Sony Pres says "that's it for PS3 price cuts"

Mike Bantick
Saturday, 28 July 2007 11:16

Your IT - Entertainment

Despite calls for more, Sony Corp's U.S  President Ryoji Chubachi puts a damper on any further imminent price drop for the PlayStation 3.

It is being seen as purely a run-out sale to rid the U.S. market of the 60GB model.  The US$100 price cut to the PS3 is simply to make way for the new 80GB model due in a couple of months. 

Once the 80GB is entrenched on shelves, Sony plan to resume the US$599 price tag in the U.S.  At that point, the "Stater Pack" being offered in the rest-of-the world looks a much better proposition.

The "Starter Pack" consists of two extra SIX AXIS controllers and the games MotorStorm and Resistance: Fall of Man at the current territories PS3 retail price.  Sure it also includes the lower capacity hard drive, but considering 60GB is a pretty good size anyway, and the ability to connect USB attached hard drives, does that really matter?

No it doesn't, which means, at least in the U.S. Sony may find their way back to square one in this current generation game console war.

Sony's U.S president has told Reuters this week that there are no plans to introduce a price adjustment for the incoming 80GB PS3; "We've announced the price cut in the U.S and have no additional plans beyond that at this time,"

Considering the 80GB model reportedly does not contain the emotion engine hardware for complete backwards compatibility with PS2 and PSone games, we reiterate our call to U.S. Sony fans to grab the cheaper 60GB model while they can.

Of course, most likely these kind of statements from video game execs should be taken with large grains of salt.  The 'no additional plans... at this time' is a short term reference.  Once the 60GB models are gone, and the expected Xbox 360 price cut hits retail, not to mention if the Wii phenomenon continues, Sony will need to capitulate to market forces to shift PS3 units.  A simple price cut has been proven time and time again to be the most effective way to achieve this.