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Sony Open to Considering PS3 Price Cuts
njkid1 writes with word that Sony is considering dropping the PS3's price. The Mercury news reports that Sony Senior Vice President Takao Yuhara has admitted they are investigating whether to drop the PlayStation 3 in price around the world, despite statements previously made that the 'lower' PS3 price in Japan is hurting Sony's bottom line. Profits for the company slipped some five percent in the October-December period, and the shortfall expected through March could be even worse than previously predicted. The article points out the possibly risky nature of a price cut for such an expensive item so early in its lifespan, and notes the stiff competition from the Xbox 360 and the Wii.
But why would I buy a PS3 when the demo units at the stores are usually frozen and the demo game is unimpressive? There are better places to blow your money.
As much as I hate to say it, Sony has no chance, and the fact that they have to do a price drop on their console this early in its lifespan especially when they're taking a huge loss on it already, proves it.
The Wii is selling like hotcakes and the PS3 is already requiring a price drop.
Anyone else betting that Sony learns nothing from this?
They seriously need to figure out that, when someone buys a game system, we want to PLAY GAMES ON IT. We don't need to watch movies, listen to MP3s, view images, surf the web, do our dishes, and drive to work using the same machine.
Enough with this PS3 talk. The numbers show the consumers don't care, and there are more interesting things to talk about on /.
That is at least until the (unlikely) event that the non-fanboi consumer starts getting interested in Sony's nexgen child.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Im not thrilled about getting a PS3 anytime soon, but at $600 you really are getting a great deal. I think they should lower the price of their largely inferior 20GB model to $300-$400 in order to sell them. A person willing to spend that much on the 20GB model will surely want it for gaming and that can bring up sells in the software dept.
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Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
By announcing that they're considering a price drop - they'll kill sales for a while. Anyone considering buying a PS/3 will hold off till after the price drop. Except for people who MUST have one now. Given the dearth of launch titles and the slackening of demand - those folks already have a PS/3.
Now they have to drop prices and quickly.
[Insert pithy quote here]
the 'lower' PS3 price in Japan is hurting Sony's bottom line
NOT selling a PS3 hurts the bottom line even more.
Sure, but when they start needing everyone who bought their discounted system to buy an average of 30+ games (or whatever) each for Sony to make back its money from the system price cut. . .
That's true, but it would probably be better for them to keep the console's price down in the design phase. I realize they're pushing for Blu-Ray, but I couldn't even conceive of spending much more than $200 on a console primarily intended for games. I've typically spent less than $150 per console in the past, and that includes the PS2. I really don't care how powerful a game system is, I already have a few PCs and don't need another device claiming to be one. I don't even want a Blu-Ray player. I just want a platform that plays fun games, without the hiccups or conflicts that can happen on a PC.
The Wii price point was marginal despite the interesting input devices, oddly enough it was the price of the competition that caused me to view it in a favorable light and purchase one. The Xbox 360 price was out of line IMO, although it can no doubt come down over time. The PS3 at this point is a ridiculous joke. The 360 going down in price might find me purchasing one, but I'm not sure if Sony can make back through licensing what they're likely to lose on the PS3 with further price cuts. If they can bring it to around $200, I might buy one. I don't see it happening within the next few years.
Computers and their components become faster over time, and the price for components generally goes down when they have been in production for some time. Ideally, a console would consist of parts which are favorable to reasonably priced mass production while providing good performance. Sony has thrown balance out the window and attempted to make the most powerful console. This sounds nice in theory, but they're using parts that are difficult to manufacture, expensive, and unproven (in the case of Cell.) Passing the costs on to consumers obviously doesn't work in this case, but how much of the cost can Sony eat? What if someone gets one and uses it as e.g. a Linux box without playing games on it? They may never receive software licensing revenue for that unit, so each instance is a net loss.
GPL: Free as in will
In America at least, we by nature forgive and forget. IANAL, but only when we feel we've been "made whole" does this occur. That the transgression before us has been repaired to our satisfaction.
Take Coke. We were told by the company that their newest was the greatest shit on earth and all other colas might as well pack it in. They even took away Coke. The Coke we all knew and loved. A Coke that all they had to do was not fuck it up.
And they fucked it up.
And there was outrage. More importantly, there were no sales of this New Coke. Yet people as I recall were selling two liters of old, or Classic Coke for hundreds of dollars.
And they saw this outrage and maybe cared, maybe not. But they saw the sales in those markets. And their New Coke had a short, painful life, and a quiet death. I don't even know if they promoted when the sliver stripe on the cans disappeared and Classic Coke was just Coke again.
Because they could. Because THEIR product does not have to evolve and is unique within their domain. They were smart enough, God help me, to realize that they had a great product in their domain, and their customers were willing to fight for it; all they had to do is not fuck it up.
