Per a little article over at MCV, Kaz Kirai claims that PS3's greatest problem was never the launch price point, but in fact meeting the supply and demand for the console. Here's a tidbit from the original interview:
“I think the original price-point was the right price-point,” Hirai stated. “This was evidenced by the issues we had at launch when we couldn’t supply enough units to consumers in the Japanese market and the North American market, and it was a huge challenge to try and meet that demand because of all the production issues we had.
Ok, Kaz? Let me help you out here. Coming down from copious amounts of illegal substances is always a challenge. Just breathe in and focus on what I'm saying. THE PS3 IS FREAKIN EXPENSIVE. Now repeat it slowly, over and over, so it sinks into your consciousness. Maybe it will be of some use to you in understanding the reactions of the general public to your console.
It greatly disappoints me that Sony continually tries to find excuses for the issues that PS3 has suffered, but it's even more distressing to hear them saying that supply is the issue when the console has been readily available in just about every store I've set foot in in the past 9 months. At least this is not as bad as the time Jack Tretton offered to give us twelve hundred bucks for each PS3 we could find on stores shelves. Last time I checked, I believe Penny Arcade raked in about $13k on that.
A plea for Sony: PLEASE stop condescending to us and PLEASE face reality. PS3 is a beautiful console and it is worth the price. Now either push out a game library that makes the price easier to swallow, or give it a price break so gamers will be willing to buy it while that happens. Either way, it's better for you and better for us. I guess I should have seen this downward spiral coming after those damn baby commercials, but I was blinded by dumb hope.
[Thanks Joe!]
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Contest:
11:46 AM on 10.01.2007
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(Plays pinball for a bit)
Anyway, is it possible that Kaz's perspective on "supply problems" came from stores, buying into the hype that this would be the greatest electronics launch in the history of mankind, overbought. So while there was plenty of units "in the channel" (to use retailer-speak), all Sony saw was a huge gulf between supply and retailer demand. Once the stores had them, they couldn't sell them, but frankly, strictly on a spreadsheet, number-crunching basis, that wasn't Sony's problem.
Not to excuse his or Tretton's dumass remarks or anything
Hirai is full of excuses though.
i cant believe people when it comes to the price of the ps3
i have the 360, not cause of price but because at the time most of my friends had it and it had more games out
price wise? yall cant be serious..
for me its the same price
i paid
399 for the 360, 50 for an additional controller, 50 dollars for live, 20/30 dollars for the charge and play kit, and the best one yet, 100 dollars for the wifi cause i aint running cable in my house no more, its all wireless for me, my wii came with built in wireless
so thats 399 + 99 + 59 + 20 + 50 = roughly 620
with the ps3 only thing i would have to buy is the extra contoller so that would be what? 599 + 50 - roughly 650?
a 30 dollar difference?
price for me is not the issue its the games or lack there of..
i really dont understand how people are so easily blinded by the price
its one thing to say that at least MS gives you options, true, and thats a good thing, but majority of the people i know dont want a core 360, run wireless at home and need more than one controller, oh and marketplace and xbla and multigamer games are worthless without the 50 dollar live account
so yea thats my final total and i'm sticking to it..
yeah if little timmy's mom doesnt want to shell out for live, still runs dial up and only buys a core and timmy has no friends to play with, then sure its cheaper
PS3 will be getting a kick this fall with Ratchet & Clank, Drake's Firtune, and UT3, but it still isn't worth it to me at the current price. I'll wait 'til they drop it $400 AND package it with (at least) component cables. I don't wanna spend an extra $40 right out the gate on top of an extra controller and some games.
Does he realize if the higher price was "the right price" that a lower price should be selling more? It's the opposite right now. So, wtf?
Both KAZ and jak trenton were right. For the month of December. It's to bad for jack trenton the article quoting him @ 1200 a ps3 was run in January/ February.
Right now it makes not to much sense to drop the PS3 price. Even the Wii is having trouble selling.
If thanksgiving comes around and he is still spewing this crap, I'm gonna have ta sell my Sony stock.
PS3 =500
1 game a month=12x60=720$
gaming for a year = 1220= too fucking much
I'm getting way fewer games than I did at the beginning of the 'last gen.'
i rent and if i keep its at a rental price not full
the month of november alone has about 10 plus games i want to check out
aint no way i'm buying each one, but i'll rent them and check them out
kaz: 0
But 360 has better games so thats why I bought it. I am waiting for a PS3 to get to 400 before I buy it... but its prolly gonna be 600 after games, controllers, etc
Sony's Lies.
It's what's for dinner. This ain't anything fresh.
Looking at what Lord Raoh and king3vbo have mentioned, the 360 isn't at all much cheaper... yes it did have a nice $200 less of a price tag, but that's before extra stuff like several years of xboxlive (4years=$200) and some such; when all is said and done, the PS3 is only a little bit more expensive than the 360 (even cheaper for those that buy the hddvd). If the price for the 360 is acceptable to people, than the price of the PS3 should be as well.
The PS3 REAL problem was not it's price but it's library. The PS3 had no good games for it, there's Resitance and warhawk which both i heard are good, Lair is a love of hate kind of game, and Heavenly sword looks good but is rather short... other than that the PS3 doesn't really have anything... It's not that $600 is too much, it's that the PS3 is not WORTH $600... big difference right there... even at a lower price like $400 the PS3 would probably be doing almost as bad with it's lack of games.
Just think about this... If the PS3 had games like MGS4, FFXIII, White knight story, or any other damn system-seller game as it's launch titles, along with other hit games coming soon, would the PS3 be in a bad spot with the $600 price tag? I think it would not cause with a strong library the $600 looks like money well spent.
A heavy price isn't doing the major damage to the PS3, it's the serious lack of great exclusives that is doing the job.
PS3 is a beautiful console and it is worth the price.
is absolutely key. All they need to do is frame the price by calling their 1337. It's just really astounding the way they can completely deny the high price tag.
They had dusty PS3's everywhere.
It was the price.
Denial is not just a river in Egypt.
I'm glad you said this. Rather than just bashing Sony or it's expensive console, you give a solution. I find that most video game websites just like to say...Sony sucks...FIN. Good article.
People don't walk into a Wal-Mart thinking to themselves, "Hey, in reality, the 360 would be more expensive because you have to buy the wifi which is a hundred bucks, xbox live for 50 bucks and blah blah blah". Most people wouldn't really think ahead like that.
They see the 360's console price as $400 and nothing more. This is why PS3s don't sell because of that $600 price tag.
Also, 360 ftw.
sony=teh retarded
O.
L.
Did Sony sell everything on launch? Yes, pretty much. That means that a) the price was market clearing b) price was under the market clearing point. Either way, the price was not too high. Anyone claiming otherwise has obviously no understanding about economics.
People are arguing that the price is too high, because they personally think that it is too high. I think it's very funny when people with a) no understanding about the basic principles of economics b) no stake in the company c) no insight in the strategy of Sony speculate about their longterm strategy and incremental parts (pricing, marketing, etc.) of that strategy.
Really people, get a grip.
No Shit.