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PlayStation (Games) The Almighty Buck

Sony Exec Says Luxury Could Be PS3's Downfall 208

Posted by Zonk from the a-mite-bit-pricey dept.
Via Next Generation, an interview with CEO of Sony Corporation Sir Howard Stringer on the site CEO Exchange. In the piece they report that Stringer has gone on record as saying the PS3's price may be its downfall. This is the first indication we've had from Sony's upper management that the console's price may just be too high. "Wii is a wonderful device, but has a different target audience. If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the videogame field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants -- a home server, game device, even a computer." Relatedly, a Goldmann Sachs analyst has opined that a PS3 price cut could come this year. Assuming they drop the price by $100 or more, this might blunt the objections many have to the console's lofty pricetag.
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Sony Exec Says Luxury Could Be PS3's Downfall More

Sony Exec Says Luxury Could Be PS3's Downfall

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  • This has already happened (Score:3, Funny)

    by voice_of_all_reason ( 926702 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @12:31PM (#18430195)
    "What? A console war? I know what to do... Let them eat cake!"

    Of course, we all know what happened the last time someone was this blind.
  • Well... at least it only took them a holiday season and three months to figure out. This would start the road of recovery, and now that there's plenty of supply on the shelves, Sony can start throwing their weight around and eating away at the 360's advantage.

    Throw in a couple good games, see if people are willing to buy Casino Royale since it's Blu-Ray only... some positive numbers might start coming around.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by svendsen ( 1029716 )
      If Sony does a price cut I expect MS to do the same. And the rate at which sony loses money per console can they afford a big enough price cut?

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by shoptroll ( 544006 )
        I expect Nintendo to gut Wii Sports from the Wii package as soon as Sony starts rattling the price cut sabre. Gets the system down to $200 and people can choose the game they want instead of Wii Sports. Either that or Nintendo starts bundling in a second remote + nunchuk to the existing console SKU and you have exactly the same effect. Could throw Wii Play in just for the hell of it. Value added software is always a good consumer enticement.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by aywwts4 ( 610966 )

          "I expect Nintendo to gut Wii Sports from the Wii package [...] Could throw Wii Play in just for the hell of it. Value added software is always a good consumer enticement."
          ... I don't really need to say anything here to make my point.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by ifrag ( 984323 )

      see if people are willing to buy Casino Royale since it's Blu-Ray only...
      Uh... this statement is totally false. Where are you getting that?
    • Casino Royale since it's Blu-Ray only

      I think you meant "since it's not on HD-DVD"... and I think both people that have a PS3 have probably already bought Casino Royale BRD.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Guspaz ( 556486 )
      I wonder though... It may be the supply on shelves that's the problem. Sony can cut their price, but the stores already paid for the PS3s they have on the shelves. I doubt that they're going to cut their price and sell them at a loss.

      So any price cut by Sony will only take effect AFTER all the retail stores sell through their existing inventory.

      This also won't counteract the fact that the PS3 is (going to be) enormously MORE expensive in Europe than in North America...

  • So Basicly (Score:2, Insightful)

    by AndyG314 ( 760442 )
    They are saying they made a console that costs way more than anyone wants to pay...

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by cowscows ( 103644 )
      Yeah, and now they're trying to play it off as if they were imagining it as being some sort of fancy status symbol product, instead of admitting that they had their hand forced by the Xbox360, and had to release the PS3 well before they really wanted to.

      Or maybe they really were going for that sort of market, which if is the case, was an entirely retarded move. A playstation is not a car, it's not even an ipod. The idea of "hip" social status is not what motivates the hardcore gamer market, and a video game

  • Luxury? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Megane ( 129182 )

    Ah, yes, the luxury of playing PS2 games. And a couple of decent PS3 games, too.

    Oh, and the luxury of playing Blu-Ray discs, which most people don't care about. I want a game system to play games, not movies and other "luxury" media.

