Cheaper, Compact PS2 Coming

Sony responds to the reports.

Even though the PlayStation 3 has been out for a year already, it's still the console's older sibling, the PlayStation 2, that's selling best. Sales of the seven-year-old console will soon be getting a shot in the arm if talk of a price drop in the new year turns out to be true.

The current, "fat" PS2

UK site MCV is reporting that Sony is planning to put out a new version of the PS2 in early 2008. The new version of the hardware is described as "compact" by the publication, a characteristic carrying over to the price too, which will come down by around 25 per cent.

MCV says the new PS2 will sell for $99 in the US versus the $130 the current one sells for. Converted and accounting for sales tax, that would be about £75 in the UK.

But Sony has refused to confirm that it has a cheaper version coming, a spokesperson for the company telling AOL on Friday that it had no comment on the matter.

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Even still, the move would not come as a surprise. Many people inside and outside the industry have been calling for Sony to drop the price of the PS2 to the magical $99 price point, at which the system crosses into impulse purchase territory.

The PS2 has had a long and successful run. The console made its worldwide debut in Japan in late 2000 and has since gone on to sell more than 120 million units worldwide.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo