A realistic assessment of Sony's situation:
1. They are hurting. Companies, especially Japaneese, do not go and trim 16,000 people from the workforce unlesss in dire straight.
2. They are not pulling out of Gaming. They are looking at ways to make the Playstation brand stronger: i.e. go for increased sales, not reduced costs.
3. That said - forget about any price cut any time soon. $100 cut means $1B in lost revenue. They just cannot afford it.
4. As long as Sony thinks that the PS3 is going to turn profitable in the short term then they'll leave it untouched. But if it does not seem to break even soon then they'll take more drastic measures.
5. Forget about any past sentiments and the past success of the PS2 and PS1. It had been many years since Sony saw a profit from the gaming division. That business is not immuned to cuts and even more drastic measures.
Prediction made on 11/1/2008:
Q4 2008: 27M xbox LTD, 20M PS3 LTD . 2009 sales: 11M xbox, 9M PS3