    • Ah, yes, the luxury of playing PS2 games.

      That's if you're not in Europe or Australia. If you are, you can change that to "playing some PS2 games".

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by DogDude ( 805747 )
      Speak for yourself. I want a box that can play games, music, and movies, all in one.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by tzhuge ( 1031302 )

      I don't understand why the parent post isn't getting modded up because it is right on the money. Luxury features are all well and good but it isn't a replacement for core functionality.

      I haven't seen Mercedes talking up in-car DVD and six speaker audio as home entertainment systems or marketing in-dash navigation systems as portable GPS units. What they market is the DRIVE because they sell CARS. Yet these kinds of points keep getting brought up in defense of the PS3. Great, it runs Linux, plays Blu-Ray,

  • duh (Score:3, Insightful)

    by HappySqurriel ( 1010623 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @12:35PM (#18430249)
    The word "duh" comes to mind ...

    I don't think that anyone here will doubt that they would have bought (or be considering buying) a PS3 if they had sold it for $300.

    The important question is what will happen to Phil Harison and Ken Kuratagi if (in my opinion "when") the PS3 fails to sell 25 Million consoles worldwide?

  • Neo Geo (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Taulin ( 569009 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @12:38PM (#18430327) Homepage Journal
    Well, the Neo Geo was an extremely expensive machine for its time also. I would almost compare it with the PS3 in terms of features, price and era. Look how well it did. It had a rabid, but extremely small, fanbase. As long as Sony is confortable with that, then everything is dandy. Now granted, the console buying market has grown a lot since then. But still, of all the game fanatic friends I know, who have multiple consoles, only one had a Neo Geo.

    • Re:Neo Geo (Score:4, Insightful)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @12:50PM (#18430521)

      a rabid, but extremely small, fanbase. As long as Sony is confortable with that

      They're not. They want the huge market share they had with the PS2. In fact, they seem to regard it as their birthright. I think they're genuinely shocked that a huge chunk of the PS2 fans didn't just come rushing with $600 in hand.

      Bad for them, good for consumers. We need some good competition.

      -Eric

    • Re:Neo Geo (Score:4, Informative)

      by Stormwatch ( 703920 ) <`moc.liamtoh' `ta' `oarigogirdor'> on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @01:55PM (#18431667) Homepage
      That comparison is a bit unfair. The Neo Geo might have failed as a home console, but it was possibly the most successful arcade board ever!
      • The Neo Geo might have failed as a home console, but it was possibly the most successful arcade board ever!

        Really? I would have given that honor to a board that had more than three memorable games to its name (Metal Slug, Bust-A-Move, and Generic Street Fighter Clone #45)
        • "Really?"

          Neo-Geo arcade boards certainly had legs. They've been in service for quite a long time now. It's been, what, over fifteen years now? It's at least 3 years older than that other very popular (read by arcade operators: money making) Capcom CPS-2 platform.

          I still find Neo-Geo based games in arcades. And thankfully MAME does a good job emulating the platform so people can play and enjoy what might not have been very popular. I personally enjoyed Shock Troopers, Magical Drop, Blazing Star, Sengoku, Pan

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kisrael ( 134664 )
      I don't think the PS3 is to its competitors what the Neo Geo was back in its day.

      People were in awe of the Neo Geo, rightfully so; that was some serious arcade hardware;
      but now the gap between console and arcade has generally reversed, the PC is there to be the real cutting edge, and people don't see what the PS3 does that's so much better than say, the 360.

      At the risk of being too "poetic", the PS3 doesn't have the soul that the neo geo had, and won't get the fan boy attention or respect.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jandrese ( 485 )
        I know a lot of people who were in Awe over the Neo Geo hardware, but almost nobody who actually ponied up the cash to buy one. That thing was wicked expensive, and the games where pricey too, especially since the gamer market in those days skewed young.

