Sony Looks to 'Refine' PS3 Price 182
Via GameDaily a Financial Times interview with with Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's CEO, gives fans the first hope that price cuts may be coming soon. Lauding the Wii's performance in last month's NPD numbers, Stringer says that Sony is looking to 'refine' the PS3's pricepoint. "'Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise, and a very good business model, compared with ours . . . because it's cheaper,' Mr Stringer said in a video interview. 'That [price cuts] is what we are studying at the moment. That's what we are trying to refine.' Sir Howard said he expected 'energy [in PS3 sales] by Christmas, and then you will begin to see break-out games'. Sony is launching a virtual-world game called Home this year, and up to 30 other games."
It Needs "Refined"... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It Needs "Refined"... (Score:5, Insightful)
If Sony's doing well at selling the PS3 at its current price point - then fine, good for them. For me, it's too damn expensive. There are much better ways I could spend $600, you know?
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b) your final point is exactly what I said -- not wanting to spend the money doesn't mean its not worth the money
Re:It Needs "Refined"... (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe that $3000 MP3 player also plays games and Blu-Rays discs... but it's still just an MP3 player to those consumers who don't want to play games or Blu-Ray. To use another analogy if you were looking at two houses that were equal in all aspects except one had an extra 5 car garage and cost twice as much... if you have no cars, it doesn't matter if those 5 bays are "worth" the extra cost because you have no intention of ever using them, it's just a useless extremity that needlessly drives up the price.
The problem with adding features that drive up the price of your console is that every feature you add shrinks the potential market of people who will find 100% of your features useful and valuable.
Would be PS3 buyers who aren't interested in Blu-Ray see the blu-Ray features valued at $0... would be PS3 buyers who aren't interested in WiFi see the WiFi features valued at $0 etc... Eventually you have a machine that "just plays games" because a large group of gamers don't care about the noise and your console suddenly isn't valued at what you thought it was in the eyes of the consumer.
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a) "nothing but play mp3s" is a stupid comparison, since the PS3 does almost everything you'd expect it to be able to do with its hardware
b) your final point is exactly what I said -- not wanting to spend the money doesn't mean its not worth the money
a: Game consoles have lockout features that keep you from doing whatever the hell you want with the hardware. This potentially decreases the value of the raw hardware - but more precisely, the value of the hardware becomes tied closely to the available software for it. And what I want here is a game console - not a DVD player. I don't trust Playstation hardware with DVD playback, as my PS2 does a really half-assed job of it.
b: To me, it's not worth the money. I'm not going to say Sony "has to" drop the
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That's ridiculous. Value is subjective.
Value has both an objective and subjective component. The PS3 may not be "worth" its price to you, but it can be shown that it's worth more than is being charged for it because you cannot build a box with equivalent features for less money (oe even as much).
Proprietary software is not worth any price to RMS, but you cannot argue that is it objectively without value.
No, you're confusing cost and value. Value is defined by what people are willing to pay for an item. It's also very perspective-based. From my perspective value is strictly defined by my own needs. From Sony's perspective, a market price would be governed not only by their cost, but by the supply and demand, competitors' prices, and so on. Cost is just what it costs to make it.
Like I said - if Sony is doing good business with their PS3 right now, then from their perspective their price point is correct
Re:It Needs "Refined"... (Score:4, Insightful)
On the contrary, which people are willing to pay for something is the DEFINITION of its worth.
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A diamond's value has nothing to do with the diamond itself. It's a glorified rock. The PS3 is just the opposite: Ob
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That's funny, but just stupid. The PS3 is and always has been worth well more than its price in the store for a lot of reasons that nobody should have to justify anymore.
That's a stupid way to evaluate worth. It's like killing somebody and paying his relatives 13 bucks for the dead person's meat. You can't calculate subjective worth by just adding up all the components. If somebody doesn't feel that Motorstorm, Resistance and a Bluray driver are worth 600 bucks, then it's not worth it to him or her.
For the record, I own a PS3 because it's pure techporn. I hardly ever use it, but at least it's a conversation starter, and it has a cf card reader and a nice picture viewer I
oh oh (Score:2, Interesting)
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2) Hey this sort of thing works for bottled water companies...
I sincerely hope that wasn't deliberate..
What was their first hint? (Score:5, Interesting)
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oh, wait
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Actually, I suspect he meant the Premium since he said "Costs less than a PS3 and a game". Which is actually a more fair comparison as the Wii comes with a game already.
In US Dollars a Wii = $250 + a $400 premium is
So... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Captain' Obvious (Score:2, Funny)
Wow, this guy needs to win the "Captain Obvious" award of the year!
Re:Captain' Obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, the Wii is cheaper, and yes it is sucessful, but is it sucessful just because it is cheaper? I sincerly doubt it. I think Sony and Nintendo intentionally aimed for different target audiences, and Sony found out that the audience they targeted at didn't exist in the numbers they thought existed. Now they will have to scramble to market a product to an audience it is not designed for. Meanwhile, Nintendo judged their market quite well.
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Unfortunately, the ellipses in the TFS are also in TFA. I think they might hide a little more than that.
Then again, considering the audience of the article, cost cost cost price price price seem to be the major motivations.
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Unfortunately, the ellipses in the TFS are also in TFA. I think they might hide a little more than that.
Yeah, I noticed that as well. I suspect the speaker knew what he was talking about, and that 'cost' is just the variable Sony is most able to change at this point. (And that he tailored his speach for his audience...)
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Actually, Neo Geo was originally designed as a rental machine, the idea was you'd go to EB and rent one for your birthday party, so you could play real arcade games at home. Hence, the high prices. They put the cartridges on a different physical format so arcade operators couldnt use them, otherwise the hardware and games are identical.
Anyways, once they started showing up, people wanted to buy them - so EB started selling them. The prices never dropped, once again, they we
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http://www.igames.org/FindCenter.asp [igames.org]
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I see. Was it that Nintendo is making money hand over fist or the fact that Sony is desperately trying to sell these units that led you to the conclusion that Nintendo didn't do a better job at judging their market?
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The thing is, if the plan didn't succeed, they would have been able to cut their losses early and possibly scramble to compensate for it. If their plan did succeed (Like it ostensibly has), the worst case would be that they would have to ramp up production and lose some potential business from casual buyer
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The Godfather rules. (Score:2)
Games (Score:5, Insightful)
When they do bring the AAA top tier games, then it'll be World War III in console terms.
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Re:Games (Score:4, Informative)
And once you get out of the Top 20, the ratings has already dropped below 80%. That's a serious, serious issue.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Games (Score:4, Insightful)
the sad thing is that they said that the console would heat up for christmas, but the great games wouldn't come out until after that. So Sony has what, one maybe two A-list titles until after christmas?
That's a long time.
I don't know, will it be? Will they still be in the running by then? I'm kind of thinking that there's some good games on the Xbox 360 right now, that pretty much everyone in the market has a PS2 so back-compatibility is a total non-issue, and that people will be buying Wiis (they are becoming more available even now) and Xbox 360s while they're waiting for Sony to get their shit together and get out some games.
But, maybe that's just wishful thinking.
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I think if Sony knocked off $100 or $125 that combined with the busier release schedule they'd probably quadruple their sales.
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I don't know why people keep mentioning Singstar. Do you honestly think a karaoke/DDR game is going to convince anyone to buy a PS3? Even fans of those games aren't going to spend $600 (or even $500) just to get a single game.
Warhawk is very confusing, as it was first a Blu-ray game, then was a online only deathmatch type game that you would download, for free even. Now it's supposedly both a BR AN
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Not really. It needs a constant stream of titles, including hits, including downloadable content. I mentioned those games because they're coming out soon. The second half of this year is very full. Sony has plenty of exclusives lined up too for that period..
I don't know why people keep mentioning Singstar. Do you honestly think a karaoke/DDR game is going to convince anyone to buy a PS3? Even fans o
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The Wii does have strong sales, but the fact is that its no more powerful than an Xbox. It's last gen and nothing will change that. It doesn't have the legs to carry it more than a few years.
A lot of the points you make are good, but this one isn't. It's ignorant and moronic. First, the definition of "current gen" is that it came out during this generation. The Wii came out during this generation. That makes it current-gen.
Second, even if you go with the "metaphysical" definition of "current-gen," you'd come up with something like "significantly different from last gen." Now tell me, what games are the most different from last gen? Ninja Gaiden Sigma is basically a hi-res Xbox game. Most 360
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No. I won't.
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That's the thing. The only version that is good is the Wii version. Have you even played the game? No, wait, you obviously haven't, otherwise you'd know that the "gestures" in Godfather map to real life perfectly well.
