One topic which has come up in recent weeks is rumors of a price cut on sonys flagship product the PlayStation 3 following some less than steller sales according to NPD data compared to its rivals in america. Currently in america the PlayStation 3 retails at a price of $399.99 for the 80GB version compared to the $299 price for the 60GB Xbox 360. Now this $100 difference may not seem like a lot but in the current economic climate it is for the average buyer.
Now it may seem like a price cut is the way foward as it will help push those gamers who are currently sitting on the fence on whenever to buy one or not over and will boost the sales in the short term, however chances are that boost will only occur for a short amount of time.
What also needs to be taken into account is that the holiday sales are over and we are now entering the slow period for games sales so would a price cut be worth it. For example a $100 price cut may increase sales an average of 20% over the next few months, however for this 20% increase sony will lose 25% of there revenue on the console so from a business view point it really won’t be worth it.
I personally believe even with the console being more expensive, sony can maintain respectable sales for the next few months. Rather than cut the price, better marketing with alot more focus on Blu-ray will benefit the console’s sales, giving the large Post-xmas sales of HDTV’s as there is still a large amount of the potential market unaware of the PS3’s capabilities.
Not only with this benfit, there are also a string of high profile games which will be coming out in the next few months which will help maintain the PS3’s consoles sales such as Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5 and of course Killzone 2. Now Killzone 2 is sony’s big chance to win over gamers who are yet to purchase a PS3, heavy marketing of this game will do sales no harm.
Overall you can come to the quick answer and say yes it does need one, however look a little deeper and there is no reason why at its current price point that the PS3 can’t achieve good sales during the quiet period for the gaming industry.
Do you think that the PS3 needs a price cut, we would love to here your views in the comment section below
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Tags: opinion, Playstation 3, price cut
December 30, 2008 at 9:07 pm
The PS3 needs a pricecut but Sony will gradually drop it the same way they dropped the price of the PS2.
December 30, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Yes it does need a price cut so more people can buy one and for a cheaper price, because for me right it’s out of my reach
December 30, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Just a thought: “Winning the war” apparently means to sell most consoles. Well, if Sony now reduced the price to say, 1$, the PS3 would have sold over a hundred millions in the next week!! And therefore “Winning the war”! BUT!! Sony would probably go bankrupt! Sony’s goal is to make profit! If they want profit they can’t really do a price drop, although it would help indeed. They don’t NEED it, but it could help… With all the stuff you get, you should be happy anyway!
December 30, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Sony should have reduced the price, maybe $49, for the holiday push. While profitability is important, long term market share is even more valuable. If a $50 drop in the system will generate a 3-5 game attach rate (or even 3-5 over the fiscal year) then Sony would break even taking into account the income made from game licensing.
As Sony decreases the overall cost per unit, their profitability would then continue to rise.
The problem with this scenario is that it doesn’t improve profitability NOW which seems to be the overall motive.
Its a win the game division in the short term but it may end up being a total loss in the long term especially if Sony is unable to re-establish its dominance in the near future. Remember the XBOX 720 is on the horizon.
Sony must act soon or simply be happy as #3 – (The Sony Gamecube)
December 31, 2008 at 12:29 am
no pricedrop needed, the avrage Joe is just cheap..
December 31, 2008 at 8:41 am
Sony needs a price drop badly, especially since a lot of former exclusives are now going multiplatform. Or they could risk the potentially embarrassing situation of games like Final Fantasy XIII and Tekken 6 boosting XBox 360 sales more than PS3 sales next year.
December 31, 2008 at 11:20 am
Sony are suffering from Arrogant Prick Syndrome, which often occurs when a console manufacturer reached the top of the pile.
You only need to look over the previous statements their top brass have made about the PS3. Bullshit like – people being more discerning, and understanding that paying over the odds for their console would make them feel superior to rival console owners. It’s like they suddenly decided that they were selling a perfume, and trying to make themselves expensive, exclusive and the ultimate in desire.
As i’ve just read in an article, and totally agree with – who on earth tries to push a new console, and at the same time try to create a new optical storage solution (bluray in case anyone’s wondering) at the same time??
Bluray was a massive gamble on their part. They thought just as the DVD format pushed massive sales of the PS2, that they could do the same with PS3. The big difference being – sony didn’t create DVD!
Bluray won the hi-def format war, but sony are hardly sitting smug amongst their spoils are they?
We also have the whole backwards compatibility fiasco with the 60gb version of the console, which was removed, to cut costs, along with other minor spec changes, but with no benefits to customers.
Why aren’t the US and UK prices of the machines comparible?
$399 is roughly equivalent to £200 in reality, but sony would have us in the UK believe that $399 is actually equal to £299 ($600 roughly).
They even tried to tell us that is was due to VAT, but we wouldn’t understand that because we’re not hotshot executives.
Even now sony can’t comprehend a simple fact:
dropping the price on the console, and accepting losses is still not suicide for them because the real money is in software sales.
With an extra 20 million consoles sold, how much money could they stand to make from the games being sold?? the attach rate to consoles will be fairly high (probably around 3 games +), and with a lot of very good games out on the console (multiformat as well as exclusives) they’d be back with a bang.
My xbox live account expires in September 2009. IF the ps3 price comes down to an acceptable level, i won’t be renewing my live account again. There must be millions of people in the same boat.
I don’t want to pay to play online, but right now the ps3 is a joke of an option.
sony have themselves to blame for their current ps3 plight, and they’re just going to have to collectively bend over and take one for the team.
December 31, 2008 at 6:29 pm
You pay for quality, everybody on the planet knows that the PS3 is the best gaming console out there, however knowing something and being able to afford it are 2 different things, i mean, everybody also knows that a 42″ – 50″ LCD full 1080 Television set is the best out there as well, though not everybody owns one.
The PS3 has the best hardware, the best functionality, the best games AND it doesn’t explode a third of the time, yet it get’s outsold by the Wii and the 360 because they’re cheaper. In short, Sony do NEED a price cut, i don’t think games like Killzone 2 will change that. I mean, if someone can’t afford a PS3 at it’s current price, they’re still not going to be able to afford it at the same price once Killzone 2 comes out.
The good news is that PS3 production costs have dropped significantly over the last 2 years and with Blu – Ray drives being quite cheap now, a PS3 pricecut is seeming more and more likely in 2009.
January 1, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I already have a Ps3 so I don’t care if they drop the price.
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