PS3 price-cut doesn't fit 'long-term' plans

PS3 News | Sony is looking to steadily grow the user base over ten years, see.

Sony head honcho Jack Tretton has said that those constantly looking for a PS3 price-cut just aren't thinking long-term.

"People are always wanting you to lower your price on hardware," said Tretton in an interview with Fast Company (via Eurogamer). "We could've come out with a PlayStation 2.5 for USD $299 or less, and in the first two or three years it would sell extremely well.

"But there would be a point where people would be going, 'I am not really seeing the incremental leap.' We feel that we're sacrificing the short term to pay dividends in the long term."

Instead, Tretton suggested that people should think like Sony are - that is, that the company will get the user base it wants slowly but surely over the PS3's ten-year lifecycle.

"People are having short-term thinking--the platform is not even three years old. It was USD $599; it's now USD $399. The focus on pricing is something we appreciate, but you have to have the conviction and the confidence that you are on the right path for the long term and ultimately you'll get all the consumers you want. You won't get them all day one, but we're looking to get them over a ten-year period."

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91 Comments

Sinthesys

2 years ago

How come every time somebody makes a list of PS3 vs. 360 value, the 360's components are grossly overpriced, beyond what you actually pay for them. $150 for a wireless adaptor? Try $89 incl. delivery. $100 for a year of live? Try $55 for 13 months. I mean, if we're going to throw around figures, at least be reasonable and fair about it.

And for everyone saying 'price doesn't matter, if you really wanted the console, you'd save up for it' that's really not true. I would go out and buy a PS3 tomorrow if it was the same price as a 360, and I would have bought one a long time ago instead of a Wii, when the Wii was $450 and there were none around.

Price makes all the difference, regardless of the 'perceived value' you think it has, because at the end of the day, the average consumer may be able to justify spending $500 on a console, but some figures are deemed inordinate amounts when investing in a gaming hobby.

And as far as the failure rate argument goes, in my experience, its a wash really. In my circle of friends, 3 own 360s and 2 own PS3s. 2 of my friends 360's redringed, one in the first year of ownership, the other in the second and were sent away for repairs, coming back the following week free of charge. However, 1 of my friend's PS3s died 2 years in and he had to send it back, paying like $300 and waiting a month. I mean, from my experience, the 360 breaks twice as much as the PS3, but if both consoles are going to fail, I'd rather get the one that has 3 times the warranty and god forbid it does die out of warranty, won't cost an arm and a leg to replace.

I don't know, I don't sit there hounding my friends with PS3s and they don't about my 360, cos we made our decisions based on what suits our needs best, and we respect that. I think its a cost/benefit analysis based on individual situations. However, due to the fact that consoles cost a lot of money, regardless of which one you buy, people get quite defensive over their purchase, their investment, and so the need to defend the console is really a need to justify the purchase they made, reinforcing the decision they made with a large portion of their money.

Its human nature, and quite understandable really. But the lack of perspective does often make for a rather droll argument..

dloiscute

2 years ago

I personally don't like the comparisons between both systems. Technology breaks, it is something you come to expect.

Both consoles have their own features and costs but when it comes down to it, its not worth getting defensive over a console. Sure the PS3 is more expensive, but don't knock it until you try it. I have no complains or regrets buying it.

Scrav

2 years ago

Truth be told, I'd be quite happy if the PS3 flopped - simply so that I don't need a reason to buy one.

This generation of consoles has ticked me off quite a bit. It has been quite a costly exercise for me by far compared to previous generations (counting inflation).

The increase of multi-platform titles also shows that developers aren't too happy with this generation, feeling the pressure to publish on more than 1 platform. With that said, that has been a good thing for me where it has happened.

Island_Wolf

2 years ago

Phreakuency wrote

Only 360 fanboys would be stupid enough to call the PS3 unreliable. The whole yellow light thing is hilarious.

It started from a bunch of official PS3 forum goers, who had 1 post to their name trying to make them feel better while their 360 was in for their 3rd repair. F-ing hilarious.

