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60GB PS3 Price Cut Not Just a 'Fire Sale'

Posted by Zonk on Fri Jul 13, 2007 09:39 AM
from the sony-you're-killing-me-here dept.
Sony PlayStation (Games)
Heffenfeffer writes "Those excited about the $100 price cut that the 60 GB PS3 recently received should act quickly — according to an interview from SCEE president David Reeves: 'All they're doing is taking their stock in trade that they've got at the moment of the 60GB model, marking the price down and it will all be gone by the end of July.' When asked if the 60GB PS3 would be no more after the fire sale, he confirmed, 'In America, yes ... what the US are offering from the 1st of August is a USD $599 version with one game.'" Meanwhile, the EU won't be getting the 80GB system at all. Instead, they'll be getting a new starter pack bundle pack with two games and an extra controller for the same cost as the current system on its own (£425, or $862). Update: 07/13 17:17 GMT by Z : Okay ... it's really challenging to understand what's going on when Sony as an entity is saying two different things. Despite the above coming from a Sony executive, it looks like this is completely untrue. Says a Sony of America spokesperson: "SCEA has reacted with puzzlement to the European perspective, suggesting that there may have been an incorrect interpretation. The spokesperson said, 'Those quotes from David Reeves are not accurate.'"
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[+] Sony CEO Confirms Limited $499 PS3 Stock 167 comments
If you were confused about yesterday's stock announcement, you wouldn't be the only one. Thankfully Kaz Harai, SCEI CEO, has clarified the situation: the $499 60GB PlayStation 3 is a limited offering. They'll only be selling it here in the states until their current stock of the system is cleared out, at which point the only SKU remaining in the states will be the $599 80GB + Motorstorm bundle. The catch is that there is probably enough stock in hand for several months of sales at this price; hence the confusion yesterday about a 'fire sale'. Hirai confirmed this to a Norwegian videogame news site, and the video of the interview is available online. For some perspective, Next Generation has a commentary piece on this strange matter. "Now Sony looks as though it's been spinning consumers. The smart thing to have done would have been to come out and say that the 60Gig version is being discounted and discontinued, and that the bells-n-whistles PS3 at $599 is better value than ever. That didn't happen, and what many have seen as a pretty successful E3 for Sony has been marred by confusion over the future of the platform's strategy. So in those meetings next week, Sony will have cause to look back and consider how things might have been done better."
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  • I just dont get it (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pl1ght (836951) on Friday July 13 2007, @09:43AM (#19848659)
    OK, i am usually one of the first ones to defend sony, and how much i love my PS3(which i do). But this is just too much. How can sony honestly be that stupid. Unless we are missing something and they are going to drop the 80gb model down to 499 after the 60gb is phased out this makes no sense at all. Why announce this after you have an amazing showing at E3 and then screw it all up with bad PR like this. Really ridiculous.
    • Agreed. The 100$ price cut just becomes a publicity stunt aimed at hyping the press in advance of E3. Combined with Microsoft's admission of the defects in the 360, the PS3 price cut had many people thinking that momentum had shifted. Now I personally see Sony as desperate. Even stranger is that the European market was told they would not get a 100$ price cut, but that they would get an announced bundle of a 60gb system, 2 controllers and 2 games for the standard same price. This seems like the way the

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Applekid (993327)
        Pricewise, the EU market's been getting the shaft anyway. So I'm pleased for those across the pond can get a better deal.

        The thing is that there have been some loud voices from Konami and Capcom that say even a $100 cut is too little. Now there really it looks like it's still $600. Hasn't Hideo been kicking around the idea of going multiplatform on MGS4 if the price wasn't dropped?

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Cerberus911 (834576)
        That bundle is probably a way for SONY to get rid of all their rumble-less controllers before they announce their new vibrating ones.

    • Re:I just dont get it (Score:5, Interesting)

      by _xeno_ (155264) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:05AM (#19848929) Homepage Journal

      Even better is the admission that they're phasing out the PS3 model with "100% backwards compatibility" to replace it with one with "88%" compatibility. (I'm not sure what that 88% figure means, but it's what the guy said in the interview. Percent of games that work? Percent of PS2 emulated? He didn't say.)

      Then there's this quote:

      [GamesIndustry.biz:] But you're still asking people to commit GBP 425 to a games console. Isn't there a problem with the perception that that's an awful lot of money to shell out?

      It is, but surprisingly, people are paying that amount of money for it.

      It's like he's just begging for people to hate Sony. I don't get it.

