PS3 price fixation "short-term thinking" News

Oh shut up and just drop the price. Your reasoning would look ok if it weren't for devs threatening to pull support (and its not amazing support atm). Keep with that attitude and you'll be lucky to last 5!

I love Sony's "fingers-in-ears lalalala we're not listening" annoucements!

Wow, that's a some conviction he has there! I don't know how much of a loss they make on each console but if just they knocked £50 off the RRP and bundled in a game I'm sure their sales would consistenltly increase.

It seems they want a massive user base nearer the end of the console lifecycle, when devs/consumsers will be looking at the next gen.

I for one will buy one UPON A PRICE DROP.

For now I will stick with my 360 and PC

Sheesh.... Relax people!

If you'ed spent billions of dollars on R&D you'ed be keeping the price high for as long as possible too.

@ Shrui - Its only Activision thats even mensioned dropping support and thats simply just hot air. And rememeber, this from the publisher thats expecting you to pay over £100 for a plastic DJ turntable!! Value for money anyone?!?!

People seem to think its their right to have a price cut. They're not cutting the price anytime soon, get used to it!

Wanted one for a while now, but not buying till console hits the £199 bracket

Its a business, and therefore needs to be profitable, as the costs come down to produce it, the cost *should* be passed on to the consumer.

I really dont think Sony can afford to drop the price anymore on the current build, otherwise they would have done it. The Ps3 will be the cost saving version along in a few months.

How dare people with limited money be concerned with something getting to a price they can afford.

I think the bundling strategy is great value but needs to be marketed better. Killzone 2 and MGS 4 are both great games that most people will buy anyways, but they'd still see no bundle priced at $350 as a better deal - they can't get past the $399 price tag no matter what Sony throw in.

"ultimately you'll get all the consumers you want.

"You won't get them all day one, "

Oh fuck off Sony. You don`t have an advantage over the competition anymore, I can buy a cheapo Blu Ray in Tesco for £70, so quit moaning and get competetive pricing.

The consumers have voted with their feet, and in ten years time you will be lucky to retain your current third place in the market.

This statement continues a long line of bullshit Sony denials about their embarrasing showing in this console cycle, very few people believe this bollocks anymore.

And don`t even mention how UMD was a stop-gap until full digital distribution - tossers !

"How dare people with limited money be concered with something getting to a price they can afford."

Ill assume thats intended to be sarcasm. Im sure Sony have limited money too and they're concerned with getting the PS3 to a price THEY can afford. Should I start writing to Ferrari demanding that they reduce the price of their cars because I want one? Should I be offended when they don't?

I realise there are alot of people out there with limited funds who are waiting for the price cut but Im getting frustrated reading page after page of comments from people who seem to think Sony are being unreasonable. In this economic climate it would foolish of Sony to sink themselves more into debt because game players demand it!

"Ill assume thats intended to be sarcasm. Im sure Sony have limited money too and they're concerned with getting the PS3 to a price THEY can afford. Should I start writing to Ferrari demanding that they reduce the price of their cars because I want one. Should be be offended because they don't. I realise there are alot of people out there with limited funds who are waiting for the price cut but Im getting frustrated reading page after page of comments from people who seem to think Sony are being unreasonable. In this economic climate it would foolish of Sony to sink themselves more into debt because game players demand it! "

Never said that wasn't the case.

It doesn't give them the right to tell people they shouldn't be concerned with the price though.

The average person isn't going to care how it hurts Sony. Why would you unless ypu have shares in them? They will care if they want and can't afford it though.

+1 for the buying it on price drop. It feels just slightly too expensive right now.

I think Sony have had their hands tied by the Blu-Ray player slightly with regards to the price, so I can't say I'm suprised it costs as much as it does at the moment.

"If they didn't have all that money they would have been bankrupt."

roflcopters

@ Trebell - I think their statement is returning fire at the comments made by Activision recently and analysts that seem to focus on nothing else but the price of the console. It does as you say have the undesired effect of tellng the consumer they shouldnt be concerned with the price but I genuinely don't think his comments were aimed at consumers.

People seem to think its their right to have a price cut. They're not cutting the price anytime soon, get used to it!

Bought one already, PiranhaUK?

Should I start writing to Ferrari demanding that they reduce the price of their cars because I want one?

That is a straw man. Ferrari are not a company who wants everyone in the market to buy their cars. If you were to write to, say, Ford, and enough people were to do the same in this economic climate, I'd say there's a fair chance the prices of their products would come down. Indeed, you could achieve the same effect by just haggling in a dealership.