    • Re:Neo Geo (Score:5, Interesting)

      by dank zappingly ( 975064 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @02:13PM (#18432007)
      Believe it or not, the PS3 is not even close to as expensive as the Neo Geo once you adjust for inflation. The Neo Geo came out for $650 in 1990. That's about $1020 in modern dollars. The $100 games would cost about $150 dollars today, if I remember right there were some that were even more expensive.

      • Re:Neo Geo (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Garse Janacek ( 554329 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @07:31PM (#18436553)

        the PS3 is not even close to as expensive as the Neo Geo once you adjust for inflation. The Neo Geo came out for $650 in 1990. That's about $1020 in modern dollars.

        Except that this doesn't work, because the price of consumer electronics doesn't increase along with inflation. With consoles, people have become accustomed to paying pretty much the same price every generation regardless of inflation, and getting better and better hardware for that same price. (You may recall that the 360's $400 was initially considered an awful lot of money, though people seem to be getting accustomed to it now -- even though, correcting backwards for inflation, that's quite a cheap price for such a powerful console.) So, if you go back and correct for inflation, yes, the Neo Geo is far more than the PS3. If you look at its price relative to its competitors, though, the comparison becomes more reasonable again...

    • To add to that there was a big quantifiable difference in quality with different systems back then. Mostly due to more colors and somewhat to the size of the sprites that could be used. Now there is not a clear divider over which one looks better, not to mention other factors like design, online play, etc,

  • Perception. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MaWeiTao ( 908546 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @12:45PM (#18430423)
    Like it or not, the PS3 is always going to compete in the same exact market as the Wii and Xbox360. No matter what features they include with the system, how powerful they make it, what claims they make consumers will always consider it first and foremost a game console.

    Anyone who wants a system that does more will buy a PC. The PS3 is built around a gaming console so it will never function adequately as a PC. Not to mention it wouldn't be compatible with anything on a PC. Those interested in a home theater want dedicated hardware. They don't want audio/visual performance compromised. So ultimately, while for what the PS3 offers it might not be a bad price, it's perceived by everyone as a game console. And in that regard it is overpriced.

    Nintendo has clearly learned from their attempts to turn the NES into a home computer. They've focused on the entertainment aspect and are emphasizing gameplay. Microsoft is in a far better position to bridge the gap between PCs and consoles given their extensive experience with operating systems. Even then, Microsoft hasn't forced an overpowered system on the consumer. They're a lot more subtle.

    Eventually, PCs and consoles might unite as a home entertainment appliance but that day is still a ways away. Sony tried to do too much too soon and now have put themselves in a very difficult position.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DogDude ( 805747 )
      Those interested in a home theater want dedicated hardware. They don't want audio/visual performance compromised.

      I couldn't disagree more. I use the PS2 as my "home theater" DVD player because it's one of the best I've seen/used and I'm a movie nut. I think that the days of having 10 black plastic boxes in your living room just to play the same shiny plastic discs is quickly ending. There's no reason to have all of that redundant electronics when you've got stuff like the PS2. From what I understand,
      • I take it you're using the Slim PSTwo? Because the original PS2 is the worst DVD player I've ever used, period. The image quality is first-to-none. Also both the original and slim DVD remotes are shit. I can't find anything on them in the dark. In spite of this, my PS2 is my DVD player because my prior player (Apex AD3201) died, and my Xbox's optical drive is on its way out. Can anyone suggest a DVD-RW or even a combo drive that the Xbox's face trim plate will snap onto?

    • Like it or not, the PS3 is always going to compete in the same exact market as the Wii and Xbox360.

      QFT. There has been a lot of ballyhoo about how the PS3 is competing for a different segment of the gaming market than the Wii while going head-to-head with the 360. This is true. But it seems that Sony saw the 360 as its only real competitor and dismissed the Wii, but what they didn't understand is that the Wii adds a twist.

