PS3 too expensive, claims analyst
Reduce the price, or risk lost sales
Sony must slash the PlayStation 3’s retail price in order to avoid losing sales to its arch-rival, Microsoft's Xbox 360, a gaming analyst has warned.
Jesse Divnich, an analyst at US investment house EDAAR, said in a recently published research note that the PS3’s $399 (£228/€292) price tag – which applies to the 80GB model - “is simply too steep”.
He stressed that Sony must reduce the price in the run-up to Christmas, to avoid customers choosing cheaper alternatives.
The analyst’s comments might fall of deaf ears at Sony, though. In July, Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony’s CFO, said that the company's “plan is not to reduce the price” of the PS3.
Instead, the firm’s long-term strategy is to concentrate on profitability, rather than selling more PS3s. In short, it wants to work on making the console cheaper to produce and so more profitable.
Microsoft has chosen the opposite strategy and, last month, cut the cost of all three models by £20 in the UK. The Xbox 360 Arcade now costs £130/€180, while the Premium and Elite cost £170/€240 and £230/€300, respectively.
COMMENTS
@AC, re: ACs
Until Reg ACs demonstrate more than one opinion (i.e. that everything Sony ever created is like amber from the Gods, but Bill Gates shat in their bed) there really doesn't seem to be any point in granting more than one person's worth in value.
Which is a whole person's worth more than /. ACs deserve. Most of them are bots.
More Microsoft price gouging.
Seems not only can the Arcade and Core 360s not play many games online, or benefit from the DLC, now they can't use get the forthcoming NXE Dashboard update. Incredably, you need a full 256Mb memory card to use it.
The Core came with a 64MB memory card, therefore you can't run NXE without spending more cash.
The arcade comes with a 256 memory card, you can run NXE, if you never want to save any game progress.
Sounds like a sound investment buying a bottem of the range console.. The Arcades are so gimped it's beyond belief, to get anywhere near functional, you need to spend PS3 kind of money, but even then you miss out in Blu-ray and Wifi, and still have to pay to play online.
360 is a incredably bad deal, valuewise. You would be far better wasting your money on a Wii, or buying a PS3.
@IAIN
You really need a reality check. Stand back and listen to yourself...
"Until I see evidence to the contrary, I'm just assuming that all ACs are Mark in disguise. It would make sense."
I suppose every AC on slashdot is Mark too???? What has this mark ever done to you?
Two replies:
Steve Rowsell: "Yet another $ony fanboy displays his fear"
Until I see evidence to the contrary, I'm just assuming that all ACs are Mark in disguise. It would make sense.
Allan Rutland: "And the thought of almost buying three consoles to one of another brand, kind of massively skews the situation in favour of the 360."
For some, the Arcade doesn't make much sense; online use is a lot easier with the hard drive and headset. But, using the Sainsbury's offer, it's possible to buy both a Wii AND a Premium 360 for around the price of a PS3. Which really doesn't make it look very good value. Or, if you buy from Amazon, you could spend that Wii money on a standalone Blu-ray player and have all those HD movies that supposedly make the PS3 such a bargain.
PS3 overpriced, 360 overpriced
Fanboys of the consoles: unite in your condemnation of the unbeliever!
All consoles are crap, real gamers use PCs :-)