      • Re:I just dont get it (Score:4, Funny)

        by Opportunist (166417) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:56AM (#19849673)
        The 88% is probably the average amount of a game you play through before it freezes for good and toasts your safegames in the process.
        • I know you're excited that the PS3 has been topping Amazon.com's bestselling list for video games. It is something to be happy about, but think about the context.

          1. At #4 is the Wii, which as of this comment Amazon doesn't have stocked save for random people selling their own.
          2. This is one online store amoung many others physical and virtual. Individual store sales vary, even on a day to day basis within the same store.

          Like I said, it's a milestone, but it isn't as damning for Sony's competitors as an NPD

  • Foiled again? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Applekid (993327) on Friday July 13 2007, @09:45AM (#19848697)
    I wonder if their plan included possibly forcing Microsoft to cut the price on the 360 (and announce that at e3) and rubbing salt in that wound since Microsoft's game division lost money and with that $1 billion warranty extention deal.

    Didn't go that way, obviously, so, maybe my imagination for dark smoke filled conference rooms at Sony is running wild again.
    • the sad part is MS has done two warranty extentions.. while yes the 360 seems to fail alot and MS is going to lose alot of money.. i can say one thing.. they are saving face and are doing a good job.. if i was going to get a consol it would be either A: a 360 or B: a Wii (if they add dvd playback and i could find one) - but i refuse to let my self own a consol cause it would be a very bad thing for me

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Macthorpe (960048)
          The turnaround for console replacement is less than a month. They say two weeks maximum to receive and two weeks maximum to return it.

          So even if it did fail (the new consoles already have the issue fixed, so less likely now), your assertion that you'll wait 'months' for a replacement is false.

      • We already know that there have been dramatic cost cuts in BluRay drive components - the diodes being the major savings having come down from some 100 dollars to around 10 as of a few months ago.


        I'd like to read more about this, can you fire a few links my way? I'm looking forward to blue laser pointers that don't cost an arm and a leg.
  • I imagine when they clear out 60GB consoles, the free game (Motorstorm) will be dropped from the 80GB model and that price will be reduced. That actually seems like a pretty good path because you wouldn't be too upset if you had bought the 60GB model and the 80GB model was the same price a few weeks later, without the free game you passed on...

  • If I were MS (Score:4, Interesting)

    by svendsen (1029716) on Friday July 13 2007, @09:54AM (#19848787)
    I would cut the xbox 360 (all versions) by $50 and say this is a permanent move. Would put sony on the defensive.
    • Why? 3 major releases coming in the 3rd and 4th quarters this year.

      1)Madden. Non exclusive, but will move a few more customers to the "next-gen".
      2)GTA4. Microsoft has exclusive content, and they will make sure customers know it prior to release. It will sell many 360s.
      3)Halo3. Probably the most popular next-gen exclusive behind Twilight Princess. This will move a ton of xboxs.

      The extended warranty is an investment (IMO) to pull in people moving to next-gen this Christmas who may be on the fenc

    • Re:If I were MS (Score:5, Funny)

      by *weasel (174362) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:55AM (#19849663)
      I don't even think Microsoft has to worry about Sony at this point. Sony's too busy shooting themselves in the foot over and over.
      Apparently, the only reason their E3 announcements went over faily well, was because they'd paused to reload.

      Microsoft would be better suited pricing the 360 core to compete with the Wii and reinvigorate sales in the premium.
      (sales numbers have been falling off; they're pretty close to the limit on people willing to spend $400 for a console).

  • Damn (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Alzheimers (467217) on Friday July 13 2007, @09:59AM (#19848853)
    ...and they were this close to winning me over with games like EchoChrome and LittleBigPlanet. Guess now I'll have more time (and Money) for Bioshock, Super Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed, Fallout 3, Metroid Prime 3, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Halo3, Hellgate, Starcraft II, Gears of War...

    (get the point here, sony?)

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Alzheimers (467217)
        The point I was *trying* to make was that there are plenty of options coming down the pipe for the rest of this year. While the price cut alone might not have influenced me into buying an PS3, their library is getting interesting enough that it might have pushed me (and many other consumers) over the edge.

        Gamers have a lot to be happy about this year -- an over-abundance of choice is not a bad problem to have. It's really only bad for Sony, trying to woo gamers who have already invested in a console or tw

  • Hear that? (Score:5, Funny)

    by BlueParrot (965239) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:00AM (#19848871)
    That is the sound of another champagne bottle being opened over at Nintendo ...

