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PlayStation 2 Sales Double Following Price Cut
Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz for its article discussing significant PlayStation 2 sales increases following the price cut to $149 last month. The piece quantifies: "Data released this week by Sony Computer Entertainment America shows that the console's sales rose by some 216 per cent in the week immediately following the price cut, with an increase of 141 per cent over the full period since the cut", and this means: "The increase in sales will have propelled the PlayStation 2 well past its console rivals, after Sony's platform slipped behind the Xbox in monthly sales for the first time since the launch of the Microsoft console." It's also explained: "The increased sales noted since the price cut have actually pushed year on year sales of the PS2 upwards, with 26 per cent growth on the same period last year - and should hopefully help to slow the overall decline in hardware sales which has hit the USA so far this year."
"A bit hasty aren't we? Especially since it'll be Xbox and PC bound just as soon, and look much better."
No, and no. They have not announced when XBOX or PC versions will comeout, and I don't want to wait another 8 months like I did with Vice City. B'sides, there are other bargain bin PS2 games I wouldn't mind having.
"Derp de derp."
If only the RIAA would pay attention to things like this. It would be even more effective for them as their profit margins on each sale are so much larger. But they'll probably just continue whining about dropping sales in a poor economy and suing people who sell eyepatches and parrots.
I'll call bullshit on that. Where's your evidence? Have you taken any surveys to back that up? Furthermore, your assertion that the economy would collapse is simply foolish.
Well, yes, I was indeed exaggerating about the economy's collapsing. And of course I've not really got any numbers to back up my assertions. I will say, though, that I believe people think "within the boundaries of price points." $19.99 is "under" $20, so it's okay, but something that actually costs $20 is not. It's a psychological thing that stores try to exploit by pricing everything one cent below its actual price: you look at the numbers and your mind immediately sees those nines and equates it as something less expensive than $20. Why would stores do it if it had no effect? If anything, they'd save ink by just writing "$20" instead of "$19.99" but, no, they price everything this way. It must work on some level. Probably not on as dramatic a level as I've intimated, but there's something in our subconscious...
Many people were expecting a price cut to be in effect a few weeks before E3, or at least be announced during it. Sales may have just slowed down because people expected this, and now they are picking up again which is "doubling" sales.
This is crazy. How can selling more consoles ever cure a slump in hardware sales? Consoles cause the slump in hardware sales. You buy a PC, a monitor. Costs a little more than a console but you get a much better product. And you might buy a new HDD, a new video card after a year or so. You don't have to, but upgrading a PC is usually cheaper than buying a new console, and it adds to hardware sales.
Buying a console - you buy the console. Then you go spend your money on a big screen TV, new couch, and because console games usually last much less in terms of playability than a PC game, you buy a lot more games than you would on a PC to get the same "fix".
Consoles do not help any aspect of the IT industry. Never.
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
Any more, I'm not sure there is any valid psychological reason for $19.99, as a penny has no value anymore. OTOH, we are all used to $19.99 being a real price, and "twenty bucks" being an informat shorthand, which would be slightly jarring to see coming from a 'respectable' establishment. The shift from normal would give us subconscious suspicions.
> Is it just me, or is that a little bit...strange? They cost $180 before the price
> drop, and then they cost $150 afterwards.
Actually, no. You can get the PS2 w/ online adapter for $150--those cost $200 before the price cut. I bought my first PS2 myself because of the price cut.
> This reminds of the GameCube thing that happened a while ago. I believe it was last
> summer that Nintendo had a deal going with the Cube:
>
> Buy a $150 GameCube, and you get a free $50 game.
>
> Well, this was quite a deal, but sales were stagnant. Some months later, the marketing
> geniuses at the big N decided to adopt a new tactic:
>
> Buy a $100 GameCube, and you don't get anything for free.
>
> Lo and behold, sales shot up. Why? Well, obviously, because now it's fifty dollars
> cheaper!!! Never mind that you have to buy a game to play the stupid thing, it's
> just a better deal.
Well, yes, it is. Could you get *any* fifty-dollar game? I bet you couldn't. With the new deal you can get *any* fifty-dollar game you want--or you can get a less-than-fifty-dollar game and spend less money.
Chris Mattern
until it hits $99