Zelaron Gaming Forum  
Stats Arcade Portal Forum FAQ Community Calendar Today's Posts Search
Go Back   Zelaron Gaming Forum > Zelaron Gaming > General Gaming

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes

 
Playstation 3 Price Drop soon?
Reply
Posted 2009-03-18, 03:04 PM


http://www.pcworld.com/article/16016...he_offing.html

Quote:
Remember that $100 PlayStation 3 price drop you've been hearing about for a year or more? The one that keeps not happening? Well it's about to, according to Mike Hickey with investment firm Janco Partners, with Sony set to announce something "in the next couple days."

"Recent channel checks indicate increased speculation for a PS3 price cut announcement from Sony," said Hickey, adding that he believes the cut needs to be $100 to catalyze PS3 sales at retail and that the market's expecting a cut "in April or by June at the latest."

Assuming Hickey's right, would anyone be surprised? Sony knows the PS3's priced out of the market, and has been for awhile. The company's long since realized brand loyalty's worthless beyond a certain sticker threshold — especially in a stagnating economy. And the heady days of king-making exclusives via franchises like Grand Theft Auto are over as spiraling production costs drive publishers to agnostically view remunerative potential. For majors like Fallout 3 and Final Fantasy XIII and Resident Evil 5, there's no such thing as the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, just a monolithic hypothetical purchase base, like selling the same DVDs to customers with Samsung or Panasonic players. Exceptions made for DLC exclusives — and props to Microsoft for getting out ahead of that one — but the underlying publisher bean counting that's led to a preponderantly "multi-platform generation" is incontestable.

Hickey mentions "talk" of a PS3 without Blu-ray. While that's intriguing, given the number of instantly incompatible Blu-ray game titles, I'd call it noise. I can't see how splintering the market by spawning a brand new one this late in the game is going to make the PS3 any more salable. Maybe if Sony dropped the price to $200 and offered an external Blu-ray upgrade option for $100, but you wouldn't catch me betting on that approach by tenths.

In any event, the writing's on the wall, and was well before Janco weighed in. The PS3's getting a price cut, and it'll be here before 2009's midpoint.

Question is, if you had $300 to burn and intent to buy a game system, would a $100 cut tip your hand in Sony's direction?


For all of you that don't have one yet, this may finally be the incentive needed to follow through and go out and purchase a nice little peice of hardware as the PS3 is =]














Quote:
!King_Amazon!: I talked to him while he was getting raped
[quote][16:04] jamer123: GRRR firefox just like quit on me now on internet exploder[quote]
...
[quote=!King_Amazon!]notices he's 3 inches shorter than her son and he's circumcised [quote]
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
D3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidences
 
 
D3V
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-18, 07:17 PM in reply to D3V's post "Playstation 3 Price Drop soon?"
May I just point out that the article is from the end of February, and that Sony have scoffed at Hickey's mentionings of a Blu-rayless PS3 - not only is it a foolish thought because Sony is one of the founding members of Blu-ray, and is using the PS3 to push the format, but then there's also that little detail that PS3 games come on Blu-ray...

Whilst it may throw Hickey's comments into a mire of implausibility, many pundits have voiced their opinions that if Sony is going to drop the price, they'll announce and bring it in to action during GDC (March 23rd - 25th(?)). It doesn't take a genius to guess that they'd do it then, though. If not GDC, then E3, or a Gamer's Day in London, or before Christmas.
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Lenny simplifies with no grasp of the basicsLenny simplifies with no grasp of the basicsLenny simplifies with no grasp of the basicsLenny simplifies with no grasp of the basicsLenny simplifies with no grasp of the basicsLenny simplifies with no grasp of the basics
 
 
Lenny
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-19, 10:32 AM in reply to Lenny's post starting "May I just point out that the article..."
Excellent post! I'm pretty excited being that I still DO NOT have a PS3, and am wanting to play Madden this season on it online against a few buddies, so this really should happen. Man, I can't wait!














