You already know that as of September 5th, today, Xbox 360 console prices have been cut across the board. The $199 Arcade bundle has received the most buzz, with its pricing coming in below the Wii's price point. Should Sony, with their $399 console, be worried about this?
They aren't, or so they say. Julie Han of Sony's corporate communications tells Gamasutra: "We'll obviously see the natural lift [in sales] with the price cut -- but how sustainable is that in the long term?"
"We're really confident that consumers are making choices driven by value," she says, "and we know PS3 offers that value across the board, with the built-in Blu-ray player the broadest and deepest software lineup in the industry, with LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, Motorstorm... we're quite confident our holiday sales will be good."
With the US economy in the state that it is in, you can't help but think that these lower priced systems will be more popular than another that costs twice its price. Sony hopes that people will think about investing in their ten-year strategy with the PS3.
"With the recession, as people are... on tighter budgets, they're going to be much more conscious of how they spend their money," says Han.
Should Sony be worried? Or should they stick to their guns now that they've finally hit their stride?
Contest:
10:40 AM on 09.05.2008
| 
Dale North09.05.2008 10:40 (19 minutes ago)
I could have swore it wasn't there when I left for work this morning.
I owned both systems, my 360 died, and ps3 died
Thankfully 360 was under warranty and I got it fixed. My ps3...no warranty and I have to pay 200 bucks to fix it. The question is...wtf do I want to play? THERE IS NOTHING.
Right now the only good game is Tales of Vesperia which happens to be a 360 exclusive. Yeah I could fix my ps3, but for what? I can easily play silent hill 5, dead space, far cry 2, fable 2, Resident Evil 5 or any of the other possibly shitty games on the 360.
Is there a reason I should pay 200 dollars to fix my ps3?
I don't think so, at least for right now.
Heck the only reason i'm really pissed is because now i have to either fix my ps3 or buy a ps2 to play Persona 4 this winter. Yeah I had a ps2, but I gave it away after i got my ps3, (no reason to keep it since my ps3 has BC).
Byrc, that's a shame, you must be the first guy I've heard complain of a dead PS3.
I lol'd
On the price cut though, 200 for a console without a HDD, Wireless, Memory Card isn't really practical. Live is hands down Xbox's greatest feature and downloading videos, demos, additional content is impossible without a HDD. Even if the 200 bundle comes with a memory card, that will let you save some games, and maybe download 1 or 2 demos / xbla games. The 299 is the better choice I think, which makes it pretty comparable with the ps3 considering for 100 more (399) you get wifi, bigger hdd, bluray, and online is free. In the long run the PS3 is a good investment, because even if you purchase a cheap 360, you'll still be paying a few hundred extra just to get the stuff you need.
Hdd are not cheap, near a 100 for just measly 20 gigs, and their wifi adapter for some fucking reason costs 100 as well. Just with those two accessories catches you close to the ps3, at least in price, but you dont get a HD player.
Seriously, Holyetheline, you're gonna play the "not enough good games card", really only 5 good games? Lets say were only talking exclusives.
Uncharted
Warhawk
Metal Gear 4
Ratchet and Clank
Resistance
Disgaea 3
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
Heavenly Sword
Not to mention several games coming out in the next few months (SOCOM, Little Big Planet). Along with the non exclusives, which most big titles are across both systems.
But they know this, and are just spinning BS as they decide whether or not they can follow suit in some way. The HDD upgrade won't take the place of a $100 or even $50 price cut to most consumers.
you won't have this value you speak of until you make all PS3's made in the future PS2 compatible.
at least the 360 is TRYING to make BC there...
I still get people wanting a 80 gig BC and pretty much won't buy it. But then the people who want it for blu ray basically shut down any other thought. I expect about 3 more PS3 SKUs to hit the market after this holiday.
Price stays the same while competitor's price goes down...well, you do the math.
They're right. PS3 is the best value but that's not the whole battle. 360s sell. Despite it being a lesser value, they've been selling in the face of the PS3. A lower price for 360 doesn't mean people won't care and go get PS3s because they're better values, it means gamers can now join HD next gen goodness for $200. That's a great value in itself.
HAHAHAHANO
It has no RPGs at the moment though... I'm going to buy a 360 soon to get my fix.
That doesn't mean people will be more likely to buy PS3s. More than anything they'll be more likely to get the 360 because it's cheaper. Silly Han.
funran you mentioned a demo in ps3's list of 'awesome' games.
lol...wut?
Oh and NHL 09 in 6 days!!! :D
Personally, if I was Sony, I wouldn't be too worried about this price cut either. Now, I wouldn't be stupid enough to think it wouldn't provide any sales boosts to MS, I just don't think it would be significant enough to worry about.
Tho, if Sony finds a need to combat it for the Holiday season, they can just do what MS did 2 years ago... $100 Instant Rebate. Temporary Price cuts pull far more interest than permanent ones.
I really don't think your base arguments are unreasonable, other than I really don't care for the games on your list (well, I wouldn't mind playing Uncharted and LBP). But regarding the lack of out-of-the-box WiFi of the 360, I've heard that so many times now and it just baffles me every time. Do you people carry your consoles around the house all day long? What about just getting an old-fashioned CAT5 cable? It's more stable, much easier to set up, and in most cases faster (eg. when you're streaming content from your PC). If I had a PS3 I'd still rather hook it up via cable rather than wireless.
The US economy is not in recession. In fact the GDP grew 3.3% last quarter. Can we please stop this recession fear-mongering already? The only reason people keep trumpeting it is because this is an election year.
