PS3 price must drop in 2007 - Ubisoft boss

PS3 News | Slashing price may be key to remaining competitive, says Guillemot.

Ubisoft bigwig Yves Guillemot has claimed that Sony must drop the price of the PlayStation 3 in 2007 if it wants to effectively compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360. The PS3, which is set to be Sony's most expensive ever home video game console, is due to launch around the globe this November. But if Sony is to stand a chance following the Christmas 2006 market, the launch price of the two PS3 packages must be swiftly lowered, said the Ubi boss.

Guillemot's comments came in an interview with financial site Bloomberg, though Ubisoft itself remains optimistic about the prospects of the next-gen machines for the time being. In a recently published market forecast, the company estimated that nearly 40 million consoles will be sold in the US alone during 2008, and Guillemot expects to see the PS3 enjoying immense early success, thanks to gamers' expectations. In the eyes of Guillemot however, 2007 will be where the key battles are won.

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18 Comments

Jellyfish

5 years ago

Sony will need to basicly (close to?) half the price of the PS3 to remain in the game for 2007? Cause it's sounding like Nintendo will launch fairly cheaply ($350-400) and it seems as if Microsoft will a price cut ready for whenever Sony cuts their price.

Hopefully Sony can afford it.

The Brett

5 years ago

They definately will, Sony are smarter than they get credit for.

They KNOW they will sell out even at $1000 for the first few months. Everyone knows that part is a given. Sustainable sales are the problem.

They will definately drop the price, without question, to sustain popularity and draw in those yet to take the plunge due to the price barrier. We've already seen lots of examples of Sony doing everything they can to try and get costs down (emulation, cell manufacturing costs) in preparation for an early price drop.

ultracrazy1

5 years ago

The problem is the manufacturing costs. If they are losing money on every console sold, and they can't make that money back with software sales, then reducing the selling price of the console will only further their losses.

It is true that if blu-ray becomes popular and more manufacturers adopt the format for movies, Sony's PS3 manufacturing costs will go down, and at the same time PS3 will become more attractive because people will start to see it as something other than a games console. They may be risking their high manufacturing cost because they believe that blu-ray will become popular, but with competiton from HD-DVD, its not exactly a safe bet.

Those are the risks you have to take to compete with Microsoft, and its something you would expect to see from the company who has the major market share. The blu-ray and HD-DVD battle will obviously affect how everyone sees PS3 and 360, but I still think that battle is too young, for anyone to start predicting which console will be more popular.

As popular as Nintendo are (to a minority who like to think they are hardcore), they are going for a different market. They have a games console which plays DVDs, and I'm sure that everyone here already has a DVD player. Sure Sony has lost the draw card it had with PS2, not as many people will feel the need to update from DVD to bluray, as there were who wanted to update from VHS to DVD.

But I personally think that PS3 will emerge with the larger market share. They have far more developers on board from Japan than Microsoft has secured, and no doubt they will also have the support from major western publishers such as EA and Ubisoft (this is often cited as the reason why the dreamcast failed). Microsoft has a gaping hole in its 3rd party support, as Japan has been reluctant to adopt the 360. I personally think the Japanese developer support for 360 is shocking. They have DOA4, and Blue Dragon, or as one of the staff at 1up described "a kid falling out of the sky in a bathtub." Can those franchises (and the other few...) compete with Tekken, ICO/shadow of the collosus, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, and all the other franchises and original IPs that are in development in Japan? Only if Microsoft can secure enough exlusives, and prove to the public that their services such as xbox live are worth their money.

I think that Sony will emerge with the larger market share, but not as large as they currently have with the PS2. Nintendo will most likely emerage in a profitable 3rd place, as their controller will alienate developers, and not be as intuitive to new gamers as they would like to believe. Besides, show a child a videogame, they will love it. The only market left untapped is the 40+ demographic who did not grow up with videogames, and do any of you really think that "games" like brain training will bring in the oldies and make Nintendo take back first place? Please...

LeonJ

5 years ago

Sony will not fail because of Japan. However to think they can dominate the world stage with a next gen DVD player with an insane price is another thing.

They will have to drop the price if they intent to do well early. Otherwise M$ and Nintendo will clean up late this year/next year.