THEY could say they fucked up, go back to the Classic taste we all loved, and sure, even drop the price if they wanted to to sweeten the deal a little, slight pun intended. And we would forgive them because they made us whole, we had our Coke again and the world was right.
Their product allowed for a fuck up of such massive proportions. A gig in management there must be sweet.
Sony assumes that the BRANDNAME "Playstation" carries all the attributes of a Classic Coke. No. Their product does have to evolve and becomes less and less unique by the day. They cannot just apologize, with their tails between their legs go back to what they had, drop the price a little, and make us all whole and happy with their product again.
Sony must make their "New Coke" fly.....and now they must try to repair the injury to their fans and make them whole again. A price drop alone cannot accomplish this, I wonder if anything they do really can. I wish them luck but I'm betting this will be another how not to succeed example in business classes across the globe in a few years.
Apparently Sony is unaware of the phrase "too little too late"
While these numbers indicate that the PS3's sales are below expectation, there is another interesting interpretation. Microsoft had sold 10 million Xbox 360's by the end of 2006. If Sony genuinely sells 4.5 million by end of March, they will have almost half the user base of the 360. Given all the doomcasting we've been hearing, that is not actually that bad a place to be after only three months in the market.
(And yes, yes, Microsoft is also selling 360's during the same period, but while sales may have been steady, I can't imagine they were flying off the shelves in a January when there were two shiny competitors on the market.)
So, when are you going to do whatever you're going to do, to Microsoft? You know, the company that LIED UNDER OATH IN COURT?
Sony has done absolutely *nothing* right this generation. They're too late, with technology to match their intended launch date of last year. They threw in a GPU too late to the game because they thought their wonderfull cell processor would make a powerfull enough GPU. The cell is nice in theory, but there's too many restrictions and memory-wrangling in practice. They're up against the 360, with a 10+ million installed base, second-gen games, and a lower price point - Oh and Halo 3 is due out this holiday season or there about. They're up against the Wii at less than half the price, and cheaper games they can't match on innovation. The launch catalog was anemic with no real stand-outs, and there's nothing big on the radar except MGS4. They're losing exclusive third-party titles left and right to the 360.
Devs are comfortable on their competitors' machines - The Wii is just a faster gamecube (literally) with a neat controller, and while the 360 is relatively complex they've got wonderful top-notch tools to support development and an architecture thats doesn't have a split memory model or hobbled assymetric CPU.
Despite the high price, they're loosing about $175 - $225 per unit (depending on the model) while their competotors' machines are already profitable hardware. Nintendo has never sold an unprofitable machine, and right now, Microsoft could give consumers a $50 price drop and take each new owner out to lunch before they would go back into the red.
Mark my words -- If the earth doesn't shake for Sony real soon they'll be a distant third this time around, and may be foreced to drop from the race early or even for good, and if Sony's game division fails its going to make a huge hit on the entire company's bottom line.
They're arrogant over an overpriced architecture that hurts more than it helps, all in the name of pushing their BluRay format.
Sony will be Japan's General Motors.
Like GM is to the US, Sony is the poster child of Japan's industrial growth -- and in ten years
they will be in a desperate struggle for survival.
Think that's too grim?
Watch.
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I already have a DVD player to watch movies with, and I will get an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player if I want someday (though I would prefer a direct download service instead). I already have a computer to handle my internet-related interests. I already have a toaster, a fridge and a vaccuum cleaner.
Just give me a game machine that plays games and doesn't rival my car in sticker price.
... Because my memory is good and I remember the crap Sony inflicted upon us.
Sheep we are apparently.
Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately attributed to ignorance. -Napoleon
Sony is the only company I can think of off the top of my head in which I feel personal glee and satisfaction whenever their "next best thing" in (pick your area of entertainment) flops.
From the times I've been burned by their customer service, to the times in which I've watched others get burned - I find that I am honestly amazed that these morons even run a profit.
"To work for libertarianism -- to oppose the growth of government and aid the liberation of the individual -- used to be
As far as my memory serves me ... Absolutely nothing you list in your post is nearly correct at all ...
Nintendo and Microsoft have done some terrible things, but nothing you mention has anything to do with either company. The funny one to me is "Entered into contracts with Sony and Philips, later to break the contract (resulting in the Playstation brand)" mainly because Sony demanded that they would be able to get 100% of the Hardware revinues and 50% of the software royalties for the SNES CD and Nintendo (correctly) refused. I know when you hit the 2 week point in a new job and your boss demands to fuck your ass you bend over, and then lick off his knob, but most people would walk out.
Oh yeah! The 3DO! Amazing system, but it cost way to much. $700 back when it came out in the mid to late 90s.