And we all know microsoft has a hardon for micro transactions.
You take a base line 360, then add the HDD, a WiFi adaptor (less in demand than the HDD) as well as XBL subscription, and suddenly the price point is less appealing.
That said, XBL shits all over PSN, and PS3 currently has a measly selection of truely good games. On the flip side, PSN is free, the downloadable games are cheaper, and imo the exclusives are far more interesting.
Halo 1.3 did about as much for me as Halo 1.2 and Halo - a big, fat, "THIS is a flagship title?!". Halo MP is fun though, but I play Warhawk way more.
~shrug~
If Sony can get developers interested enough to release a quality game every 2 - 4 weeks, I'll be ecstatic.
Right now, though I forked out the cash, I don't see any major reason that either system is a must have.
Currently the best games on 360, I'd rather have on my PC (DAMN YOU EPIC AND YOUR 360 GEARS2 EXCLUSIVE!).
And the best games on the PS3 are perpetually awaiting a release date.
That is all.
My wireless router and cable modem are by my PC, so it can plug in. It will take at least a hundred feet of cable to stay to the baseboards to go between there and the living room where my tv and consoles are located. While the PS3 and Wii (the WII has it) both wirelessly connect. The 360, even with its focus on online gaming and premium service, requires a cable where the other consoles do not? To really twist the knife, the adapter is the cost difference between a 360 pro and a 40(soon to be 80)GB PS3, which would be like getting a wireless adapter with a blu-ray addon taped to it for the 360.
Selling the adapter separately isn't that bad, but it shouldn't cost $100. Maybe $20. That's how much it cost me to buy a router, install DDWRT and have a wireless bridge with more functionality and I still think it should be in the box for $0.
Fair enough. I absolutely agree that if Wifi is not included, it should at least be available at a reasonable price (which 100 €/$ is not). It's just that, maybe since I'm an old school PC nerd, I'd use an Ethernet cable anyway. Also, with the restrictions on Wifi power output in the EU (maybe just in Germany, I have no idea), in most cases it would be more problematic crossing three or four walls with Wifi than just drilling a few holes and setting up a cable link. Btw, another alternative would be powerline Ethernet, which is just around 30-40 bucks for up to 200 MBit/sec.
Bottom line is, for me personally the calculations regarding 360 and PS3 SKUs work out differently (and I suppose many potential customers share my rationale), as I don't need WiFi or Blu-Ray, for that matter. Consequentially, for me it's 250 Euro for a complete SKU, or 400 Euro for the competition. Most people I know that are on the fence about getting a HD console have similar reasoning.
The ONLY downside is that one of my friends that I don't have the opportunity to talk to much in real life only uses xbox (that silly girl!) and sometimes I gotta jump on there to talk to her.
On the WiFi issue, I have a ps3 and i only use cat5, but the option should be there. Stupid little WiFi dongles at walmart cost like 20 bucks for a PC, why the hell can't Microsoft sell their dongle for 30, or even 40 not freaking 100 bucks. Same goes for their HDD, when I worked at gamestop (been a year) a 20 gig microsoft HDD cost 100 brand new, and was the only option. This might have changed since, but the fact is if you buy an Arcade 360, you're gonna need a HDD if you're a gamer. You'll miss out of xbox's most important features. Also wanting to mention that you can buy ANY laptop sized HDD off of newegg, wherever, and pop it into your ps3 and get as much HDD space as you want, and in general you could get a lot more gigs out of 100 if you went that route.
My problem with the Arcade is that it's now used to compare itself as the "lowest priced current gen console". When in reality buying that model will only cost you near the same amount as the 299. Most gamers are going to weigh the value they get in a system before buying it. How many people here want or have bought an Arcade bundle? Their aim is to the "non-gamer" crowd, this price drop is against the (now more expensive) Wii. I mean, Sony could release the "PS3 Arcade Pack" and take out the HDD, WiFi, keep the blu ray and sell it for 300 but why would anyone buy it? Paying 100 more gets you the full thing, and you dont have to worry about buying it later.
Man is an idiot.
The people who were going to play on LIVE! will see the pro as $50 less & still a deal.
@Danmartigan
hahahaheheahhaaa
@sexycommando
GDP is not an accurate measurement in this case. We're not talking about a depression, it's a recession. Highest unemployment rate in 5 years, the housing bubble that burst, the credit squeeze, fuel prices, the enormous national debt that's trying to be lessened by cutting federal funding which raises other costs of living. Cost of living in general & available personal income is what measures a recession. It can be argued to be a shallow one (or deep depending on how many of said issues directly effect someone) but it's certainly one.
@Syn
You can do what Trev suggested; buy a $30 wifi router & put on DDWRT, set it up as a client bridge & hook it to your 360 via ethernet. bam wireless for $30. note: check fatwallet.com's hot deals section. search for DD-WRT or router & see if it's on the list of supported
Also, a stand alone quarter doesn't mean anything at all. I'm pretty sure that America posted at least one positive quarter in the '30s.
all summer i lugged my ps3 to my friends house to play on his 72" (sidenote COD4 headset + alcohol = goodtimes). My Point being that his router is NOWHERE near his TV and that built in wireless got a whole lot of action as it also does while i'm at home where my pc uses my wired connection with ps3 using wireless. Meanwhile whenever my friend brings his xbox over and i tell him to connect to the net i'm reminded that there is no wireless and i've got to unplug my computer...built in wireless is good end of story. Many people in fact use only wireless and keep their router out of sight.