Nice try but I saw a real one and when I last checked, I wasn't colour blind and my eyes is checked every year

, so I shouldn't just suddenly turn colour blind.

And prank? pfft, that boy teased me for having a 360 and now wants to camp at my place just to play Left 4 Dead.

Therefore, prank? insanely far from it.

renegadesx

2 years ago

I cant be bothered reading 4 pages of fanboys sticking with the "if all the features add up its a cheapie!" garbage.

Everyone cites the wireless adapter, Xbox Live Arcade and Blu Ray

First of all you wont get both Live Gold or a wireless adaptor as the only reason you would buy gold is for playing games online, and if you do that wirelessly please never play me because you will lag even worse than this country already does (due to terrible infrastructure).

As for that last annoying little excuse, Blu Ray has faded to irrelevance and wont become relevant until somebody starts producing good movies for once!.

I have all 3 consoles and quite frankly the only main difference I see between the 360 and the PS3 is the controller and quite frankly I have never liked a Playstation controller in my life. On every other front both consoles are very sequel to me: great exclusives, (most) multiplatform hits play and look similar and both have died on me. Those who cite XBLA (which is awesome dont get me wrong) should need to be reminded that Im an old school gamer and for that reason say the Wii is by far the winner in "online stores'

I am one of the few people I know that owns a PS3, my friends, colleagues etc are either pure PC gamers, Wii casuals, 360 owners or a combination. There is only one exception that is a Sony fanboy who's opinion should be automatically dismissed by the time said Haze had "amazing graphics". They don't hate the PS3 and usually come up to me asking how can I justify the price where I reply "honestly I cant, I bought mine as an impulse buy". Now that I own it I am happy with it, I just dont think about what I paid for it, a year later its still hard to swallow.

If Sony could have found a way to drop the price they are purely morons for not doing so, no excuses that shot themselves in the foot trying to show off their new gun tricks. The PS3 is a great system: just far too overpriced.

Wow, I could have done a full blog rant with that one (I think I already have).

john_solids

2 years ago

if no price drop on the consoles, how about a price drop on the repairs....

Jarrod

2 years ago

I don't see how comparison are even needed. Sony made a product with a price tag most people don't want to pay. Argue what you will about quality and features, the end of the day they're coming third, and it's the long run that counts. How you feel about the price is irrelivant because the majority don't like it.

Sales have gone up in Japan though, so maybe this coupled with a PS3 Slim (bound to happen) will give them the boost they want.

I think what makes it so shocking is that the PS3's sales are very unlike Sony's history. The PS and PS2 stormed the market and made them the clear leader of both of those generations, the PS2 especially. To go from that to this is rather surprising to many of us.

Same thing happened to Nintendo though, and now look where they are.

x7h3CUREx

2 years ago

^ i agree, this whole topic is redundant.

people seem to take trettons words as him being arrogant. he wouldn't be standing by their strategy if he thought they were destined to fail. it's not arrogance, it's confidence in their product and a real belief that customers are getting value for their money.

too be honest, i agree with him. i own all 3 consoles and if i had to choose one it'd be my ps3 despite the higher price tag. note: it'd be the 360 if not for the b-grade hardware.

for me it comes down to the variety and quality of games on offer and if sony can keep up the recent list of exclusives i don't think they'll have any trouble selling the console going forward.

G3ck0

2 years ago

Seriously, why do people diss each console? A PS3 is a little less than $700 with a game, a 360 is around $400 with a game or two. They are both good value, both have strengths and weaknesses and both are worth what you pay for them. Sure, the PS3 has installs, but it also had one of the earliest Blu Ray players so it would be expected to be worse then ones released now. Sure, the 360 is cheaper, but after buying Live for 5+ years it works out about the same as the PS3. But in the end they are both great consoles with great games, and in the end you get what you pay for.

Qbert

2 years ago

But value for money stops mattering after an item costs greater than a certain amount. I don't care if the PS3 was twice as good value for money, I just can't justify or afford it.

