Publishers Say PS3 is Too Expensive
In 2006 the PlayStation 3 launched as the most expensive console of this generation. Now, more than two years later, it still retains that title and publishers wish it weren’t so.
According to Bloomberg, Sony is under pressure from video game publishers to drop the price of its flagship console. At $399, the PS3 is $150 more than the Wii and twice the price of the cheapest Xbox 360 (though the same price as most expensive Xbox 360).
Of course, all game publishers want the hardware to be as affordable as possible, so that more consumers will buy the systems, thereby expanding the user base. The majority of video game systems are sold in the latter parts of the life cycle, when the hardware hits its lowest price points.
“Anytime a console manufacturer reduces the price, software publishers benefit,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer of Ubisoft Entertainment.
Analyst with Janco Partners, Mike Hickey, believes that Sony will drop the price of the PS3 $50 to $100 sometime next month. “If they can’t meaningfully increase their install base, then you will likely see a capital reallocation,” Hickey said. But Sony is sticking to its guns with regards to its current pricing.
“Everybody in the development community would love for the PS3 to be free, so they could just sell razor blades,” Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview.
Executives at top game publishers do agree that the current PS3 price is a sticking point with consumers looking to get into next-generation gaming.
“Sony obviously still has a ways to go with their pricing,” said Peter Moore, head of EA Sports. EA has shifted some of its resources to developing for the Nintendo Wii, naturally incentivized but the large install base.
“You can’t ignore the guy who has half the market,” Moore said. For the previous two console generations, Sony has been the one with the largest share of the market, but the Japanese electronics maker now finds itself no longer on top of the heap.
With the PS3’s high price tag being such an issue, nary a month goes by without some talk about a price cut. While a price drop for spring is less expected than one during the holiday season, publishers along with consumers who are still on the fence about buying one would like it to be as soon as possible.
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Nothing new there.. i would spend the 400 bucks on a decent GPU, and a expensive mouse and keyboard.. resulting in a better experience than the PS3
I think few people actually pick the Wii or 360 instead of the PS3 because of price. It's most often preference.
It is price, the PS3 is the best console on the market for graphics and capabilities, but the price just kills it for console fans. I own both the crackbox360 and the PS3, and the MS box could not even touch the PS3 in exclusive title graphics. I also own the wii for my kids, its a great console for the whole family.
You just said that buying decisions isn't price, but went on to entirely contradict yourslelf by saying that you enjoy your higher-priced PS3 more.
360 just has better exclusive titles and most games that are out on both systems run better on 360. I have both a 360 and PS3 and have had my PS3 for over two years. I have probably played games on it for a few hours in those two years and the rest of my time on it used watching Blu-ray and being dissappointed by Yellow Dog. Now that my HTPC has a Blu-ray drive I can't remember the last time I turned the thing on. What Sony needs is a miracle from God....of War. And where the fuck is Gran Turismo 5? In case you need a sign that things are bad for Sony, Tekken 5 is coming out for the 360.
The developers will decide how valid Sony is in this market place.
No, let me correct myself, for most people it is price. I did not care about the price when i bought mine. I know others that love my PS3, but would not buy it cause the $tag attached to it. All three systems are good, they excel in their own little niches, and will satisfy the common gamer. In my opinion, the more advanced gamers understand the technology behind each of the consoles, and most of those will agree that the PS3 is above the rest.
It is price, the PS3 is the best console on the market for graphics and capabilities, but the price just kills it for console fans. I own both the crackbox360 and the PS3, and the MS box could not even touch the PS3 in exclusive title graphics. I also own the wii for my kids, its a great console for the whole family.
Actually the 360 has a better GPU. The only advantage PS3 has for graphics is the added space on Blu-ray for storing high res textures, but all that doesn't matter because the PS3 is limited by its dedicated 256MB of Video RAM, where as the 360 has shared memory and gives the developers freedom t use more than 256MB for video at a time. BTW, the 360 can touch the PS3 in exclusive title graphics. Killzone 2 probably has the best graphics for PS3, but the flame thrower affect is worse than PS1 graphics. And for games that aren't exclusive to PS3, they run better on 360, even when ported from an engine designed for PS3. PS3 has frame rate issues in many shared games as well as more aliasing than the 360.
Nintendo makes profits because it creates software, and focuses more on user experience than fancy graphics (thus cheaper hardware). Microsoft doesn't make money on the XBox (neither hardware nor software), but that hasn't stopped them in the past.
