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60GB PS3 Price Cut Not Just a 'Fire Sale'

Posted by Zonk on from the sony-you're-killing-me-here dept.

Heffenfeffer writes "Those excited about the $100 price cut that the 60 GB PS3 recently received should act quickly — according to an interview from SCEE president David Reeves: 'All they're doing is taking their stock in trade that they've got at the moment of the 60GB model, marking the price down and it will all be gone by the end of July.' When asked if the 60GB PS3 would be no more after the fire sale, he confirmed, 'In America, yes ... what the US are offering from the 1st of August is a USD $599 version with one game.'" Meanwhile, the EU won't be getting the 80GB system at all. Instead, they'll be getting a new starter pack bundle pack with two games and an extra controller for the same cost as the current system on its own (£425, or $862). Update: 07/13 17:17 GMT by Z : Okay ... it's really challenging to understand what's going on when Sony as an entity is saying two different things. Despite the above coming from a Sony executive, it looks like this is completely untrue. Says a Sony of America spokesperson: "SCEA has reacted with puzzlement to the European perspective, suggesting that there may have been an incorrect interpretation. The spokesperson said, 'Those quotes from David Reeves are not accurate.'"

6 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. I just dont get it by pl1ght · · Score: 3, Interesting

    OK, i am usually one of the first ones to defend sony, and how much i love my PS3(which i do). But this is just too much. How can sony honestly be that stupid. Unless we are missing something and they are going to drop the 80gb model down to 499 after the 60gb is phased out this makes no sense at all. Why announce this after you have an amazing showing at E3 and then screw it all up with bad PR like this. Really ridiculous.

    1. Re:I just dont get it by RamblinLonghorn · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Agreed. The 100$ price cut just becomes a publicity stunt aimed at hyping the press in advance of E3. Combined with Microsoft's admission of the defects in the 360, the PS3 price cut had many people thinking that momentum had shifted. Now I personally see Sony as desperate. Even stranger is that the European market was told they would not get a 100$ price cut, but that they would get an announced bundle of a 60gb system, 2 controllers and 2 games for the standard same price. This seems like the way the North American model should have been handled.

    2. Re:I just dont get it by Cerberus911 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That bundle is probably a way for SONY to get rid of all their rumble-less controllers before they announce their new vibrating ones.

    3. Re:I just dont get it by _xeno_ · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Even better is the admission that they're phasing out the PS3 model with "100% backwards compatibility" to replace it with one with "88%" compatibility. (I'm not sure what that 88% figure means, but it's what the guy said in the interview. Percent of games that work? Percent of PS2 emulated? He didn't say.)

      Then there's this quote:

      [GamesIndustry.biz:] But you're still asking people to commit GBP 425 to a games console. Isn't there a problem with the perception that that's an awful lot of money to shell out?

      It is, but surprisingly, people are paying that amount of money for it.

      It's like he's just begging for people to hate Sony. I don't get it.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
  2. If I were MS by svendsen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would cut the xbox 360 (all versions) by $50 and say this is a permanent move. Would put sony on the defensive.

  3. Seriously Sony... by Geek_3.3 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why is it that every time you almost convince me to buy a PS3 do you have to do something like this? Well, I suppose thanks are in order, since even a $500 upfront cost is still kinda steep and I didn't quite have the disposable income to blow on that just yet.

    All that said, I *will* likely buy a PS3... but not a nanosecond before there is a compelling game for it that will not be out for the Xbox 360. ( Yes, I'm looking at you, Square-Enix.) Hopefully, by then, the freakin thing will be at the $399 price point that I wanted in the first place.