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[DMeisterJ]

I'm sure SCEA is under pressure from everyone to cut prices in order to stimulate sales, even Sony Corp. as a whole. The PS3 is a huge money-sink, and they are still not breaking even on the console, if recent financial results are any clue. I do think they will price cut the system by 100 dollars in Fiscal 2009. It was widely reported in mid-late 2008 that the neww 45/45 nm cpu/gpu were being manufactured starting in Feb 2009, which had just passed, so it's likely, if that report was true, that they were able to shave a significant portion off of the price of the PS3 system since smaller cpu/gpu = less heat = less heatsinks = less fans, and if that is the case, then that could make the case for the infamous PS3 slim rumor which would further cut costs by less material being used on the platform, lower weight, so lower shipping costs, and less space taken up in retailer warehouses, so potentially, more sold to retailer which is what matters.

So with that very long sentence said, I believe that the 100 dollars off of the PS3 price will happen in three ways.

A) PS3 Slim, and price cut of 100 dollars at the same point in time (if I had to guess a time, E3

2) 50 dollar price cut at end of Fiscal 2008, and another by the end of Calendar year 2008 with a PS3 Slim accompanying the second one.

iii) Two fifty dollar price-cuts with not PS3 slim happening at E3 in the summer, and another one by the end of the fiscal year

Obviously the whole post I made is conjecture, but I'd be surprised if it didn't turn out any of those ways.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Nah. A $150 should do WONDERS to the PS3 health.

Wait, why stop there. Let's do a $200 price cut!. but shoot, that doesn't make it the cheapest. Well, then, $250 will do ONEDERS for the PS3's health!

Yes, such a price drop would do... "oneders", but to maximize sales at each price point, they really should slowly lower the price rather than drop it into the basement all at once, don't you think? Kind of basic business, there.

Spoiler

hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[herod]

smaller cpu/gpu = less heat = less heatsinks = less fans.

Also, more chips per wafer, which is the main cost saving.

 

[Dabanton]

Mark Rein gets it.

Mark Rein was very bullish before UT3 came out for the PS3 i seem to recall at that time Epic and MS were having a lovers tiff over the price of maps or something but once those PS3 UT3 sales came in he changed his tune...

 

[A Twisty Fluken]

Yes, such a price drop would do... "oneders", but to maximize sales at each price point, they really should slowly lower the price rather than drop it into the basement all at once, don't you think? Kind of basic business, there.

Spoiler

hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

One option is better for business, the other option more quickly lets fanboys feel better (or rather, sends them into deeper denial when it doesn't change anything). It's obvious which goal is more important.

 

[Vinci]

Okay, guys ...

Take my response(s) from any of the previous 'Sony am doomed / PS3 sucks' threads. Particularly if they point out the fallacy of comparing Sony this gen to Nintendo in any gen ever.

Thanks.

 

[lowrider007]

For me Sony innovated in that they were the one's that brough 3D to the gaming forefront. But online innovation has been all Microsoft for the last 2 gens. You realize the only reason that we are at the current level is because of the original XBOX live right? Sony has been playing catchup for the last 5 years, albeit much better than Nintendo who does not seem to give a shit.

I'll leave the HOME comment alone as I have not tried to use it in month. I'm going to wait until it is official and not the BETA so I can really judge it (currently for me it is a sad, sad waste of resources).

Here's hoping they do catchup one day as that will be the only time we have a hope in hell of LIVE being free. Once the do, then the fun begins and we start to reap the benefits

When I said Sony have always been great innovators I didn't just mean in gaming, I meant in the electronics/technology industry as a whole, look at the formats Sony has introduced to us over the years, Betamax, Betacam, Compact Disc, 3.5 inch Floppy Disk, Video8, DAT, Hi8, Minidisc, Digital Betacam, miniDV, Memory Stick, Digital8, HDV, Blu-ray Disc, and S/PDIF (Sony-Philips digital interface, (Hi-Fi audio Fibre optic interface), and that's not even delving into the hardware innovations that range from Triniton displays to Walkman's/Discman's to the first Playstation etc, sometimes I think people forget how much Sony have done over the years to help shape our lives with technological innovations.

