Sony: A PS3 Price Drop "Wasn't Part Of The E3 Plan"

No, the long-awaited PlayStation 3 price drop didn't happen at E3. But perhaps that's because Sony doesn't view it as the correct venue for such announcements.

According to Kotaku, Sony believes E3 is "all about the content," which they also think is currently unrivaled (and we're inclined to agree). Anything related to the hardware side of things - and that would include the PS3 Slim rumor - just wasn't high on Sony's priority list, apparently. Well, at least not for this show. Said Sony head of marketing in the US, Peter Dille:

"From our perspective, this show is all about content. We believe that our content story is unrivaled. It's really a relentless line-up of great exclusive games that will speak volumes to the value inherent in the PS3. Obviously people come to E3 expecting all sorts of announces. We've got a plan in place for the platform. A price drop at the show wasn't part of it."

For our part, we've been saying not to expect a price drop for the PS3 until the holiday season. We've been saying this all through the rumors that have inundated the web over the past six months. We still believe this to be the case, so we weren't surprised in the least that such an announcement didn't show up during Sony's E3 press conference. ...of course, we didn't realize it wasn't there because it simply wasn't "part of the plan" for this particular show.

6/4/2009 Ben Dutka

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Comments (Beta)

SarahPalinMILF
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 10:08:04 PM
Reply

I think it might show up at the GDC in september

0 up, 0 down

Kain81
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 1:47:03 AM

GDC is caned this year,
there will be another event in Köln
here are the
INFO:

GamesCom
19.-23.08.09 / Köln, Deutschland

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Morals
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 10:13:58 PM
Reply

It be better if sony came up with a way to make the ps3 cheap to make, like use a different kind of something, but not leave anything out. then the price drop.

0 up, 1 down

N a S a H
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 5:03:17 AM

I LOL'd

1 up, 0 down

Evilincarnate
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 8:57:04 AM

Set the bong down!

Last edited by Evilincarnate on 6/5/2009 9:01:06 AM

3 up, 0 down

Scarecrow
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 10:15:31 PM
Reply

Makes more sense in Autumn.

I want to get me that white ps3, please bring it to the US already!

2 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 10:17:12 PM
Reply

Well they sure as hell blew the competition away in the content department. Sadly people still believe the system has no games, I saw people talking about this the other day in Home and on G4. It's so annoying when people believe that because they are still blinded. Hello? Microsoft's best game at the show was an add-on to a current game.

4 up, 0 down

TheHighlander
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 10:27:47 PM
Reply

Price cut and PS3 Slim announcement will be at the Tokyo Game Show in September, GT5 will launch along side in a special GT5/PS3 bundle. Probably not at the same time the same time, Sony will announce a FFXIII bundle with the new slim system, I'd guess it will come with with a white casing...and be available for the Holidays in Japan.

If you were Sony, wouldn't it make sense to release a newer, less expensive system along side two utter blockbuster games in their strongest markets?

Just a little conjecture for the heck of it.

1 up, 0 down

shadowpal2
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 12:01:26 AM

Hmmm...come to think of it I do remember when I first bought my PS2...(the fat one)...it got bundled with Jak and Daxter and Gran Turismo 3. It might not have been a "new model" but hey it was ONE HELL OF A BUNDLE...considering the two amazing titles that came with it.

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Xbox_Killer
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 10:45:02 PM
Reply

It's funny the people who have been waiting for a PS3 price cut. Any of you having fun waiting.

4 up, 2 down

Scarecrow
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 11:05:12 PM

Tell me 'bout it, I remember the punks going on 'bout how they'll get the ps3 when it comes down to $300.

Still rememeber some of those n00bs haha

Have fun waiting

3 up, 1 down

Gogaku
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 11:09:25 PM

I got mine for $600 bucks right when it came out, no way I could've waited for a cheaper one :)

7 up, 0 down

crawdaddy
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 10:48:02 AM

Yeah! We are having fun playing games on our other systems, such as my ps2 and my other systems that I have accumulated over the years. Some of the older systems still have some great gameplay. That is one of the advantages of not being just a ps3 fanboy.

