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."

Comments

Re:Interesting.

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

" 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..."

Oh so now it's "our subconscious"??? In your original post you were lambasting the sheep-like behavior of the American consumer - without any actual proof. Just because marketing is done a certain way, does not mean that that is because there is the effect that you conclude. Perhaps it's just because every other company does the *.99 marketing. Instead of saying things like "How stupid is the average shopper?" and "A very large segment of the population considers $19.99 to be a hell of a lot cheaper than $20.", why don't you just enjoy the fact that you're so intellectually superior to the average shopper and that you know that 19.99 + 0.01 = 20.00?

Furthermore, this statement: "On the PS2 front, these same people are ecstatic about the gigantic price drop and buy twice as many of the things as they bought before." clearly has no credibility. A $30 price drop is significant, whether you want to admit it or not. With the glut of PS2 games in the cheap bin at EB, that's at least two more games people can now buy with the same amount of cash as before. You might also make yourself aware of the fact that the average American consumer, i.e. the lower to middle class consumer, [which you, as a liberal, should be a champion of and have a good understanding of] may have a certain amount of liquid income per month that is equal to $150 but not $180. I can see exactly why you're a liberal. You believe that you are better than the common American and so you want government to provide services to these people because they can't provide for themselves, right? Because, after all, you believe the average American consumer is pretty stupid, right?

You make me sick and have now made my foes list. You are justification for hating liberals.

Re:Interesting.

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

" Right, but you fail to realize that there must be a reason that companies began using the *.99 marketing. They can't all be doing it because everyone else is doing it, because then where would it have begun? Your argument, if you don't mind my saying so, is somewhat illogical."

Actually, I do mind. I don't fail to realize - I simply failed to state. Another poster took care of this issue and proved that you are the one that is mistaken, so I won't waste any time with you on that point.

" I don't really see your point. I know that 19.99 + 0.01 = 20.00, and so does the average shopper; that doesn't mean that we, as shoppers, aren't psychologically affected by pricing."

It doesn't mean that shoppers are psychologically affected either. You've offered no proof.

" I don't doubt that. But is it significant enough to warrant sales suddenly doubling? I was not sure about that, and so therefore in my original post I ruminated on the psychological devices that would cause the average shopper to perceive the PS2 as dirt-cheap."

Actually, yes - especially considering that the price drop had been hinted at so before the price drop went into effect, sales would have dropped. It's easier to double sales once sales drop off.

"I apologize, this is pretty much off on a tangent, but...how many good games are there in the cheap bin at EB? Be honest, now.

Oh yeah? Here's games below $10.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Metacritic score of 96
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory: Metacritic score of 84
Max Payne: Metacritic score of 80
Grand Theft Auto III: Metacritic score of 97
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec: Metacritic score of 95
Devil May Cry: Metacritic score of 95

Pretty easy to pick out good games in the cheap bin. If I were to open up my search to games less than $20, I could provide even more.

"Or they may not. Anyway, the issue is moot; the lower to middle class consumer is perfectly capable of saving money from month to month. Hell, I do that. I have a good understanding of the middle class, considering that I'm in it."

Again, you missed the point completely. Anyone who has not bought a console, specifically a PS2 - the best selling console for this hardware generation, is not a very hardcore gamer. At this point in the PS2's life cycle, the purchases are coming from casual gamers. These are not the types of people who want to save money for a console. If the price point is lowered to the point where no saving has to be done, obviously sales are going to increase. Your intuition about how people think is sorely lacking.

"No, I believe that the function of government is to serve its citizens, to keep them healthy, and to provide a safety net to those who need it. How stupid people are is entirely irrelevant.

It's amusing how much disdain you, as a typical liberal, have for the general public. You were quite prepared to call them stupid cows in your original post yet you want to provide a safety net for them, why? You obviousl

Re:Slump in hardware sales?

[Deadguy2322]

Wow. More illiterate anti-console trolling. The sales slump referred to by the article was the console sales slump. Most people who play consoles are sick of this pissing and moaning from PC users with inferiority complexes. Keep upgrading your PC every year to make up for your infantile genitalia, but shut the fuck up about consoles killing the PC market. P.S. - Fuck the IT industry. Fuck them up their stupid asses!!!