[sklaar]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/21/tech...ortune_112805/



Sony's CEO, Sir Howard Stringer, said recently that Sony will sell the PS3 at a loss in order to populate the world with Sony's favored high-definition DVD standard, known as Blu-ray. If millions of Blu-ray PlayStations find their way into living rooms, Sony figures, movie studios will be compelled to embrace it over the rival standard, known as HD-DVD. Yes, brace yourself for another Betamax vs. VHS standards war.

Sir Howard said the PS3 will sell for $300 to $400 and will come with a bundle of games, movies, and TV shows, many of which Sony also makes. The question is whether the titles will be bundled on Blu-ray DVD discs or on a built-in hard drive.

Because the first standalone Blu-ray DVD players are expected to cost $1,000 or so, Sony is essentially giving a free next-generation DVD player to every PS3 customer. That eases the pain (a little bit) for people faced with buying new, high-def versions of their favorite DVDs.

[Squeak]

xbox, you're dead dude!

[Powderkeg]

Is anyone really surprised?

Who here honestly didn't believe Sony would launch the PS3 at the same price as the Xbox 360? Quick show of hands.

[Master-Mold]

Ill beleive it when I see it.

[Nesh]

Wow man that was a bit unexpected

I wonder how much loss each console sold will bring

[Arun]

Sir Howard is announcing it, and not Kutaragi? Uh-oh. The other stuff was expected imo, but that's a serious mark of commitement on making PS3 a success from Sony's part, imo. That makes it more than "yet another wild vision" from Ken Kutaragi that doesn't properly fit in the company's agenda.

Uttar

[Harry Ola]

This sounds a lot like the statement he made to the Hollywood Reporter." Stringer said recently etc ...". At the time he was quoted as saying: "May retail for $300 - $400".

[Hellbinder]

Xbox is dead because....

If Xbox has good games now and good games then.. whats the problem?? I dont expect it to sell more than Sony but it should sell more units than the origional Xbox and that should be fine.

Plus I would wait to see what exactly they release. Sony has done nothing but LIE their *beeps* off when talking abou their consoles and software before launches. Theya re about as deceitfull as they come.

[Ooh-videogames]

What big blockbuster film could be released on Blue ray disc in time for PS3 launch?

[_leech_]

Well, hopefully now people won't be assuming a $700 pricetag

[Hardknock]

This is old news, just reworded.

[StefanS]

Originally Posted by Ooh-videogames

What big blockbuster film could be released on Blue ray disc in time for PS3 launch?

Well, it's gonna be a Sony film Spidey 3?

[BlueTsunami]

Originally Posted by Hardknock

This is old news, just reworded.

Has a Sony exec ever said that the PS3 would be released at $300-$400 price points?


I'm also taking the wait and see aproach. If this is true though, my wallet is crying tears of happiness.

[Guden Oden]

Originally Posted by hupfinsgack

Spidey 3?

People are already saying the typeface on the side of the PS3 comes from the spiderman title, so naturally that would be the case yes...

(Actually, it's not the same typeface, but people never let facts screw with their own wild assumptions... )

[Eleazar]

It is a little too early to be making announcements like this. The system is nearly a year away. There is no way they can know what the price will be. I hope this ends up being true because this would be best for the customer, however it just could be wishful thinking. Without knowing how much it will cost to mass produce this system, as well as the market prices at a year from now, I would label this as speculation. Though it could be very very solid speculation. I would love to see a 300-400 PS3.

[Shifty Geezer]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

It is a little too early to be making announcements like this. The system is nearly a year away.

8 months worst case, surely. If they make a Spring Japan launch, that's less than 6 months

[Npl]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

It is a little too early to be making announcements like this. The system is nearly a year away. There is no way they can know what the price will be. I hope this ends up being true because this would be best for the customer, however it just could be wishful thinking. Without knowing how much it will cost to mass produce this system, as well as the market prices at a year from now, I would label this as speculation. Though it could be very very solid speculation. I would love to see a 300-400 PS3.

Errr, you know this is the CEO of Sony telling this? I wouldnt count this as speculation, they surely have a very clear picture of the costs associated.
Besides, we dont know if Europe will be again bleeding for cheaper US-Prices like it was in the past( $500+ for PS2 anyone? ).

[CassidyIzABeast]

Originally Posted by Harry Ola

This sounds a lot like the statement he made to the Hollywood Reporter." Stringer said recently etc ...". At the time he was quoted as saying: "May retail for $300 - $400".

do you have a reason behind hoping that the PS3 will cost more than Howard's price point?

[Eleazar]

Yeah, you would be right. I didn't realize it was that close. Do you know how long away from launch is normal for announcing the price? I also wouldn't call this official. Laslty, can we truly say this is official?

[scooby_dooby]

a $300 ps3 would be awesome, even a $400 I'll probably pick one up just for the BR player.

[Phil]

IMO I think Sony has done quite a smart move: By making everyone believe PS3 is twice as powerful and a hi-tech supercomputer, everyone (including analysts: see the Merryl L. analysis! - I'm sure Sony loves them for that) are shouting that Sony is going to up the price at least ten fold in order to avoid bankrupting themselfs. Then everyone sees Microsoft, thinking it's at least affordable what they're offering this christmas and that PS3 is going to be too expensive anyway... and then BANG, you have Stringer hinting that the price will be within what we've been used to for the last 10 years from them! And everyone starts to think "WOW, for $400, I'm getting a hi-tech CELL processor, a blu-ray super hi-definition next gen player, KillZone roxxorz graphix!!111".

^^ And for those that didn't get it, that was ment to be exagerated.

[groper]

Originally Posted by Powderkeg

Is anyone really surprised?

Who here honestly didn't believe Sony would launch the PS3 at the same price as the Xbox 360? Quick show of hands.

I was expecting a price about 400 $ but no cheaper because i was thinking that cell is expensive hardware.
That proves that If we take out blueray then we have a lower-end/cheaper game hardware than xb360.
So Sony has the possibility to sell cheaper and lose some money , at the beginning , just because the blueD is still expensive.

[Powderkeg]

Originally Posted by groper

That proves that If we take out blueray then we have a lower-end/cheaper game hardware than xb360.

That's one hell of an assumption with absolutely no evidence to base it on. I see no reason to think the PS3 without bluray would be cheaper than the 360. It still has a CPU that requires a far bigger investment to put it into production, it still has more expensive RAM, it still has a more complex motherboard and it still has more input devices.

Nothing there suggests it would be cheaper than the 360 without bluray.

[expletive]

By the time the PS3 launches a 360 core will be at least $249, maybe $199 if necessary. Given the constant barrage of innuendo on Revoltuion affordability, i would expect that console to be no more than 249, maybe 199 as well. This is sounding like the price will be somewhere around $350, thats still at least $100 less for Nintendo and MS. IMO, anything above $350 really starts to work against Sony. Not sure why this announcement is news or that a $349 price point should be 'worrisome' for nintendo or microsoft.

Not to mention the amount of losses that pile up the lower this PS3 price goes. With Sony its very fine line to walk...

[NRP]

Wow.

I guess this news doesn't bode well for those expecting PS3 to be released with increased performance specs above what was already announced.

Can Sony really afford to lose hundreds of millions (perhaps billions?) of dollars this next gen just to get Blu-Ray established? I hope it's worth it.