AfterDawn: News

Sony is not reconsidering price of PS3

On Thursday, the Financial Times reported that Sony was reconsidering its pricing strategy for the PlayStation 3 in hopes of accelerating sales in North America and Japan.

Their article quotes Sony president Ryoji Chubachi as saying, “We are re-examining our [PS3] budgeting process in terms of pricing and volume. Sales assumptions change and the market is competitive. We are in the midst of revisiting our strategy for the PS3.”



However, after those comments were made, Bloomberg News quoted a Sony spokesperson refuting the comments. “PS3 prices and shipment plans for the future should be determined by market trends and competition. Sony currently doesn't have any specific plan to cut the PlayStatio 3's price,” said company spokeswoman Mami Imada in Tokyo.

At this point, with PlayStation 3s being sold at considerable losses, it seems impossible to drop the prices, even to increase sales.

We hope Sony reps can all get their stories straight so there is no more confusion as to the current pricing strategy.


Source:
Dailytech

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Apr 2007 12:52

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• 37 comments

• Leningrad

  Yip PS3 if sony wont lower thier prices the Ps3 will be failure.
  But it is sony's problem , not mine.

  20.4.2007 13:32 #1

• hughjars

  There's been a quiet little price cut in the UK from £425 to £399 and they are bundling as fast as they can......and still they are not selling.

  20.4.2007 13:45 #2

• akkuma

  okay sony fanboys, your chance to respond!

  20.4.2007 13:52 #3

• Leningrad

  With Xbox 360 that been here for a year microsoft does not look
  like it has a very good future. Nintendo on the other hand has
  a very bright future.
  
  
  
  Originally posted by akkuma:okay sony fanboys, your chance to respond!what are they gonna do about it?
  

  CPU's
  1.Cicero Intel celeron 2.5 ghz,128 chache, 60 gig HDD,
  512 meg DDR.
  2.HP AMD x2 4200+ (LIVE!),1 meg cache L2, 320 gig SATA HDD, 1 gig DDR2 RAM.
  
  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
  -Chinese proverb
  
  

  20.4.2007 13:55 #4

• ceno82

  This is what happens when a company gets cocky after being the only one to win 2 hardware wars in a row. They thought they were king $H!T and people would buy P$3 regardless of price. The judges say **BUUZZZZZZ** WRONG!!!! my wallet rules me first. man do I love my Wii it's cheap & fun! I will love my 360 when Halo3 comes out and get around to scooping one up.

  20.4.2007 13:56 #5

• NexGen76

  Quote:There's been a quiet little price cut in the UK from £425 to £399 and they are bundling as fast as they can......and still they are not selling.But battle isn't over yet
  
  Sony CEO Howard Stringer has declared the European launch of PlayStation 3 a success, with almost 800,000 units already sold in the region.
  
  Speaking to the Financial Times Stringer said, "I think [in] the first two days in the UK, GBP 100m (USD 199m) revenue changed hands and that's probably the largest consumer electronics sale in history."
  
  According to Stringer, Europe has not experienced "the perception wars" which occurred in Japan. He observed that the console launched here with more games for consumers to choose from, adding, "Perhaps we lived up to the expectations in Europe in a way that perhaps we didn't in Japan".
  
  As reported earlier this week, Sony's finances are set to improve following higher sales of LCD TVs and an upturn in the performance of the games division. The company has raised its forecast for full-year operating income from YEN 10 billion to YEN 60 billion (GBP 250 million).
  
  But Stringer said the battle is not yet over: "The silo walls are down - we're staring across the walls at each other but we haven't quite shaken hands all the way around."
  
  http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=24244
  
  Look like they selling good to me !

  20.4.2007 14:07 #6

• CCraze

  This is just pitiful. Did they not see the succcess of the PSP sales after its price cut???

  20.4.2007 16:07 #7

• bobiroc

  My Philosophy is this between the Wii and the 360 I should be able to get just about every game made out there minus a few Sony Exclusives so there is no reason for me to drop $600 on a system when I can get the games for the other systems. And expect Sony not to have as many exclusives as time goes on. Sony is not one for keeping good relations with it vendors due to the fact they have some sort of god complex. I do not have a 360 yet because I was waiting for gen2 of the system and I will probably pick one up this fall.
  

