PlayStation 3 Pricing Revealed?

Jakhel writes "IGN has up an article on PS3 pricing information. Apparently it comes straight from Sony officials. From the article: 'According an article published in the May 17th edition of Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, the PlayStation 3 could be one of the most expensive mass-market videogame consoles ever created. Officials from Sony apparently told the newspaper that PlayStation 3s would sell in Japan for "less than 50,000 yen each." That translates to about $465 US dollars.' So I guess they will be around $464.99 in the U.S. (plus tax of course). Granted, it does come with DVD Hi Def support out of the box, but is that enough to justify it's nearly $500 pricetag?" Commentary on this development available at GamesIndustry.biz as well.

Comments

Bargain

[Satertek]

Judging based on processing power, thats a bargain. It would cost in excess of $2,000 to get a comperable PC system. (Which don't even exist yet)

The "mainstream" console players, however, may find it harder to justify the higher price tag. Especially if the XBox 360 retails for a couple hundred less.

Probably Still Worth It.

[xombo]

I'm sad to say that even with a $150 price difference than the expected price of the Xbox 360, the PS3 sounds to be a lot more bang for the buck. It's like comparing the DS to the PSP. I've owned both and frankly I wish I'd of saved my $150 from the DS to buy more PSP games.

Re:Probably Still Worth It.

[Rayonic]

the PS3 sounds to be a lot more bang for the buck

From the specs released, the Xbox360 and PS3 sound kinda the same for now. You've got to understand that Sony has a history of severely over-hyping the power of their upcoming console. Furthermore, until we see more detailed specs, we're not sure what bottlenecks might arise in the PS3's architecture.

Re:less than 50,000 yen

[Daetrin]

that means LESS than $465. It is probably just someone saying the equivalent of "my car cost less than $100k." True statement, vague though.

I don't expect to see the PS3 come down at $450. If I were a betting man I'd say $299.

This is elementary marketing, you _must_ have run into it before. When touting your own product you want to make it seem as cheap as possible, so you pick how much it costs (or how much you think it will cost) add a tiny increment, and say it costs less than that.

If a store advertises that they have something for "less than $10" you can be pretty sure it will cost $9.99. That's certainly what a "betting man" would go with. Also note that there is a certain amount of psychology in the "look" of the price. Subtracting one cent has a greater psychological effect than the actual price difference merits, especially when you you're talking about a psychologically significant barrier such as $1, $10, $100 or $1000, and to a lesser extent $5, $25, $50, and any other multiple of 10 or 100.

If Sony _knew_ they were going to sell it at $299 they would be saying "less than $300" (or whatever the yen equivalent of that is.) The fact that they're not saying that indicates they think there is a reasonably strong possibility that it will cost more than that.

Price Match

[cainpitt]

Sony will match wahtever the Xbox comes out for. Both M$ and Sony have bottomless pits of money so they don't mind taking a hit on the harware. The problem for Sony may be when the PS3 come out at the same price as the Xbox and M$ slashes the price a week later just to stick it up Sony's ass. Either way, mass market consoles are not going to sell for more than $400. and even $400 is a lot for little johnny to hit his parents up for. It's going to be interesting.

Re:Force parents to let their kids out?

[chman]

What makes you think the kids will be buying these systems? There may well be a 360 under the Christmas tree this year, but these days it's more likely that Santa left it for Daddy and not Little Timmy.