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Sony drops PS3 price by $100 in United States, Europe next?

8 July 2007 23:27 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 77 comments

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has made a smart move on Monday by dropping the retail price of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) console by $100, to $499, in the United States. The move comes just two days ahead of the E3 games conference in Santa Monica, California. The PS3, which features a 60GB hard disk drive (HDD), has had a very shaky start since last year's launch in North America, marred by poor sales performance and production problems.

The price drop puts the PS3 price just $20 ahead of Microsoft's most expensive Xbox 360 model (Elite). "Our initial expectation is that sales should double at a minimum," Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview. "We've gotten our production issues behind us on the PlayStation 3, reaching a position to pass on the savings to consumers, and our attitude is the sooner the better."

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter does not believe the price drop will double hardware sales, but could instead reach increases of about 50%, to 120,000 units per month. While a great improvement, it would still look bad in comparison to the sales performance of Nintendo's Wii console, which still only costs half the price of the PlayStation 3.

"The greater significance is that Sony is signaling to the market that we're coming down the cost curve pretty fast in making this thing. It's a pretty consumer-friendly move," Pachter said. Rumors are now surfacing that Microsoft will quickly respond during E3 to the PS3 price cut, by making the first official cuts to the price of Xbox 360 units.

Sony is also preparing to introduce an 80GB version of the PS3 which includes a copy of Motorstorm, a million-selling off-road racing game. That model will cost customers $600. Sony also hopes to try appeal to customers who have considered an Xbox 360 as their best option. Microsoft recently set aside $1 billion to repair early Xbox 360 units that have a very high failure rate.

UPDATE: GamesIndustry.biz has been contacted by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) informing them that a major announcement will be made regarding the PlayStation 3 this Thursday at the E3 Media and Business Summit. While a spokesperson would not elaborate any further at this time, it was revealed that it is related to the announcement of a PS3 price drop in the United States made earlier today. New European deals coming?

Sources:
Reuters
GamesIndustry.biz

Permalink to this article

Xbox 360 price cuts announced (7 August 2007)

Target sides with Sony on Blu-ray (26 July 2007)

PS3 price cuts only temporary (13 July 2007)

PS3 price drop to $500 starting next week? (6 July 2007)

Chubachi denies plans for PS3 price cut (6 July 2007)

