Retailer Confirms PS3 Price Cut

msmalls74 · 9 Jul 2007 at 22:22

This price cut in the US isnt doing to bad today. A few hours ago the PS3 was number 3 in the games chart at a US rain forest site with a 700% increase, I just looked its at number 1 now with a 2800% increase :eek:

Dont think it will stay at number one for long but Sony must be happy with it so far.

FrankJH · 10 Jul 2007 at 09:49

mrk1@1 said:
That wasn't what I was getting at, the actual retail value (not cost) of the console is the value without tax in real terms. .

You still have to compare like to like - otherwise its a meaningless comparison

mrk1@1 said:
That is true but the kids will may/mostly have the console in the bedroom with a smaller non HD tv. Will be different with adults and techies rather than average familes .

Maybe in years to come (and with traditional consoles this could easily be the case) but the PS3 is being marketed not only as a console but as many other things besides. Also the cost of it is inherrant in families enjoying it on a large screen , either with movies or whatever else, it will take along time and be the last generation before its truely in the kids bedrooms imo

mrk1@1 said:
Of course... all the consoles are... but I would imagine the average family isn't so technically minded they differentiate between a console and a media hub. They see it in a computer games shop or games section in a supermarket, electronic store etc and it is seen as a console. .

Thats just it - they dont have to be, all a sales man needs(and will say ) is " it plays your mp3's (transcoded or whatever is irrelevant to most), it plays hd and standard dvd movies, and new games." Nothing hard to understand at all. I dont think it is seen as "just a console"

mrk1@1 said:
Most DVDs can be picked up at the supermarkets + other places for £7-£10ish on new release (which is a large customer base). Special editions are more. Not sure how the US pricing etc is though but looking online it is roughly the same as the UK. .

Some high profile dvd's are stil well into the £15 price range even at Asda / Tesco's (dont think they are competitors just yet

)

I promise you I walked into Blockbusters (who have similar pricing as supermarkets its seems) and a BR of Blood Diamond was £2 more than a standard dvd!! It may be rare currently but if its already happening it looks promising for Christmas and next year on a wider scale.

mrk1@1 said:
I doubt that many people outside of the fourms which is only a few thousand really are told or even know about the failure rates of the 360 assuming they really are that high. Its not part of the shop sales pitch, thats for sure

+ the forum polls and failure reports will be biassed towards people signing up to complain, get help etc. I know of 9 360s between family and friends, some launch day some later, none of which have showed a problem etc. There is still an unacceptable failure rate for the 360 though whether it is 10%-30%.
.

You only have to read the press to know this (general newspapers) its been pretty widely written about, and no these figures are from retailers accepting them back (begrudgingly) and the companies who mend them - one company I read recently has refused point blank to mend any more as they cant afford to do it to the low quality MS want them to. So I am afraid you are wrong on all counts - the general public DO know about it.

mrk1@1 said:
I think the PS3 is being sold as a luxury item/console/media device in a competetive market and driving the real and percieved cost up vs its utility. I don't think the wii or 360 are marketed in the same way so possibly this differentiation has not been as beneficial as Sony would have liked.

At the end of the day, I think Sony will have to se a significant price drop to remain competetive. As far as I know the 360 is now in profit per unit and the Wii deffinately is.

Yes of course with the price the PS3 is without doubt a luxury item, and it would be impossible for the other two to be marketed in the same way simply because without addons etc they actually cant do everything the ps3 can (and without considerable added cost compared to the original console price).

I would be surprised with the high failure rate of the X360 that it is yet making a profit, the amount it would have cost to design in *** first place and all the cost in collection/repair and redistribution of new/used units will have required a huge investment in itself. If it is then fair enough, but I would still be surprised (THey would sell each unit at a massive loss anyway, with only the games bringing in "instant" profit, and it hasnt even been out for 2 years world wide yet).

Just My 2p's worth

Bigbloke · 10 Jul 2007 at 12:52

Another case of rip-off Britain. Still no mention of UK price cuts. We consumers are really taken for a ride with this stuff. Not only do we get a lesser machine (no hardware PS2 emulation) but we are expected to subsidise the entire world too!

US price is $499, £250 add 17.5% VAT total is £293.75. Lets call it £299.99 for ease of pricing. So why are we expected to pay £425 for this item?

I for one will continue to veto this device.

JUMPURS · 10 Jul 2007 at 12:53

Bigbloke said:
Another case of rip-off Britain. Still no mention of UK price cuts. We consumers are really taken for a ride with this stuff. Not only do we get a lesser machine (no hardware PS2 emulation) but we are expected to subsidise the entire world too!

US price is $499, £250 add 17.5% VAT total is £293.75. Lets call it £299.99 for ease of pricing. So why are we expected to pay £425 for this item?

I for one will continue to veto this device.

