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PS3 Price Drop Won't Happen Anytime Soon
1up is reporting on comments from SCEA's Jack Tretton, who responded to the question "Will we see the PS3's price drop?" with the point blank answer of not anytime soon. Mr. Tretton responded with what has now become the Sony party line: it cost a lot to develop, and gamers are getting a lot of machine for their money. Therefore, the high price is justified if you consider what is being offered. From the article: "By way of comparison, the PS2 dropped a hundred bucks in price during the first 550 days of its lifespan -- from $299 to $199 USD. Tretton's words would seem to suggest that the PS3's price point may take significantly longer than a mere year and a half to reach the same threshold. Given that scenario, one would really hope that Sony has some kind of ace-in-the-hole for keeping our collective attention (and purchasing enthusiasm) squarely focused on the PS3."
While it may be true that a PS3 price drop from Sony is not in the near term, what about things like rebates? Technically a rebate or other incentive, like free games with purchase, are not price drops. I think it is a safe bet that if PS3's continue to lounge about on shelves as some have reported, we'll see some kind of deal sweeteners that effectively reduce the price of ownership for consumers. Once those sales plateau, then the real price drops will come.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
I was under the impression that the XBox360 was a far better value for $399. Especially since games look the same and that many game developers (including Carmack) are whispering that the 360 performs better than the PS3.
But then I realized that if you want to connect the 360 via 802.11, they want an additional $99 for a WiFi adapter!! Now we are up to $499 and getting to the PS3 price range. And WiFi is included with the PS3...
...within the next year or so, and it's that damn blue laser. If the supplies get much more plentiful and the price on those go down, then the price on the PS3 can go down, too.
A re-design to remove the PS2 chipset would also result in a price drop, but that's probably not going to happen for at least a year.
So how long did it take Sega to lower the Saturn from its initial price? If Sony takes longer than that, I think they're screwed.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Does anyone remember the NeoGeo? It was a great system around the time of the Super Nintendo. It was 24 bit as opposed to the Nintendo and the Sega at 16 bits each.. It did have a couple good games, but it was a complete flop. Why? It cost 600 bucks, and no one I know ever had one. It had a lot of power under the hood, but the price point was way too high. And now Sony is at the same price point. I have always loved my playstations, but 600 bucks is to steep just to play games, even if it does have other features. I can always use Linux on my home computer, after all..
All consoles sales (and even sales in general) see a dramatic drop after Christmas. It's called holiday shopping, and very few people have much money to spend once it's over. If you take a look at the charts, at a site such as vgcharts.org, you'll see it in the data.
Another important thing to note is that while the Wii is doing about as well as the GameCube in the Americas, the launch data for both consoles shows the Wii is doing 4-5 times as well in Japan as the GameCube did.
I would also suggest you visit www.wiihaveaproblem.com. Aside from the humor of seeing the destruction the Wii remote can cause in the wrong hands, you will see videos of people playing games. A fair number of these people do not fit into the gamer demographic. There's also a video online of an old man enjoying the Wii at a retired persons conference (was it ARPA or AARP?). There is evidence of the Wii's appeal beyond anecdotes.
As it stands all three companies need to step up to the plate. As of yet, Microsoft is only beginning to get the right titles out for the 360, the PS3 is lacking anything that truly pushes its capabilities, and the Wii does need some games that take the remote to new places. It will be interesting to see who hits a home run first.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
"Everyone knows that, even at $600, Sony is selling the PS3 far below cost. "
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We don't know that.
We know about this:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/18/playstation-3-
But that assumes price points that simply don't hold up under any kind of scrutiny. Most of it appears to be uneducated guesswork. My guess is the PS3 breaks even for Sony and allows the retailed to make some profit.
Companies like the "we are selling cheaper than it cost to make" stories because it makes some people feel like they got a real bargain. At $600 the PS3 is no bargain. They're still about $100 too high for the thing, at least compared to the competition.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
It's not really funny.
PS3 not yet available in Europe but already got incredible amount of bad press. Worst: most of the bad press comes right out of the Sony PR.
European prices + game availability (all good games are published half/year later in Europe) are enough to make the European launch to be a non-event.
BD player you say? - Amazon.de lists precisely 53 titles. And the number didn't changed since advent.
20 promised games at launch, 53 BDs ... well not much value for 600€ I'd say. Add here mentioned above general poor availability of video-games in Europe. Then add spring launch - because it's precisely spring when families start saving seriously for summer vacations.
Well, we have all the components for disaster - instead of European launch. Without price drop, there will be no European market for PS3. Next Christmas - not sooner. And I expect retailers and game producers to be well aware of the market seasonal fluctuations - with Sony's assurance of price remaining high in near future - would delay affordable European PS3 even further.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
It's the retailers in Japan that are marking it down, because there's an oversupply of consoles. Anecdotal evidence seems to point towards the same thing in the US (consoles sitting on shelves), although apparently not bad enough to make retailers want to do the same thing. Well, at least not yet. The funny thing, though, is that you can apparently go to eBay and get a Core PS3 for slightly cheaper than retail ($50 or so) from scalpers that got burned.
PS3 for $299 is a pipe-dream. Honestly, I don't think it'll happen until 2010, maybe 2009. There's just too much in that machine, and given the past history of console price drops
-- jchenx