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Game Publishers Pressuring Sony For PS3 Price Cut
Bloomberg is running a story about several video game publishers and developers who are pushing for a long overdue price cut on Sony's PS3 console. Sales of the PS3 are lagging behind both the Wii and the Xbox 360 despite the PS2's resounding victory in sales of the previous generation of consoles. One of the creators of LittleBigPlanet, a PS3 exclusive, made similar comments in an interview with Gamasutra, acknowledging that they're looking forward to the day Sony drops the PS3's price. An analyst from Janco said such an action is necessary if Sony doesn't want to "lose support from game developers and publishers."
I've never owned a console but lately I've been considering getting a PS3. The only thing stopping me is the price which when compared to the 360 is just plain silly. It's not that I can't afford the PS3 at the current price I just can't justify paying more than double the price of the 360 for something that is only a little better. The price of the PS3 really pushes it into the luxury / enthusiast bracket for me. I want something I can just kick back on occasionally not something where I feel guilty for not using it because I've spent a fortune on it.
Just my 1c worth.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
If only it could play PS2 games, I would be more tempted to acquire one.
I play in progrssive scan since the DreamCast, and would like to try some of the best games that the PS2 has.
But I'm afraid for Sony that PC-based emulators will get enough power with quad-cores CPU to run PS2 games flawlessly before they manage to provide a back-compatible PS3 again.
I mean it's outselling the 360, even at a higher price point.
Just as a reminder (and to counter the obvious Microsoft FUD spreading):
22m PS3's in 2.5 years (2 in Europe) is ~10m a year
28m 360's in 3.5 years (and having a exclusive 1 yr period) is 8m a year.
Seems like some people including "the industry experts" have been fooled by Microsofts cherry picked statistics..
But less games. We are already seeing developers shying away from PC and PSP development because of rampant piracy, the Xbox and DS are next inline.
Infact, if you were a developer, the only secure platform, where everyone must buy a legitimate version of your game, is the PS3...
This is why despite a lower userbase, proportionally the games sell better.
Is it just me or does the price seem about right?
First things first, look at the prices of stand-alone Blu-ray players. Somewhere around $300-$500, with some models much more. The PS3 offers you a Blue-ray player, an internet appliance, home media streaming AND a game console for around $540. (Less depending on the HD size and bundle you get)
Is it just me or does the price seem about right?
(Prices from http://www.crutchfield.com/)
I'll try anything once. Twice if it tastes good
And? So they're doing slightly better than the 360 (not that the time adjusted sales really matter, what matters is the userbase you can sell stuff to). What does that get them? A medal in the special olympics? The 360 isn't the goal, the Wii is! Currently the Wii's userbase is about equal to the COMBINED userbase of the 360 and PS3. I know people love to fling around stupid claims like "it's a fad" (yeah, one that's already gone through half a console generation without ending) or "casual gamers don't buy many games" (the tie in ratio does not support that claim). What is true to some extend is "third party software tends to sell much worse than Nintendo software" but that's mostly because third party software for the system tends to be garbage thrown together by, as Iwata put it, 4th and 5th string teams while the 1st and 2nd string teams keep working on extremely expensive yet less profitable games on the HD consoles. Of course dev teams that can barely make their games not crash aren't going to compete with the highest quality game publisher in the whole damn industry on even footing.
Anyway, taking second place from the 360 is a worthless goal since it's pretty easy to make a game cross platform between the two (and the PC) so the leadership in that special race isn't going to change much. What they have to beat is the Wii which is just far off in the distance with currently no apparent chance for Sony or MS to catch up with it.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
From what i understand, game developers are more interested in making it easier to develop the games for the PS3. Currently it is difficult and time consuming. This makes it less profitable for developers, so they have chosen to jump ship and go to the 360.
I agree, the price difference between the two is almost the same 'for most people' with all the peripherals considered.
But that initial price shock is enough to steer potential buyers the other way and that really is hurting the PS3's bottom line.
Here you go.
I didn't mean BluRay had actually beaten DVD now. I'm saying two years after its release (and scarcely one year after a format war) it is doing better than DVD did vs VHS at the same point in DVDs lifecycle.