    Seriously. It starts looking as if Sony WANTS to lose Europe.
    • Yeah, it really seems like they're locked in a box with no windows over at Sony HQ. It took a $100 price cut to start to turn the overwhelmingly negative vocal consumer response, now people are ready to buy if only there were some games, but before they can get things going they announce that they're going to ruin it ahead of time. What is wrong with these people? Deny good things vehemently but rushing to tell the bad news must be some new form of corporate Tourettes syndrome.

    • Re:Hear that? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Opportunist (166417) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:59AM (#19849709)
      I'm from Europe. Who or what is Sony?
  • In effect, the bar of entry is now $100 more than it was before the "price cut".

    Sony is making the same mistake they made when the PS3 first launched, they're trying to cram too much into the system. Your average customer is not someone who wants $600 package deals, however value-worthy they are. They had the opportunity to have a system, the 20gb version, as low as $400. Maybe its "gimp", but that would certainly give the Sony crowd something to fire back about system costs.

    The PS3 seems destined to remain

    • Sony is making the same mistake they made when the PS3 first launched, they're trying to cram too much into the system. Your average customer is not someone who wants $600 package deals, however value-worthy they are. They had the opportunity to have a system, the 20gb version, as low as $400. Maybe its "gimp", but that would certainly give the Sony crowd something to fire back about system costs.

      If Sony says that the difference between the 60 gig and 20 gig version was $100 then in your example the 20

  • They have to wait a bit before anouncing the price drop of the 80GB player or it would just piss you off that you just spent the same money for the 60GB model. If you want a 60GB model, buy it, if you don't, dont. If you really want an 80GB model, and that extra $100 pisses you off that much, then wait for November.
    Myself I will be going down the Compucenter and upgrading my 60GB model to the 160GB model for $80 (its the little panel on the side that says "HDD").
  • I think sony figured (as we did) that nobody would buy the 80GB version if they got a 60 gig version for a 100 dollars lesser. My feeling is that they'll keep trying to sell it at $600 with a game (worth - according to Sony - $60) and then come Christmas, move down to $500 and maybe release a higher capacity version (250 gig anyone?) for $600. Of course, it is also possible that the price structure will change to a $400/$500 business model around Xmas if PS3 doesn't become the shit then owing to their games
  • So, given that they've crippled the backward compatibility on the 80GB model, that I'm not ready to drop $500 on a system that doesn't (yet) have any games I want to play, that I still want to play my PS/PS2 games, and that I already have too many consoles littering the space around my TV, I guess I'm just never going to be getting one.

    Oh well, just means more money to blow on Wii/360 games...
  • $600 for a video game console is still too much. Newsflash Sony, you suck. ... still waiting to get a Wii ...

    Tom

  • A stupid non-story (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DrXym (126579) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:09AM (#19848987)
    Do people SERIOUSLY think Sony is going to hike the price up by $100 again? Of course they're not. They'll clear the 60Gb models out and then probably produce an unbundled version of the 80Gb model at the same price in time for Christmas.

    This story is simply someone spreading shit.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by samkass (174571)
      Agreed! Sony obviously did the right move with the $100 price cut-- The PS3 has led the Amazon "videogames" best-sellers list (with the Blu-Ray remote #2 and extra controller #3) ever since the announcement. They're not going to undo that.

      On Amazon, the PS3 has been outselling the Wii since the price cut, and the XBox 360 is all the way down at #20. (Even the PS2 is outselling the XBox 360 on Amazon.)

      Before people go nuts about never buying anything PS3/Sony/blah blah blah again, why don't you wait to se

      • Before people go nuts about never buying anything PS3/Sony/blah blah blah again, why don't you wait to see what ACTUALLY happens?


        Probably the most sound idea I've read thus far.

        This also goes for prognosticating further price drops. It would be really nice, but without an official announcement we just don't know.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by uerunner (1046052)
        You shouldn't be comparing the PS3 and Wii sales on Amazon. You can buy a PS3 for regular price (now $499), but all the Wiis available on Amazon are people reselling them with the current minimum cost after shipping of over $400. It's ridiculous to try to compare those two things in order to make a point.

        This is not meant to be some fanboy comment looking to push the Wii, but just a math nerd pointing out the flaws in your logic.

  • Time for a Management change at Sony.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by trdrstv (986999) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:10AM (#19849009)
    Seriously. I was encouraged when crazy Ken got the You can do no further harm "promotion", then later the boot but GODDAMN. Do the current Sony execs own a bunch of Nintendo stock?

