Other Publishers to Sony: DROP THE DARN PRICE ON THE PS3!
Sony is in a precarious position with the pricing structure for its flagship gaming console, the PlayStation 3. On the one hand, the Japanese electronics giant is taking a beating across many of its divisions as part of the global economic climate. That problem could be aggravated if Sony were to cut the PS3’s price tag, which currently stands at $399 for the 80GB model and $499 for the 160GB SKU.
Source: GameSpot news article “Publishers push for PS3 price cut,” March 16, 2009
Now, I am one for getting the PS3 in the lowest possible price available. So for the rest of the publishers to come out and say that they need to change the price or - plain and simple - they’re gonna leave. There’s motive - Activision Blizzard says that sales of their Wii games are slightly higher than sales for their PS3 games (39% Wii, a mere 19% PS3) and the calls to lower the price are coming from all corners of the industry. As if Sony didn’t see this coming!
Peter Moore states that the company who own a half of the market should concider their pricing strategies. and Yves Guillemot - you know, the guy who said Six-Gen is coming is two years - also is critcal of the already hight PS3 price. But SCEA’s fighting back. Senior VP of Marketing Peter Dille says there is no chance that the PS3 going low. Can you believe the arrogance? Dille also said to Bloomberg, “Everybody in the development community would love for the PS3 to be free, so they could just sell razor blades.”
Well, Mr. Dille, your words are going to lose SCEA some serious business. All that talk about profitbility and installed base ain’t going through to me. The industry is trying to tell you something, and that’s to just make the PS3 at least afforable to gamers who are fighting the resession. Did I mention that we are in a resession? You are about to cut 16,000 jobs by April of next year. You’re putting thousands in the unemployment line, and you wanna talk about profitbility? Oh, and did I mention the fact that if you don’t act soon, you’re gonna have to give the PS3 a bailout package. You managed to scrounge up 394 billion yen ($4.01 million) in sales for the third quarter, meaning up to roughly 4.46 units. And now you’re talking ’stay the course’ when you’re about to hand 16,000 pink slips. LOWER THE DARN PRICE. You will make the gamers and the work force very happy.
