Last night I said I thought I was spent on PS3 Slim info, but this article from Forbes (via N4G) hand me immediately look at one of the mass market news outlets – USAToday – to see their take.
According to Forbes, the new price point is too little, too late.
Now Sony’s latest move, slashing the PlayStation3’s price by $100 to $299 and offering a thinner version of the ginormous console, has almost no hope of making a difference. That’s because Sony’s technology-packed console will remain more expensive than either the Xbox 360, which starts at less than $20,0 [sic] and the Wii, which sells for $250.
Not a good place to be, with price cuts for those consoles almost surely on the way. And while Sony’s offering is packed with expensive technology, it’s the least mature where it matters most: motion-sensitive controllers and online gaming.
I guess that the motion-sensitive action on the 360 far surpasses the Wii? I guess Nintendo decided that their technology was so damn good that they better release the Wii Motion Plus accessory before Microsoft and Sony put out their new challengers? When was the last time that Nintendo’s online offerings were put in front of the PS3 or Xbox/360? Is Sony really that far behind Microsoft in the online arena?
Good grief! I am not trying to offer up fanboy reporting, but this kind of crap is ridiculous. Just report that the price cut will not matter because the dollar conscious consumer is going to go with the lower priced 360 or gravitate towards the family appeal of the Wii. I could buy that sentiment.
Now to USAToday which has a fairly long interview with Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. The article also features this nugget of info that you will not find in the Forbes article.
The price drop totally changes the PS3’s positioning in the marketplace, says Jesse Divnich, director of analyst services at Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. “The PS3 price drop finally puts the Sony home console on par with its main rival, the Xbox 360. In fact, in terms of value, the PS3 is a much superior product in comparison to the Xbox 360; however, this is not to suggest that hardware sales will suddenly shift into Sony’s favor. It would be safe to assume that this recent price cut will slowly begin to close the gap between the two consoles.”
Even though Sony priced the PS3 higher than competitors the $250 Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360, the electronics giant sold more than 8 million PS3s in the U.S., according to market tracking firm the NPD Group.
I too believe that the price cut will make a difference. The 360 may remain in front of the 360 in terms of overall numbers, but I think that the PS3’s new price positions Sony to capture the upcoming holiday sales cycle.
The Slim and price cut was expected for a long time. There will likely be a spike as pent-up demand is absorbed. Some highly-anticipated releases will help maintain momentum through the Holidays.
But consumer spending is going to remain depressed for a long time to come.
I don’t know if they plan to do more die shrinks (good to hear it uses 34% less energy but against which PS3 model, if it’s against the original 60 GB, that doesn’t seem that big an improvement after 3 years).
Frankly would prefer to see the next-gen no later than 2011 Holidays. I wouldn’t mind getting the Slim but my original is working fine so can’t justify the expenditure. But a next-gen console would be another story.
wco81 – Sony has maintained for a while that they plan to follow the 10 year life cycle deal with the PS3. This worked well for the PSX and the PS2 continues to make some duckets.
I don’t know about a 2011 launch. There would have to be some advantages over what Sony now offers – more internal memory and better middleware tools. I bet Sony will do everything they can to launch with the next Microsoft system and not make the same mistake of waiting a full year.
I like my current PS3 for the backwards compatibility, but I agree it is damn hot. No plans to buy a Slim unless mine breaks again.