    A $499 version can be purchased at Gamespot for $399 with a trade in of a PS2. This makes it the same price as 360 PRO AND it has the PS2 slimline chip built in. If you owned a PS2 you probably had a few games for it. This was a VALUE ADDED proposition for the PS3.

    Then they had the get 5 BluRay disks promotion, which is another VALUE ADD tactic.

    Now they are going to stick with the $599 price, drop the 'cheaper alternative' again and pull out the PS2 chip?

    Somebody else needs to take the reigns or Sony will remain a distant 3rd this gen.

    • $499 is about $20 more than I paid for my Xbox 360 Elite (120GB hard drive, HDMI). I was surprised how much the PS2 was being pushed at the store where I bought my Xbox. They had numerous PS3s available and only a few Xbox 360s and Wiis. Sony's definitely lost the gaming crown. If they want a chance of regaining it, they need to drop the prices even more.

  • Emotionless PS3 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Deathlizard (115856) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:11AM (#19849031) Homepage Journal
    And apparently, the 80GB PS3 removes the Emotion Engine (PS2) hardware and replaces it with software emulation. So not only are they not dropping the price, their making it less backwards compatible as well but hey, here's an extra 20GB and the only game worth playing on the PS3 to make up for it...

    It wasn't even a price cut to begin with. at most, it was a SKU shift. it would be the same thing if MS ditched the core system, dropped the premium to core prices, and priced the Elite and the original's premium price.

    I'm so glad I bought a Wii. No Backwards compatibility problems, no Blinking Red Rings of Death, and more Ben Franklins in my wallet.
      • and no good graphics

        Yeah. because Great Graphics == Great game. I better Toss Twilight Princess out the window and go play Spiderman 3 on the PS3/360 then.

        no good games since launch

        There are some great games for the Wii. Just not a ton of them. and there is still the Gamecube lineup and virtual console to fall back on. The 360 never had great backward compatibility to begin with, but at least the 360 library is rather strong to fall back on. The PS3 hasn't had a breakout game yet and they had the PS1/PS2 to

  • Seriously Sony... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Geek_3.3 (768699) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:21AM (#19849193)
    Why is it that every time you almost convince me to buy a PS3 do you have to do something like this? Well, I suppose thanks are in order, since even a $500 upfront cost is still kinda steep and I didn't quite have the disposable income to blow on that just yet.

    All that said, I *will* likely buy a PS3... but not a nanosecond before there is a compelling game for it that will not be out for the Xbox 360. ( Yes, I'm looking at you, Square-Enix.) Hopefully, by then, the freakin thing will be at the $399 price point that I wanted in the first place.
  • Sony is phasing out the 100% backwards compatible model, replacing it with a model which STILL costs way too much at the original price, only gains a "who cares" game and 20 GB of hard drives space...

    While at the same time, replaces the quality backwards compatibility with a incomplete software layer...

    Now tell me why I shouldn't just get an XBox instead. The hardware may be unreliable, but Microsoft will at least fix it when it breaks.

  • Bad headline (Score:5, Funny)

    by DoofusOfDeath (636671) on Friday July 13 2007, @10:29AM (#19849291)
    It's only a fire sale when Sony is selling laptop batteries.

  • *yawn* (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WhiteWolf666 (145211) <moornblade at gmail@com> on Friday July 13 2007, @11:14AM (#19849929) Homepage Journal
    Have any of you ever tried to buy a car at a dealer?

    "This is a *special* price! It'll go up next week!"

    Yeah. Right. I'll believe it when I see it; Sony won't shoot itself in the foot like that. This is just a marketing ploy to drive sales just a little bit more.

    • BRB, Ordering some Sony fire.

      Ordering a spare laptop battery? (It had to be said.)

      • Although guilty of using all these terms interchangeably in my own posts, the difference between gB, GB, gb and Gb are significant only when there is a 'ps' following the acronym. In other lay contexts, it's fairly unambiguous.

        Cheers!
        • Not really. Storage, for example, is usually measured in powers of ten, while filesystems work in powers of two. It's rarely completely unambiguous without detailed knowledge of what the units are being applied to. Of course, if people would just use Kibi, Mebi, Gibi, etc. for powers of two, things would be a lot easier.
    • what a great way to destroy all the good will they created by the price cut! But then again they say it's better to have loved and lost... or something like that.

