PS3 Price Cut Clarifications

[Rich Tate]

As we reported yesterday Sony will continue to sell the 60GB PS3 at the $499 price point. Sony has officially stated as of yesterday afternoon they have enough units to last the next few months but after that we don’t believe they’ll be making anymore. Stay tuned, Steve and I promise to keep you guys updated as the story changes…seemingly by the minute.

This has been semi-contradicted once again, with Sony now saying that they have enough stock to sell 60GB consoles for the next few months, but it doesn't sound like they'll be making any more after that. According to Karraker, "We won't be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated."

 

[Sorce]

Yeah, it's how they're "cleaning house" in order to make room for the 80GB version. After the 60GB sells out, they won't be replenishing supply, so there will only be the $599 version again.

 

[Sorce]

Yeah, it's how they're "cleaning house" in order to make room for the 80GB version. After the 60GB sells out, they won't be replenishing supply, so there will only be the $599 version again.

The whole thing makes me very "meh" about it. The price drop is what will get me to buy a PS3, not a bigger hard drive for the same price. Then again I'm not rushing out to get the 60GB either now.

Edited.

 

[Exavior]

It almost seems to me like they are trying to create a scare by making people think they better rush out and buy a PS3 fast if they want to get one why they are "cheap".

They keep changing their mind on the wording they want to use and keep going back and forth as if they can't decide on the best way to make people think that there is a chance that the $499 price will stay however at the same time it might only be around until they sell out so you better hurry and get one while you know the price is $499 before you might be stuck paying $599 again. Took them a few tries but I think they have finally managed to get their wording right for their scare tatic, now lets see if it works.

 

[Silentbob343]

Yeah, it's how they're "cleaning house" in order to make room for the 80GB version. After the 60GB sells out, they won't be replenishing supply, so there will only be the $599 version again.

We honestly do not know what will be the price point of the 80GB SKU. We know the Motorstorm bundle will be $599, but that is a limited offer. I'm sure we'll see a lower price point for the 80GB around the Holidays.

 

[Advil]

..."We won't be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated."

Talk about arrogant. So I guess between the lines he's saying, "Quit asking, we aren't going to tell anyone anything about our plans or pricing structure. Just shut up and pay it."

 

[hordaktheman]

Won't be making the model anymore? If the only difference is the installed drive then I wouldn't call it 'a new model'.

It's a good trick though; they're making it seem like they're giving us increased value when it's quite likely that they themselves are just getting a better bulk deal on 80gig drives than 60gig ones. So, they drop the price on the 60gig models and reinstate the original price for the new SKU. The consumer 'wins' and Sony makes a buck.

 

[bpmurrGT]

I really don't understand why so many people are having a problem with this situation. Sony is offering the customer the PS3 with EE and 60GB for $100 less at $499.99 until they run out. During that span they are also offering a limited edition PS3 without EE but with an 80GB drive and Motorstorm for $599.99. As soon as the 60GB version dries up then Sony will drop the bundle and sell it for $499.99 with the larger drive but not Motorstorm or EE chip.

Quite honestly the 60GB is the better buy even if you’re not into backwards compatibility. If you want more storage you can by a bigger drive then 80GB for less than $100.00 bucks. I think people just want to get their panties all in a bunch for the sake of doing so.

 

[bpmurrGT]

Talk about arrogant. So I guess between the lines he's saying, "Quit asking, we aren't going to tell anyone anything about our plans or pricing structure. Just shut up and pay it."

That's not being arrogant it's just not tipping your hand to MS or Nintendo until you have to. We are all smart people and realize the 80GB model will be $499.99 at some point when the 60GB runs out.

 

[CaptNumbNutz]

Won't be making the model anymore? If the only difference is the installed drive then I wouldn't call it 'a new model'.

It's a good trick though; they're making it seem like they're giving us increased value when it's quite likely that they themselves are just getting a better bulk deal on 80gig drives than 60gig ones. So, they drop the price on the 60gig models and reinstate the original price for the new SKU. The consumer 'wins' and Sony makes a buck.

The difference isn't only the bigger hard drive.
The are removing the PS2 Hardware compatibility as well. The PS2 games will be emulated in software only, just like the European versions. Last I heard, the emulation is compatible with 88% of the PS2 games, and will grow with updates.
So, they are not only saving money on getting better bulk prices with the 80GB HD's like you suggested, but they are also saving money on a cheaper motherboard and producing less SKU's.

This helps their bottom line, but I hope it allows them to do a price cut in the near future. The more PS3's sold may mean bigger losses short term, but as adoption of the console continues, more games and Blu-Ray movies will be sold to help cover the cost.

 

[pxc]

I want to like the Xbox 360 and PS3 but I just can't bring myself to buy either one (and yeah, those are the only 2 i'm considering). The Wii is notable for how little power it uses. It just doesn't have the oomph to drive a higher resolution TV, so it doesn't even try. The 360 and PS3 have some games I want but there's nothing on the Wii I want.

I had bought 2 PS2s, 2 Gamecubes and 1 Xbox during the last cycle. This cycle just isn't exiciting me enough to drop $300-$400 on a new console.

 

[spincut]

There's alot of people defending this move now as not stupid because they beleive that once the 60GB are indeed gone that they will then price drop the 80GB model.

Well if that IS their plan (which no one knows for sure) then what they are doing is still stupid, because they are pissing alot of their base off.

Now, i KNOW they cannot simply tell the masses that they intend to drop the price of the 80GB soonafter, as that would also be a bad move for them, but that doesnt mean they couldnt have handled this alot better, and not turned what was a very good step in the right direction with a price cut into this cluster**** of a PR situation (as per usual it seems).

It would also be nice to know how far along they are progress-wise with the software emulation, since i want to know for sure that all my PS2 games will play if i wait (since on the hardware version they will, especially the stuff still coming out that i buy).

 

[Silentbob343]

There's alot of people defending this move now as not stupid because they beleive that once the 60GB are indeed gone that they will then price drop the 80GB model.

Well if that IS their plan (which no one knows for sure) then what they are doing is still stupid, because they are pissing alot of their base off.

Now, i KNOW they cannot simply tell the masses that they intend to drop the price of the 80GB soonafter, as that would also be a bad move for them, but that doesnt mean they couldnt have handled this alot better, and not turned what was a very good step in the right direction with a price cut into this cluster**** of a PR situation (as per usual it seems).

It would also be nice to know how far along they are progress-wise with the software emulation, since i want to know for sure that all my PS2 games will play if i wait (since on the hardware version they will, especially the stuff still coming out that i buy).

You could head over to the official backward compatibility checker and start looking to see if your titles are covered. Right now I hear the non EE PS3s support 90% of older games and updates happen pretty regularly. In fact the last update had a nice chunk of compatibility updates.
http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/CompatibleStatus

I still don't get the ill will that is being created by this news, but you are correct the jackass from SCEE should've kept his mouth shut.

 

[spincut]

You could head over to the official backward compatibility checker and start looking to see if your titles are covered. Right now I hear the non EE PS3s support 90% of older games and updates happen pretty regularly. In fact the last update had a nice chunk of compatibility updates.
http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/CompatibleStatus

I still don't get the ill will that is being created by this news, but you are correct the jackass from SCEE should've kept his mouth shut.

The link you supplied is for the EE version though i'm pretty sure, which expectedly covers plenty since it has the PS2 hardware in it. I recently looked at the europe non-ee database though and what it supports and it is very disconcerting.