Has a new console ever had it prices cut so quickly? It's only been a month.

http://news.spong.com/article/12320?cb=624

Sub-£390 PlayStation 3 In Retail
UK retailers joining in the price cutting for Sony's next-gen platform

Having achieved a  record-breaking launch weekend for the PS3, Sony is now having to face up to serious price cutting in retail. UK industry journal, MCV, is reporting that retailers including Gameseek have resorted to selling the PlayStation 3, "at a loss to try (to) attract new customers to our site".

As you can see from the screenshot at the right of this story, GameSeek has marketed it's sub-£390 deal as, "*** Special Promotion for a limited time only *** ", but even given these caveats, it's not a good look for Sony as it fights what its CEO, Howard Stringer, has called 'perception' wars with both public, media and retail.

MCV spoke with GameSeek's boss, Stephen Staley, who told the magazine that, "“PS3 performed well pre-launch and the first week of release, but since then sales have dropped considerably. I personally believe the cuts are down to overstocking from launch. Credit goes to Sony for supplying for all of the demand, however this has left most retailers with a lot of stock and with the consoles costing around £400.

“We are obviously selling the console at a loss to try and attract new customers to our site. We are sure the PS3 is going to be big business for us over the next eight years so to get a good foothold in this market is essential,” he added.

This can, of course, be read in a number of ways - not the least of which is that GameSeek sees low-cost, short-term PS3 deals as attractors for new business. The PS3 as a loss-leader?

However, with other retailers offering deals that offer significant discounts - if not the naked price-cut of GameSeek.

GameStation is selling the console (@ £424.99) + two games (@ £39.99 each) + one Blu-ray movie (@ £25) (all of which should add up to £529.97) for £464.99 - a discount of £64.98.

Play.com is selling a console + 3 Games (MotorStorm / Genji / Resistance: Fall of Man) + an HDMI cable + Click (Blu-Ray) for £499.99 ( a discount of £114.95)

We have contacted SCEE this afternoon to suggest a fully fledged interview regarding the current situation with the PS3 - and we await its response.

Quite a few stores are pulling that off now. I suspect it's to get stock shifted quicker.

It doesn't strike me as the shops are being desperate to sell the console off, obviously the launch wasn't a sell out, but it wasn't a particular disaster either... I know this is under completely different context but didn't the Ps2 see drops in price only seven months after its European release? Of course, seven months is still a solid amount of time compared to only three weeks.

And a question, has the Xbox 360 had any issues like this regarding the price dropping outside of official drops from Microsoft?

On another note I wish this sort of thing would happen in the U.S.

The British version had been way overpriced compared to the US and even Euro-land. Now with the dollar falling even further against the pound and euro, they can't hold that extreme pricepoint they had at launch. GBP 390 is still nearly $800!

 I dont think US or Euro will see a price drop anytime soon.

I was out shopping today and in Virgin Megastore found a poster saying 10% of PS3 for students only. so £42.50 off the price with no obligation to buy additional games.

£382.50 has got to be one of the cheapest prices going. I was tempted to stand around asking older people that were looking at the PS3 if the wanted me to get it for them for a £10 transaction fee. Then I looked around and saw everyone standing around the X360 and DS demonstration screens. (they didnt have a Wii one). Decided to make better use of my shopping time.

 Students FTW! (Wishes he was 18 and a student again). 

*Not that many students can afford one though

great time to buy a PS3 in the UK.

That play.com deal for PS3+HDMI Cable+Resistance+Genji+motorstorm for 499 is a sweet deal. Resistance and Motorstorm are the best PS3 games, Genji is like one of the best looking (graphics wise) next gen game. 

FEAR is launching this week, so if FEAR suddently hits the top 10 on the next charts, PS3 is building momentum.

When comparing US and Euro prices please remember that Euro are prices are with VAT, while US prices are without sales tax. £399 incl. VAT is £340 or $681 net. That is more like the continental price of €599 (incl. VAT). £425 was a too high right from the beginning.

The dollar has nothing to do with it. Sony is a Japanese company so the Yen applicable. And the yen has been quite strong.

390 GBP is also over 90 000 yen, and that's a much bigger disparity. (Japanese retail price on a 60GB PS3 is 60 000 yen, according to Wikipedia) Or is there something I'm missing?