Originally Posted by Gamespot.com

PS3 price cuts already being considered
Sony exec tells AP that reevaluating the price of the console is one of the back-to-profit strategies the games division is considering; no indication given of time frame.

By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UK
Posted Feb 1, 2007 4:22 am PT
This week, Sony announced that profits had fallen some 5.3 percent over last year in the company as a whole, with the games division suffering third-quarter losses of 54.2 billion yen (approx $455 million). Some had predicted that the company would suffer even greater losses. In a survey conducted by Bloomberg of five industry analysts, the median estimate was that the company would report a 50 percent loss.

Historically, the time period after a console's launch sees the parent company reporting a loss, a gamble that is intended to pay off when profits are recouped from software sales. Sony's senior vice president, Takao Yuhara, told the Associated Press that his company's loss could in fact be more than the 200 billion yen (approx $1.6 billion) that Sony has currently forecast for the financial year ending March.

Many of the costs associated with the PlayStation 3's launch were higher than anticipated, including advertising promotions and production delays that forced the company to use air rather than sea shipping.

Yuhara revealed that Sony's strategy was to have the games division breaking even by the end of the next fiscal year, March 2008. He told AP, ''Such factors, including price cuts to some extent, are factored in'' to the company's break-even plans. No date was given for when Sony would be considering making the cut or how much it would be slashing from the current price of $599 for the 60GB model (which will be 599 euros in Europe, £425 in the UK).

The company has already made the unusual move of cutting the PS3's price in Japan, where the console was launched on November 11, taking the 20GB version to 49,980 yen ($429), 10,000 yen ($85) less than previously slated. However, this move appeared to backfire, as it was slammed by some analysts, and the company's shares took a tumble after the announcement.

Originally Posted by RC45

I have used my PS3 more in the short time I have had it, than I have used the XBox360 over the last year.

Other than PGR3 and a few games of Fight Night3, the Xbox has not lived up to its hype.

The PS3 is useful and usable as a web browser, BluRay player and gaming system.

I'm upgrading the 20GB harddrive to a 120GB one this evening.. I can't even attach a USB device on to the XBox360. Oh - and no 1080p support either ;)

Originally Posted by TNT

ummm what are you talking about, i can understand that if you don't play one system over the other, but there is really only one game that is holding the hype of the 360 and that is Resistance. but even that nothing hasn't gotten the greatest reviews. Also a lot of games that were going to be just for the PS3 aren't anymore. Sony is going to fall.

Originally Posted by twboy1999

most of the store here in canada has raise the price

haha

from 659 to 700 cdn

thats going to help sell it better :lol: :lol:

Originally Posted by RC45

The point is M$ hyped the XBox360 as the "core of the entertainment", not "just a gaing console" - and it has never risen above being anything except a gaing concole.