Quote:
!King_Amazon!: I talked to him while he was getting raped
[quote][16:04] jamer123: GRRR firefox just like quit on me now on internet exploder[quote]
...
[quote=!King_Amazon!]notices he's 3 inches shorter than her son and he's circumcised [quote]
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
D3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidences
 
 
D3V
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-19, 10:34 AM in reply to Lenny's post starting "May I just point out that the article..."
Aren't they using a loss leader strategy? Or has the hardware prices come down so much since the adoption that they're making money on consoles now?
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Willkillforfood read his obituary with confusionWillkillforfood read his obituary with confusionWillkillforfood read his obituary with confusionWillkillforfood read his obituary with confusion
 
 
Willkillforfood
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-19, 11:11 AM in reply to Willkillforfood's post starting "Aren't they using a loss leader..."
I don't know the details of the price, but since the original version, they've:
  • Removed the Emotion Engine
  • Removed the Graphics Synthesiser
  • Removed 2 USB ports
  • Removed the card readers
  • Increased the number of Cell chips per silicon wafer
  • Presumably improved the yeild from the blue laser manufacturing
Not to mention that increased volume on the Cell chip and the blue laser reduce per-part overhead cost. The PS3 definately costs a lot less now than it did at launch.
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
WetWired read his obituary with confusionWetWired read his obituary with confusionWetWired read his obituary with confusionWetWired read his obituary with confusion
 
 
WetWired
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-19, 02:19 PM in reply to WetWired's post starting "I don't know the details of the price,..."
I'm not quite sure how that translates into dollars and cents, but if they do cut $100 off the price, they've GOT to be making money at this point. I'm guessing the original "we're losing money" statement was from the R&D which they had to cover.
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Willkillforfood read his obituary with confusionWillkillforfood read his obituary with confusionWillkillforfood read his obituary with confusionWillkillforfood read his obituary with confusion
 
 
Willkillforfood
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-19, 10:38 PM in reply to Willkillforfood's post starting "I'm not quite sure how that translates..."
No, from a materials and labor standpoint, they were losing money on the original machine. This has been confirmed by several independant sources that estimate such things.

TBH, I expect that if they are making money on consoles now, it's not much. The EE+GS removal can't save more than $100, since the PlayStation 2 only costs about that much; there could be glue components involved that inflated that price, but I don't remember reading about any when I looked at a teardown. You can get a nice card reader for about $30. The USB connectors cost less than $10. So for them to be making money on consoles, Cell and blue laser cost reduction and volume increases would need to reduce the cost by almost $200.
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
WetWired read his obituary with confusionWetWired read his obituary with confusionWetWired read his obituary with confusionWetWired read his obituary with confusion
 
 
WetWired
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-20, 01:49 PM in reply to D3V's post "Playstation 3 Price Drop soon?"
Still wont buy it. Don't really play console games (with the exception of my n64 and SNES once in a while) and I already have a blu ray player
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Sovereign enjoys the static noises of ten television sets simultaneously tuned to 412.84 MHzSovereign enjoys the static noises of ten television sets simultaneously tuned to 412.84 MHz
 
 
Sovereign
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-20, 03:13 PM in reply to Sovereign's post starting "Still wont buy it. Don't really play..."
I want it simply for Final Fantasy XIII Versus and MGS4
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
KagomJack shouldn't have fed itKagomJack shouldn't have fed itKagomJack shouldn't have fed itKagomJack shouldn't have fed itKagomJack shouldn't have fed it
 
 
KagomJack
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-03-20, 06:42 PM in reply to KagomJack's post starting "I want it simply for Final Fantasy XIII..."
I'd buy it if the price would drop to 200. I'm a bit short on cash right now, and I have to start saving up for college and a car...
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Wallow is an uncelestial body of massWallow is an uncelestial body of massWallow is an uncelestial body of mass
 
 
Wallow
 



 

Bookmarks

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules [Forum Rules]
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
my new findings slaynish Diablo I & II 16 2004-08-02 02:25 PM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:32 PM.
'Synthesis 2' vBulletin 3.x styles and 'x79' derivative
by WetWired the Unbound and Chruser
Copyright ©2002-2008 zelaron.com
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
This site is best seen with your eyes open.