PS2 price cut - Yes/No/Maybe???

[Deepak]

Link

Sony U.S. Games Head 'Comfortable' with PS2 Price
Tue May 6, 5:51 PM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. video game arm of Japanese conglomerate Sony Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T) is "very comfortable" with the price of its market-leading PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) video game console despite rampant speculation that a price cut is imminent, its president said on Tuesday.

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Kaz Hirai, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said he also suspected that moves by competitors to bundle games in with their consoles were not really helping sales.


"We are very comfortable at the $199 price point," Hirai said. "The numbers are very healthy for the PS2 at the $199 price point."


Hirai's comments came just days before the start of E3, the video game industry's annual trade show, which kicks off next week in Los Angeles.


At E3 last year, Sony and competitors Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) and Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. Ltd. (7974.OS) all cut their hardware prices. Sony and Microsoft took the PS2 and Xbox (news - web sites), respectively, to $199 from $299, while Nintendo took its GameCube to $149 from $199.


Because price cuts occurred last year at E3 and resulted in a significant sales bump, industry executives had been counting on another wave of price drops at this year's show.


"My hope is that we'll get some significant price cuts (at E3)," Jeff Lapin, the chief executive of leading publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (Nasdaq:TTWO - news), told Reuters last week, though he also conceded, "If I'm Sony, I'd never want to cut the price."


Brian Farrell, the chief executive of games publisher THQ Inc. (Nasdaq:THQI - news), told Reuters recently that the pricing of the PS2 does not matter so much as Sony's meeting its unit shipment targets for the fiscal year to maintain its dominant position in the installed user base.


"Whether Sony gets it at $199, $179 or $149, we're indifferent," he said. "All we need is that 10.5 million units."

 

[Jabjabs]

Maybe, if xbox does then Sony will follow, but will xbox drop? Maybe.

There isn't much to say it will go ether way so just wait another week.

 

[zurich]

Well MS recalled all the Sega GT/JSRF discs, so I smell another bundle coming, most likely with Panzer Dragoon Orta (as it sold so-so, but is a beautiful showcase for the system).

Hopefully they'll cut prices, but I somehow doubt it. Sony is sitting pretty, making a sweet penny off each PS2 sold, MS is just barely breaking even on the hardware by now, and Nintendo is still reeling in shock at giving away a game with each system

Ofcourse, I dont think any of us would mind seeing $149/$149/$99 either

 

[bbot]

Microsoft is bundling Capcom's Dino Crisis 3 with their console in Japan starting June, so maybe MS will do the same here.

 

[Qroach]

Xbox "is" dropping price at e3 again. Sony is just talking nonsense. The same way they talked last year right before a price drop. They claimed exactly the same thing no less that a week before dropping price to beat MS to the punch.

 

[CaptainHowdy]

I hope so, I need another PS2, my second one stopped working, and it had to happen right as some games I want are about to come out.

 

[pcostabel]

Xbox "is" dropping price at e3 again. Sony is just talking nonsense. The same way they talked last year right before a price drop. They claimed exactly the same thing no less that a week before dropping price to beat MS to the punch.

I wouldn't be so sure. The last price drop didn't do much for sales, so Sony
might decide it's not worth it and wait until Christmas, for a possible $100
drop.

 

[zurich]

I hope so, I need another PS2, my second one stopped working, and it had to happen right as some games I want are about to come out.

Just clean the lens with a Qtip and rubbing alcohol, worked absolute wonders on mine (version 4, SPC 30000).

 

[Qroach]

I wouldn't be so sure. The last price drop didn't do much for sales, so Sony might decide it's not worth it and wait until Christmas, for a possible $100 drop.

Ok then "you wouldn't" but I would . Store chains all over North America have recieved notice of price drops on all three consoles. The only information not stated was the actual price change. No matter what it's going to happen.

 

[Deepak]

Link

Game Console Price Cuts Seen in Summer or Later
Fri May 9, 7:26 PM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Ben Berkowitz and Ellis Mnyandu

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major retailers have been waiting and hoping for video game console makers to cut prices this month -- just as they did last year, during and right after the industry's biggest trade show.

But now some industry sources and analysts do not expect the next round in the Xbox (news - web sites)-PlayStation price war until late summer or even year-end.

That would disappoint U.S. retailers who had expected big price markdowns to be announced this month. Speculation had been strong that next week's E3, the games industry's annual trade show, would bring across-the-board price cuts.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo starts next week in Los Angeles and represents the favored forum for deal-making and promotion in a business expected to generate $30 billion in sales in 2003.

Last year's E3 saw a $100 cut to $199 on Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s (6758.T) PlayStation 2 (news - web sites), followed days later by the same cut to $199 on Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Xbox, and then a $50 move to $149 for Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) GameCube.

The cuts spurred a strong boost in retail game software and hardware sales across the board, leading to expectations that another cut was coming.

But one U.S. retail source familiar with the industry pricing situation said this week that the expected dates for price cuts came and went, leaving the next likely window as July or August.

Two European industry sources with regular dealings inside the industry's price and promotion machine pegged the likely new prices at $149 for the PS2 and Xbox and $99 for the GameCube, and one said at least one retailer, GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME - news), had begun making preparations for a cut. Cuts were seen coming in Europe as well.

"There's a very good chance that prices could come down sometime around the fourth-quarter and this will be pretty bullish for the retailers," said Todd Kuhrt, an analyst at Midwest Research.

STORES MUM ON PRICE CHANGES

Representatives of the major U.S. game retailers -- Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE:BBY - news), Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE:CC - news), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - news), GameStop Corp. (GME.N) and Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq:ELBO - news) -- had no immediate comment.

A second U.S. toy retail source also well informed on pricing issues indicated "I am told this is going to happen in the fourth quarter."

Retailers generally need to be in the loop on pricing ahead of the public so that they can begin planning their promotional efforts and building their inventories.

Microsoft has been mum on the pricing subject, while Nintendo has said publicly it would not move unless its hand was forced by a competitor.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America President Kaz Hirai, in an interview with Reuters earlier this week, said Sony was "very comfortable" with their $199 PS2 price and did not expect a price cut this month.

On Thursday, the chief executive of games publisher Activision Inc. (Nasdaq:ATVI - news), Bobby Kotick, told investors and analysts he expected a mid-year price cut.

While game publishers generally want a price cut, they are more concerned with Sony, in particular, meeting its shipment forecasts. "Whether Sony gets it at $199, $179 or $149, we're indifferent," THQ (Nasdaq:THQI - news) Chief Executive Brian Farrell told Reuters recently. "All we need is that 10.5 million units." (With additional reporting by Bernhard Warner in London)

 

[jvd]

Nintendo would be smart to drop thier price first .

 

[Paul]

If Nintendo drops Cube to 99 bucks, im out to the store and getting a used one for 60 bucks or so. Then I will have all 3 consoles.