Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan is one hell starter of an analyst when he's saying MTV bought the wrong company or Gamestop is a good stock, but he can also admit when he's wrong -- like he did with Bully. Well, now Pachter adds his voice to the choir that a PS3 price drop is possible as early as this summer.Speaking with GI.biz, Pachter says, "It is possible that Sony's cost of production for the PS3 has declined to the point that the company may consider a hardware price cut some time this summer, and we may see a price cut for the PS2 before the holidays."
So, now Pachter has thrown his voice into the price drop echo chamber. Estimates for a PS3 price drop range in the $100 region. It hasn't been a pretty day for Sony, so anything that could drive sales would be worth considering.
[Via PS3Fanboy]



















(Page 1) Reader Comments
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that would be a record.
not that they don't need it though....
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Because Blu-Ray diode prices have been steadly falling.
Sony will start making a profit on Ps3, and will want to make a large profit for a while to recoup loses.
THEN they will cut price and pass on savings to consumer.
Economics 101.
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that would be a record.
LOL
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I CALL SHENANIGANS!
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True true...
A sign of things to come?
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Except that their losses INCREASE if they sold even more consoles at an even lower price. It's hard to imagine that they've already shaved $100 off of the cost of producing a PS3, but I suppose anything is possible. Still, the more PS3s they sell, the more they lose in the short term. It could help them in the longer run, but those losses that they just reported will only increase if they started selling a lot more consoles (and thus had to increase the supply).
-Leshrac
http://alinktothefuture.com
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think reductions in production costs
But as i stated elsewhere, they might just use those reductions to allow price drops, but keep the loss per unit the same
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They've probably reduced their production costs considerably, but I sincerely doubt that they're at the break-even point.
So
Option 1: Stand pat and bleed money, hope for a holiday breakthrough, or for blue diodes to fall from the sky over their parking lot.
Option 2: Cut the price and bleed even MORE money, and hope that the boost in sales is enough to spur the software companies through the next development cycle.
Early success breeds later success, as we saw with PS1 and PS2. A bad first year won't kill them, but a bad sophomore year will.
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I kid I kid.
But really, the only reason this won't happen is because Sony isn't that smart. I bet they honestly think the PS3 is a runaway hit and is selling to their satisfaction. They also probably think that the PS3 has a compelling (current) software lineup. They are thinking "Lower the price? Are you NUTS? These things are selling like HOT CAKES with the price as it is now! We have no plans to change our pricing strategy. Now be gone so I can play on my DS."
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In time for this holiday season? Perhaps. That would be nearly a year on the shelves. Wii still isn't meeting demand but they aren't selling additional units either. So right now I'd say it's a stalemate.
As summer rolls along and the Nintendo ship really starts steaming along Sony's belt is going to get tighter and tighter. Price drop in the holidays with some sort of Top title in early spring would be a reasonable boost until more titles can be announced/released.
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PS3=$599 (sans tax)
This includes Blue Ray and DVD, 60gb hard drive, ability to play online for free, (Soon Home) Wireless controller, Memory card reader, WiFi and HDMI.
X-box 360=$399
No HDMI, 20gb hard drive, Wireless controller, 1 month xbox live gold, Infamous red ring of death.
HDDVD Drive=199
XBOX 360 with HDDVD Drive=$598
So you tell me which is the better deal. You only save $1 if you get the XBox 360 premium and HDDVD drvie with no 1080p.
I am glad that I got my PS3 at least Sony isn't trying to hide its total cost buy making you buy an add on drive to get HD quality movies, with out downloading it. Plus I find it pretty underhanded to release another console and trying to get its customers to buy that one in order to get the 1080p and HDMI. So if you go the elite way then you are atualy paying $678 (sans tax) with the added HDDVD drive. Plus don't you know you can upgrade your PS3 hard drive to a bigger one. Or even use a portable USB Hard Drive.
Just my two cents.
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Grant, fastest console to drop their price? Nintendo DS. Within four months, DS got a $20 price drop. Xbox and Gamecube also saw quick price drops, as did Dreamcast and even Genesis.
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wow, i guess since MS had such a big budget for the xbox they didn't really worry too much about gaining profits ASAP.
Sony on the other hand has been taking a big hit for the PS3, and doesn't have obscene resources from corporate. They won't drop the price until console costs at least break even, they can't compete with the same business model as MS.
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