| Darth Tigris said: Posted in another thread. Repost: Sony's in a bit of a pickle. No price cut this year, but they may have a problem when it comes to PS3 sales in November and December. Last year, at the beginning of November, the PS3 had a new 40g SKU, a new low price of $399 AND several big Blu Ray titles to push the format. This gave the system HUGE momentum. This year? None of that will be a factor (face it, Blu Ray isn't as 'hot' as it was last holiday). Add the economic situation to the mix and ... well, I guess I'll just say it: November and December COULD be the first months of 2008 where the PS3 does not have a YoY increase. That would be a bad situation for the gaming division financially AND as far as PR. And with retail performance being so low in October, the other divisions of Sony may be in trouble for this final quarter of 2008 (lots of companies will!). With profitability being such an important thing to them lately, how would all of this bode for a price cut even early next year? |
Almost a year ago, Sony made the business plan to sell 10 mio PS3 units this fiscal year. I don't know if you understand the implications of a business plan down the whole manufacturing line, but a business plan is a commitment and not a propostition that can be changed as time goes on. Even without knowing the economy problems we are facing now (unless there is a prophet working at Sony), they _already figured out_ they were going to sell less units this Xmas season than last season (for mostly the reasons you mentioned above). Staying with the business plan through the 3rd quarter essentially means no price reduction and no trouble unlike you think (obviously, no business plan incorporates "trouble" as a variable at the decision stage). It also means that more Xboxes will be sold this Xmas season than PS3s but this does not bother Sony at all as this was a possible consequence of the business plan laid out early 2008.
However, problems may emerge if you botch up your software releases (LBP) and sell less software in general than could be expected. Unlike MS who can easily subsidize their heavy losses in hardware manfacturing with their money-printing departments, Sony will no doubt be in trouble (financials, cell phone, music division...)