 

[HiResDes]

At least it will secure a strong second place for Sony and a more dominant presence than Microsoft in the living room (which they are very concerned about).

Strong second place? Even if Sony continued to outsell MS by 25%, it still would take a while before they could catch given MS's headstart and decent 2008.

 

[Cruzader]

Sweet another thread made into a fanboy jerk-around war thread.

All you guys need to remember. Wii single handled all your asses.

Good Day!

 

[Dragon]

Sweet another thread made into a fanboy jerk-around war thread.

All you guys need to remember. Wii single handled all your asses.

Good Day!

Hypocrites abound!

 

[Barrett2]

Sweet another thread made into a fanboy jerk-around war thread.

All you guys need to remember. Wii single handled all your asses.

Good Day!

"single handled"

You guys really do need to remember

 

[wackojackosnose]

Sweet another thread made into a fanboy jerk-around war thread.

All you guys need to remember. Wii single handled all your asses.

Good Day!

I am so turned on right now.

 

[thaOwner]

"single handled"

You guys really do need to remember

:lol

There isn't anything in this thread that hasn't been said before. Some analyst need to research more before writing a piece.

 

[Arpharmd B]

Even a 50$ price cut could get Sony within/above 360 month over month in US and Europe. Japan it would help sustain the momentum they have built the last few weeks.

A hundred dollar price cut isn't out of question. Alot smarter to do two 50$ drops though.

People talking about 200$ PS3's.. I'd guess that to be the PS3's final price of the gen, Blu-Ray drive + HD is why that will never happen while this gen is still relevant.

-edit- thinking about this realistically, is it smart for Sony to do anything more than 50$ this year? Think about it, even if they pull out all the stops, cut 100$. Let's say hypothetically this radical price drops means they outsold Microsoft by 3 million units this year. That leaves them 4-5 million behind still, that's if MS does nothing. It still means they are 3rd, it just means that they lost a shit ton of money selling those systems below cost. Is this a smart move for Sony?

As for developers, start following the multi-console strategy. PS360 can be the best way to sell a shit ton of games (Capcom says hi).

 

[Vinci]

Even a 50$ price cut could get Sony within/above 360 month over month in US and Europe.

And this would matter if this were simply a pissing contest. Sony should aim for profit at this point, not to earn 2nd place in some war that obviously meant very little to them in the first place given they sold off their leadership of the industry for a format win.

Basically, I'd prefer the company play things smart and keep from bleeding any more money. They are hurt enough already.

 

[Eteric Rice]

And this would matter if this were simply a pissing contest. Sony should aim for profit at this point, not to earn 2nd place in some war that obviously meant very little to them in the first place given they sold off their leadership of the industry for a format win.

Basically, I'd prefer the company play things smart and keep from bleeding any more money. They are hurt enough already.

Especially in this economy. You don't want to lose more money than you have to.

 

[Arpharmd B]

And this would matter if this were simply a pissing contest. Sony should aim for profit at this point, not to earn 2nd place in some war that obviously meant very little to them in the first place given they sold off their leadership of the industry for a format win.

Basically, I'd prefer the company play things smart and keep from bleeding any more money. They are hurt enough already.

You're totally right read my post. After I posted I thought about this further, and was thinking exactly what you were, hence the edit.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

How many threads have we had on this topic, and it always seems to boil down to "Price drops will save PS3".

You guys still can't possibly believe the PS3 will surge past the 360 based on price drops.

 

[neojubei]

How many threads have we had on this topic, and it always seems to boil down to "Price drops will save PS3".

You guys still can't possibly believe the PS3 will surge past the 360 based on price drops.

A price cut will help sales, so why is that a bad thing? And what does this have to do with the 360?

 

[PistolGrip]

27 months later (39th month) MS has sold 26 millions 360s while SONY has sold 19 million.

