SCEA trying to clear 60GB stock

Analyst Michael Pachter believes Sony America is holding back on announcing the 40GB model so it can sell more of the older 60GB units across the region, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

He reckons the platform holder has an "inventory control problem" and doesn't want to have to lower the cost of the old model to accommodate the new one, like we have seen in both Japan and Europe.

"These rolling announcements suggest to me that Sony has an inventory control problem, with too many unsold 60GB units out there, and they don't want to have to cut the price to clear them," Pachter, analyst for Wedbush Morgan, told GamesIndustry.biz.

If enough old stock has been cleared then the 40GB announcement will come, he reckons, or else Sony will have to "accept reality and bundle [the 60GB with] a game and an extra controller for USD 499.99, giving consumers some value for their money".

Pachter also believes, like other analysts, that a price cut would have a significant positive affect on sales - estimating that it could pick up by as much as 50 per cent for every hundred dollars in reduction.

And he doesn't think loss of backwards compatibility will be an issue, either.

"I don't think most people who waited this long care enough about backwards compatibility to affect their decision either way," he said.

Sony recently dropped the price of the 60GB PS3 here to GBP 349 and introduced the new entry-level 40GB unit at GBP 299.

The larger model will be discontinued once it has sold out, and will also include two free first-party games and an extra Sixaxis controller.