Also, "gimmicky controller"? Geez, you'd think by now all those Wii haters would have found a new meme.
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The Wii is another story altogether. For the Wii, the PS3 needs exc
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It may come as a shock to many but there are plenty of used and new games for the PS2 and since firmware update 1.8 most PS1/2 games work (Australian PS3 uses emulation unlike the US/Japan one that uses hardwa
When will they learn... (Score:2)
Sony needs games and fast. Good games that are exclusive. That will solve their biggest problem. If the ps3 dropped to 300 bucks would anyone outside the I want blue-ray/linux running on it/etc. crowd buy one? I'm n
Re:When will they learn... (Score:4, Interesting)
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As for the not wanting to support MS because you don't like them obviously that's a valid point for you. For me I bought one when there was at least a few games I really wanted (oblivion was my first) and that was back in Aug. 06.
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Nothing recently, but Nintendo was absolutely notorious back in the NES/SNES days for censorship (e.g. Mortal Kombat), price-fixing, etc.
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It's still a good buy as just a blue ray player (Score:2, Insightful)
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If I open a store called "McDucks" that sells bad hamburgers for $500, and then McDonalds starts selling them for $90, does the fact that they're more than 80% cheaper make them a good deal? No.
Blu-ray isn't worth the money, so getting it for only way too much instead of WTF are you thinking too much is not a big deal.
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Why buy a PS3 for BluRay if i can have HD-DVD for less?
It's not as if any of those two formats has already become a, and i use the term loosely, "winner".
The, again i use the next term loosely, "smart" people buy their HD movies in digital, downloadable format through various online marketplaces. That way, no matter if a format fails or is discontinued, they will still be able to watch
This just in... (Score:3, Insightful)
In a recent shake-up within the Japan-based electronics juggernaut Sony, Captain Obvious was promoted to the position of CEO.
"..and then you will begin to see break-out games" (Score:4, Funny)
Re:"..and then you will begin to see break-out gam (Score:3, Funny)
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http://akaihiryuu.dyndns.org:8008/~akai/pictures/s ensor_bar_in_ir.jpg [dyndns.org]
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Which 6 axes are being detected?
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The Wii has a "Sixaxis"-style motion sensor in both the remote and the nunchuck. In addition to that, it has a camera in the Remote which can be used to point at the screen. The Sixaxis is the crippled, retarded cousin of the Wii Remote.
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Hint: there was a reason it was in quotes. I don't even know why you brought the Wiimote into this, as it really had nothing to do with what I was correcting. Makes you come off as a fanboy.
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Uh... WTF? You wrote "It's pretty much the same tech as the Wii controller."
Yeah. You know, about that... Something really funny. Whenever somebody brings up that argument, it's always because he can't come up with any real arguments. Which kind of points towards you as the "fanboy."
Very good business model.... (Score:3, Funny)
Oh yes the revolutionary business model of selling a product for a reasonable price while still making a profit. Opposed to Sony's excellent method of selling at a staggeringly high price and *still* making a loss on each unit sold. Genius.
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It's the same reason a Honda Accord outsells a Porsche 911. It's good, proven technology, that, while not the most powerful or cutting edge, fits the budget of the largest segment of the car buying populace. The PS3 is awesome technology, I think
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Not only does the Accord fit most people's "budget" it also fills their "needs" for a car. Also of note, the Accord may fullfill their
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As for recompiling, the PS3 is in much better shape than the PS2 is with Linux, since the PS3 can run PPC Linux binaries.
Blu-ray is the problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
The PS3 isn't the most expensive console, rather, it is the cheapest available Blu-ray player.
So not only does Sony have part of the market for the next-gen console market with the PS3, but it also has the vast majority of the HD-video market as well.
The sales figures are testament more to the fact that nobody wants HD video at the moment, and forcing people to take it in a bundle is crucifying them. The PS3 may be better than the 360 (the games look about the same to me), but it costs $300 more (at least here in the UK) - that's a lot to a gamer. You can make a car with a gold steering wheel for an extra $50,000, but if nobody *wants* a gold steering wheel, then your car isn't going to sell at all, as good as it is, unless you can sell if without the steering wheel.
Re:Blu-ray is the problem. (Score:4, Interesting)
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Probably because HD-DVD/Bluray rentals are more expensive than DVD rentals. That and blockbuster and friends don't even carry HD-DVD/Bluray rentals.