"Fact of the matter is I know most children only get what their parents buy them and that pretty much sums up most morons typing here but this has always been Sonys model when it comes to their consoles. "

Nice one.

I wonder how many of us are significantly older than you but own one already? plenty I bet,

BTW: the 360 has been making a profit for ages.

"Trebell - I think their statement is returning fire at the comments made by Activision recently and analysts that seem to focus on nothing else but the price of the console. It does as you say have the undesired effect of tellng the consumer they shouldnt be concerned with the price but I genuinely don't think his comments were aimed at consumers. "

That wouldn't be unreasonable but I think he should state it clearly, or ideally state it in private.

Fair enough statements, except for: "we want to be profitable. But it is getting harder to measure that." If that's hard to measure then they really need better accountants!

"If that's hard to measure then they really need better accountants!"

Not really, accountants are in the business of just making numbers up to suit their clients.

"we want to be profitable. But it is getting harder to measure that"

For that, read "It is getting harder to present our figures in a way that makes us appear profitable".

When are Microsoft going to start giving away Live membership for free? 'Tossers', 'Cock' etc etc etc.

;)

The PS3 really isn't that expensive for what you get, and there are some great bundles out there (Example - £300 for a 80gb PS3 with InFamous and Killzone 2 is good value for money as far as I'm concerned- http://www.game.co.uk/PS3/Hardware/Hardw...

Hearing people moaning about the price of thing is getting a little bit boring. Sony are a business, selling a product - if you don't like their product, or you don' t like their price - don't buy it...'simples' (as the meerkat would say). .

I have one and can hoestly say it is not worth £300.

Let alone first party games being £44 from the high street, thats just rediculous MS don't charge that!

Sony are just arrogant to the point they can't see their product is failing to sell as well as it could.

@Mentalist (air) - "Ferrari are not a company who wants everyone in the market to buy their cars."

Neither right now are Sony. Im sure they will drop the price when they can still maintain a decent profit on each sale and then Im sure they will welcome everyone into the market with open arms.

The playstation cost $800 to build when it launched and the average cost to the consumer was $450 dollars making Sony a $350 dollar loss. If they had sold 20 million units at launch they would have lost over $70 billion dollars! Im sure they have wanted steady sales until they can reduce they're costs.

@ Mortey
£44 for a 1st party game? Methinks you need to shop around a bit more...

Additionally - not long ago I saw HMV trying to sell Sonic the Hedgehog on the PS3 for £50!!! Retailers do take the piss, and if people are willing pay ridiculous prices, and/or are too lazy to find a more reasonably priced shop that's their look-out - not Sony's/MS's/Nintendo's.

@ Mortey

... And i think your also forgetting that Microsoft tried to charge £55 (RRP) for some titles @ the consoles launch!

I think Sony should raise the price and then release a statement saying something along the lines of a 20 year cycle for the pure fact that it'll piss off all the whinging tossers on this site.

"People are having short-term thinking - the platform is not even three years old. It was USD 599; it's now USD 399,"

Sticking your head in the sand while the competition keeps outselling you is not thinking at all.

Do you think that one day Sony will hire someone that can actually do PR well? Every time one of their execs opens their mouths they seem to cock up.

I know they are available for cheaper in the interwebs, but not much most of the time!

Also 55! bloody hell I didn't notice that!

Still 300 is still too much for it. Although Uncharted easied the pain quite a bit!

"And when you get down to a game like The Last Guardian, you can't just look at the number of units it sold versus it's development cost; it's what did you do to drive our message of diversity."

What!? Firstly, why talk down the sales of The Last Guardian when it's not even out yet? What's to say it's not going to be the biggest selling game on the PS3? Secondly, " it's what did you do to drive our message of diversity" - how about "it's what our very best and most artisticly gifted development team is producing to demonstrate what a truly next-gen video game can be"?

"People seem to think its their right to have a price cut. They're not cutting the price anytime soon, get used to it! "

True but sony should get used to the fact that people wont be spending their money on that system any time soon. Goes both ways you see.

@ Xerx3: "True but sony should get used to the fact that people wont be spending their money on that system any time soon. Goes both ways you see."

Except for the fact that people ARE spending money on the console and its doing good business. Just because your not buying the console doesnt make it a failed system.

"Except for the fact that people ARE spending money on the console and its doing good business. Just because your not buying the console doesn't make it a failed system."

I'm not keeping track but every time EG does one of those sales things it always seems to end up last in console sales. At the very least it's a far cry from the position in the last couple of generations. Sony is far from being as popular as they used to be.

"True but sony should get used to the fact that I wont be spending money on that system any time soon."

