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Sony Open to Considering PS3 Price Cuts

Posted by Zonk on from the get-em-out-of-the-house dept.

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.

14 of 339 comments (clear)

  1. That's nice... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  2. Sony is Going to Lose the Console War by jakek812 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  3. Well... by Dave+Parrish · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Well... by CronoCloud · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.
      Ahh but mostly likely when Sony's people asked people if they would use those extra features if they put them in there, those people said yes. So Sony did that, both the with the PSP and now the PS3.

      And then consumers whined. "They cost too much"

      and then Sony said, "But you told us you wanted those features when we asked you about them so we put them in there. You had to know that would raise the price."

      Consumers: "Waaaah it costs too much we just want to play puzzle games and casual games"

      Sony: "But you said you wanted games that were more like those you played at home on your portables. You wanted 3D games rather than stripped down 2D travesties of 3D games like what happened on the Gameboy Color ports of 3D games.

      You said you wanted higher resolutions on your home machines like you have on PC's. You wanted built in wireless so you wouldn't have to buy a wireless bridge, you wanted us to use standard memory cards. and now you complain about having to buy an HDTV, having to pay for the built in wireless, and having to pay for an adapter for the old cards? You people are hypocrites and don't know what you want."

      Here's what Sony needs to learn:

      Consumers don't know what they want, will whine anyway when they get what they said they wanted, and sometimes lie

    2. Re:Well... by dynamo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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. Ahh but mostly likely when Sony's people asked people if they would use those extra features if they put them in there, those people said yes. So Sony did that, both the with the PSP and now the PS3.

      And then consumers whined. "They cost too much"

      and then Sony said, "But you told us you wanted those features when we asked you about them so we put them in there. You had to know that would raise the price." BIG difference between wanting a feature and being willing to use it if it's there anyway. Sony had to know they had no business asking about the extra features if they couldn't do them cheap or free. Now they are stuck having to wait a little longer for everyone to buy PS3s. Waaaaaah.
    3. Re:Well... by MemoryDragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nobody asked for yet another proprietary Sony movie format in the PSP, nobody asked for yet another disk format which could not be copied with movie prices three times as much as on the copyable DVD. But those things drove up the price of the PSP significantly and in the end were doomed to fail from day zero. The only ones asking for those things was the paranoid Sony movie division. See a scheme here, the same happens now to the PS3, it would have been out a year earlier and probably 200-250 dollars less with equal gaming capabilties if it would not have been misused as vehicle for the Blue Ray drive, and it certainly was not the Sony gaming division trying to shove yet another format onto the customers to raise movie prices. Nintendo is right with their assumption, HDTV on a console is interesting but only in 2-3 years, for the mass market a lower price is more important. Microsoft also was wiser in this aspect. Sorry to say that, not market research on the customers was the dooming force, it was simply Sonys internal politics and the ignorance about past mistakes and past successes.

  4. Enough! by Ecuador · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
  5. Stupid by rlp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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]
    1. Re:Stupid by CerebusUS · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Bingo.

      Yet another stupid move on Sony's part. They were better off continuing to deny that a price drop was even being discussed, and then picking a random day and just lowering the price.

      I certainly wouldn't buy a $600 console knowing that the price could be $500 in a month or two.

      That's a free second controller and a game....

      Which is the other way they could go, I guess... Bundle a second sixaxis and resistance:fall of man with every 60GB unit for the same price.

  6. Re:20GB Model by Pojut · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "getting a great deal" is subjective.

    Millionares think 900,000 dollars for a home is a great deal, whereas mr. and mrs. joe shmo can think 500 bucks a month for a one room apartment is a great deal.

    Unless you have a burning desire to have blu-ray in your home, there really is no good reason beyond a personal opinion to spend 600 dollars on a PS3. the 360 has the same graphics (in some cases, better) and still uses "old" dual-layer dvd technology.

    Had sony stayed out of the media market (which they have failed in time after time after time) and just stuck with what works, they would be in a much better position.

    --
    Living With a Nerd
  7. they aren't Coke by OutOnARock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  8. Re:Bitterness by the_B0fh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

  9. They've set themselves up for it... by ravyne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  10. No one gets it yet. by popo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    --
    ------ The best brain training is now totally free : )