      Think about if for a second. Sony have a new 80Gb model and they have remaining stock of the 60Gb. Of course they're going to shift the 60Gb models first. That does not mean that when they've done with those consoles that the price goes straight back up. Instead an unbundled 80Gb console will step in at the same price to replace it. This should b

    • Re:Wrong (Score:4, Insightful)

      by MeanderingMind (884641) * on Friday July 13 2007, @10:25AM (#19849243) Homepage Journal

      The current 60 gig PS3 is now out of production and is now $499 as anyone can see


      Right, but that's not the issue.

      There will be a 80 gig model that is introduced next month that will have partial software emulation - right now European PS3s with EE emulation are at ~90 percent PS2 compatibility. As the remaining stock of 60 gigs get sold the 80 gig will come down to the same price as the current 60 gig model.


      This is. Sony has not said, by any stretch of the imagination, that they intend on lowering the price of the 80gb model. They may do so, but we have no guarantee.

      As most people know, harddrives don't really drop in price they just get larger capacity for the same price and eventually the low end drives start to become more expensive. That is happening with the 60 gig laptop drives and Sony is moving on to the cheaper in bulk 80 gig drives. So costs will be about the same for the larger harddrive. The removal of the EE hardware and the usual manufacturing cost cutting, including 65nm later this year, will mean the 80 gig PS3 model will be actually cheaper to manufacture than the current 60 gig models.

      So by the time you can't get a 60 gig anymore 80 gigs will have moved down in price to $499.


      Let us assume for the moment that you're right, 60gb laptop drives are increasing in price to the point where soon they will be more expensive than 80gb laptop drives. Here's a look at current prices.

      Via Newegg:
      Western Digital - 60g [newegg.com]: $47.99
      Western Digital - 80g [newegg.com]: $59.99
      Hitachi - 60g [newegg.com]: $49.99
      Hitachi - 80g [newegg.com]: $54.99
      Seagate - 60g [newegg.com]: $49.99
      Seagate - 80g [newegg.com]: $59.99

      So, the prices are somewhat close, ranging from $5-$15 difference with the 80gb drives consistantly more expensive. This gives some credence to the theory that soon the 60gb drives will be more expensive as they cease to be manufactured.

      However, the following was in the article summary:

      In America, yes ... what the US are offering from the 1st of August is a USD $599 version with one game.


      There are a whopping 18 days left before the 1st of August. I find it hard to believe by any stretch of the imagination that in so short a time...
      A) The price difference between 60gb and 80gb drives will be significantly in favor of the latter.
      B) The 65nm proccesses coming "later this year" will arrive and have an effect.
      C) Sony will actually think to pass the benefits onto the gamer rather than themselves.

      If the price of the 80gb model drops, it's more likely because they'll unbundle the game. Sony could pleasently surprise us, but I'm not counting on it.
    • I bet the aussie price will be $987 for a long time, they might delay the price cut till dec, and even then probably only
      by $100 au, which would be more like 85usd. Even now it has a 40%+ 'markup' here.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Chris Burke (6130)
      As the remaining stock of 60 gigs get sold the 80 gig will come down to the same price as the current 60 gig model.

      What makes you think that?

      As you note, the price of the 60 gig drives hasn't gone down, so that isn't why the price dropped. The price of the 60 GB model dropped because they want to clear out the inventory to make room for the 80 GB model. The 80 GB drives will cost the same as current 60 GB drives. So Sony doesn't get to make cheaper PS3s, the only reason the 60 GB model was discounted is

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by GrayCalx (597428)
      Good thing every gamer buys every console and video game from Amazon so that we can use it as a accurate view of the industry.

    • Re:Stop with the "Software Emulation" FUD (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 13 2007, @11:25AM (#19850055)
      Incorrect.

      The North Americian Playstation 3 (which contains the Emotion Engine) does support 1080p output. [playstation.com]

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by cmdrpaddy (955593)

      The North Americian Playstation 3 (which contains the Emotion Engine) does support 1080p output.
      And not only that the North American PS3 supports more games. The software emulation in European PS3s has a large list of games that have "Should play on PLAYSTATION®3 with noticeable issues".

    • As referenced by the updated article, this claim by the SCE Europe president has been refuted by the SCE America PR. Sony announced this as a 'price cut', not a 'clearance'. It would be an obviously stupid move of them to force the consumer back up to the $599 price, it will not happen.

      Did you miss this part?

      Nevertheless, Kaz Hirai himself says the one SKU strategy is the plan. He told Scandinavian website VGTV, "[We do not] have a 2 SKU strategy in the US, we learned very quickly customers respond b

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