  P4 3.06 w/HT, 1GB Ram, 40GB HDD for OS, 80 GB HDD for Data
  GeForce 6200, SB Audigy 2 Plat. Pioneer DVD-ROM, SONY DVD±RW
  Windows XP MCE 2005
  "Media Center Computer"
  and
  AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, 2GB Ram, 400GB's of HDD Space, GeForce 6600, DVD-ROM, 16X DL DVD±RW
  Windows XP 64 Professional
  "My Dual Core Power House"
  

  20.4.2007 16:14 #8

• webe123

  Originally posted by bobiroc:My Philosophy is this between the Wii and the 360 I should be able to get just about every game made out there minus a few Sony Exclusives so there is no reason for me to drop $600 on a system when I can get the games for the other systems. And expect Sony not to have as many exclusives as time goes on. Sony is not one for keeping good relations with it vendors due to the fact they have some sort of god complex. I do not have a 360 yet because I was waiting for gen2 of the system and I will probably pick one up this fall.That is exactly how I feel....if Sony refuses to drop the price, it is their problem. I would rather have a wii or 360 or BOTH for what a ps3 costs and the games that are ps3 exclusive to me will not be worth $600.00 for a console!

  20.4.2007 18:36 #9

• badream29

  I think we are not realizing the main point...The Ps3 has better graphic's,Yeah it's more expensive right now, but this console is made for the future also.Blue Ray allow's for "Way" more space.I think Ps3 is doing bad at the moment but Im still going to buy the system b/c in a few year's, I think it will be even better.

  21.4.2007 02:33 #10

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by badream29:... but this console is made for the future also.Blue Ray allow's for "Way" more space.I think Ps3 is doing bad at the moment but Im still going to buy the system b/c in a few year's, I think it will be even better.Well then maybe in the future some people will buy it.

  21.4.2007 03:40 #11

• ZippyDSM

  looking at the price drop on the PSP sony dosent know how to drop prices to push sales,can not lower the price on the PS3 anyway they are making a huge loss on each sold it would only double losses if they reduce the PS3 by 100 or so.
  
  its true the 360 will share allot of its titles but the 360 has buggy hardware meh sounds like a nice 2 year wait for me >>

  21.4.2007 04:27 #12

• hughjars

  Quote: Sony CEO Howard Stringer has declared the European launch of PlayStation 3 a success - Oh well, that's it then. Turn your brain off and go to sleep.
  
  The Sony guy said.
  
  Jayzuss wept, no wonder the world is becoming the play-thing of the big corporations.

  21.4.2007 06:35 #13

• georgeluv

  everyone read this: A COMPANY WILL NEVER SELL A PRODUCT AT A LOSS THAT COSTS AS MUCH AS THE PS3, THE RISK IS JUST TOO GREAT. SONY MAKES MONEY OFF OF EVERY PS3 SOLD, DONT BELIEVE THEIR GARBAGE. SONY IS A HARDWARE MANUFACTURER FIRST, AND A GAME SELLER SECOND.

  21.4.2007 14:36 #14

• ZippyDSM

  georgeluv
  care to back it up?
  they have to pay to make the hardware and the price of metrials at the very least, while they can "afford" to knock 40% off the price for a period of time during such times they normally rob from one part of them selfs to pay for another part to balance it out until the games give them all the money they need, this has happened the a few times in the past either by moving money around or saving money for a launch in order to be able to survive till the console stablizes.
  
  I really think sony can afford to drop the price to 400 and I will wait untill its that cheap or cheaper.

  21.4.2007 14:46 #15

• aone

  it doesn't matter if they cut the price, a lot of game companies still refuse to make games for it because it's so complicated and not worth the cost. my friend bought one of the first ps3's and to date he's only played like four games on it because there isn't much available and most of the ones that are are crap.
  
  on a personal side note, i dont' care if it costs as much as a wii, i'd still get the friggin wii over it and i'll play all my beloved square-enix rpgs on ps2 until they force me to buy a ps3.

  21.4.2007 15:34 #16

• georgeluv

  Originally posted by ZIppyDSM:georgeluv
  care to back it up?
  they have to pay to make the hardware and the price of materials at the very least, while they can "afford" to knock 40% off the price for a period of time during such times they normally rob from one part of them self’s to pay for another part to balance it out until the games give them all the money they need, this has happened the a few times in the past either by moving money around or saving money for a launch in order to be able to survive till the console stabilizes.
  
