Pachter: $299 PS3 would outsell 360, put Sony back in the game

36 Comments by Randy Nelson Jan 16th 2009 8:00PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

A day after it was tabulated that PlayStation 3 was outsold by Xbox 360 nearly 2-to-1 in December, industry analyst Michael Pachter has told GameDaily he believes Sony would outsell Microsoft if it dropped PS3's price to $299 -- the going rate for the 360 "Pro" system.

"I think that PS3 will sell well once competitively priced," Pachter said, adding, "Should [Sony] price at parity with Xbox 360 ($299), I think that PS3 sales would exceed 360 sales, and eventually, they could catch up." Sony's cheer squad shouldn't get too charged up yet, though. Pachter also said that, "At present, it doesn't look like that is happening any time soon, so Sony should be prepared to remain in third place until well after they cut price."

For its article, GameDaily spoke with several other analysts, all of which echoed the same sentiment: given its current standing and the state of the US economy, PS3 needs to be priced below $300 -- and, if it is, it will eventually overtake Xbox 360 in sales.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/16/pachter-299-ps3-would-outsell-360-put-sony-back-in-the-game/

I wonder how Patcher gets paid when all he does is exactly what a bunch of people do on this site for free.

"Oh look, if Sony just does this and that, then things will turn around. Let's not consider what competition may do to counterattack this, let's just assume they'll lay down and take it up the ass."

It outsold the 360 for nearly a year while being 400 dollars never being a cheaper alternative. MS had to slash the price twice in Europe to outsell the PS3.

It is obvious which console has more selling power.

It would? really? don't know about you but I think it would be the opposite actually...bankruptcy.

its easy, all you have to do is passing CFA and some other exams of certificates then you'll be earning 6 figure incomes simply repeating stuff that the general public already knows for months.

Well, duh!
All Pachter does is talk out of his ass. When he finally says something right (although obvious) we should trow him a bone. Or should we?

Some of Patcher's previous predictions:

"In 2010, Sony's going to have 55 per cent, Microsoft's going to have 35 per cent and Nintendo 10 per cent, with all three of those having plus or minus five per cent."

"I don't think there are four million people in the world who really want to play online games every month. World of Warcraft is such an exception. I frankly think it's the buzz factor, and eventually it will come back to the mean, maybe a million subscribers."

"I think it's prudent succession planning. Kutaragi is the visionary, and his work on PS3 was done at launch. They need to groom him to replace [big boss of the entire Sony Corporation Howard] Stringer."

A $299 PS3 might indeed outsell the 360... for about six months. Then Sony would announce that it was liquidating its assets, as the losses from selling the PS3 that far under cost would drive them out of business.

a 300$ PS3 would probably be facing a 150$ 360 arcade. PS3 is still way too hardcore to be mass market friendly. Most people who would purchase PS3 at 300$ are probably 360 owners already. Less and less people are buying PS3 for blu-ray since blu-ray players are cheaper and offer better quality. Sony has to focus on gamers to obtain volume and gamers want to pay less.

Does he not realise the damage that would be done to sonys finances?