      The non-fanboi hardcore market looks at the PS3 and the 360 as both good systems and, in an otherwise isolated market, these systems would compete fairly evenly on price versus t

    • I'm sure they are aware of this, but when losing market share to a competitor yelling "they arent an equivalent good!" is as good a way as any to keep the shareholders in line (assuming they arent too attentive =)).
      • I don't know how long the share holders are going to fall for that...sooner or later they'll realize that in consumers eyes they are equivalent goods, and they're choosing the other one!

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MemoryDragon ( 544441 )
      Actually Sony is dead right in the core idea, one thing does all, problem is, Sonys approach is utterly to fail. For 800$ yes that is the price here in Europe, you get a decent PC which does exactly what Sony wants to achieve but way better and without limiting restrictions on the hardware access or drmed stuff shoved up your inner rectum forcefully. Sure the PS3 currently beats such a machine in the graphics area nowadays, but lets speak again in a years timeframe. Sony wanted to reinvent the PC sonywise

  • it can be whatever it wants -- a home server, game device, even a computer."

    1. Inanimate objects don't want.

    2. I just want a fricken game device. I have computers already, and the whole "home server" concept has always seemed like more of a pain in the ass than it's worth.

    • No kidding. I already have a "home server", and it cost a couple hundred less than the PS3. It's a custom Gentoo box built using a VIA mini-ITX motherboard. It's got a 160GB hard drive, two onboard NIC's, 1GB of RAM, and all of the services I could ever want or need (Apache, Samba, NFS, telnet, FTP, SSH, NTP, rsync, etc). Trying to use a PS3 for this would be ridiculous.
  • At the moment, it's a Ford with Mercedes price tag. Maybe Sony should simply abandon the failed machine and start making the PS3 they originally promised, with 4 fully operational Cell chips, rather than the 7/8ths of a Cell (minus another 1/8th for DRM) the PS3 currently has.

    The current PS3 is simply too little, too late (it's still not launched yet here in Britain!) and too pricey. The British price for a PS3 without game is more than the price of a Wii with game + a core Xbox 360 with a game put together
    • In the end a 60 gig ps3 cost $840 usd to create last november and a xbox360 cost $330. It's priced like a mercedes for a reason. It dissipates just as much heat and does it in a far quieter way (larger heatsink with a larger low rpm fan). Everyone who has taken apart seems to like the build quality of it over the xbox360.

      There isn't much that separates a ford and a mercedes other then luxury. You can get a fast ford and it can run very reliably as long as it is not abused.
      • The PS3 is built better than the 360? That isn't saying much.

      • There isn't much that separates a ford and a mercedes other then luxury. You can get a fast ford and it can run very reliably as long as it is not abused.

        There is only one fast ford, the GT. It costs $155k, as much as a Mercedes AMG E55. The GT handles better and accelerates quicker. The AMG has about the same top speed and is dramatically more "plush" on the inside - by all accounts the interior build quality of the GT is very poor compared to anything else in its price range. The reliability of the GT re

  • ...is that he's the first Sony exec we've heard from that appears to be coming across from a reasonable position. So reasonable, in fact, that it's amazing that Sony got into this pickle in the first place.

    Then you read between the lines of his "Sony Silo" comments, and realize that he's no more in charge of the company than a sheep herder is in charge of a clowder of cats. i.e. Every section is still doing its own thing. The only difference is that the video game section is currently "top dog", so they get

    • So reasonable, in fact, that it's amazing that Sony got into this pickle in the first place.
      Stringer has only been CEO since mid-2005; Nobuyuki Idei was the CEO before that, and you can bet there was very little that could be changed by then that wouldn't have ended up simply adding to the cost or losing the money that had already been sunk.
      • That actually makes a lot of sense. Still, he needs to get a handle on things real quick, or the company is going to burn up whatever little goodwill it still has left.

