Sony France: PS3 intial price range forecast "499-599 Euro"

[Jon Brittan]

Back to square one...



http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=15937

Given that quote, do you ever get the feeling they could just be testing the water as to the launch price-point? See what the reaction to a comment like that is, if it's mostly neutral or positive then they know they can sell their launch allocations at a price-point well above the competition, if it's almost all negative then they can re-spin it, say the comment was mis-interpreted, he was talking about "relative value" and now play the "We're charging you less than this thing's worth, so you're getting a great deal and it's actually worth far more than the competition" line?

 

[slider]

Given that quote, do you ever get the feeling they could just be testing the water as to the launch price-point? See what the reaction to a comment like that is, if it's mostly neutral or positive then they know they can sell their launch allocations at a price-point well above the competition, if it's almost all negative then they can re-spin it, say the comment was mis-interpreted, he was talking about "relative value" and now play the "We're charging you less than this thing's worth, so you're getting a great deal and it's actually worth far more than the competition" line?

I guess the only way to gauge it would be the responses from sites like these. Are they enough of a wide spectrum of society? I shudder at the thought!

There must be a more scientific method to gauge public perception. Focus groups, that sort of thing.

 

[Jon Brittan]

I guess the only way to gauge it would be the responses from sites like these. Are they enough of a wide spectrum of society? I shudder at the thought!

There must be a more scientific method to gauge public perception. Focus groups, that sort of thing.

I would think yes, they are a wide enough spectrum of society, if all you are trying to judge is a launch price, you'll sell out certainly (unless you set the price unrealistically high) anyway, so you want to judge what you can get away with and the early adopters are going to be the hardcore, the types who hang out at sites like this...

Granted, focus groups and things are more scientific and almost certainly used too, but it's cheap and easy to throw out a few comments that can be spun further down the line and just see what the reaction is.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Given that quote, do you ever get the feeling they could just be testing the water as to the launch price-point?

Interesting idea. Kinda 'Fly-fishing for launch prices'.

 

[slider]

I would think yes, they are a wide enough spectrum of society, if all you are trying to judge is a launch price, you'll sell out certainly (unless you set the price unrealistically high) anyway, so you want to judge what you can get away with and the early adopters are going to be the hardcore, the types who hang out at sites like this...

Granted, focus groups and things are more scientific and almost certainly used too, but it's cheap and easy to throw out a few comments that can be spun further down the line and just see what the reaction is.

Good points. I guess I was thinking more of the technically minded sites (like this) rather than the others. But even B3D attracts the less technically aware (people like me).

Having had a scan around various sites and forums you could be right. The minor s***-storm this dude created is astounding.

 

[assen]

I don't see why this thing has to be so much more expensive, but I guess Blu-Ray drives and Cell aren't as inexpensive to manufacture as we were lead to believe.

You were not lead to believe, you kept telling yourself that analysts who told you a hundred times BR = expensive, are talking out of their rear regions until you were thoroughly convinced

 

[scooby_dooby]

You were not lead to believe, you kept telling yourself that analysts who told you a hundred times BR = expensive, are talking out of their rear regions until you were thoroughly convinced

no...that would be the overwhelming majority of people on these forums that assume that BR can't possibly be all that expensive, that the OPU unit is not signifigantly more expensive than DVD, and that the high retail price of BR drives is NOT due to a higher BOM, and they have produced many wide ranging arguments to support these theories.

Basically, there's a whole lot of assumption around here being passed around as common sense.

 

[DVFtaxman]

Am I correct in thinking that the reason BR is so expensive is because blue light is of a considerably higher frequency than red, and is harder to produce? Much in the same way as the blue in lcd screens holding back the prices of LCD for so long?

 

[Bobbler]

no...that would be the overwhelming majority of people on these forums that assume that BR can't possibly be all that expensive, that the OPU unit is not signifigantly more expensive than DVD, and that the high retail price of BR drives is NOT due to a higher BOM, and they have produced many wide ranging arguments to support these theories.

Basically, there's a whole lot of assumption around here being passed around as common sense.

I'm pretty sure if you searched you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who thought the OPU for BR wouldn't be significantly more expensive than an OPU for DVD (as one is probably around 50+x the cost of the other at this point). BR will likely be the most expensive single part of PS3. Doesn't mean the cost for consumers has to be affected by it, for numerous reasons.

Hardknock's comment was kind of silly, because it assumes that this misunderstanding was the truth and SCEF actually said a 500-600 euro price tag was in the cards.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Am I correct in thinking that the reason BR is so expensive is because blue light is of a considerably higher frequency than red, and is harder to produce? Much in the same way as the blue in lcd screens holding back the prices of LCD for so long?

Blue Laser Diodes are harder to make for sure, but you also need a highly quality of components like step motors to control the head to accomodate the finer tracks in blue-laser media.

 

[Bad_Boy]

Sounds like the ps3 might end up at 400. But thats just my guess.