[b]UPDATE: Sony's President, Ryoji Chubachi, has said with regards to a global PS3 price cut, "At present we have no plans," according to a Reuters report this morning.
If Chubachi's comments are genuine, they would seem to indicate that the price cut is specific to Circuit City, and not coming from Sony itself.[/b]
Major U.S. retailer Circuit City is soon to cut the price of the 60GB PlayStation 3 from $599 (£300) down to $499 (£250) according to Internet scuttlebutt.
According to forum poster "speedy1961," over on the DVD Talk and Cheap Ass Gamer forums, this was to be valid as of July 15th - just after E3 - until July 21st.
Sony in the U.S., of course, has merely said that, "Circuit City hasn't announced any sales price on the PS3, so we have no comment."
SPOnG contacted Sony Europe this morning to be told - wait for it - "We don't comment on rumour or speculation."
Though from the scan of the ad (pictured) we would say this is less of a rumour and more of a definite plan, unless there is a very bored photoshop japester somewhere creating very high quality fake newspaper ads!
The real question is – is this a one-off Circuit City sale or is it a retail-wide price cut. Let’s just hope that it’s the latter. For the sake of the PlayStation!
The post-E3 price cut - if official and across the board - with certainly
please the industry and consumers alike. However, with the company already selling its next-gen console at an operating loss, it is more likely that this is a single-retailer action. We will report back as soon as we hear more.