I am going to stck to my prediction. Sony will announce a Slim PS3 at E3, and it will be available late August or Early September for $299.

PS3 will continue to sell well at $399 for quite some time, and Sony needs to focus on profits and software. With the right software people will be willing to pay $399, and the new adds showing off the aspects of PS3 beyond an expensive gaming machine are going to help show the mainstream what the PS3 is all about.

Next year I think the two most important things Sony needs to look at from a hardware prospective is b/c, and a slimmer model. These are both major selling points, and combine with FFXIII in Japan will make the sales go through the roof, even at $399. So then put a $299 price point on a slim PS3 w/ software b/c, and all the sudden it starts making things very interesting even if Microsoft cuts the price.

BRAND LOYALTY
This is a phenomenon that only occurs when a product is backward compatable. This is why the PS2 carried over so well from the PS1, and the Wii has carried over so well from the Gamecube. If Sony thinks people are going to go out and buy a PS3 when their PS2 breaks they are nuts. It is amazing how many people at work have asked me about b/c over the last few weeks, and either decide to get a Wii or just replace their PS2. If Sony wants brand loyalty they had better start being loyal to the brand.

The gap will continue to widen till at least August-September 2009.

I just hope some kind of price cut so it can start selling more.

I hope Sony can muster up a $100 price drop as it should end all those "Just wait until it hit $300" comments so they can be replaced with "The PS2 sold more than 75% of its total at $200 or less so PS3's best days are ahead" comments.

For me the sweet spot is probably around $270 as it would translate to about £200 or, if they ever reintroduce hardware BC, $320 (would make it around £250).

Hopefully it can come close enough next christmas so that a bundled game seals the deal (or I become rich in between).

I don't see M$ doing a price cut until late next year, at the earliest, and maybe not until the vaporware 360 slim is launched. The 360 is pushing MAJOR software and M$ is probably going to bank some serious dough this FY, even with the price cut.

If Sony's gaming division goes into the "red" for the upcoming qtr, it's going to be VERY hard to see how they can do a price cut. If they show a nice profit, that means they have gotten production cost low enough to cut prices early next year. Regardless of when they get a price cut, I don't see ps3 gaining 3-4 million cut into 360 lead in 2009...but you never know...

There will be no MS pricecut, although they can afford it. But they wont since Sony wont drop their price either. Its not because they dont want to, but because they cant afford it.

It would be a whole other story if there were no financial crisis to worry about. First of all, the ps3 would have sold better, even at 400 dollars. And Sony would have made a pricecut, probably already one of 50 dollars, and later in 2009 another one of 50 dollars.

But thats not the case, MS is in a far better position.

this all could of been said in my thread 09 ps3 price cut predictions

i don't think option 1 will happen option 2,3 are more likely especially 2 as sony has done that with there 80g and 40g back in 07

i think my prediction would be best for profit and sales wise though if they cut the price by 50 in march it won't do much against a 199$ arcade except cost sony money

I guess if the PS3 price cut is the elephant in the room then MS response is the mouse in the room.

worst case of all is that with either of your situation, PS3 doesn't outsell 360. (because you said worst case is like in 2008, which is not the worst. 2007, where 360 outsold Ps3 constantly would be worst case)

I honestly am disappointed by the prospect that most posters are unaware of the concept of affordability, and how that relates to the economic classes. Microsoft is tapping into a economic class that Sony cannot even make an appeal to. So Microsoft is appealing to the same economic group as Sony on one hand, and serving another group on the other hand that Sony cannot make a pitch to.

The result is even with the price cut. The PS3 is no longer a new product it is an old product now. This is a product with a lot of stigma, and it is not very popular. So while it could fight tooth and nail with one had. Sony still cannot touch the other hand. It will be very hard in the new year for Sony to beat Microsoft. Unless Japan pulls through for Sony, and sales are weaker globally.

That said if Sony is going to consider a price cut. I think it should be one cut late in the year. Possibly as late as the second half of October, or even the first half of November. That gives them a chance to obtain some profitability, and it assures that the cut can be larger. I say Sony should work diligently towards a $150 price cut.

Right now Microsoft and Sony have basically picked the upper price brackets clean. However Sony is still mired up in the famine. While Microsoft has worked its way into the cheap feast. Sony doesn't need just a comparative difference. They need to get down to the low end consumers. That is Microsoft's strength now, and its utterly unmolested by Sony.