2 up, 2 down

Xbox_Killer
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 11:48:42 AM

I own a lot of the other consoles as well like the ps2, ps1, Xbox, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 and my ps3 is the backwards compatible 80gb.

0 up, 0 down

sticklife
Thursday, June 04, 2009 @ 11:15:05 PM
Reply

i don't want sony to lose even more money but a price cut may be what they need. they've got the best games already.

1 up, 1 down

mbg77
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 5:56:28 AM
Reply

Another Sony PS3 price drop that didn't happened.
And good for them.

Come on. Sony is not a charity. They need to make profit or at least minimize their losses.

If now, after all this time on the market, PS3 is still more expensive to manufacture than it sells for, then Sony should be thinking about cutting the costs not the incomes.

I'm no expert on the VG market, but I've done some digging yesterday to see the hardware and software sales of this generation.

And the results are simply put APPALLING. According to the VGChartz website:
Hardware
Wii 50mil
PS3 23mil
X360 30mil

Software
Wii 310mil
PS3 135mil
X360 250mil

That means that on average the PS3 and Wii owners have 6 games in their library whereas X360 have 8 games.

Now taking into account the X360 RROD that even makes this figures more impressive for the X360.

And then there is the case of the so called SYSTEM SELLERS.
Killzone 2 - 1.63mil
Resistance 2 - 1.55mil
it is just laughable.

I'm not saying all this out of malice. But the sad truth is that it is up to us "the gamers" to support our beloved platform. I'm not an avid gamer, my work and family take priority, yet my PS3 library is 13 titles strong. That means that there is someone out there who, according to statistics, have a PS3 and no games. I love Playstation brand and I want it to be strong and compete with MS Xbox on every level. But in order for it to happen Sony must survive current economic weather.

So plaese stop all this whining about PS3 being so expensive and start investing in games.

Regards, Martin.

Last edited by mbg77 on 6/5/2009 6:01:35 AM

4 up, 0 down

TheHighlander
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 9:35:50 AM

Nice post, and unfortunately without some real market research the true impact of the RROD (and other issues) with the 360 will never be known. So thare is not a good guide mark for just how many of the 360's quoted sales are repeat sales to users replacing a dead unit. I would personally estimate that at least a couple of million units in the sales figures are accounted for by this.

As for the sales figures, the VGCharts number for PS3 sales is short of the mark.

As at 31 December 2008, Sony states that it had SOLD 22.3 million units of the PS3 globally. In the months since, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May and we're now at the start of June. Sony's Japanese sales along would bring that total to over 23 million. The true total - globally - is between 24 amd 25 million.

Finally, your software unit sales numbers don't really match the reported words of gaming companies like EA or Capcom. Capcom has said - for example - that (this fiscal year) they expect the PS3 to generate more unit sales of software for them than the 360. After the rather large success of MGS4, Konami certainly understands the potential there too. EA has gone on record saying that the PS3 is responsible for more of it's revenue than the 360. If the game sales picture were as anemic as you suggest, I don't see how these things can be true.

It may perhaps be true that in general the high profile FPS titles on the PS3 sell fewer units at launch than their 360 counterparts. However it seems that in other genre the picture is far more evenly matched. I wonder, for example, what happens to the sales numbers if you exclude the whole FPS genre from the picture. Yes, games like Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty, etc... all the beloved shooters. What then?

You see, for me the argument is far deeper than the one you are making. With respect to the Xbox 360, the sales of a very few, very high profile, fps games actually skew the entire software sales picture. This makes it very hard indeed to do a high level comparison of ps3/360 software sales as you have done - IMHO.

