Sony's Future Looks Brighter - PS3 Price Cut?
So the PS3 got off to a questionable start. From the heinous advertising campaign with crying babies, the steep cost of development and those pesky Blu-ray diodes, to the lack of launch titles, things didn’t look so rosy for the reigning champion of the previous generation.
The success or failure of the PS3 doesn’t necessarily rely on their current library of games. Since the console offers Blu-ray playback, the system is fighting not only the next-gen console wars, but also the hi-def media wars. The future may not be so bleak for the PS3, researching firm Understanding & Solutions, is tracking the hi-def media wars between Blu-ray and HD-DVD. They report that there was a significant spike in Blu-ray disk sales when the PS3 launched. There were about a million media players, including gaming systems, shipped to consumers’ homes in 2006. Of that million, about 750,000 were PS3s.
Many gamers were concerned about the price tag of the PS3, $600 is rather expensive for a gaming system. Consider that current Blu-ray players run from $800-$1,000, $600 for a next-gen console and media player doesn’t look so bad. Within the next 2 years, HD-DVD and Blu-ray players should drop in price a few hundred dollars. Now Sony is considering a price drop for their player. No time frame has been set up to implement the price reduction. Senior VP Takao Yuhara commented on the price drop, “We may look at the [PS3’s] price as part of our strategy to expand the market when the timing is right.”
Sony has seen considerable losses because of the development costs of the launch rounding about 200 billion yen ($1.6 billion). They also lose money on every system sold from about $240 per 60GB PS3 and over $300 per 20GB PS3 sold, according to iSuppli analysts. So, don’t expect the price drop any time soon. I imagine within the next year, we should see a slight reduction in price. If Sony drops the price of the system and has a solid lineup of must-play exclusives, there will be no question about the future of Sony’s big black beast.
Researcher Sees Blu-ray Victory [Home Media Retailing]
Sony Considers PS3 Price Drop [Next Gen]
Toots
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 1 February 2007
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: blu-ray, console wars, hi def, ps3, sony
Whatever. Sony has 100% of the UMD, MiniDisc, and Memory Stick market, too. Does that mean they won the handheld race?
I'm not trying to slam Sony here. I believe Blu-ray will eventually win just because it has more storage. But as other articles have mentioned, PORN will utlimately decide this race.
If the PS3 is the kind of Blu-Ray player that the PS2 was for DVDs, that means the PS3 will break after about a year of playback use and you'll have to get a new one. Hell no.
Why would they mention a price drop? Now people will delay buying one until the price drops.