  • Not just the price (Score:3, Insightful)

    by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @12:49PM (#18430503)
    They designed a game machine with an awesome cutting-edge processor, a high-capacity next-gen optical storage, and bottled it up behind a mediocre graphics card. Thus it will never dominate over the cheaper XBox 360 in the screenshot wars. OOPS!

  • More to the Article (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Dr. Eggman ( 932300 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @12:51PM (#18430543)
    There's more to the article than just an admission of the PS3's potential downfall, Sony also claims they had worked with IBM on electronic music distribution and could have had it out 5 years ahead of iTunes. But they failed to do so and, in classic bad management fasion, he blames the engineer(s):

    "But we couldn't get our people to understand software. And we are a music company. They saw digital media, panicked and didn't like it." In the end Sony designed a closed music system that didn't work.

    Ever one to promote the Blu-ray, Stringer also manages to point out Blu-Ray's 3-to-1 sell over HD-DVD, calling HD-DVD a "transition tech." One might see their blu-ray interests as having a hand in helping the decision to make the PS3 a luxury item, but the CEO doesn't mention any thing about the $600 stand-alone blu-ray player [ecommercetimes.com] Sony is releasing this summer. This of course really means they wanted a luxury item, not just a trojan tech carrier.

    Finally, I think I can see in the article the closest reasoning to why the PS3 is a Sony-tech catch all device:

    "Each product category was its own 'silo.' PlayStation was a silo. All the divisions were in their own little worlds. There was no sharing of information between these divisions and little acknowledgement of software." What he did was to try and break down the silos with a program called "Sony United,."

    It sounds to me like Stringer's decision here could have atleast influenced the PS3 development decision. In a company that tries to engineer superior technology products, perhaps a good degree of separation is necessary to prevent the expensive bloating of some endevors.
    • 3 to 1 outselling HD-DVD is like what? An extra 20 units over the 10 HD-DVD units being sold? The problem with statments like that is two-fold: 1) I don't believe any movie is on both formats. None of the studios is producing for both formats. Therefore, is the ratio due to the better technology or the better content? This is something the critics and consumers have to decide. 2) Saying you're selling 3x as many as your competitor with formats that are still in the early adopter stages is asinine. E
      • I don't believe any movie is on both formats.

        Wrong. There are movies in both formats on a single disc even.

        None of the studios is producing for both formats.

        Wrong. Warner and Paramount are producing for both formats.

        Especially for formats that require hi-def tvs to notice a difference, which aren't even remotely near a 10% install base yet.

        Wrong. About one is six households has a high definition set.

        Still too early to make a call in the "format wars" though. Current sales numbers of Blu-ray players are
    • Stringer also manages to point out Blu-Ray's 3-to-1 sell over HD-DVD, calling HD-DVD a "transition tech."

      I bet he doesn't mention Wii's almost 3-to-1 sell over PS3 in the same breath, though. Does that make the Playstation 3 a "transition tech", too?
    • But they failed to do so and, in classic bad management fasion, he blames the engineer(s):

      "But we couldn't get our people to understand software. And we are a music company. They saw digital media, panicked and didn't like it." In the end Sony designed a closed music system that didn't work.

      Funny, I don't see the word "engineers" in your quote. Perhaps the "we" in "we couldn't" means the engineers and by "our people" he means management?
      • Seeing as Stringer is the one making the 'we' quote, and Stringer is the CEO/chairman, I naturally attached 'we' to management and 'our people' to those they manage (assuming the engineers.) Hence my 'blame the engineer' conclusion.

  • The problems of the PS3:

    • More expensive than the competition.
    • Shipped later than the competition.
    • Harder to develop for than the competition.

    The combination is a disaster for Sony. They probably could have overcome any two of those problems. If, say, they'd shipped a year before the XBox 360, there would have been a year to get through the "hard to develop" problem, and the price comparison wouldn't have been so unfavorable. Or if Sony had the low-priced entry, like last time with the PS2, they c

    • Or if Sony had the low-priced entry, like last time with the PS2

      Apparently you forgot the gamecube.