  I really think sony can afford to drop the price to 400 and I will wait until its that cheap or cheaper.the way i can back it up is the fact that absolutely none of the studies or reports that the ps3 costs more to make than they sell it for were made by credible know research companies. why wouldn’t they let them try to find out? because they would find out sonys full of shit.
  
  seriously, how could they NOT make money off of a 600 dollar price tag? no company in the world would risk that. say they plan on making 5 million ps3s under the current manufacturing setup, that is the one they claim they loose money on. what was the loss they claimed? like 3 hundo each right? so thats 300 bucks times 5 million: 1.5 bil loss. you really think sony would risk a 1.5 billion dollar loss? come on. what if file sharing was legalized tomorrow? In a lot of European countries it basically is. no more game sales. they would never ever risk that in a trillion years. share holders would revolt if they saw that type of activity.
  
  it would be really easy for sony to show how much they are loosing on each ps3, just show us the raw material receipts and manufacturing receipts! wonder why they just dont do something that simple? Why do they have no-name Chinese study groups tell us what they cost instead of showing us themselves? cause wed see how much they are making not how much they are loosing.

  21.4.2007 17:20 #17

• ZippyDSM

  georgeluv
  
  yes sine 1.5billoin is what they make in a year,they have the credit to balance a few billion loss in the short run and fix it when money stableizes in the long run.

  21.4.2007 17:25 #18

• borhan9

  If they are not willing to lower prices losses are going to increase more and more. Shame they don't realize :P

  21.4.2007 19:45 #19

• djeazyg

  Every thread here becomes the same damm thing over and over again. Everybody puts the same crap in every thread no matter what the topic is and everybody thinks they know everything.
  The truth/fact is this is the same thing that happened to Sony when the PS2 was released. Everybody cried about the price and whined "I’m waiting for a price drop". History repeats itself all the time and NONE of you know how it will end.
  And for the people crying about the price of the PS3 that went out and bought a 360.... Do the Math.......Your paying just as much if not more for the 360 if you add it all together. I own both systems so I know.
  When or if they start making games that actually use the power of the PS3, everybody (including myself) will feel stupid for doubting them.

  21.4.2007 20:32 #20

• aone

  Originally posted by djeazyg:
  When or if they start making games that actually use the power of the PS3, everybody (including myself) will feel stupid for doubting them.when that day comes, i'll be the first in line to get one and i *will* shell out that $600. until then, it'll just be a piece of frickin crap sitting and collecting dust on those wal-mart shelves.

  22.4.2007 00:04 #21

• pigfister

  the nail in ps3 coffin is all the exclusives drying up, ea and square have both announced now that they are going multi so why pay £400 for a ps3 when for £150 you can get a 360 for the same game experience?
  
  Square Enix Confirms FFXIII Is Not Exclusive To PS3
  Originally posted by link: by Michal Birecki on 17/04/2007 Views: 88543
  
  In news that is sure to rock the gaming world it has been confirmed that Final Fantasy XIII, the blockbuster RPG highly anticipated by millions of fans of the series, will not be an exclusive game for the PlayStation 3 console.
  
  The Final Fantasy XIII project as of right now consists of two games for the PlayStation 3 as well as a mobile game. Motomu Toriyama of Square Enix has come out and made the confirmation that other consoles will be receiving Final Fantasy XIII on top of the PlayStation 3.
  
  This is pretty big news and could lead to speculation as to which Final Fantasy XIII games are going where. The obvious rumors are going to be that FFXIII is heading to the Xbox 360 as well as the PlayStation 3.and then you have the ps3 restriction of no 60hz mode for sdtv owners no rgb dvd as the green screen is still there i mean wtf are sony doing dont the realise that 90%+ still have a sdtv ffs?
  
  High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection PS3 = INCOMPATIBILITY DRM HELL
  Originally posted by link:HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc and DVD players (with HDMI or DVI connector) use HDCP to establish an encrypted digital connection. If the display device—or in the case of using a PC to decrypt and play back HD-DVD or Blu-ray media, the graphics card (hardware, drivers and playback software)—does not support HDCP, then a connection cannot be established. As a result, a black picture and/or error message will likely be displayed instead of the video content.
  
  Content providers for HD-DVD and Blu-ray media can set an Image Constraint Token (ICT) flag that will only output full-resolution digital signals using a digital HDCP connection. If a HDCP enabled player is connected to a non-HDCP-enabled television set with a non-HDCP-compliant analog connection (VGA or Component), and the content is flagged, the player will output a downsampled 960x540 pixel signal. If using non-HDCP-compliant DVI connection (with HDMI to DVI cable), the user will not get any picture at all. Many older high-definition television sets currently in use are not HDCP-capable, and this would negate some of the key benefits of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc for those consumers.

