The PlayStation 3 price cut that wasn't

Will they or won't they, the old saw predictable as death and taxes.

The PlayStation 3 costs $400 in a U.S. retail economy that's still plummeting as unemployment pushes past 8.1 percent. Not an enviable position to be in, especially not when your competition (Nintendo as much as Microsoft, whatever the executive bigwigs claim) is priced so dramatically below you.

In late February an analyst with Janco Partners claimed a price drop announcement from Sony was due "in the next couple days." Nearly a month later, no word on so much as a sales snip. What's more, GamePro writes that Sony senior vice president of marketing Peter Dille says "there are still no immediate plans to cut the prices of the PS3 consoles."

Janco's Mike Hickey recently repeated his claim that Sony's going to drop the PS3's price "by next month." But Sony's still losing about $50 per PS3, according to Business Week, which pegged Sony's costs at $448.73 per system as recently as December 2008. If Sony dropped the retail price of the PS3 by $100, they'd increase their per unit losses by nearly a quarter ? from 11 to 33 percent.

The internal business cosmology of economic indices that ultimately dictate when Sony drops the PS3's price ? and by how much ? are impossible to estimate in a planning capacity. At some point Sony's manufacturing costs will drop sufficiently and the internal bean counter fiscal financial minimums will align with some executive's "tolerable losses" formula, thus setting the cogs and wheels cranking on a price "event" announcement.

Speaking of events, GDC 2009 is next week in San Francisco. Could GDC be the event Janco's hinting at? Or will Sony wait until E3 2009 in June?

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Comments [34]

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Toneman

They'll probably drop the 80G model to 299$ to get rid of old stocks, and bump the 160G model to 399$.... kinda like what they did to get rid of the old 20 and 60G models

VivaLeResistance

Toneman wrote:

They'll probably drop the 80G model to 299$ to get rid of old stocks, and bump the 160G model to 399$.... kinda like what they did to get rid of the old 20 and 60G models

I would totally get one for $300.

superstoned

damm 2 yrs in the market and they still losing money... way to go sony your strategy is really paying off. keep up the good work...

PiranhaFish

Im just happy I own a console that hasn't depreciated for the entire year i've had it :) PS3 ROCKS

ViciousSid

They have to cut at some point, but the economic mess is really hurting their bottom line. My guess is they put off a cut as long as they can -- businesses are already getting hammered and I think Sony doesn't want to drop even more billions.

But they will drop the price. Eventually.

weinymew

So sad, Sony is in a bad spot. You fanboys that keep saying Sony should lower their price, but if they do you'll still say it doesnt have good games or enough of them. Ps3 is a safer buy hardware wise imo. 360 is a better investment When it comes to online and slightly better software-wise. imo of course. I really dont have a lot of fun with my Ps3. But Gow3, and uhh, well all I want is gow3. I like bluray but it has wore off on me. Given the choice i'll go with bluray but an upscaled dvd is fine too. Sony needs to redefine what it is exactly it is and what does it have that gamers want. Hint, not blu-ray. Not Home(horrible), Not cell(whats that?).

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