Pachter is at it again: PS3 price drop by Thanksgiving, $399 for 80GB next year

Industry analysts have recently been buzzing about a PS3 price drop, but our favorite one, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter, comes right out and says it in his predictions for North American sales: he expects to see a PS3 price cut before Thanksgiving.

"Although it is likely that retailers will soon run out of the discontinued 60Gb PS3, we expect a price cut for the new 80Gb model (without a game bundle) to $499 some time before Thanksgiving," Pachter predicted.

Pachter is also still sticking with his other recent prediction, saying that we should see another PS3 price drop in early 2008, but now he adds a price to this prediction.

"We believe that the company is interested in subsidizing sales of the console in order to stabilize its market share in the games market and grow its lead in the high-definition DVD market," said Pachter. "We expect a price cut no later than April, likely to $399 for the 80Gb model."

He also gets back to the potential PS2 holiday season price drop we told you about earlier, and he even lumps the Nintendo DS into the action: 

"Although we do not expect another PS3, PSP, or 360 price cut this year (nor one for the Wii), we think a cut for the PS2 or DS is possible," Pachter added. "Any hardware price reduction could serve as a catalyst for sales growth later in the year."

[Via Gamasutra]