  22.4.2007 02:28 #22

• NexGen76

  Originally posted by pigfister:the nail in ps3 coffin is all the exclusives drying up, ea and square have both announced now that they are going multi so why pay £400 for a ps3 when for £150 you can get a 360 for the same game experience?
  Lets make this clear Sony never paid any of these 2nd & 3rd Party company to make there games exclusives so they are not losing any money plus if most people been paying attention this is going to be the new trend 2nd & 3rd party are jumping ship & going for the big dollars.Its M$ that need exclusives to keep there console alive not Sony.Sony first party dev's group is bigger than M$ & Nintendo combined.Plus most of these titles are getting a bit old like FF series it has run its course& Sony has milk them for just about every penny.

  22.4.2007 03:46 #23

• Xcom

  Originally posted by djeazyg:Every thread here becomes the same damm thing over and over again. Everybody puts the same crap in every thread no matter what the topic is and everybody thinks they know everything.
  The truth/fact is this is the same thing that happened to Sony when the PS2 was released. Everybody cried about the price and whined "I’m waiting for a price drop". History repeats itself all the time and NONE of you know how it will end.
  And for the people crying about the price of the PS3 that went out and bought a 360.... Do the Math.......Your paying just as much if not more for the 360 if you add it all together. I own both systems so I know.
  When or if they start making games that actually use the power of the PS3, everybody (including myself) will feel stupid for doubting them.I hate to break it to you but I bought a PS2 when the price dropped to €125. I have never used it to watch a dvd and I never will.
  There are 7 room's in my house with 7 T.V.s and 7 dvd players.One room has the PS2(and a DVD player) and will have an Xbox shortly.
  I am only going to use the Xbox to play games on so I dont need all the extra bit's that cost extra money,so tell me why I need a PS3 that cost's nearly three times the price and does thing's that I don't want.
  I don't want a Blu Ray player,I don't want a HD DVD player,SD DVD looks fine to me and I think that's the way it will stay for year's to come.

  22.4.2007 08:35 #24

• djeazyg

  Quote:Originally posted by djeazyg:Every thread here becomes the same damm thing over and over again. Everybody puts the same crap in every thread no matter what the topic is and everybody thinks they know everything.
  The truth/fact is this is the same thing that happened to Sony when the PS2 was released. Everybody cried about the price and whined "I’m waiting for a price drop". History repeats itself all the time and NONE of you know how it will end.
  And for the people crying about the price of the PS3 that went out and bought a 360.... Do the Math.......Your paying just as much if not more for the 360 if you add it all together. I own both systems so I know.
  When or if they start making games that actually use the power of the PS3, everybody (including myself) will feel stupid for doubting them.I hate to break it to you but I bought a PS2 when the price dropped to €125. I have never used it to watch a dvd and I never will.
  There are 7 room's in my house with 7 T.V.s and 7 dvd players.One room has the PS2(and a DVD player) and will have an Xbox shortly.
  I am only going to use the Xbox to play games on so I dont need all the extra bit's that cost extra money,so tell me why I need a PS3 that cost's nearly three times the price and does thing's that I don't want.
  I don't want a Blu Ray player,I don't want a HD DVD player,SD DVD looks fine to me and I think that's the way it will stay for year's to come.Then you don't count and shouldn't have even bothered to give my post a second thought. Your reasons for not buying a PS3 are different from the typical reasons people are bitching about.
  I own all 3 and I don't use them for DVD players nor do I really care about BluRay for the movie aspect. The BluRay will come into play for the games when they decide to release games that use the power of the PS3 instead of just porting the weak 360 version to the PS3 and calling it a day. Lazy developers.

  22.4.2007 11:52 #25

• pigfister

  Originally posted by djeazyg:
  When or if they start making games that actually use the power of the PS3, everybody (including myself) will feel stupid for doubting them.i believe i read that sony intend to look more towards the download capabilities to distribute games in the future as internet speeds reach 100mbps so why the Blu-ray exactly?
  
  Game Daily
  Originally posted by link:Although Sony's game unit is expected to post a gigantic loss of around 200 billion yen for the fiscal year ended in March, the spokeswoman denied that any potential job cuts have anything to do with the PlayStation 3 business and the huge costs associated with the new console. According to the report, layoffs would be more "a reaction to general changes in the game industry, such as the move to online game distribution."with an announcement of a move to online distribution as a reason for job cuts makes you wonder what the blu ray drive is actually doing there?
  
  PS3: A smokescreen for Blu-ray?
  Originally posted by link:Is the Sony PlayStation 3 a game console with a built-in Blu-ray bundled in or is it in fact a Blu-ray player masquerading as a game console? The Guardian website in the UK thinks it's the latter.
  
  The Guardian interviewed Sony Europe VP Matt Brown and read between the lines to conclude that Sony is propagating the storage format using the PS3 as the Trojan horse to carry the drive that will help win the war against the HD DVD.
  
