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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.

10 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 CokeBear · · Score: 5, Funny

      Didn't they see the episode of the Simpsons where Homer built the car?

      --
      Reality has a liberal bias
  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]
  6. Sony doesn't control WB, Paramount, Disney, Fox by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    Does [a Sony Blu-ray Disc player] let you watch blueray movies with any HDTV you want?

    Yes. In titles without the image constraint token, the resolution far exceeds that of DVD-Video in both luma and chroma. Even with the image constraint token, the chroma resolution is double that of DVD-Video in each dimension. The major American movie studios that have adopted Blu-ray Disc have agreed not to use the image constraint token for the first few years of releases. But whether Warner Bros., Paramount, Disney, and Fox use the image constraint token in future Blu-ray Disc titles is not Sony's to control.

  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. Unfortunate wording by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 5, Funny
    "Stiff competition from the Wii..."

    Someone mentioned a huge throbbing joke in there somewhere, but I'm boned if I can find it.

    --
    If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.