Fixed

Did anyone actually bother to read the interview at Fast Company fully? Context helps, and Tretton comes across quite well in the piece.

Absolutely piss poor, Sony. How can you say this with a straight face? There are enough bad decisions being made on a constant basis now that all this can't be down to one person, there's something fundementally flawed in Sony's business. Piss poor.

I have an issue with the PS3 current pricing but to be honest it's mainly down to the fact that I'm viewing it as the purchase of a third console (already owning the other two), and therefore as a purely self-indulgent purchase and one for which I can't justify spending a lot of money on. This may be a factor for a lot of people (except the rabid fanboys obviously)

If I were shopping for my first console, I don't think I'd be that bothered on price at this stage...

"You won't get them all day one, but we're looking to get them over a 10-year period. It's going to take different things to get different consumers."

Yes. But a sub $300 price point is going to get a rather large group of different consumers. (Heck, I already have one and I'll buy a second one if it hits that price point.

While I think it's definitely worth the asking price, it needs to expand the market more significantly. And hey, guess what - you'll probably get more return on investment from your software too.

"We want the platform to be successful, we want to be profitable. But it is getting harder to measure that,"

It's getting harder to measure whether the business is profitable? I would have thought that was pretty straightforward accounting.

Shame... it needs to drop a little. Even £50 would be a start.

I don't think there's any such thing a straight forward accounting... not in big business at least. If it was straight forward it would be easier for the government to tax you, and accountants wouldn't earn as much money.

"You won't get them all day one, but we're looking to get them over a 10-year period. It's going to take different things to get different consumers."

A valid point in theory, but what is it that Tretton imagines is going to make people suddenly buy a PS3 when they haven't before? The longer Sony delay a price cut, the more people buy 360s and Wiis. As that happens, those machines become steadily more attractive to developers. As that happens, the chances of anyone writing a PS3 killer app decreases.

All the fanboy nerds who'll buy a PS3 for MGS4 or Final Fantasy 73 or whatever have already bought one. GT5 is pretty much the last shot Sony have with regard to a big-name exclusive and again, that's only really targeting fanboys. Even if it gets cheaper, exactly what is it that's going to sell a PS3 to all the people who haven't already got one? Little Big Planet aimed at the more mainstream audience and stiffed. Nintendo have the mums-and-dads market sewn up tighter than a drum, and the middle ground between hardcore and casual have nothing to gain from buying a PS3 over a 360, with the possible exception of free online play (which is of very minor importance to the non-hardcore market). But that's only £3 a month, set against the increased cost of the hardware, so it's pretty hard to see it making the difference.

They can have all the 10-year-plans they like, but Sony can't afford to slip any further behind, and right now that's exactly what they're doing with every passing day that the PS3 is so much more expensive than the competition.

"Tretton's overall message was that Sony won't be rushed into anything because the rules are different for a 10-year life cycle."

And yet oddly enough also different to that other console with a 10-year life cycle, the PS2.

I notice that the unmentioned company in question, Activision, haven't recently ploughed millions or billions into the development of a cutting edge console, then sold it at a dramatic loss during a recession.

They sure like cashing in on cheap-ass plastic peripherals that they scalp people for, though - how about they cut the cost of their plastic pap to what it's actually made for to make those more palatable to the thrift-conscious consumer?

No - didn't think so Activision - what was the price for DJ Hero again?

For all the blather about the PS3's price being high, from what I've seen the units sold are pretty much matchng 360 based on the number of months both consoles have been on the market.

Now I don't expect that to continue while the 360 remain £100 lower then PS3, but while that remains the case Sony can keep the price at a level where they're not taking a massive loss on each one sold.

Any fool can sell goods at a loss.

MS can afford to buy marketshare by taking a hit on 360 HW as they have a huge OS cashcow which rakes in money and props up a lot of MS's unprofitable businesses.

BTW - No matter what you think of Sony or the PS3's price, you have to admire them for bankrolling games that may not sell in huge numbers but stand out as something different on their platform amongst all the shooters and driving games.
It's Shadow of the Colossus, ICO etc which made the PS2 a must have console. Singstar and Buzz were also something risky and new at the time.

it'll probably never happen that all these eurogamers wake up to the fact that PS3 is NOT selling badly.

Yes, it is third.
Yes, it is not in the same position as last gen.
But, hell yes, the console IS keeping up with 360 sales, with the latter only having marginally better sales - although it only cost 45% of PS3's price.

Why oh why would Sony drop the price now? And what is wrong with the exec saying so?

"But, hell yes, the console IS keeping up with 360 sales"

In fact, currently the 360 is outselling the PS3 by considerably more than 2:1 in the UK.