With the worldwide economic downturn, many electronic entertainment companies have been sent scrambling. Among the largest affected by the decrease in spending has been Sony. Not only is the console manufacturer already taking a significant hit for every PlayStation 3 console sold, but now there is mounting pressure for another price cut.
Industry luminaries including the likes of Peter Moore, formerly of Microsoft fame, have spoken about the necessity for Sony to offer up a price cut, and soon. After announcing Electronic Art’s new focus towards Wii development, he was quoted saying:
“You can’t ignore the guy who has half the market,” said Peter Moore, head of sports games at Redwood City, California- based Electronic Arts, maker of the “Madden NFL” series….
“Sony obviously still has a ways to go with their pricing,” Moore, a former executive in Microsoft’s Xbox division, said in an interview. Electronic Arts is committed to the PS3 and expects a cut eventually, he said. — Bloomberg.com
Interestingly enough, one of the most outspoken people addressing the need for a PlayStation 3 price cuts is Alex Evans of Media Molecule. As most are aware, sales of LittleBigPlanet failed to meet expectations last year, but he has always argued that it was due to the lack of a diverse console install base. In a recent interview Evans discussed why a price cut would help stimulate sales:
“They’ve had all these, you know, SingStars and the EyeToy games. They’ve had their casual gaming audience on the PS2, and they have to translate that over to PS3 now.
“As they do that, I’ll be very happy with that, because that’s how I see PS3 growing. That’s why I’m kind of comfortable with it for now… As soon as they drop their price, ho ho ho.” — GamesIndustry.biz
Evans was spot on when he talks about the need to tap into the casual fan base that was present in the PlayStation 2 era. However, the main stumbling block continues to be the four hundred dollar (USD) barrier to entry. Not only does this place the console out of the reach of many, but it alienates the audience that made them successful in the last console generation.
Many analysts have predicted that there could be up to a one hundred dollar price drop on the way, but Sony has remained silent on the topic for quite some time. From where I am sitting, the more they delay the inevitable and necessary price drop, the more consumers they risk losing to the more cost-efficient Wii and Xbox 360. I know we will have to be patient, but I can’t help but feel that if this is not addressed soon, the days of the PlayStation 3 may be numbered.
This looked like an intelligent article……until you blew it all at the end by saying "Unless it's adressed soon the days of the PS3 may be numbered.". What kind of an idiot would even think something like that? Are you suggesting that unless a hardware price cut is implemented to the PS3 over the next quarter the PS3 will just mysteriously vanish from stores altogether???
The PS3 has the best exclusive games both out now and lined up for 2009, i hardly think it's an "Endangered species" right now. It's no secret a price cut would drastically improve PS3 sales but implying that the PS3 is going to die without one shows severe ignorance of the gaming industry.
What I meant was the PS3's chances to regain control of the console market are numbered. I am not saying that the console will disappear, but if they do not get more consoles in circulation, then they will never get the chance to regain the status of dominance that they had during the PS2 era.
As a PS3 owner, I would never want it to disappear, but the further it gets behind the Wii and Xbox 360, the longer and more difficult it will be for Sony to dig out of this hole. That was what I meant. I hope that clarifies things a bit. Sorry for the confusion.
If there's one thing Sony have taught us over the generations it's that it's never too late to walk out victorious (PS1 VS N64, Blu – Ray VS HD – DVD).
However there is no way the PS3 will outsell the 360/Wii the same way the PS2 outsold the Xbox/Gamecube. This generation is going to be much tighter (At least between Sony and Nintendo). Going by what's been happening in Japan the Nintendo Wii has 2 very shaky years ahead of it, it may start to get outsold by the PS3 and possibly even the 360 in weekly sales worldwide over the next 12 months and after that it may never regain it's stride. The Xbox 360 will most likely be the first console to see a successor and be discontinued from the market seeing as how Microsoft realise there's no way back for it. The PS3 will likely win this generation simply by outlasting the other 2 consoles – there's no way the Wii's popularity will keep it going for another 8 years.