS3 will be more expensive to build, so Sony can only try to persuade users the price difference is justified, and promising to support the platform for 10 years is just one of the ways to do it, it reassure users and developers and makes the former perceive a higher value. Emphasizing BD is another: even if users won't watch BD movies in the immediate future, they perceive it as a bonus that has its value and that may be useful in a further future, just like people buys SW with more features than those they actually use.
