Sony Ponders PS3 Price Drop

It's a maxim that hardware prices inevitably drop, but for PS3 it seems like a more important move by the day.

The PlayStation 3 debuted in Japan in early November and a week later in the US and systems are now beginning to pile up at retailers in both regions. "The frenzy we saw at the holidays has subsided a bit," SCEA's David Karraker told the New York Times.

Fortunes are different at Nintendo, which is struggling to keep up with a rabid audience that is snatching up every Wii (and DS) the company can put on shelves. The massive price difference - Wii costs $250 in the US; PS3 costs $500-600 - is at least part of the reason for this.

Karraker told the New York Times that, "Wii could be considered an impulse buy more than anything else."

Sour grapes or not, the price of the PlayStation 3 is a factor in its slowing sales, and Sony is now thinking about bringing its system closer down to Earth.

The PlayStation 3 is due to launch in Europe in March, carrying a hefty price tag. In the UK, the system will sell for £425 - more than in any other major territory. Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities who focuses on the games industry, said that Sony could drop the price within a year.

"The PS3 can command GBP 425 from the hardcore and I think you'll see price cuts a year from now, probably to GBP 300," Pachter told GamesIndustry.biz.

And it's not just Europe where price is a sensitive issue. Japan has already seen once price drop on the PS3, which saw the price of the 20 GB model come down two months before the system even went on sale. Now the company is thinking about another cut.

"We may look at the price as part of our strategy to expand the market when the timing is right," Takao Yuhara, a vice president at Sony, said this week, according to the Associated Press.

When will the time be right? If you ask customers, they would probably say, "Right now."

Kikizo Staff