Sony has long been preparing consumers for a possible surprise when it debuts the PlayStation 3, with SCE head Ken Kutaragi repeatedly warning that the machine will be expensive.
Adding fuel to the fire today, CNN Money points to information and suggestion from publishers that the third-generation of PlayStation might be as high as $500, $100 more than the Xbox 360 at launch. A report cropping up today points to, amongst other things, the price of stand-alone Blu-Ray players, with Pioneer showing a unit that it expects to sell for $1,600. Of course, the PlayStation 3 will act as a Blu-Ray player, as well as handling gaming.
"[Sony] could now consider launching its PlayStation 3 at a price range of $399 to $499, with the $499 price point more likely," said American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy this week, prepping markets for a price that might still prove a shock.
CNN also suggests the possibility of Sony offering two versions of the PlayStation, something akin to Microsoft's success in the west with two Xbox 360 hardware levels. It is seen as unlikely that the electronics giant will look to split any projected userbase in this way, with Sony preferring to offer its must-have item at a status-boosting premium.
CNN continues, “Developers, for the most part, say they, too, are expecting the PS3 to be more expensive than the Xbox 360's highest price package. Sony, they said, has been sending mixed messages to the gaming world, but several developers I spoke with (under the condition of anonymity) said their studios were expecting the system to launch at $499. There wasn't universal consensus, though. Some predicted the price would be closer to $450, others said they wouldn't be surprised if it was as high as $600. $700 was mentioned by a couple of developers, though even they said the number seemed unreasonable. And one game maker felt Sony would try to stay in line with Microsoft, offering the PS3 for just $399.”
Adding fuel to the fire today, CNN Money points to information and suggestion from publishers that the third-generation of PlayStation might be as high as $500, $100 more than the Xbox 360 at launch. A report cropping up today points to, amongst other things, the price of stand-alone Blu-Ray players, with Pioneer showing a unit that it expects to sell for $1,600. Of course, the PlayStation 3 will act as a Blu-Ray player, as well as handling gaming.
"[Sony] could now consider launching its PlayStation 3 at a price range of $399 to $499, with the $499 price point more likely," said American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy this week, prepping markets for a price that might still prove a shock.
CNN also suggests the possibility of Sony offering two versions of the PlayStation, something akin to Microsoft's success in the west with two Xbox 360 hardware levels. It is seen as unlikely that the electronics giant will look to split any projected userbase in this way, with Sony preferring to offer its must-have item at a status-boosting premium.
CNN continues, “Developers, for the most part, say they, too, are expecting the PS3 to be more expensive than the Xbox 360's highest price package. Sony, they said, has been sending mixed messages to the gaming world, but several developers I spoke with (under the condition of anonymity) said their studios were expecting the system to launch at $499. There wasn't universal consensus, though. Some predicted the price would be closer to $450, others said they wouldn't be surprised if it was as high as $600. $700 was mentioned by a couple of developers, though even they said the number seemed unreasonable. And one game maker felt Sony would try to stay in line with Microsoft, offering the PS3 for just $399.”
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Comments
fluffstardx 12 Jan 2006 12:05
1/7
I can see it being $5-600. If they do two versions, the second will be their little Linux idea; add a keyboard, mouse, hard drive... and add $150 to the price too, I imagine. After all, they'll not be sensible and use the USB, oh no, not when it has Bluetooth.
majin dboy 12 Jan 2006 13:37
2/7
so what about £s?
if it sells for $500 an imported US one only cost £300 approx.
oh yeah,what about games?
if it sells for $500 an imported US one only cost £300 approx.
oh yeah,what about games?
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OptimusP 12 Jan 2006 13:52
3/7
So... analysts say its going to be 500 dollars... well if analysts say that we can rule out 500 dollars, when were analysts right? Never!
tyrion 12 Jan 2006 13:52
4/7
majin dboy wrote:
so what about £s?
if it sells for $500 an imported US one only cost £300 approx.
if it sells for $500 an imported US one only cost £300 approx.
Current exchange rates put $500 at £282.56, it's true. However we've been done over in the past with direct Dollars to Pounds prices, i.e. £500.
On the other hand, the PSP was sold at a direct Dollars to Euros price in Europe, with the UK price being a normal conversion of the Euro price plus a bit. That would put the UK price at £350 or so.
I'd have thought a £350 price point would be the most likely in the UK. If I remember correctly the PS2 launched at $300, so it's not that much of a jump in price.
fluffstardx 12 Jan 2006 14:29
5/7
I'd imagine £400 or £450, and £50-60 a game. Just to round out the ideas a little, by this point a Core 360 should have dropped to around £175 and a Premium to at least £250, and the games back to around £35-40. Asda already sells them at £40-45, so it can't take long for the rest of the games-selling stores to cut theirs too.
I know they say Blu Ray's disc costs are similar to DVD, but do you really expect them to not charge more just to make more profit back?
I know they say Blu Ray's disc costs are similar to DVD, but do you really expect them to not charge more just to make more profit back?
DcGaMeR11789 12 Jan 2006 17:37
6/7
Yeah PS3 f**kin rocks
fluffstardx 12 Jan 2006 18:19
7/7
I'll wait til I see somebody holding a pad playing a real game to make that sort of judgement. For now, my 360 works well, and I can do all that myself.
I'm surprised by the amount of people expecting this to be the generation of change, when Sony topple; Kojima dislikes it, there's whispers in the industry of code trouble and machine issues, there's still no finalised unit ready to show off (they've already decided to change the ethernet ports and possibly downgrade to 1 HDMI port) and to top it all nobody is showing any game code. What with the bad reception the design got anyway, it seems this will be a good fight, like SNES vs Megadrive. I can only hope, as that was one of the most prolific and fun times for gaming...
I'm surprised by the amount of people expecting this to be the generation of change, when Sony topple; Kojima dislikes it, there's whispers in the industry of code trouble and machine issues, there's still no finalised unit ready to show off (they've already decided to change the ethernet ports and possibly downgrade to 1 HDMI port) and to top it all nobody is showing any game code. What with the bad reception the design got anyway, it seems this will be a good fight, like SNES vs Megadrive. I can only hope, as that was one of the most prolific and fun times for gaming...