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ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 9 July 2007 19:02
Originally posted by ugc: I am feeling ripped by M$ at the moment. I might jump ship and go w/ sony If you want to go now check out ebay they are goign for as little as 350 ^^, you can also up the HD when you want to so you don't need to spend 100 more for the 60GB version! [ + quote]
anubis66 (AfterDawn Addict) 9 July 2007 21:05
amazon.com is reporting ps3 as #1 with a 2800% sales increase. http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/1467.html [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 9 July 2007 21:10
Originally posted by anubis66: amazon.com is reporting ps3 as #1 with a 2800% sales increase. http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/1467.html[/quote] gee I wonder why with the glut and forced price droppings.... [ + quote]
anubis66 (AfterDawn Addict) 9 July 2007 22:15
huh? you saying a price drop is a bad thing? any price drop is a good price drop. [ + quote]
kyo28 (Junior Member) 9 July 2007 23:44
A lot of people complained about the price of the PS3 compared to the Xbox360, but I for one would prefer to pay more to get a decent working console, with everything in the box that I'll need for the next few years, then faulty system with add ons and hidden costs. Just my two cents ... [ + quote]
BIGnewb (Inactive) 10 July 2007 6:10
well put kyo!plus the price drop.what else can you want?plus 5 free movies and 2 games.THATS 123123123 times better than suxbox360 [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 10 July 2007 7:09
you PS3 nutters are missing a glaring point,its liek the 360 fools that think nothing of the fail rates or the fact the 360 steals PC games. Becuse of that high cost and the high architecture on it DEVS WONT WANT TO MAKE GAMES FOR IT,without the 3rd party games what dose the PS3 because? a GC thats what it becomes,it will have a few good titles but bear bones if any really good 3rd party support since everyone is goign to the WII. SO basically the PS3 becomes something like a cross between the Xbox and the GC with a BR player..this is impressive...not... [ + quote]
BIGnewb (Inactive) 10 July 2007 8:09
" without the 3rd party games what dose the PS3 because? a GC thats what it becomes,it will have a few good titles but bear bones if any really good 3rd party support since everyone is goign to the WII. " that made absolutely no sense at all. [ + quote]
ChromeMud (Junior Member) 12 July 2007 3:45
$100 price drop for PS3...big deal. I expect a whole lot more come Christmas for all platforms so I don't see this as being the PS3's saviour whatsoever. [ + quote]
SProdigy (Member) 12 July 2007 4:40
*Originally posted by kyo28:* ...I for one would prefer to pay more to get a decent working console, with everything in the box that I'll need for the next few years... Good luck with that. You still have to buy a remote for Blu-Ray, an HDMI cable to watch it and let's not forget a game, since there isn't one packaged in. It doesn't even come with component cables like the Premium. In fact, component cables are the only thing not in the Wii box that should be. You can take a Wii home for the base price and start playing right away. Oh, and so I don't open up any wounds, the 360 has plenty of add-ons too, but not if you're smart enough to pony up the money for the better systems. (And no, I'm not talking about HD-DVD.) [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 July 2007 4:42
glanzone (Newbie) 12 July 2007 4:47
It is just another failed media by Sony. Remember back in the day Sony came out with Betamax then VHS came out. Betamax dead, Sony came out with the cassette tape the CD came out, Cassette dead, Sony came out with Mini-disk then the iPods and other harddrive devices came out, Mini-Disk Dead, Now Blue-Ray what is the future? Sony stick to making components and leave the media to someone else. [ + quote]
SProdigy (Member) 12 July 2007 4:52
FYI: Sony helped in the development of the Compact Disc. Also, PC games are just starting to use DVD as a format in order to install the game. I know some of it is compressed, but just a point I wanted to make in the case against Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs. Zippy, I know you say 360 steals PC games, but I clearly remember MS saying their strategy was to merge the PC and console when they launched the original Xbox, and said it would be similar to a Windows environment to program for (which it is.) So now that there's Xbox and Windows Live, I'm not sure why you continue to flame on MS, this was their game plan from day one. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 12 July 2007 5:55
SProdigy because they have not merged them they have constantly stole PC games to place on their console in order to pad its sales, it would be nice if they would step up and only take a year for it to come out to the PC but its either multi released or released 3 years later or not at all, and now they are tiring desperately to pad rep for vista,ya know I got halo 2 running on XP it runs great,MS is tryign to hard to pad their rep arse first instead of doing it the correct way. Yes the industry is in a "DVD mindset",meaning BR is a non issue for gaming because only a few out of a few devs will build such games that would use it ,because of the price and architecture the PS3 is goign to have a hellish first few years, in the end I can see it becoming like the Xbox was a "niche within a niche",while the 360 will never really leave the niche its in. glanzone ....... ya riiighhhttt...BR is by no means finished its doing much better than UDM which sony refused to build the brand for, for the recored I like Hdvd its simply a more coherent format like the PS3 is the more coherent hardware console wise, once you get by the fluff the diffrances "are the same but different" meaning they are all screwed up. FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A. [ + quote]
