PS3 price cut isn't going to last?
On Monday, Sony announced a $100 price cut for the 60GB PlayStation 3, taking the console's retail price down to $499. Since many gamers saw the PlayStation 3 as too expensive at its previous retail price of $599, Sony's decision was widely praised. Unfortunately, the $499 60GB PS3 isn't going to last, because Sony has just confirmed that the company is no longer producing 60GB PS3s.
On the same day the price cut was announced, Sony announced a new 80GB PS3, a console that will be bundled with Motorstorm and will retail for $599, the same as the first. The price cut for the 60GB PS3 was never intended to be a permanent cut for the product; it was only intended to clear out stock for the new version to be sold at the old price. GameSpot has reported that Kaz Hirai, Sony Computer Entertainment's CEO and President, has confirmed in a video interview that the 60GB PS3s are no longer in production, and that all new PS3s will be 80GB models to be sold at $599.
When E3 kicked off, everyone was pretty excited about Sony and the new $499 PS3. Sony had a $499 PS3 before, but it was a slightly scaled-down, 20GB version that was discontinued back in April. Now it seems like Sony's doing the exact same thing with the 60GB PS3 (originally the high-end model) that they did with the 20GB: kick it out the door and make sure the only available PS3 will sell for $599 a pop. Considering the biggest complaint leveled against the PlayStation 3 has been its price, this was simply a terrible decision.
Sony Computer Entertainment of America's director of corporate communications David Karraker told GameSpot, "This is absolutely not a bait and switch," he said. "We are offering a full-featured PS3 for $100 lower than the original price and will do so for months to come, allowing consumers the opportunity to acquire this model at this adjusted price."
For many gamers, even $499 is too much for a console. The Elite version of the Xbox 360 retails for $479, and it includes a 120GB hard drive (though it lacks the PS3's Wi-Fi support, Blu-ray drive, or media reader). The Premium version of the Xbox 360 only costs $399, and the Nintendo Wii only $250. The supposed $499 price was seen as a concession by Sony that, yes, the PS3 cost too much. Suddenly saying that they're just clearing out stock and that the only PlayStation 3 they're currently producing will still retail for $599 is utter madness.
The decision alone is made even worse by the timing. Today is the last day of E3 2007, and the entire expo is being capped off by confirmation that the PS3 price cut won't last. Nearly every media outlet is going to mention the price uncut in their expo wrap-up. Everyone is walking away from Santa Monica with the $599 PS3 back in their heads.
It's also Friday the 13th, but that might just be coincidence.
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they were idiots. Now, I think they are brilliant. Make people THINK this will
be for a limited time, encouraging them to by the $499 PS3 now, while you
still can. Keep that sales spike up! The 80GB PS3 probably will be sold at
$599, and the 60GB version probably will be discontinued, eventually, but
not until the price of its bigger brother is dropped to under $500. In other
words, I predict Sony will continue to sell an under-$500 PS3 indefinitely.
I also predict that a $599 80GB PS3 will be a sales disappointment. True, the
60GB PS3 outsold the cheaper model, but it featured improvements beyond
three times the storage (versus only 1/3 more for the 80GB vs. 60GB). The
20GB lacked Wifi, media card reader, and HDMI; buyers deemed the $100
difference was worth it with those features included. Unless Sony is throwing
in something beyond extra hard drive space, I doubt customers will pay the
extra.
Besides, I speculate the savings to Sony by (supposedly) dropping the
Emotion Engine are more than the price difference of the hard drives (about
$10 at retail). If anything, they'd want to encourage buyers to opt for the
80GB over the 60GB. For instance, they could discontinue the 60GB, and sell
the 80GB at $499.
Well, this comment is to Sony. Stop puking snot up my ass with this bait and switch crap! Now I'm going to pass this one up too!
I think Sony may have actually lost their minds. For real. I think that the Japanese government should investigate whether the country's fish supply has been tainted by hallucinogens, 'cuz Sony must be trippin on some bad sushi. That's the only explanation for their past year and a half.
Now you might ask me how I can clam this with such certainty when Sony them selves have not made such a claim. Simple they want to eliminate the 60GB stock so that the 80GB version can be reduced with out potential price conflict. They know that 20GB+game isn't worth the extra $100, but it moves 60GB ones.
The reason the US version didn't switch at that time was because they wanted to get the European sysem out, and making it NTSC cmpatable would have delayed it till around now. Thus to introduce it in the US with out making people feel like they were getting a lesser machine, they compinsated by giving an extra 20GB and then added a Game to make it seem like a questionable value. That way when the 60GB unit disapears they can reduce the cost by simply removing the game rom the picture, and whallah(sp) instant $499 or less PS3 for the holidays... or there could be another catch. They could say the 80GB version "wasn't popular" and so make new 60GB using the Euro hardware, and reduce the price another $50 come the holidays giving us a $449 PS3.
Considering how easy it is to replace/upgrade the existing HDD yourself (there are guides showing how to do it all over the Internet), who in their right mind would buy the 80GB model, wasting $100 (which alone can get you a huge 160GB HDD) and then have to deal with software-based emulation for PS2 games??
Time for me to run out and buy a 60GB model (which still has actual PS2 hardware built in for compatibility) before they disappear!