I'm not sure if BluRay will have the 10 year timespan of DVD due to digital downloads, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me. I keep hearing about people still using dial-up.
What ? Wii is a great gaming system, and its graphics are not "very poor". This is pure nonsense, but I see where you come from. Or are you saying the PS2 is not a great gaming system, as its graphics are even "poorer" than the Wii's, and it was still outselling the XB360 when it was alone on the "next-gen" market and even after ? The Wii is just as great a gaming system as its competitors actually. No, actually, it's better, and the sales show it.
I love the Wii, wouldn't have purchased one and all the accessories (like the wii fit, guns, extra controllers etc) if I didn't. I did not say the Wii was a poor gaming machine. I just think it is aimed at a different market. The wii untill the the price cuts started happening was the cheapest console. That helped them sell heaps of consoles. Also everybody who got the wii was mostly won over by the simple wii sports game. I was. Also correct me if I am wrong here (I am basing this on a report I read a year ago), the actual games per console sold showed the wii had less games sales per console sold making it a great selling console but not a great game selling console if you get what I am trying to say here.
The only thing that was obvious here was your bias.
I am not biased at all....I use all three of my machines, although the xbox 360 is mostly used because I have more mates that have those than ps3's and I enjoy playing my mates in online games. Nothing competes with the 360 for online gaming.
OK, that's your opinion. But now, for the videogame market, the Wii is clearly the far better system to have in the living room.
Based on what? how is it clearly the far better system to have in the living room? If you read what I actually wrote above and then compare with your reply, it is very obvious you have a clear bias not me. I do believe the PS3 is the best console to have in the living room because of its ability to store media and play media on it straight off the bat. Even my mother knows how to do it when she comes around or borrows it for a movie session. It plays what is supposed to be the next generation of movies (yes we can all argue about whether we will have a next gen disk format at all as high def streaming media and solid state becomes cheaper). I can actually setup my 24 inch iMac as a streaming media server and use the PS3 for watching high def movies over the wireless network. I can then choose to copy them wirelessly to the HD if I want to lug the ps3 around to a friends for a movie session. Yes it is only my opinion, but at least I back it up with a why.
Unfortunately, Sony forgot to tell Sony that they weren't competing with Nintendo and Microsoft, as most of their PR include Nintendo and Sony, most of their comparisons do too. They also forgot to tell every single analyst out there that all still believe that XB360 and Wii are competing with PS3. Even the developers didn't understand that and make games for all 3 consoles, and even more (DS, PSP, PS2). Actually, you and a bunch of other people are the only ones still believing that they're not competing one against each other. I would call you delusional, but perhaps the world is wrong and you're right.
Ouch delusional lol. I am not delusional. I know they are competing in the game console sector, but really are suited for different groups of people so therefor should not be directly competing for their audience.
LOL, the "consumers ignorant eyes" ? It confirms I know where you come from. It's not the consumer's job to go to your product, it's your job to put your product in consumers' hands. The consumers, the market, will then decide the value of your product, and will weigh the value against the price. Some people have a hard time admitting that the Wii has a higher value, and the PS3 has higher value than the XB360. The PS3 has a higher price tag than XB360, and it sells as much with sales aligned, so its value is clear
The PS3 costs more because it comes with more.
Yes, but I can't drop any of it to drop the price. The fact is, here in the UK I can get a 60GB 360 here for just over $200. The cheapest PS3 bundle is $400. Which do you think people are going to look at first?
Also, 'bang for the buck' implies that games are better quality on the PS3 - which just isn't true. When you actually compare them as consoles, rather than as multimedia centres, the Xbox 360 looks just as good as the PS3 and is half the price.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
PSN Online is provided free of charge, with multiplayer gaming. XBox Gold membership is something like $50/year, and is required to actually play multiplayer games on XBLive.
Sony also has less incentive than Microsoft to keep a given title's matchmaking servers going. In fact, Frequency and Dance Dance Revolution Supernova were turned off (DNAS Error -103: Title is not in service) before I could log in even once.
Most PS3 models have built in wireless support (although there were some that didn't), the XB360 Wireless Network adapter is something around $50.
Which isn't worth much if your existing network is all-wired. A lot of Wii owners had to buy a Wi-Fi gateway just to get the console onto Wii Shop Channel.