      • Except Gamecube couldn't get the 3rd party support that Sony heavily relies on these days. Sony's facing a similar problem that Nintendo faced in the SNES->N64 transition. Already Sony has lost a bunch of former exclusives to Microsoft. With E3 nearing, who knows if this is going to continue or turn around?
        • We weren't talking about third party support there, we were talking about cost. The claim was that the PS2 was the low-cost console of its generation. This is patently incorrect; this title is held by the Gamecube, as Dreamcast only got cheap in its death throes (and started out as the most expensive console of the generation.)
          • Oh ok. Wasn't paying close attention. But don't forget the low cost of the Gamecube didn't make it the winner either. Price helps the adoption rate, but content will make or break the system.
            • I wholeheartedly agree. I bought a PS2 last gen so I could play GT3 and later, 4. Period. It's the games that sell the consoles, and the PS3 has few compelling games now (one) and few compelling games planned throughout this year. It's going to be a hard, up hill hike for Sony, especially when in addition to the major factor of a lack of games, there's also the lesser factor of the rootkit, lik-sang, and other things poisoning a certain segment of the market against them.
      • The price differences between the various consoles in the previous generation were not nearly significant as they are now. I can justify $50 or maybe $100 more for one console over another if it's offering me something that the competition doesn't. But for $250+ more (at least double the price), that's a tough sell. Right now, the only thing the PS3 can really offer that I can't get elsewhere is Blu-ray, and neither myself or the bulk of the mass market is as excited about Blu-ray as Sony is.

  • It isn't the price alone that hurt the ps3, its the expectations that come with that price and the failure to meet them. With an extra year and and extra $200, it really needed to show up the Xbox 360 and its yet to really do so.

  • I just bought a PS3 (Score:5, Informative)

    by maynard ( 3337 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @12:55PM (#18430637) Journal
    I also own a 360. The PS3 is connected to a Sony HS-20 720p digital projector via HDMI and to a standard dd5.1 sound system via optical out. Here are my impressions:

    Setup on the PS3 is very buggy and filled with poorly translated instructions.

    - when first initially turning the unit on, it will auto-detect HDMI and display 480p. The second or third question it then asks is: "Do you want video and sound to be output via HDMI"? Since I wanted to output sound via optical, I thought this was asking if I wanted to split audio off the HDMI connection, so I selected "No". What then happened was that it spit 480i video out the composite cable.

    - When initializing the network via wireless it will search and then display a list of available wireless SSIDs. Select one and DHCP an ip address. Now test the network. It succeeds in grabbing an IP address, but the network test always reports a failure even though the network is live and updates can be downloaded.

    - Everyone knows about the lack of background downloading. Blech.

    All that said, once I stuck a Blu-Ray copy of Casino Royale... whoah. I gotta say, the image is stunning. BD is definitely much much much better than HBO-HD, SHO-HD and OTA HD material. NO pixelation whatsoever. Extremely fast video plays without a hiccup. I'm IMPRESSED.

    I don't have an HD-DVD player, so I can't compare the two. I suspect they're about the same in quality. But Blu-Ray has the movies. So... my impression is that if you want a BD player, the PS3 is the cheapest option out there and it's VERY GOOD.

    As for games.... well, frankly, I'm much more impressed by Gears of War than I am by Resistance. JMO.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cxreg ( 44671 )
      Don't forget to pick up Motorstorm. Most fun "next gen" game I've seen so far.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by British ( 51765 )
        Sony has actually done some great things with firmware updates, like adding Folding@Home

        WOW! Paying $600 for the priveledge of contributing cycles to folding@home. I know lots of kids begged Santa to fold protiens this Christmas! I highly doubt that is the reason why people would buy a PS3 to do. Oh well, I guess it's something to do when you aren't playing next-gen video games. No, when I hear about things like folding&home, I remember all the non-videogame related things they are trying to do with th
  • not a general purpose one anyway, Sony's got too large a PC division to let that happen. Too bad too, $600 bucks for a solid general purpose computer and game console is pretty good.