  "The PS3 is going to help us do the job," says Brown. He explained that by selling the PS3, they bring the number of Blu-ray owners up. That way, even if consumers actually prefer the HD-DVD format, they'll have a Blu-ray drive by default and that gives them a compelling reason to use it and buy Blu-ray discs with games and movies in them.
  
  Evidence for this strategy, the Guardian says, is the fact that the high-end PS3 is priced lower than most Blu-ray players. Thus, the wiser thing to do in this case would be to buy the PS3 and forget the player. The move is reminiscent of how Microsoft won its browser war against Netscape by bundling the Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system.a price cut is the only thing to save the ps3 as HD-DVD starts the price war with wal-mart selling HD-DVD players for $300 and the HD-DVD user base increasing it wont go unnoticed by the sony camp!

  22.4.2007 12:26 #26

• ThaJazz

  what makes the 360 version weak.considering sony has no version.i mean 7months and no games what the hell is going around here.i own all three next gen consoles and the 360 is the best one to me because there is a lot of games.and dont give me that load of crap about a year headstart for ms.sony is the big dog in this war with 2 wins under the belt.all i say is 7 months and where are the damn games.say what you like it dont take 7months to get good games out

  22.4.2007 12:29 #27

• djeazyg

  Originally posted by ThaJazz:what makes the 360 version weak.considering sony has no version.i mean 7months and no games what the hell is going around here.i own all three next gen consoles and the 360 is the best one to me because there is a lot of games.and dont give me that load of crap about a year headstart for ms.sony is the big dog in this war with 2 wins under the belt.all i say is 7 months and where are the damn games.say what you like it dont take 7months to get good games outWaa... Just because you don't like any of the games out there.
  I read just before the release of the PS3 that it would take until the middle to the end Summer for the brunt of the “at launch” games to be finished because Sony botched the launch so bad. If you didn't like any of the games for the coming out for the PS3 then why did you buy it?
  
  And by the way....The 2 wins Sony has already.....THEY HAD NO COMPETITION!!!! duh.

  22.4.2007 14:15 #28

• ThaJazz

  i bought it because i can afford it thats why.

  22.4.2007 14:50 #29

• djeazyg

  Originally posted by ThaJazz:i bought it because i can afford it thats why.Ooooohhh.... Big spender. What’s your address, I'll send you a cookie.

  22.4.2007 18:18 #30

• spydah

  Why do people keep complaining about the games on PS3 of course they have damn near the same games as the other consoles that was launched since they been out with this system. The 360 didnt have nothing for a year A YEAR!!! GRAW was the only thing really keeping the 360 afloat so far the PS3 is coasting along until their main gaming line hits during every game companies money making season which is from Sept - Jan 1. So by this time if Sony doesnt have nothing going for its self then you have some room to complain but them not having games.

  23.4.2007 06:32 #31

• ZippyDSM

  Both sony and MS screwed up on their respective launches and over all approach with their consoles, dose anyone really doubt that?

  23.4.2007 06:39 #32

• spydah

  Nope I don't because Sony had like 20 games they were suppose to launch when the system was first released and didn't so they both game planned the same and I really isnt the smartest thing.

  23.4.2007 06:44 #33

• ZippyDSM

  spydah
  so MS's poor launch and sequential hardware failures have not effected you like the PS3 screw ups?
  
  Meh if the situation was reversed and the PS3 was released when the 360 was it would still had a bad launch but a year to catch up so all in all both the PS3 and 360 are "broken" from bad launch and bad handleing.

  23.4.2007 06:51 #34

• spydah

  Well so far the PS3 hasnt failed me hardware wise. As for the games yeah they could be better. Sony's marketing strategy hasn't been good at all so far and thats the same for M$. To me its looking worst for the 360 because they have been out longer and had more then enough time to fix all these issues most of us has had and now they want to give us a new system with the same flaws in a prettier box. Some people think thats genius it just shows me that they really dont care how they give us their product as long as they get their money.

  23.4.2007 07:07 #35

• aone

  haha, that's why we should all get wii's - in protest of the poor marketing and launch and general unconcern towards their gamers. ^-^

  24.4.2007 10:19 #36

• djeazyg

  Originally posted by aone:haha, that's why we should all get wii's - in protest of the poor marketing and launch and general unconcern towards their gamers. ^-^You know whats funny........I would actually agree with this if I hadn't bought both the 360 and PS3 already.
  I still say the Wii is in a league of it's own and shouldn't be compaired with the 360 or PS3. It's great all on it's own.

  24.4.2007 17:04 #37