Has Sony Just Won The Holiday Console War?

[binary solo]

Interesting they think the hard economic times will benefit the PS3 sales if there is a pricecut. I would say the hard economic times will supress the boost of a pricecut, in comparison to the boost one would expect from a lower priced slim in better economic times. Yes it will lead to an improvement in sales compared to current PS3 sales, but the current PS3 sales are probably a little low in part because of the expectation, nay the demand, for a pricecut.

At best a pricecut + slim (after the inevitable initial spike dies down) would lead to a reversal of the current PS3/360 relationship in Europe with more or less the same sales differentials, and a significant narrowing (but not an overtaking) of the 360/PS3 gap in America. In better economic times the slim+pricecut+GT5 combo would probably have been a knockout blow for the 360 in Europe and lead to a reversal, but still a tight race in America. Then again in better economic times the PS3 may well have been outselling the 360 in Europe for most of this year.

(Japan & FFXIII aside) Without GT5 this year the holiday software lineup does not look to be anything that would lead to a change in fortunes for PS3, despite the great quality of the other titles. And it's questionable whether a GT5 release at another time would lead to the sudden and sustained surge that would trigger the sort of momentum needed to propel PS3 to higher levels of long term sales. It's quite possible for GT5 to come too late this generation to be a game changer.