I for one, plan on waiting for the price drop for the PS3 and will enjoy my 360 and Wii until that time.

admeister

5 years ago

I'm expecting $300 for the Wii. In any case, the PS3 will not keep selling if it remains at it's original price, we must see a drop. If Sony cannot do this, then they will lose out over time.

Frozencry

5 years ago

IMO they will drop the price, seeing that it would prove very beneficial for them. Think of it this way: Launch day, Ps3 is bound to sell damn well. Doesn't really matter about the price because alot of rich kids and spoilt bastards (or people who would work for the money like me) will be able to purchase it. After this initial success, Sony drop the price by quite a bit which attracts even more customers, because they think "Hey look, people paid $1000 for this machine so it must be hella good, and now it's only <insert price>?! What a bargain!". It's not instant success, but a lower price to a successful product means more sales. And seeing that the majority of consumers are impressed way too easily, then I think it could be a strong possibility Sony will do that. But then that's just my thoughts upon it.

Emuaust

5 years ago

A quick price drop instills consumer fear as they doubt the longevity and
success of the appliance if prices drop by too much too quick.

Most dont think WoW what a bargin, they instead respond, "Why did this thing
drop in price so quickly?, is it a dud or something?"

IMO anyways

Frozencry

5 years ago

^I think it's a half half thing. Some may be put off by the sudden drop but some may take it in with warm welcome. Plus people already know the PS product, they have a 'trusting' relationship with it, so imo they would more than welcome the pricing, especially seeing that people are questioning its expense anyway.

ZNMS

5 years ago

Ubisoft bigwig Yves Guillemot has claimed that Sony must drop the price of the PlayStation 3 in 2007 if it wants to effectively compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360.

What's interesting, is that the Nintendo nor the new console from the company is not mentioned at all. Personally, I'm surprised to hear this since Ubisoft is currently developing Red Steel for the Nintendo Wii.

Joseph

5 years ago

That is interesting that Nintendo are being left out of that statement. Perhapes UbiSoft think the Wii will be able to make profit, but not in the lines of 360 or PS3.

For sure, the price of the PS3 will effect its long term sales, as they did for the PS2 until its first price drop. At first, it will no doubt sell well, but like the GCN, the sales will fall. It will come down to third party developers also, as a few of you have already said. M$ have indeed failed in this sector. It really is something people take for grantened at first, but lets face it; who's going to be releasing games when the first parties aren't? The third party developers.

If anything, Sony would lower the PS3 price six months after release. and that's my two cents.

EDITED:

Recently, Sega had supported the PS3's price point saying it was in fact a very powerful piece of technology.

admeister

5 years ago

They left it out because the 360 is the only thing to compare the PS3 to in terms of price. Wii blows them out of the water. They're not going to say it's going to compete with a $300 console..

Jellyfish

5 years ago

Or perhaps they left the Wii out because we don't know it's price yet. It's all just speculation.

Joseph

5 years ago

Not really, Iwata gave a price for the US and stated that it would be no more than that. Converting the currency, it translates to roughly $350-$400 for Australia. So, around the price of a PSP.

Jellyfish

5 years ago

It's still only an aproximation though. If they said anything about the Wii's price, fanboys would go rabid with speculation and the Ubisoft Boss probably realised this and that's why nothing was said.

Joseph

5 years ago

Yeah, but I'm just saying that the maximum price has been set (sort of). I completly agree with you about the reason why they ignored Wii in the statement.

admeister

5 years ago

I guess so, but I'm definitely betting on a $300 price tag.

Chris-Leigh

5 years ago

Perhaps they left it out because Xbox and PlayStation are more widely recognised and more established brands than Wii, and thus it's expected that Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 will be market-leader?

realitybites

5 years ago

He left out Wii because he doesn't believe it will be in the same league as the other two.

So whilst the gamers think the Wii is special it has to prove that to the general gamer. That's why most video industry people when interviewed always tallk about the Sony and MS battle.

Bit like talking about the World Cup there are some teams that just don't get a mention because at the business end of the competition they aren't going to be there. What Nintendo need to do is pull a Portugal (although they lost this morning) or a stunning upset. Everyone likes to see an under dog get up the reality is it happens very rarely.

Only time is going to measure the success or failure of each platform.

I think Sony will sell the first 5 million easily (it will be in Japan after all). Fanboys will jump in with both feet. The rest may have to wait for the price to drop a little first. Hopefully around Xmas 2007.

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