Also the problem with the value for money argument is that the PS3 and 360 are so very similar. As a 360 owner I don't believe that getting a PS3 for the small differences it offers is value for money.

However throw blu ray into the equation and it's another story. Perhaps when that takes of it will be another story?

arbok

2 years ago

It seems as though everyone here on this forum thinks they know how to run Sony... i think the only people that know are Sony themselves... people are looking after their own interests. It is not rocket science for them to decide whether they should have a price drop... of course everyone wants a price drop but its become pretty obvious its not happening.

And the minute PS3 gets on top of the 360, people will be trying to dissect whats wrong with the 360, when for fanboys there can only be one winner. Look at PSP - over 50 million sold -DS is at 100 million. PSP software sales are not that great but any handheld that sells 50 million is impressive.

For me personally, I would love a price drop right now... I have been looking for the cheapest price for the last two months. I have a 360 but just prefer the PS3 games more... being a PS2 fan. But Im not ready to drop $700 on a console just yet.

renegadesx

2 years ago

arbok wrote

It seems as though everyone here on this forum thinks they know how to run Sony.

I think its more people explaining why they are not buying PS3's. Another thing that isn't rocket science is that $700 is a price most people cannot afford.

Sambo110 wrote

Seriously, why do people diss each console?

I dont diss any console, I diss the companies. I like the PS3 but dont like Sony, I like the 360 and have hated Microsoft my whole life and like the Wii yet cant stand Nintendo.

I like to call myself an anti-fanboy

Baad Woolf

2 years ago

Sony should have realised by now that the "One size fits all" approach doesn't work when the only size you have on offer is XXS. If the only Xbox 360 you could buy was an elite, how many less xbox's would have been sold?

Sure they could use a price cut but that'll only hurt profits, what they really need is to get off their asses, ditch the "in ten years everything will be good" attitude and get the ps3 slim out without forcing the blu ray player onto the consumer.

If they can do this or release a featureless ps3 for around 500 we'll see the sales coming in

Forcing the blu-ray player onto the consumers was a good move in winning the format war, but it really hurt them in console sales. They've won the war now, so its probably time to give peeps an option on whether or not they want the blu-ray player with their ps3.

Edit: lol i wasn't thinking but yeah instead of removing the blu-ray player take some other stuff out that ain't necessary (if there is any)

Sinthesys

2 years ago

But if all the games are on Blu-ray discs, won't it be impossible to offer a PS3 without blu-ray?

Baad Woolf

2 years ago

oops

john_solids

2 years ago

from what i have heard is that there is a price drop coming, this is from head office where i work (*wont say where because im probably not meant to know or say)
apparently coming in the next month or so, which would explain our low stock count at the moment.

*have a search and you will find where i work.
but i dont know if this is just for us or if its a sony price drop and it wasnt stated how much the drop would be

shinhawk

2 years ago

Eyce wrote

A quick google search happily proclaims that items bought off PSN is locked to the region you bought it in. Most people wouldn't be bothered to buy prepaid codes through the internet because it'll still require them to set up an American Account which would then make it fun when you want to transfer all your paid content between consoles.

Edit: Harden the f**k up Andy, does negging a post because it isn't your opinion/insults Sony the easy way out from typing up a post that would likely get negged because each point would be shot down/make you look stupid?

I'm a little late here, but I just wanted to comment.

1st paragraph: The point is that thanks to the PS3 being region free, consumers are able to play games from any region without having to own consoles from another region. Unless, I'm misunderstanding something here, you're making it sound like that getting DLC from another region is difficult. I've purchased plenty of DLC for Japanese games, and its not just limited to my Japanese PSN profile; I can use it on my US region profile too(the only thing that needs to match with DLC is of course, the applicable game of the same region). With that said, I don't know where you're getting this "transfer all your paid content between consoles" thing from.

2nd paragraph: I find it funny you're telling Andy to harden up when you're getting all worked up over a neg. If he already said everything he needed to say before, then there's no need for him to say anymore. When he doesn't agree with your opinion, hes showing that with a neg and you need to practice what you preach by sucking it up when someone disagrees with you.

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