PS3 Price Cut And 40GB Model On The Way?

Not only might a $100 (£49) American PS3 price cut be on the way, but a new 40GB model might be on its way to market over there, too.

According to technology blog Ars Technica and its “friendly inside source”, by Christmas Sony will have the 80GB PS3 available for $499.99 (£246), a new 40GB PS3 at $399.99 (£197) and the PS2 at $99.99 (£49). It's also reported that one or both of the PS3 models will have Spider-Man 3 (the Sony-produced Blu-Ray movie, not the game) bundled in.

Unnamed sources, of course, are not notoriously reliable. That said, Ars Technica has a reasonable track record with rumour and accurately reported in advance that HDMI would become standard for the 360. In any case, SPOnG's treating this latest rumour with caution.

With Sony planning to let the 60GB PS3 sell out in America the assertion that a new configuration is on the way is not unreasonable. Whether shaving 20GB off the size of the hard drive would warrant a £50 price cut, however, is unclear. David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, recently said, “The difference in cost between a 60 and 80 is just Euro cents; it's nothing, because the cost of memory is so small.”

With that in mind, a 20GB hard disc reduction would affect the value of the PS3 in terms of perception only. In other words, it would allow the company to get a lower-cost PS3 onto the market without losing face and being seen as flip-flopping on price.

If this rumour should prove correct, Sony will have had four different configurations of the PS3 in US stores by the time the console hits its first birthday – something more casual consumers could find confusing.

Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, seems uncertain what to think on the subject. "Although it is likely that retailers will soon run out of the discontinued 60Gb PS3, we expect a price cut for the new 80Gb model (without a game bundle) to $499 some time before Thanksgiving", Pachter said last week.

He also seems to think that there won't be another PS3 price cut this year, however. "Although we do not expect another PS3, PSP, or 360 price cut this year (nor one for the Wii), we think a cut for the PS2 or DS is possible", Pachter said. "Any hardware price reduction could serve as a catalyst for sales growth later in the year." (SPOnG's bold type). We're going to give Pachter the benefit of the doubt and assume he means Wedbush Morgan does not expect another PS3 price cut in addition to the pre-Thanksgiving one.

SPOnG caught up with Michael Spilligan, Senior Entertainment analyst at Nomoru Wahrheit Kennis, to hear his take on the PS3's US pricing. "I know Michael's work and I respect it. While Sony certainly could opt to reduce the price of the PS3 for the holidays, thus getting closer to the critical mass of sales the hardware needs in order to maximise profits, it may choose not to. As Michael indicates, people are always more inclined to buy things when they are cheaper, thus spending less money that they can then put towards the purchase of other things."

Whether the rumour is true or not, SPOnG considers it unlikely that the UK will see a similar price cut or new model of PS3, bearing in mind SCEE's resistance to mirroring its American counterparts pricing policies so far. No comment was available from Sony at the time of press.