I'm Not Actually at E3: Sony Digging Their Own Grave
Some speculated that Sony wouldn't reveal the price of the PS3. I did believe that they would hint at a high price point, but actually come down to $400. Today's pre-E3 conference told otherwise.
It was the last item on the list, but Sony did announce that the PS3 will cost $500-600 for the 20GB-60GB models respectively (story: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149470.html). This is dangerous waters for Sony. More dangerous with the added fact that this was the main part of their drive to get Blu-ray out ahead of HD-DVD. Some speculation is that Sony would sac their gaming department if it meant that they would come out ahead in their home movie department.
While it still is theoreticly half the price of a stand-alone Blu-ray player, $500 is still alot to shell out for a system.
When the PS2 launched, it was often bought as a cheap DVD player, especially in Japan. Even with that presumption, everyone knew that DVD was going to be the next format for movies. Blu-ray doesn't have that advantage. The whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray is bad since consumers don't know which will come out on top, and don't want to buy a dead product.
As a gaming machine, it is simply priced out of the market. Microsoft could easily out-bid Sony by dropping the premium X-Box 360 by a hundred dollars. Let's see: a $300 machine vs. a $500 machine; both mostly with the same games as each other. Sony would have to get extraordinarily good launch games to sell the system; something to the end of a Mario 64, Halo or Grand Theft Auto 3. Even then, things become hazy.
Making things worse, another story outlines that the cheap (actually, not as expensive) model will lack some features, like Wifi or HDMI output (story:http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149552.html). Wait, they're herolding this as the HD system, and they're not including a HD output?
On the other hand, they are doing some things right. Free online service is definatly a plus. The new controller (while it may be a Wii ripoff) does have some new potential, but it is still mostly unknown. Just have to wait for the show floor.
Sony has chosen to fail with this strategy. At $500 for the poor version, and $600 for the version gamers actually want, they are pricing themselves out of both the gaming market, and the HD video market.
It was the last item on the list, but Sony did announce that the PS3 will cost $500-600 for the 20GB-60GB models respectively (story: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149470.html). This is dangerous waters for Sony. More dangerous with the added fact that this was the main part of their drive to get Blu-ray out ahead of HD-DVD. Some speculation is that Sony would sac their gaming department if it meant that they would come out ahead in their home movie department.
While it still is theoreticly half the price of a stand-alone Blu-ray player, $500 is still alot to shell out for a system.
When the PS2 launched, it was often bought as a cheap DVD player, especially in Japan. Even with that presumption, everyone knew that DVD was going to be the next format for movies. Blu-ray doesn't have that advantage. The whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray is bad since consumers don't know which will come out on top, and don't want to buy a dead product.
As a gaming machine, it is simply priced out of the market. Microsoft could easily out-bid Sony by dropping the premium X-Box 360 by a hundred dollars. Let's see: a $300 machine vs. a $500 machine; both mostly with the same games as each other. Sony would have to get extraordinarily good launch games to sell the system; something to the end of a Mario 64, Halo or Grand Theft Auto 3. Even then, things become hazy.
Making things worse, another story outlines that the cheap (actually, not as expensive) model will lack some features, like Wifi or HDMI output (story:http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149552.html). Wait, they're herolding this as the HD system, and they're not including a HD output?
On the other hand, they are doing some things right. Free online service is definatly a plus. The new controller (while it may be a Wii ripoff) does have some new potential, but it is still mostly unknown. Just have to wait for the show floor.
Sony has chosen to fail with this strategy. At $500 for the poor version, and $600 for the version gamers actually want, they are pricing themselves out of both the gaming market, and the HD video market.
posted by SeanM at 9:09 PM
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