PS3 cut 'won't worry' Microsoft

[Reasonable]

Squilliam said:

Reasonable said:

Guess this had been said, but:

1) no sensible PR is going to say 'we're really worried at potential impact of a competitor price cut'

2) of course they're concerned, it's normal business to be so, and they will have a price cut ready themselves I'm sure

3) on the other hand they've done well enough already, particularly in US, to feel they've improved a lot since last gen so I understand the tone of the comment

4) on the other, other hand, they're not really outselling PS3 by that much given the price difference, and a fair amount of their lead is simply their 1 year head start, so of course they're going to respond and should be concerned.

1. Agree

2. Concerned? I don't think its the appropriate word. If anything they are watchful. Concern is what you get when your competition does something unexpected, or something expected turns out unexpectedly good. Concern is something you feel when Nintendo launches a Wii. I don't see how they would be concerned about something which they expected a mile off, about a price cut whose size was telegraphed months ago. Sony simply isn't in a position to really cause concern at this point.

3. Agree

4. They're actually performing about equally between the Premium level SKU and the PS3 80GB. $300 vs $400 in America is pretty fair considering the latter comes with free online and a Blu Ray player, so the value argument is swings and roundabouts depending on the person.

I meant 'sensibly concerned' - i.e. normal watching of a competitor, but nothing excessive.  I think though, given their lead is actually rather narrow compared to PS1/PS2/Wii levels of sales, and the current pricing/demand picture implies a cheaper PS3 would sell a lot more, they are more than watchful.  Sounds like we see this more or less the same, although you figure they're not really conerned about possible reaction to a PS3 price drop and I figure they probably are - but not excessively so.

On 4) I think there are far more gamers looking for a gaming console vs seeing the PS3 additional value, so while from some angles PS3 seems good value I think for the majority it's seen as the same thing but more expensive - so  I still believe that if they were the same price, PS3 would see higher demand - i.e. the underlying demand for PS3 is a little higher (this is WW average though, I think 360 has done really well in US and the underlying demand is more or less equal for price vs Europe or Japan).