There's a nifty little theory of economics called supply and demand, which basically states that only a limited amount of people are willing to purchase an item at a high price point. In order to spur further growth, the best option is to lower the price of an item. The laws of the universe will take care of the rest for you. Unfortunately, we still can't explain how the laws failed the GameCube, but that's a whole other story.
Up until this point, it was unclear if the masterminds at Sony were subscribers to such a radical theory. That is, until now. Speaking to the Financial Times, the CEO himself, Howard Stringer, made it known that he and Sony are well aware that the PlayStation 3 just might be priced out of the reach of the average person:
“Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise, and a very good business model, compared with ours . . . because it’s cheaper. That [price cuts] is what we are studying at the moment. That’s what we are trying to refine.”
With the cost of production going down over time (yet another neat-o law of economics), most analysts are fully expecting to see the cuts to appear by Christmas, the most competitive time of the year for hardware sales.
This is the news many have been waiting for, and certainly the news I've been looking forward to hearing. Sony has finally admitted that the "Blu-ray value" is all a matter of perception, and the average Joe on the street just wants an affordable console with a truckload of great games to play on it -- like the PlayStation 2 had. Who knows, even I might be inclined to pick up a PS3 now. Stranger things have happened.
[Via Next Generation]
Contest:
1:10 PM on 06.16.2007
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I don't care how cheep it gets I'm not buying it until I see some better games on that system.
That bluff (steak dinners!) didn't go over so well. But investors won't be happy if they perceive Sony is throwing good money after bad by slashing prices immediately. Hence, the anticipated one-year price cut to balance everyone's interests.
I will actually probably buy a PS3 if the premium version drops a hundred bucks. $500 is low enough for me to buy one. I don't even require good games for it, I just want a Blu-Ray player.
JAPANESE HARDWARE SALES, WEEK ENDING JUNE 10
DS: 117,228
Wii: 64,529
PSP: 24,711
PS2: 11,097
PS3: 8,776
360: 2,533
GBA: 799
NGC: 167
AMERICAN HARDWARE SALES, MAY 2007
DS: 423,150
Wii: 338,278
PSP: 221,120
PS2: 187,765
360: 154,932
PS3: 81,604
GBA: 80,554
NGC: 10,728
Just over 1000 more PS3s sold in a month in the States than GBAs..? What the hell's that all about?!!? :Oo
It's a matter of principal.
I broke the bank to get a Wii for £180! :o/
1) How Much?
2) When?
I just bought a 20GB PS3 off of ebay with a game for 380$. I can't get too pissed though. Those complaining about the lack of games for the PS3 should just stop. They're coming. And, yes, if you have a 360 then there is no reason to buy. If you don't like me then I want to show you the BLU-RAYS! Actually, I'd prefer to show you my Pokemans. Piplup FTW!
500$ PS3? after tax and a game im still taking 600$ out of my pocket
Made me laugh.
Until they actually anounce a price cut, and DO IT, I don't believe it. I uncerstand that if I get rid of cable TV I'll save money, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do it.
PS3 games may be coming, but not quick enough. A publisher would be more interested in releasing titles for the Wii and 360 due to the large marketshare and cost of developing, testing and publishing titles for the PS3 both in terms of time as well as money.
The Wii in particular has a major advantage (ignoring the expected 14m user marketshare by the end of the year) in that it's the cheapest of the lot to develop and test and is also easier to develop for.
There's a handy piece of kit that Wii dev teams use to write the controller code for them - saves a hell of a lot of time! Dev kits and test kits are a great deal cheaper,plus there are shedloads of Gamecube programmers out there that know their stuff.
The PS3's advantages (technical superiority, Blu-Ray drive, unfamiliar hardware to developers) are most of the reasons behind it's disadvantages as a new console (higher purchase price, higher development and testing costs, higher game manufacture costs, increased difficulty to code for).
The Wii console is in a really strong position despite not having the bells and whistles of the other 2 consoles, particularly the PS3. For a publisher, given the marketshare and costs involved it's currently more profitable to release an average Wii game than it is to release a top notch PS3 game.
If the price at launch was cheaper then things wouldn't be looking so bad. Can't remember if it was March or April but according to NPD figures there were more GBAs sold in the States than PS3s for that month!
What you need to attract publishers is a large marketshare more than anything...and perhaps the price cut (when it does eventually happen) may be too late to stop turning the PS3 into another Mini-disc or Betamax. :Oo
Until a serious price cut, or one of those value priced bundles you see at Sam's Club -- Sony will have to deliver a free PS3 to my doorstep if they hope on seeing me play one any time soon. I'm not rich.
$300 is the maximum anyone should have to pay for a game console. Prices are seriously getting ridiculous, and $600 is down right insulting.
The PS3 is built for the long haul. All 3 companies have made mistakes with their new hardware. 360s scare me with the red ring of death, PS3s are expensive, and Wiis are underpowered and have a poorly utilized control mechanism. Eventually all of these will be addressed. MS is getting new cooler running chips, PS3 pricess will come down and games will be made, Nintendo and 3rd party developers will find good ways to use the wiimote and max out the hardware.
I agree that the PS3 is too expensive, hence I bought mine used and with a game for what I think was a good price (~340$ for the PS3). I don't have all day to play games all the time so a game for every few months is plenty. Personally, I don't see the drought of games everyone complains about.
To each his own though.
Also, "the most competitive time of the year for hardware sales..." is christmas. So drop your prices, release some games, or wait until NEXT YEAR to sell some units.
So, bring back the damn 20GB model and put the card reader in it!
Cripes.
Just for kicks, I'd love to see those facts. Can you send them my way?
"he whole lack of games argument against sony is bullocks. of course it has a small library -- the damn thing just came out."
There were more, better games for the 360 at the same point in it's life, and it's exclusives weren't pouring over to other systems (if only because there were none). This may just be an advantage of being first in the water, like the PS2 was. The PS2 was easily the most underpowered of the last generation, yet it was able to amass an unprecedented library of games. Seems to me to be a merit of being the first to the market and the easiest to develop for.
"it's the same way for every system. the wii is easy as hell to develop for -- it's for family audiences."
What does target audience have to do with ease of development?
"the ps3 is built for the tech geeks in mind. would you rather have a large library of mediocre games now or a large library of well developed games later?"
Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. If they were, you'd be fucked, because there isn't even a large library of mediocre games, there's a tiny library of mediocre games, and a bunch of well-developed games coming out on the 360 as well. You all should be asking Sony and 3rd parties to release as many PS3 games as possible, even if they're less than phenomenal. Utilization is the only way the hardware is going to start stretching it's wings, because developers learn from each other. The more opportunities for that
to take place, the better.
"the ps3 isn't the easiest to program for but the developers know this and are taking their time working out the kinks. shouldn't that be praised -- for not rushing their products for the sake of a launch date? people bitch and moan about rushed products all the freaking time. let's see the defensive responses."
This is true, to a point. When those games are being held back so long that the developer is spending many many more dollars than they're budgeted, the game comes out for $70, or they sit on it until there are enough PS3's in the wild, ready to buy their game. Neither of which is a win for the gaming community. I fail to understand how so many of you can defend a company that is clearly struggling so hard to keep their system from failing that they're fucking each and every one of you by not keeping the focus on making games. Sony should have taken all the money they spent Blu-Ray campaigning and actually developed games instead. The cry isn't "there are no good games now", it's "There's no good games." Sure Lair is coming out, and that game could be a system seller, but what other compelling reason is there to purchase a PS3, except to feel good about yourself for having a state of the art movie player?