Sony sees easing of PS3 price pressure  

By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Recent strong sales of higher-priced PlayStation 3 models may be an indication that Sony Corp  does not need to cut prices of the flagship video game console soon, a U.S. executive said on Thursday.

When Sony lowered U.S. prices of the PlayStation 3 last November, it was surprised to see that consumers bought as many $500 models as $400 models, said Scott Steinberg, vice president of product marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America.

"So we're seeing that the hard-core gamer is not afraid to throw another $100 at the PlayStation 3 because the value proposition is so rich," Steinberg told Reuters in an interview.

The main difference between the two models is that the $500 version has an 80-gigabyte hard drive, double that of the cheaper model.

"We're still in the phase of studying what this means for the potential roadmap for the year," Steinberg said.

Asked if that meant the pricing pressure posited by many analysts had not materialized, Steinberg said. "It's leading us to think so."

Sales of the PS3 lagged those of Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii and Microsoft Corp's  Xbox 360 last year, with many analysts citing its higher price and lack of must-have games. The Xbox sells for between $280 and $450 while the Wii goes for $250.

But the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 in the United States in January, and Steinberg said a lineup of expected blockbusters as well as the recent victory of Sony's Blu-ray technology in the high-definition DVD format war would help sales for the rest of 2008.  

 "On a macro level, we've got leverage to turn that into a trend. Whether or not it continues going in February, the way I look at it is us structuring the chess board to our favor, which is without question happening," Steinberg said.

"The year of the PlayStation 3 started in fall 2007, I think it will be an extended year, we are feeling positive momentum."

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Looks like Sony is satisfied with these sales levels, and not wanting to go back to large losses with any price cuts.

This is pretty old, but don't believe anything PR says.

I think they are trying to egg MS to cut the price first.

Eh... the big difference is the harddrive is twice as big?

Seems... ill researched.

Wait.  Steinberg actually works for Sony and he's saying that. ..

Yeah... PR guys are a crazy bunch. 

No need to cut it now.

I'd even say no need to cut it this year.

Wait till 2009.

probly keeping the price the same til ms does a price drop. Why lose money when your already outselling the competition or at least matching them for the most part?

Sony domination beginning? Time will tell...........you will most likely be alerted about PS3 domination by Crazzyman, who will be spamming everywhere when this happens. : ))))))))

no price but? boooooooooo!!!!!

but yeah, since the ps3 is doing well now, there is no reason to cut prices so soon. microsoft will most likely not cut prices as well as sony is not planning to. they can at least get more profit.

but still....booooooooo!!!!!!!!

PS3 should continue to sell at its current price, business is running smoothly at the moment. A price cut would mean Sony would make a bigger loss on consoles. PS3's are not cheap to make. The majority of money will be made on software sales. In time there will be a price cut.

Sony doesn't profit from PS3, blame wiiifit Blue-Ray

I don't think any significant price drop is option for them untill Toshiba gets his hand into manufacturing smaller Cell chips

they would say so even if they planed to cut prices next week - why?, because people would stop buying now and wait for the price cut