Sony can't reduce price because they have no other revenue stream from their PS3. Sony doesn't create the games for their console (like Nintendo), and they aren't run by a buffoon (like Microsoft). Plus they still have that whole "its a game console AND Blu-Ray player" aspect to play off. Even when HD-DVD was still alive, that was an additional $200 to the cost of your XBox.
In case you need a sign that things are bad for Sony, Tekken 5 is coming out for the 360.
Dont forget Sony lost GTA4,FF13 aswell, i loved sony, but they need to step there game up, hopefully GoW3 will boost sales seeing as how i loved the second on the ps2.
[citation]And where the fuck is Gran Turismo 5?[/citation]
Excellent question!
There is no way x360 graphics are on par with the PS3. The x360 runs a GPU that was old when the system came out. I've seen both on a HD projector and there's no comparison.
[citation]There is no way x360 graphics are on par with the PS3. The x360 runs a GPU that was old when the system came out. I've seen both on a HD projector and there's no comparison.[/citation]
I don't know what you were watching, but it doesn't prove shit. The added eDRAM and shared memory of the Xenos GPU gives it to 360 FTW. And dated GPU? Look up the facts fuser. The R600 GPU was based on the 360 GPU which came out more than a year ahead of the R600. And the R520 came out just a month ahead of the 360, so I don't know where you get off saying it was a dated GPU at the time of its release.
[citation]There is no way x360 graphics are on par with the PS3. The x360 runs a GPU that was old when the system came out. I've seen both on a HD projector and there's no comparison.[/citation]
I don't know what you were watching, but it doesn't prove shit. The added eDRAM and shared memory of the Xenos GPU gives it to 360 FTW. And dated GPU? Look up the facts fuser. The R600 GPU was based on the 360 GPU which came out more than a year ahead of the R600. And the R520 came out just a month ahead of the 360, so I don't know where you get off saying it was a dated GPU at the time of its release.
Dont forget Sony lost GTA4,FF13 aswell, i loved sony, but they need to step there game up, hopefully GoW3 will boost sales seeing as how i loved the second on the ps2.
Lost them as exclusives... they are still going to PS3 as well.
I prefer the PS3 over the other units, but i LOVE the load times of the 360 over the PS3.
The Wii is SHii. I own one, and I am beside myself that people like this unit! Ok..Great, the Wii has motion detection/sensing.. But it SUCKS!! There is nothing on earth more inaccurate then the Wii’s motion controls. I HATE IT. Play tiger Woods, It is SOOO far from real golf. Even Mario Cart… the controls blow chunks. I personally feel if you are going to use motion as a control that it better replicate real life…or what’s the point?
Every day I will choose PS3 and/or 360 over the Wii. I firmly believe Wii has sold so many units due to price, and nothing else. Parents who are not gamers certainly are going to buy the sub $200 unit over the $400 unit, it’s a no brainer.
ther graphics issue is a crapshoot because it depends on the people making the game. some games look better on PS3 than on the crashbox and vice versa
there is only a small group that that go for preference. Sony won the lat generation with the PS2 and the xbox was a distant 2nd so the PS2 owners wanted to continue with Sony but they put a high price tag on it. most people are flocking to the crashbox because of the games (and they don't care how many times they had to get microsoft to replace it LOL). the first console i got with the Wii because it was the cheapest and i Like Nintendo and it is not as bad as some strung out lord of the kings geeks say it is. I for one am going for a 2nd console and it will be PS3 because i like the games on it better and I already gave Microsoft too much of my own money buying windows for my PC multiple times over the years
who cares about graphics or HD if you don't have a decent display to show it? What majority of consumers have switched to HD displays? If the average family has a big screen it's most likely in the family room and the game system is in the kids room. That's just an average. Even if you know all there is to know about consoles and what they can and can't do you will still need to invest in a display. You have to look at it from a family on a budget perspective. Sony sold all the console they could to everyone else. It makes no difference what's so ever what it can do or how well it looks to "Joe Average".
Originally I baught PS3 because the blu-ray and 1080P resulution. But it turned out most of the game still stay at 720P resolution. So the PS3 does not get much of the advantage over XBOX 360. And 2 of my friends baught Xbox360 because it is cheaper and play Halo and GTA4. But almost everyone has Wii (6~8).
Another issue is Sony still manufacturing PS2 which is totally different machine and would divide the resource. I believe Sony should build a strip down PS3 (no Blu-ray, no HDMI) that can play PS2 and PS3 games on DVD and discontinue PS2, so all the resource are dedicated to PS3. So that they can lower the PS3 price without losing money.