SCEE are making an announcement on Thursday regarding the EU price drops.

shiner · 10 Jul 2007 at 13:08

JUMPURS said:
SCEE are making an announcement on Thursday regarding the EU price drops.

Roll on Thursday I'm in limbo waiting to buy one

GarethDW · 10 Jul 2007 at 14:16

FrankJH said:
I would be surprised with the high failure rate of the X360 that it is yet making a profit, the amount it would have cost to design in *** first place and all the cost in collection/repair and redistribution of new/used units will have required a huge investment in itself. If it is then fair enough, but I would still be surprised (THey would sell each unit at a massive loss anyway, with only the games bringing in "instant" profit, and it hasnt even been out for 2 years world wide yet).

I think the point that was being made was that the consoles themselves are now being sold at a price that is superior to the manufacturing costs, not the total costs including research & development, marketing, distribution, support, etc...

However, I believe that the gaming section of MS are on-target to be profitable within the next financial year. Not sure what effect the $1Bn charge to their financial statement from the 3RoD extended support will have on this timescale, though. I believe Moore did mention something about this not having a huge impact though.... but I can't remember where I read that.

Ananda1122 · 10 Jul 2007 at 17:40

JUMPURS said:
SCEE are making an announcement on Thursday regarding the EU price drops.

Hopefully this brings some good news

Really want it but not at that price.

McManicMan · 10 Jul 2007 at 18:06

Sony Australia confirm PAL PS3 Price Cut?

The Managing Director of SCE Australia Michael Ephraim has reportedly confirmed that the PAL market will receive a PS3 price cut effective as of July 12th. According to Smarthouse, the respective PAL regions could see the price of the PS3 slashed by as much as 17%.

KNiVES · 10 Jul 2007 at 18:08

That's 350 or so pounds. It's still too much for a lot of people, but a step in the right direction.

FrankJH · 10 Jul 2007 at 18:27

KNiVES said:
That's 350 or so pounds. It's still too much for a lot of people, but a step in the right direction.

It only makes a £10 difference - but it depends on whether they mean a 17% price drop before VAT or after. It might "only" be £340.

With all the bundles you can get, and other offers I actualy think this is an incredible price for what you are getting. The loss Sony are making already is horrendous comnpared to every other generation.

GarethDW said:
I think the point that was being made was that the consoles themselves are now being sold at a price that is superior to the manufacturing costs, not the total costs including research & development, marketing, distribution, support, etc...

Well to my mind while I guess its a reasonable comparison to not include R&D cost - it does become meaningless if you dont account for distribution, marketing etc etc in every individual sale

Also remember I think I was talking abotu distribution is regards to failure rate, ie units which have to be returned to be fixed and then sent out again which is a cost necessary to be considered whether its a brand new console or one from Dec05 (as its a price as of right now). I would however be surprised if the basic componants are manufactured and assembled for less than ....£180? Im happy to be proved wrong but still think its unlikely

Shamikebab · 10 Jul 2007 at 18:37

hmm, i think it has to be under 300 for me to get one. Oh well I'll just have to wait a bit longer.

noob · 10 Jul 2007 at 18:45

FrankJH said:
It only makes a £10 difference - but it depends on whether they mean a 17% price drop before VAT or after. It might "only" be £340.

With all the bundles you can get, and other offers I actualy think this is an incredible price for what you are getting. The loss Sony are making already is horrendous comnpared to every other generation.

Incredible price for what we are getting? A games machine with a dire choice of games and a blue ray player which Joe Public couldn't give a stuff about at the moment. Let us not forget we are getting ripped off compared to our US counterparts and that's for a machine which has less capabilities. We should be paying £300 inc vat for the PS3 not the joke it is now.

FrankJH · 10 Jul 2007 at 19:21

noob said:
Incredible price for what we are getting? A games machine with a dire choice of games and a blue ray player which Joe Public couldn't give a stuff about at the moment. Let us not forget we are getting ripped off compared to our US counterparts and that's for a machine which has less capabilities. We should be paying £300 inc vat for the PS3 not the joke it is now.

Can I suggest you actually try one? Maybe the choice isnt great, but the style and detail of most games is actually pretty comparable to MS's offerings.

Even without the BR drive, the inbuilt wireless controller and internet access would cost you ....£50 more from MS. Yes maybe there is an arguement about giving the consumer choice about having these but seeing as most people now have a wireless router for broadband (as they are suppled as standard near enough by most ISP's)

From the general feeling on the street (asking around and just observing shops) general people are interested in BR, and it is more dependent on cost of each disc (Virgin etc arent helping pricing most at £25-£30)

I think you are just picking a sum out of the air as to what price it should be - no actual thought or consideration to the cost of the componants etc.

