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Forums - Sony Discussion - Financial Times: Sony rules out PS3 price cut before Christmas

playnext3 on 13 October 2008

comon a 299$ ps3 will sell a lot and even outsell x360 and equale the wii



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papflesje on 13 October 2008
halogamer1989 said:
KatinJin said:

Sony, the Japanese consumer electronics group, has ruled out cutting the price of the PlayStation 3 console before Christmas, insisting that the PS3 is better value than rivals half its price.

“The answer is yes, if you’re asking, ‘Are these the prices we’re going with this Christmas?’” said Kazuo Hirai, president and group chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment, in an interview with the Financial Times.

Up to half of all video game sales are made in the run-up to Christmas and Sony is gambling that despite the weak economy, consumers will not just buy the cheapest machine. If they do, Sony could lose further ground to Nintendo’s Wii and to Microsoft’s entry-level Xbox 360, which sells for $199 in the US after a price cut in September – half the $399 cost of the cheapest PS3.

Mr Hirai argues that the basic Xbox has no hard disk drive while the PS3 plays high-definition Blu-Ray movies as standard. “When you really compare apples to apples, then I think we have a very good value proposition,” he said.

Sony, launched its third PlayStation model in the line in November 2006. The PS3 competes most directly with the Xbox 360. Both are high-powered consoles that have sold well to gaming enthusiasts, but neither has matched the casual appeal and rapid success of the much cheaper Wii.

Two years after launch, Mr Hirai is keen to broaden sales but said “we’re getting to the point where price becomes more important”.

Sony has opted to include more with each PS3 rather than sell the console for less. Last week it said the main model marketed in Japan would come with a bundled game and an 80-gigabyte hard disk, up from 40GB, at the same Y39,980 price.

Another important upgrade would be ‘Home’, Sony’s long-delayed online community in which users will be able to maintain their own apartment and socialise in a three-dimensional world.

“We’re going online with an open beta [version] by the end of this year,” Mr Hirai said, but there is no date for a full launch.

In common with the rest of the industry, Mr Hirai expects video games to be resilient in the economic downturn, as consumers buy cheap home entertainment rather than go out.

“As long as we can generate excitement, then we will be less affected than other industries,” he said.

Meanwhile, the president of one of Japan’s largest game developers said the credit problems are having an effect. Fumiaki Tanaka, the head of Konami Digital Entertainment, told the FT that some of the company’s distributors are struggling to fund their operations.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c6d283e-988a-11dd-ace3-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Summer 09 Home is my guess. 

 

Btw, I always knew that Kaz would focus on more Yens.

 

9lives.be confirms 19 november as the release date for Home (same day as the new Xbox update).

 



gengka on 13 October 2008

hmmm.. looks like they gonna lose in terms of sales this holiday. god bless the ps3



DOATS1 on 13 October 2008

profit is more important than marketshare for sony right now. what's the point in running a business that's losing you money??




Skeeuk on 13 October 2008

they should keep this pice ing into the holiday season, its tracking nicly according to the price it is at, 360 % has been dropping week by week

i predict 360 may sell a little more hardware over this period but after that 2009 is a clean run as any major price cut for ps3 will sent it rocketing, last time i checked a major ps3 price cut weekly sale went to nearly 600k, 360 major price cut sent weekly sale to nearly 180k

theres mor demans for ps3 more ppl want ps3, but unfortunatly price will play a role



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Krill on 13 October 2008
Skeeuk said:
they should keep this pice ing into the holiday season, its tracking nicly according to the price it is at, 360 % has been dropping week by week

i predict 360 may sell a little more hardware over this period but after that 2009 is a clean run as any major price cut for ps3 will sent it rocketing, last time i checked a major ps3 price cut weekly sale went to nearly 600k, 360 major price cut sent weekly sale to nearly 180k

theres mor demans for ps3 more ppl want ps3, but unfortunatly price will play a role

 

So your post is yet another 'Just wait until....' post from a Sony fan.  The belief that Sony has amongst its' fans after two disappointing years on the market is admirable (When I say disappointing, I mean with respect to 3rd place in the market after the success that Sony had with previous console generations).  

Whilst I agree that the PS3 is a good machine and has no need to reduce its price since sales are holding up, I do not accept that the 360 % is dropping week by week; that's just wrong.  The 360 has been holding up nicely since the price cut in each territory.



leo-j on 13 October 2008

My prediction

$99 ps2 - goodbye ps2
$299 ps3
(200gb) BC $399 ps3
$149.99 (psp bundles dropped to $179.99)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

March 2009 folks, and thats a prediction ^-^



 

mM
c0rd on 13 October 2008
KatinJin said:

Up to half of all video game sales are made in the run-up to Christmas and Sony is gambling that despite the weak economy, consumers will not just buy the cheapest machine. If they do, Sony could lose further ground to Nintendo’s Wii and to Microsoft’s entry-level Xbox 360, which sells for $199 in the US after a price cut in September – half the $399 cost of the cheapest PS3.

Mr Hirai argues that the basic Xbox has no hard disk drive while the PS3 plays high-definition Blu-Ray movies as standard. “When you really compare apples to apples, then I think we have a very good value proposition,” he said.

Sony, launched its third PlayStation model in the line in November 2006. The PS3 competes most directly with the Xbox 360. Both are high-powered consoles that have sold well to gaming enthusiasts, but neither has matched the casual appeal and rapid success of the much cheaper Wii.

Two years after launch, Mr Hirai is keen to broaden sales but said “we’re getting to the point where price becomes more important”.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c6d283e-988a-11dd-ace3-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Anyone notice this bit? Funny saying "much cheaper Wii" when the 360 arcade itself is "much cheaper" than the Wii.

To those thinking a PS3 price cut will skyrocket them into 2nd, I don't buy it. There may be more demand, but it will never be as cheap as the 360. Microsoft is in a much better spot than people seem to believe - since they share game libraries, I can see the 360 peaking/declining when the PS3 does, even though it came out a year earlier. As long as the PS3 stays relevant, there's no reason for the 360's sales to fade away.



Cypher1980 on 13 October 2008
DOATS1 said:
profit is more important than marketshare for sony right now. what's the point in running a business that's losing you money??

 

Its a shame Sony didnt think this way when they designed the PS3.