Oh, if you want to talk 'system sellers' MGS4 sailed past 4 million units and GT5Prologue comfortably exceeded 3 million units. I can't remember Uncharteds numbers, but they are far from shabby. You're cherry picking two FPS titles as if they represent the whole PS3 software base - which they clearly do not.

Last edited by TheHighlander on 6/5/2009 9:37:49 AM

2 up, 0 down

ADAM WEST
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 9:49:54 AM

As far as the hardware numbers - the 360 had a year head start. The PS3 has sold more units per year on average. The year head start also effects tie-ratios.

The software numbers for the PS3 are not that bad either.

GTA IV - 5.6 mil
MGS4 - 4.04 mil
COD 4 - 4.3 mil
Motor Storm - 3.5 mil
GT5:P - 3 mil
Resistance FOM - 3.6 mil

I think between the inevitable price cut, GT5, and GOW 3, we'll see the hardware numbers grow and equal or surpass the 360's. When the year head start is taken into consideration, that's amazing.

As far as the Wii is concerned... I am just as appalled as you are.

Last edited by ADAM WEST on 6/5/2009 9:51:58 AM

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crawdaddy
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 3:43:31 PM

Sony has the great games, all the great exclusives, and the system sellers, and none of this is really working for them because Sony is only going to sell large numbers of these things when there are a large number of PS3 owners to sell to, and that is not going to really happen until Sony drops the price to at least 299.00. With all Sony has going for it then it should have already blown the competition out of the water, but people are going to wait out a price drop for the most part to buy one. Only the hardcore gamer is willing to pay whatever the price is to have one, and most hardcore gamers already have one. The general population is not going to pay 399.00 for a system and might be hesitant to pay 299.00 but would probably pay that. Sony is not going to win this game until there is a price drop, whether the PS3 is worth every dime or not.

2 up, 0 down

ADAM WEST
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 8:00:31 PM

I have to agree with you Daddy. The PS3 is a great deal at $399, but that's still holding back a lot of people. Most people will not look any further than the sticker price at the store.

2 up, 0 down

Muffin Man
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 6:43:24 AM
Reply

Dell.com has the PS3 on sale often for $339 with free shipping. That is a nice little cut on the price.You just need a code that is easily found online.

2 up, 0 down

whooka
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 7:36:49 AM
Reply

PS3's have gotten cheaper in some sense as you can now get bundles with larger hard drives for the same price as i paid for my 40GB model/2 USB ports back in '07. I think no price cut this summer was a good move for Sony as they showed off some hot stuff at this show so that alone may move some more systems as video game types can easily be pushed to the point to splurge for a high-end system if there's games they want to play (someone in some article said 'software sells systems'), and with not a whole lot coming out until the Fall they can see if the show spurred more sales and, if not, can drop it a bit in the fall as once the lineup starts rolling out that combined with a price drop may get people moving. I still think the economy is their biggest issue right now, and it's bad for both consumers who are afraid to sink $400 into a home entertainment system like the PS3 despite the fact it will keep them entertained during the long period of time they are sitting at home, laid off as well as Sony who's losing money. there's really no historically proven move for any company that is guaranteed to generate sales, they are always taking a risk with stuff like price cuts.

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Xzer0
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 8:15:01 AM
Reply

I remmber in Estonia (its in Europe) when PS3 came it was 10000 estonian crones(EEK) in US dollars it is 1000$. Now it cost in Estonia from 600$ to 700$. In Estonia PS3 has very expensive price. One dualshock controller is 100 bucks and newest games are from 80$-100$. I got my 60Gig version with two sixaxis controllers and with 4 games for 700$ in november, last year in Estonia. 60 gigs versions are very rare now.

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englishgolfer
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 10:06:11 AM
Reply

"Sony believes E3 is "all about the content," which they also think is currently unrivaled (and we're inclined to agree. Anything related to the hardware side of things - and that would include the PS3 Slim rumor - just wasn't high on Sony's priority list, apparently."

guess they forgot about the PSPgo.....