So the difference has increased from 5 to 7 millions, in conclusion THE PS3 IS NOT CATCHING UP.

If you are speaking about momentum; in the last year according to your graph, both consoles sold 10 millions, so the conclusion remains the same.

I still don't know why PS3 fanboys still think the PS3 will catch up or why they think the PS3 is selling better. Also the PS3 is loosing in software sales, compared to both the Wii and the X360 in terms of installed base, so let's not even start with raw (real) numbers.

It all the depends on how the 360 and PS3 sales curve looks like. What people are predicting is that 360 sales will collapse a year or more ahead of the PS3, that would mean that PS3 would have a year or more to catch up without competition. Under this belief, the PS3 will sell more during the complete time on the market.

If the PS3 happens to outlive the competition, they could perhaps even court 360 owners and play down any newer console iteration from the competition. Which is not at all impossible since the hardware is considered to have a longer life span in terms of tech.

 

[Paracelsus]

How many threads have we had on this topic, and it always seems to boil down to "Price drops will save PS3".

You guys still can't possibly believe the PS3 will surge past the 360 based on price drops.

Then why is this thread still open?

If a pricecut can't save PS3, PS3 will keep selling at this pace.

If PS3 doesn't increase the userbase, some thirds will abandon the platform.

Sony should drop the price to expand its base, yet the pricecut won't work.

And back to square one.

 

[neojubei]

Reading all the old posts it looks like all of the usual trolls are here. So i guess nothing productive or interesting can come from this topic.

My 2 cents that will fall on deaf ears of trolls is that a price drop for the PS3 will help spur sales which will benefit Sony and Game publishers looking to sell more software. Anyone against Sony selling more PS3s are just trolls.

 

[ViperVisor]

I am staying in the no price cut camp.

Sony can't gamble when they are already down.

And pubs threats are nothing to worry about. They have either already got games started or they have left. Now is too late for sitting on the fence.

 

[Psychotext]

It all the depends on how the 360 and PS3 sales curve looks like.

The problem is that right now (in the US and Japan at least), that sales curve is heading downwards. That never happened to the 360... but maybe it means that the PS3 will see a massive increase some time soon.

 

[Vinci]

It all the depends on how the 360 and PS3 sales curve looks like. What people are predicting is that 360 sales will collapse a year or more ahead of the PS3, that would mean that PS3 would have a year or more to catch up without competition. Under this belief, the PS3 will sell more during the complete time on the market.

If the 360's sales cease, it will be because Microsoft has moved to the system's successor. If that happens, support for the PS3 - given the 360 part deux is technologically superior enough - will evaporate. The only reason the console is maintaining 3rd party games is due to the relative ease of porting from the 360. You realize that, don't you? If porting from MS's next system to Sony's current one is too difficult, developers will stop supporting the PS3 entirely.

If the PS3 happens to outlive the competition, they could perhaps even court 360 owners and play down any newer console iteration from the competition. Which is not at all impossible since the hardware is considered to have a longer life span in terms of tech.

Once the new generation begins, the PS3's ability to court developers will be non-existent. And this time, next-gen starts whenever any of the three players says it does. In actuality, the company least impacted by a generational shift will be Nintendo.

 

[Ranger X]

Either way Sony is playing with fire. So since I would be playing with fire anyways, i'd chose to drop my price to at least sustain my brand recognition. True profit could come on the PS4.

.

 

[jakonovski]

Sad thing is that when Sony makes a price cut the people bitching about the price are going to make excuses not to buy it.

So in other words it's a bad product beyond the price tag?

 

[CorwinB]

And this would matter if this were simply a pissing contest. Sony should aim for profit at this point, not to earn 2nd place in some war that obviously meant very little to them in the first place given they sold off their leadership of the industry for a format win.