Shamikebab · 10 Jul 2007 at 19:27

I think the thing is a lot of people consider blu ray to be a side product. Just like i didn't buy my xbox or 360 to play dvd's it was just a handy extra. So for me and i think a lot of others it comes down to its use as a gaming machine, and i just dont think they can justify a price over 300 for that, it needs to be as close to the 360 price as possible.

McManicMan · 10 Jul 2007 at 19:41

at the end of the day people on the street see a Wii for £179, a xbox360 for £199 and a PS3 for £425, regardless of what it has inside as the majority just want to play games and regardless of what accessories that are required like internet connections, joybads, headsrets, mem cards, HDD, ect,ect. The Ps3 will ALWAYS seem expensive as it will NEVER match the other two for many years to come

FrankJH · 10 Jul 2007 at 20:45

McManicMan said:
at the end of the day people on the street see a Wii for £179, a xbox360 for £199 and a PS3 for £425, regardless of what it has inside as the majority just want to play games and regardless of what accessories that are required like internet connections, joybads, headsrets, mem cards, HDD, ect,ect. The Ps3 will ALWAYS seem expensive as it will NEVER match the other two for many years to come

Actually you will find as the ps3 is more an "investment" for the family than a "toy" for the kids, a lot more comes into play as to what it can be used for.

You also have to consider while base prices may be vastly different, once you add the stuff people on the street do want with the X360 it gets a lot nearer in price....not to mention the "ooohh I know the PlayStation name is good" mindset.

As to your last comment, well lets just agree to differ as I personally think within 12 months you could be eating yoru words

Shamikebab said:
I think the thing is a lot of people consider blu ray to be a side product. Just like i didn't buy my xbox or 360 to play dvd's it was just a handy extra. So for me and i think a lot of others it comes down to its use as a gaming machine, and i just dont think they can justify a price over 300 for that, it needs to be as close to the 360 price as possible.

Huge difference though - in that you probably had one or two standard dvd players (which playback to an equal or better standard than the X360) whereas few people have an hd drive currently. With the huge interest and purchasing of HDTV's standard dvd players are beginning to show their weakness (and the bigger the screen the more obvious it becomes) this will only get worse during the next Xmas (when a lot of TV's are traditionally sold)

Its quite possible that the software available for both HD formats over the Xmas period is still as dire as it is now , but I cant see that happening somehow. Not to mention the fact that Sony have promised (yes we all know what Sony promises are like sometimes :rolleyes:

) a huge amount of games to be released by December

Ananda1122 · 10 Jul 2007 at 20:53

If they reduce to 350 id prob buy it next week.

Have to wait and see.

McManicMan · 10 Jul 2007 at 21:08

FrankJH said:
Actually you will find as the ps3 is more an "investment" for the family than a "toy" for the kids, a lot more comes into play as to what it can be used for.

Maybe, but for the majority all they want is a games machine

You also have to consider while base prices may be vastly different, once you add the stuff people on the street do want with the X360 it gets a lot nearer in price....not to mention the "ooohh I know the PlayStation name is good" mindset.

true, but the playstation brand and the past years bad press and rival consoles head lead has effected them more than most think, as for extra's well thats just what they are for some, you can have them or not

As to your last comment, well lets just agree to differ as I personally think within 12 months you could be eating yoru words

somehow i don't think the ps3 will meet a £200 price point in 12 months time, yet i do see the core 360 comming down to £150 so your point is abit moot

JUMPURS · 10 Jul 2007 at 21:20

KNiVES said:
That's 350 or so pounds. It's still too much for a lot of people, but a step in the right direction.

If the RRP goes down to 350 then online resellers will have it for 325, which starts to look like very good value.

noob · 10 Jul 2007 at 21:22

FrankJH said:
Can I suggest you actually try one? Maybe the choice isnt great, but the style and detail of most games is actually pretty comparable to MS's offerings.

Even without the BR drive, the inbuilt wireless controller and internet access would cost you ....£50 more from MS. Yes maybe there is an arguement about giving the consumer choice about having these but seeing as most people now have a wireless router for broadband (as they are suppled as standard near enough by most ISP's)

From the general feeling on the street (asking around and just observing shops) general people are interested in BR, and it is more dependent on cost of each disc (Virgin etc arent helping pricing most at £25-£30)

I think you are just picking a sum out of the air as to what price it should be - no actual thought or consideration to the cost of the componants etc.

Try one, I have thanks. With regards to the general feeling I can tell you now if you ask most people on the street what BR is they will think you are from outer space. It took years for DVD to be known by the 'average' person on the street.

Why did I pick £300 not because I thought yeah that sounds good but because how much they are paying for the PS3 in the US and Japan. Can't we for once not get ****** on when it comes to buying consoles?

I'm not console fan boy, but what I do know is people just cannot afford 400 odd quid for a console. I don't about you but that is a lot of money.