  • Analysis by Sony failed on major market flaw (Score:3, Interesting)

    by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @01:15PM (#18430969) Homepage Journal
    That they consider the potential PS3 audience to be a different target audience from Nintendo's Wii.

    They shot for luxury buyers - but the reality is that most console purchasers of PS2 were never luxury purchasers.

    I know, I get targeted ads designed to appeal to me to buy fancy watches, suits, vacations, etc - all because I like to read the magazine Vanity Fair and run a Family Trust and have saved a lot of money - but they miss the market truth that I have never paid more than $35 for a watch, like most millionaires, and stay in inexpensive hotels when I travel.

    Know your actual market - and don't destroy your existing one when you launch a new product.
    • What they basically did was taking a mid-range Ford (PS2) and creating a new model (PS3) and asking for Mercedes prices from their standard customers (the average joe). And they're surprised by this how?

      I just remember when the first analysis of the potential PS3 price came out prior to E3 and asking one of my roomates at the time if he was willing to pay $600 for it. He was completely shocked and was like "that'll never happen." Sony should've realized the price point was a mistake after the reaction th

  • If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 as the Mercedes of the videogame field. PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it wants -- a home server, game device, even a computer.

    Maybe it's just me, but that sounds like a really, really dumb strategy. I think I read somewhere that on average, a publisher needs to sell 500,000 copies of a next-gen game just to break even. How are they planning to do that with a console that they claim that 90% of the market is too poor to afford?

    I thoug

  • To know why the PS3 will have a hard time succeeding, see the following link:

    http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/xbox360_vs_ps 3.asp [winsupersite.com]

    In many cases, the decisions made by the Xbox 360 team seem much more sensible than those of the PS3 team. Looking at this table, it's not hard to understand why the Xbox 360 is much cheaper and came out earlier than the PS3.
  • The longer they wait to cut the price the less it will matter whether they cut the price or not.

    If they're keeping the price up to avoid cannibalizing the sales of Blu-ray standalone players, they're just duplicating the whole Beta-VHS fiasco.
  • I finally got a second job to be able to afford the PS3, now you are telling me it is too expensive... no way, I trusted in your companies words, that it is a bargain worth to get a second job for.

  • Don't compare consoles to cars (Score:4, Insightful)

    by British ( 51765 ) <british1500@gmail.com> on Wednesday March 21, 2007 @02:49PM (#18432571) Homepage Journal
    Trying to compare video game consoles to cars just doesn't work out. Trying to sell a video game console like it was some super-high priced luxury/sports car(Mercedes, Bentley, or anything namedropped on Top Gear) is doomed to fail. Whether it's a beater or a Veyron, they get you from point A to B. Video game consoles have many more factors, like oh, I dunno, games to play on it? If we compare console titles to roads, there seems to be quite a few more roads the Xbox 360 than there is on the PS3 railway system. The loss of exclusive games(which is increasing by the week it seems) is just going to steer "I'll buy this console just to play this game" people away.

    Trying to sell a video game console at a premium price, hyping it is a Bentley doesn't work when there's so few titles available for it. I don't remember it happening successfully before.

    So, how long before I can buy a PS3 at the thrift store? :)
  • Sony was unable to pick up on one very important point: home theatre systems are still, largely, a status symbol. There are two very different demographics for home theatre owners: wealthy baby boomers and people over 40, and younger tech-friendly YUPIs. The latter is a fairly new and up-and-coming market. Home Theatre systems largely came out of Beverly Hills, Bel Aire, upper-east-side NYC, etc. For this demographic, the mear thought of using a video game system (ie: childs toy) as a home theatre system is

  • PS3 is after a different audience and it can be whatever it want
    Translation: we don't have a clue what it's for either.

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