SProdigy (Member) 12 July 2007 6:07
I think people are just sick of buying the same movie over and over again. Should they pay to see it in the theater, then DVD, then HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, and then again UMD for PSP or from iTunes for their iPod? DRM really hassles all of the portability for Joe Consumer and from Sony's piss poor attempts with UMD, I think people woke up and smelled the roses. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 12 July 2007 6:19
*Originally posted by SProdigy:* I think people are just sick of buying the same movie over and over again. Should they pay to see it in the theater, then DVD, then HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, and then again UMD for PSP or from iTunes for their iPod? DRM really hassles all of the portability for Joe Consumer and from Sony's piss poor attempts with UMD, I think people woke up and smelled the roses. there some advantages to re buying but not at the current bloated prices, Hdef is nice but a niche its not on my radar because of price and the reason why UDM moives have failed 15$ jsut to get it to play on the PSP what where they thinking? 9.99 no more no less and start adding UMD to normal DVD releases, it seems sony has forgotten a brand is not made cheaply or overnight. I don't mind BRs current price DVDs were as costly 20 years ago when they first showed up,my problem with BR is the ridiculous DRM they are putting on it,and Hdvd is at the most 30GB lower than disc to disc to BR thus 2 Hdvds will be the same or better than 1 BR this is why I elan to Hdvd,but even then both these formats can still fall on their face in 3 or 5 years and something else replace them.. Hollywood has to understand that you get money from volume sales not dcking over every cent and making the consumer unhappy with the "less is more" mentality. FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A. [ + quote]
SProdigy (Member) 12 July 2007 7:31
The prices are bloated! And for those of us that know better, they sell the same stuff over in China or India, or another other "piracy infested" nation for pennies on the dollar compared to our overpriced crap! Someone else said it best: they'll release X DVD 6 months later as the "Ultimate Edition" with "6 hours of never before seen footage" or other junk just to get you to pluck down the same $20 again and again. I saw it happen after I bought Lord of the Rings, and then the extended versions came out. Then Hollywood wonders why piracy even exists. [ + quote]
ChromeMud (Junior Member) 12 July 2007 7:49
This thread's gone AWOL so I'll add:- Yeah,I hate all that Special Edition,Director's Cut,Fully Uncut Directors Special Edition with a free packet of weed killer to sell consumers the same damn product over 'n' over again. Why do sheep follow this ridiculous sales pitch. I hate extras as they rarely offer any value unless you're a director or you like to be bored to death with anal descriptions of how they had to setup the shot at 4am so that the light casts a certain shadow through the mountains garbage. Why don't they just use the full disk for the movie alone using the full megabit bandwidth to encode the movie with.More bits for the movie and less bits for the bloated extras crap. Stuff it,I'm sticking with DVD until Superbit gets on the HD bandwagon.Extras for the lose. [ + quote]
spydah (Junior Member) 12 July 2007 9:29
This thread has a lot of mad people. haha All I will say is the bloated prices dont stop with media. Its just the US way. [ + quote]
dorkydork (Newbie) 12 July 2007 11:17
i want to know what this announcement is sony is going to make? anyone have any good links good sites that are reporting on E3? [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 12 July 2007 11:41
*Originally posted by dorkydork:* i want to know what this announcement is sony is going to make? anyone have any good links good sites that are reporting on E3? http://www.gamepolitics.com/ the guy that runs the site is there and reporting on what MS,Nin and sony do at their main press events. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 July 2007 11:49
johnblaze (Member) 12 July 2007 11:52
Joystiq and IGN are both covering it as well [ + quote]
wade951 (Newbie) 12 July 2007 13:31
Now what is sony going to do for all of us that paid $100.00 to much??? [ + quote]
hughjars (Inactive) 12 July 2007 17:31
It's a lot of empty PR. I just heard a very plausible rumour. The 60gb PS3 is soon to be replaced by the $600 80gb PS3. So it's as you were. Nothing much will have changed at all. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 12 July 2007 19:31
*Originally posted by hughjars:* It's a lot of empty PR. I just heard a very plausible rumour. The 60gb PS3 is soon to be replaced by the $600 80gb PS3. So it's as you were. Nothing much will have changed at all. Yes and no the 60GB becomes 499 the 80GB becomes 600,its stupidity in motion and wastes production costs on units that wont sale, sony is just begging for the "Saturn" to happen all over again. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 16 July 2007 23:17
This is needed for them to stay competitive. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 17 July 2007 4:47
*Originally posted by borhan9:* This is needed for them to stay competitive. yes the price drop is needed for them to stay competitive a bit of interesting news I found,altho its hard to tell which PR head is speaking the truth... http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/07/1...-clarification/ [ + quote]