The head of Sony games Ken Kutaragi said to Japanese economics publication Toyo Keizai today that Sony's PS3 strategy is "for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."
While this quote has been mildly ridiculed in blogs like Engadget, T3 , and (surprise surprise) Kotaku, these remarks taken in context may make more sense. The audience for whom the quote was intended also helps to qualify Kutaragi's remarks. Japan is only now crawling out of a recession that has lasted over a decade; low birth rates resulting in a dwindling population, along with the high Yen, mean a shrinking consumer market. At this point economists may want to hear of ways to motivate people to work, save, and buy. If the PS3 can do that in some ways, why not? According to analysts' predictions, Sony will be subsidizing the cost of the new console anyway. Still, the quote hints that the price point of the PS3 may be the highest ever for a games console. That's a pretty risky move, considering that the Xbox 360 will likely already have been out for at least a few months by the time the PS3 debuts.
http://www.1up.com/news/ps3-job