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Robochic
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 11:00:24 AM
Reply

Xzero love the avatar awesome. How did you do that, thats the new eyepet correct?

I honestly think Sony's PS3 price is were it should be hell i bought mine launch and trust me it cost me more than what it's at now but i don't regret that, I wouldn't have been able to wait.

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Xzer0
Saturday, June 06, 2009 @ 4:17:27 PM

Its not an eyepet, it is Cheburashka in a guerilla costume. Google if you want to who is Cheburashka.

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anjpikapp3
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 11:24:55 AM
Reply

I don't understand the reasoning of a price drop...if you want something cheaper then buy a 360 or a (slowly dying) Wii. Sony has delivered, as promised, and now we are pretty much demanding a lower price??? That's ridiculous...the PS3 is a superb machine compared to anything on the market. So, man up...save your money, and drop the $400 (great deal for a console and blu-ray player). I promise its worth every penny.

1 up, 1 down

Fane1024
Saturday, June 06, 2009 @ 1:49:18 AM

From the consumer standpoint:
so they can buy 2-4 games with the system, maybe?
Why would you not want the system to be less expensive?
Enough with the irrational defensiveness.
Oh, and I paid $750 Can for mine just after launch.

Last edited by Fane1024 on 6/6/2009 1:51:12 AM

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Dingodial
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 8:07:57 PM
Reply

I believe Sony could make a 60gb. PS3 with no wi-fi for $299. After all, the 60gb. xbox 360 has no wi-fi.

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TheHighlander
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 9:15:51 PM

The Xbox has no wi-fi, no BlueTooth and no BluRay. That BluRay drive is responsible for a good chunk of the cost difference. a standard DVD ROM drive like the one in the 360 is literally as cheap as chips, you can buy a bare drive mechanism in volume, as I am certain MS does, for less than $20, that BluRay probably costs $60 or more, even as a bare drive. By the time you add the additional elements such as wi-fi and BlueTooth, it's really quite easy to see why the PS3 costs more than a Xbox360 Elite, and yet is still a better deal than the 360.

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crawdaddy
Friday, June 05, 2009 @ 11:25:58 PM
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There are some like myself who really do not care about all these features. I don't like playing online, and I just want a ps3 to play games on. I don't care about having photos or music on my ps3. I don't care about an internet browser. I don't care about wi-fi or Blue Tooth, so I think Sony could make a stripped down ps3 with just the blu ray drive and a smaller hard drive, or even drop the hard drive, and use flash memory type cards that it already has slots for,for gamesaves ect... and probably sell it for as little as 199.00 like the xbox arcaade, or 249.00 like the wii. Just a basic ps3 gaming machine.

Last edited by crawdaddy on 6/5/2009 11:35:13 PM

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TheHighlander
Saturday, June 06, 2009 @ 3:39:46 AM

Without BluRay, there are several major games that would not have been. When you move from 480p to 1080p video, you are basically multiplying the amount of data needed by 6. Coincidentally enough, a dual layer BluRay is almost exactly 6 times the capacity of a dual layer DVD. Some 360 games have already suffered due to a lack of space on the DVDs. You can't take the BluRay out of PS3, the two are one.

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crawdaddy
Saturday, June 06, 2009 @ 9:46:41 AM
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@TheHighlander: Read more closely! I did not say "without a BluRay drive". I am aware that the drive has to part of the ps3. I said "with just the BluRay drive", and drop other features.

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TheHighlander
Saturday, June 06, 2009 @ 4:56:49 PM

My apologies, I need to read more carefully.

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NetheRealm
Tuesday, June 09, 2009 @ 9:05:14 AM
Reply

Unfortunately most people aka casual gamers prefer to buy cheap junk by the truckloads with no concern for graphics or games which explains Wii sales. So maybe if they sold a PS3 with no bluray & cheapest harddrive which could only play downloadable games for $199 or $299 they would sell like Wiicakes too.

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