But was that the intended result ? To me, it seems that Sony's woes are mostly the result of two things :
- Complete reliance on Ken Kutaragi's vision to design and implement the PS3, which lead to a very feature-complete product, but at a steep price (not to mention late to the market)
- Extreme arrogance from some Sony's execs (including Kutaragi himself) regarding the chances of the PS3 on the market based on PS1 and PS2 popularity (include your favorite LOL-worthy quote here like "get another job", "5 millions without games", "It's not a game machine"...)

I don't think Sony expected the current PS3 situation, to be honest, even if this meant winning the format war. I think most of the high-ups expected to have their cake and eat it too.

 

[Wizman23]

You guys bringing up HOME are cracking me up.

Home? HOME?? You mean the biggest joke of this generation? If PSN is so great and innovative why do all my friends have to get into a party on Xbox Live and talk through there to actually play games with each other on PSN? Finding your friends in ANY game on the 360 is a cakewalk and xbox live is set up in a way to do it EASILY. PSN???? Forget it. PSN runs well meaning no lag, thats the only compliment I have on it. It is still light years behind Xbox Live...even light years behind the Xbox Live we had on the original xbox.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Am I looking at this wrong or does this chart say that the 360 has been outselling the PS3 since the PS3 launch? Why's that a good thing?

 

[YoungHav]

The only possible way the PS3 could catch up in the US would be a price drop and an exclusive FF7 remake. The fanboys would come out the woodwork and buy systems. Other than that, PS3 missed its window and the $600 initial price and "PS3 has no games" meme continues to haunt them. MS would have to severely shoot themselves in the foot to lose the US at this point.

 

[Rolf NB]

If the 360's sales cease, it will be because Microsoft has moved to the system's successor. If that happens, support for the PS3 - given the 360 part deux is technologically superior enough - will evaporate. The only reason the console is maintaining 3rd party games is due to the relative ease of porting from the 360. You realize that, don't you? If porting from MS's next system to Sony's current one is too difficult, developers will stop supporting the PS3 entirely.

Watch Microsoft release a console with a Cell derivative as the CPU and a Blu-ray drive.

 

[Vagabundo]

A price cut will help sales, so why is that a bad thing? And what does this have to do with the 360?

Price drop surges dont tend to last. You get the bump and then it drops back to a similar level.

The PS3 will not surge past the 360 this gen in installed base. This gen is over as far as Console Wars(tm) are concerned.

But - and this is a bigass 'but', worth taking note of - PS3 will continue to get software support as part of the combined HD super-platform.

Some of the money will shift to Wii dev, but you'll get bucket loads of HD games people, so no fretting and wringing of hands. Chilllllllllllll....

 

[Tideas]

Am I looking at this wrong or does this chart say that the 360 has been outselling the PS3 since the PS3 launch? Why's that a good thing?

err you're reading it wrong. It's saying the Ps3 has been outselling the 360 if you match up their launch date (i.e., time period after launch).

It's saying after 27 months from Launch, the PS3 has sold 18 million while when the 360 was 27 months from launch, ito nly sold 15 million.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

A price cut will help sales, so why is that a bad thing? And what does this have to do with the 360?

Even a 50$ price cut could get Sony within/above 360 month over month in US and Europe. Japan it would help sustain the momentum they have built the last few weeks.

It all the depends on how the 360 and PS3 sales curve looks like. What people are predicting is that 360 sales will collapse a year or more ahead of the PS3, that would mean that PS3 would have a year or more to catch up without competition. Under this belief, the PS3 will sell more during the complete time on the market.

You tell me.

(Though I know you won't, instead insisting that i'm just trolling, but whatever.)

 

[Vinci]

I don't think Sony expected the current PS3 situation, to be honest, even if this meant winning the format war. I think most of the high-ups expected to have their cake and eat it too.

Yes, I think they wanted to do both at the same time - but someone in the company had to factor in the possibility that the price would drive away consumers that otherwise would've grabbed the PS2's successor without a second's hesitation. Seriously, they had to have done some sort of analysis factoring in which meant more between the two: Format war or console war. And someone said, "It'd be great if the PlayStation brand could help us do both, but the format war has greater potential for profit." This is a huge corporation. Hyping their console isn't the same as being blind and ignorant.