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I'm in the market for an HD player because of how nice the 1080p trailers look when I play them through my HTPC, basically looks like a film projection, but without the drawbacks of film projection.
I personally would expect to see
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In the UK, it costs £381.96 on Amazon for a 360 Premium + HD-DVD player...381.96 GBP = 755.107 USD
It costs £399.99 for a PS3...399.99 GBP = 790.754 USD
Hardly $100. The 360 is slightly discounted on Amazon at the moment as well, otherwise they'd turn out to be the same. And that's with a 360 that lacks an HDMI port..if you wanted one it'd end up costing you more than the PS3.
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So not only does Sony have part of the market for the next-gen console market with the PS3, but it also has the vast majority of the HD-video market as well.
The sales figures are testament more to the fact that nobody wants HD video at the moment, and forcing people to take it in a bundle is crucifying them.
One of the biggest problems I see with using the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player is its form factor. It won't fit in
Where have you been for the last 5 years. (Score:2)
Every modern console, except the Wii, has been sold at a loss during its launch. Microsoft lost over $4 BILLION over the
Hope... (Score:2, Interesting)
I sincerely believe they aren't that silly, but these days you never can tell.
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Obviously the price is significant, only complete morons thought it wasn't, by which I mean Sony execs. They're slowly figuring out that a $600 console is inherently unappealing and will never be mass-market.
Once they've wrapped their head around that concept, then they can start figuring out the other problems with their strategy.
Re:Hope... (Score:4, Informative)
BTW, here [ft.com] is a transcript of the interview in question. You'll also notice that Stringer did counterargue the idea that the Wii is selling better because it's more fun.
Rob
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What you call hype, I call positive reviews (and evidence of your pre-existing bias against the system). It makes no sense, six months after the system's release, to refer to the current ferver over the Wii as hype. Hype, to me, implies a lack of evidence. But at this point, it's pretty clear the Wii is delivering on it's promise (though, admittedly, the current game selection is a bit limited... 'course, th
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Positive reviews of what? Only one Wii game has a score of over 90% on Game Rankings, and it's not an exclusive. Only four others (one not exclusive) have a score of over 80%. Only two games have had enduring popularity among Wii owners, and one of them is the tech demo that came with the system. And in my experience, plenty of those owners have talked about how their Wiis have been gathering dust since they got bored with playing said tech demo. It's just ane
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Of the console design and control system, of course. I already addressed the fact that games have been somewhat lackluster (though, relative to the PS3 lineup, the Wii is doing stellar). But the system has demonstrated it's potential, and people are happy with it. Meanwhile, I've yet to see a review that casts the Wii in a negative light. So either the hype continues unabated, and Nintendo is crushing all negative press, or your view of things is just a tad skewed.
There are a b
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How can you possibly separate discussion of the console from the discussion of its games? A console without games is nothing more than a paperweight.
I already addressed the fact that games have been somewhat lackluster (though, relative to the PS3 lineup, the Wii is doing stellar).
The PS3 has several more high-rated games than the Wii does, not to mention better third-party support. Not that that's relevant, since we're talking about the performance of t
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A console without controllers is nothing more than a paperweight.
That sentence can be reworked for everything from players, to TVs, to Pluto. It is true that a console requires good games, but it is also true that control and design are also important.
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Here's the fixed version.
A console without controllers is nothing more than a paperweight.
That sentence can be reworked for everything from players, to TVs, to Pluto. It is true that a console requires good games, but it is also true that control and design are also important.
No, don't! (Score:2)
You learn something new every day (Score:3, Funny)
And here I thought the reason for the Wii's success relative to the PS3 is because the Wii has games that don't suck. What a fool I was.
sigh... (Score:2)
Sound familiar?
Until Sony admits they are selling the console equivalent of the Bugatti Veyron, nothing much is going to change in the marketplace. Consider the commonalities. Exceptional performance; pushing the envelope; losing considerable amounts of money when each one is sold? Rabid fans line up to buy one. Not much you can
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Saturn? Dreamcast? Neo-Geo?
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Blasphemy MOTHER FUCKER! Do you speak it?!
But seriously, if the ps3 had the possibility of being the next dreamcast, I'd actually buy one!
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Re:In other news, PS3 to lose more money than befo (Score:2, Informative)
Not necessarily. Production costs are apparently coming down [dailytech.com] so they will only take more of a loss if the price cut is greater than the reduction in production costs.
Not So Farfetched (Score:2)