I believe Sony should build a strip down PS3 (no Blu-ray, no HDMI) that can play PS2 and PS3 games on DVD and discontinue PS2, so all the resource are dedicated to PS3. So that they can lower the PS3 price without losing money.
This is a good idea.
This is a good idea.
No it isn't. It's a horrible idea. They would have to reprint every game and many of the games would need recoding to fit on a DVD9. Than it would lead to customer confusion of what game to buy, the Blu-ray or DVD one. What they should do is bring back backwards compatibility to the PS#, but removing blu-ray and HDMI? They already have a sytem like that, it's called the PS2.
Mine only cost $250, brand new 80GB model. Just gotta find the deals!
The lowest priced 360 is crap and when you take into account all of the built in features PS3 has, it's a much better deal than the 360, which has extra costs like a wireless adapter and online fees. 360 has better multiplayer games and that's it. Without Halo or Gears of War, no one would ever be interested in 360.
If they (Sony) had not removed the backwards compatibility, they would have got my money if the system was even $500... hacking the ps3 apart to make it a bit cheaper = something I don't want.
Well, backwards compatibility was more important at launch than it is now. Still, considering the current price it would be nice to get some backwards compatibility on the more expensive model. The fact is that even though the PS3 has more power, it's more difficult to program for and thus costs more money to get the same effect out of it as the equivalent on the 360. Yeah the PS3 could potentially produce better graphics than the 360, but if development companies don't feel it's worth all the extra development dollars it will take them to do it then it's not gonna happen. The PS3 needs a bigger install base to be worth it for developers, that's all there is to it.
Its because Sony is stupid. They are selling a console for $400, and losing money for every console sold because the hardware costs more. Instead they can sell the emulator software for $100, and have the player get the rest of the hardware making them earn $100 per sale.
Sony got egotistical and figured no matter what they did they would come out on top. That said i still don't think sony will budge the price at all..maybe include an older game with the system or a blu-ray movie, but not drop price, blu-ray holds them back too much from doing that
No it isn't. It's a horrible idea. They would have to reprint every game and many of the games would need recoding to fit on a DVD9. Than it would lead to customer confusion of what game to buy, the Blu-ray or DVD one. What they should do is bring back backwards compatibility to the PS#, but removing blu-ray and HDMI? They already have a sytem like that, it's called the PS2.
My thoughts exactly.
So will the guys with the Mercedes (PS3 Fanboys) stop justifying why their extra gadgets/features are worth an extra $100-200? The consumers are sticking with the Hondas (XBOX360 and Wii). No extra gimmicks that most average gamers don't use. However, the BD player is nice if you're really into movies and if you got a TV that can let you appreciate 1080p. And most can't tell the difference even on a 42 inch TV so whatever to "real" HD.
a die shrink for the main components might be in order
that would be nice, same as they've done on the previous playstations
Price of standard xbox360 (with the new bigger 60GB HD) is $300. Which doesn't do much for those who paid $300~350 for the 20GB version these past few years.

It doesn't have wireless networking ($80~100 option), no blu-ray which is the BEST way to watch 1080p movies. Compressed cable/sat doesn't compare. If MS sold a Blu-Ray drive, it'd be a $100+ add-on. So much for MS supporting standards.
The internal PSU for the PS3 makes things easier to setup and PS3's don't have melt-downs.
Yeah, Blu-Ray helped Sony win the format war for HD-media - but it hurt them in the gaming market. With 21million PS3s on the market, they aren't a failure. The PS3 has always been a YEAR behind xbox360 (about 7~8million short).
Had the xbox had its heat-issues fixed and came out 6~9 months later, we'd be looking at a different landscape... other than Wii still selling 50million units
I have a xbox 360 which I bought and a ps3 which I got for free on a cell phone contract. Cost me r185 ($18) a month for 2 years. Bonus part is the work pays the cell phone contract.
Got no games for the PS3 because they are a bit pricey and not much to choose from.
If Microsoft redesigned the 360 to include an internal power supply, wireless networking and, bluray. It would totally kill ANY future sales of the PS3. Honestly, Microsoft could sell this version for $499.99 or even 699.99 and people would buy it. Why, because Microsoft has a large supported community of developers and users.
As for a stipped PS3, Sony could do this, most of their games even though they are printed on Bluray can fit on a standard DVD. They would just need to include both copies in their game pack.
The other alternative is to neuter the Bluray from playing movies (save on license fee) and remove the wireless card.