 

[Tutomos]

What drop the price just to outsell a console that's not doing particularly well either.

 

[Vinci]

Watch Microsoft release a console with a Cell derivative as the CPU and a Blu-ray drive.

I cannot see MS doing this on either front. Their primary target since entering the console war was to hurt Sony. Doing this would only help strengthen the company they've basically declared war on.

 

[Yaweee]

Am I looking at this wrong or does this chart say that the 360 has been outselling the PS3 since the PS3 launch? Why's that a good thing?

Wow. Not only did you miss the title of the chart, but I think you might be red-green color blind, as well.

 

[DanteFox]

FINALLY. I was hoping that when Wii's install base became massive enough, developers would be forced to take notice. If you can't entice the developers, you can at least forcefully entice the publishers/investors.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

err you're reading it wrong. It's saying the Ps3 has been outselling the 360 if you match up their launch date (i.e., time period after launch).

It's saying after 27 months from Launch, the PS3 has sold 18 million while when the 360 was 27 months from launch, ito nly sold 15 million.

Right, but if you align by PS3 launch then the 360 is ahead. Seems rather meaningless either way.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Second place is overrated anyway.

 

[HAOHMARU]

If Sony can get the PS3's price down to something more reasonable, I guarantee you there's an incredibly large portion of PS2 fans still waiting to get their hands on a PS3.

This classic gem never gets old.

I don't know if there is a "large portion" but I am one of those PS2 owners that is waiting. For one thing, I have a bunch of PS2 games I am still playing through. There is no need for me to drop $400 on a console when I am enjoying what I already have.

I have no idea whether or not PS2 is cannibalizing PS3 console sales, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

 

[mYm|17|]

love my ps3 and i only got it for $270

 

[Karma]

It all the depends on how the 360 and PS3 sales curve looks like. What people are predicting is that 360 sales will collapse a year or more ahead of the PS3, that would mean that PS3 would have a year or more to catch up without competition. Under this belief, the PS3 will sell more during the complete time on the market.

If the PS3 happens to outlive the competition, they could perhaps even court 360 owners and play down any newer console iteration from the competition. Which is not at all impossible since the hardware is considered to have a longer life span in terms of tech.

I see the PS3 sales collapsing before the 360. The 360 could get to $129 or $99. PS3 might make it to $199. If the Xbox 720 and PS4 launch at $299. Why would anyone buy a PS3 for $199 when you could get a 720 or PS4 for $100 more? The 360 and Wii will exist for awhile during next Gen. The PS3 will not.

 

[herod]

I see the PS3 sales collapsing before the 360. The 360 could get to $129 or $99. PS3 might make it to $199. If the Xbox 720 and PS4 launch at $299. Why would anyone buy a PS3 for $199 when you could get a 720 or PS4 for $100 more? The 360 and Wii will exist for awhile during next Gen. The PS3 will not.

Agreed. PS3 just does not have the strength in depth that the PS2 had. Hard to see how it will get it either, because imo it seems like the DS has taken all the smaller, riskier more interesting titles due to lower cost of entry barriers and much larger market to reduce risk.

One thing is for certain: PS3 is no PS2, and imo it never will be. It doesn't have much reason to exist after PS4 is out.

 

[____]

The 360 and Wii will exist for awhile during next Gen. The PS3 will not.

Can't agree there. Unless you mean they "will" exist but continue to be outsold by the 360 and Wii, which I still don't agree with, but as far as them discontinuing the PS3 before the 360 and Wii I just can't see that happening at all.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Is there a theory as to why 360 sales would collapse before PS3 sales?

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Sad thing is that when Sony makes a price cut the people bitching about the price are going to make excuses not to buy it.

According to GAF, the PS3 was a super value and steal at $599.

love my ps3 and i only got it for $270

I got mine for $220 and after fiddling around with it for 6 months, IMO it's the system is worth about $299 right now.

 

[Kagari]

They really do need to drop the price.