Ubisoft wants PS3 price cut and plans Euro PS3 exclusive
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ May 18th 2007 at 2:50PM }
While asking for price cuts in the PS3, Guillemot also stated that Ubisoft is bringing an exclusive PS3 title to ... Europe? Although he refused to give the name, it's hard to imagine what "exclusive" title Ubisoft would bother developing for Europeans, but not for the rest of the planet. Unless it's something very Euro-focused like Asterix and Obelix or Mainzelmännchen ... actually, a Mainzelmännchen game would be awesome.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fernando Rocker @ May 18th 2007 3:00PM
The problem is... if Sony cut the price, lets say, $100 less, then, 360 and Wii will cut their prices to.
So, the PS3 will still be the more expensive console, and selling at a lower price, more the money Sony loses.
Fernando Rocker @ May 18th 2007 3:01PM
In fact, I thing that Microsoft is just waiting till the PS3 cut the price of the PS3. And in that moment... the 360 will cost $100 less.
Muttley @ May 18th 2007 3:03PM
Maybe a soccer game...
Fernando Rocker @ May 18th 2007 3:02PM
In fact, I think that Microsoft is just waiting till the PS3 cut the price of the PS3. And in that moment... the 360 will cost $100 less.
RHP @ May 18th 2007 3:06PM
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing-- a football (soccer) game.
As far as price cut, I can't imagine anyone who doesn't want it other than Sony, which stands to continue to lose money because of it.
herman @ May 18th 2007 3:09PM
It doesn't really matter if the 360 costs less than the PS3 if the PS3 is the system you want. As long as the price is right for your wallet/taste then you will get a PS3 when it hits a certain price point. I don't want Wii because its cheaper than a 360. That high price is realy the only problem the PS3 has, as games are coming down the pipe. The question is how much Sony wants to eat on each system while they work on getting costs down.
ymmv @ May 18th 2007 3:11PM
Sony's big problem is that they have to cut the price by at least $150, preferably $200 to stay competitive. Shoppers are willing to pay more for perceived additional value. Unfortunately for Sony the PS3 doesn't offer enough for the $200 dollars difference between the 360 and the PS3 when the games on both consoles look completely identical. When the 360 Premium drops to $300 in the fall, Sony has to follow with a price cut of their own knowing that at $500 the PS3 still won't sell enough.
Christopher7xii @ May 18th 2007 3:25PM
"7. Sony's big problem is that they have to cut the price by at least $150, preferably $200 to stay competitive."
Actually, that's not true at all. To stay "competitive", you gotta consider the price of an Xbox360 Elite + HDDVD drive. Then you've got an equal competition. Then you have the HDMI output and an HD media player like the PS3. In which case, you're saving some $ with the PS3.
God, I really wish I waited the extra two months and got a PS3 instead of my 360... Hoping Blue Dragon / Eternal Sonata will change my feelings on that though.
EnderOSC @ May 18th 2007 3:26PM
Who wants to pay 600 dollars for a system without any good games?
Who wants to make any good games for a system that no one buys?
Taylor B @ May 18th 2007 3:28PM
I don't think Sony has to cut the price by 150 or even 200 dollars. 100 would easily suffice for now and would likely greatly increase sales. The PS3 will very likely hit 400 with a hardware revision (3-4 years down the road), but the fact of the matter is that it is a Blu Ray player so the expense will be higher, period.
Patrick @ May 18th 2007 3:33PM
@ 8, ummmmmm no? thats if you want to match feature for feature. in this case the average consumer of videogames still is in sd, they upgrade for the games because there are less and less games being developed for last gen hardware
rfom @ May 18th 2007 3:41PM
Well there are 2 parts to the USD200 price difference with the 360. The first is Blu-Ray - thats USD100 roughly - and will probably vanish by 2009, i.e., BR should cost no more than DVD.
But the other USD100 will be difficult to cull - becuase it arises from things like far better console quality and cooling, adequate hard disc capacity, free multiplayer, the initial cost of ensuring much superior backward compatibility, etc. And the other small expenses - wifi, HDMI, the fact that half of PS3's RAM is much more expensive XDDR RAM.
steve @ May 18th 2007 4:22PM
for everyone that screams "To stay competitive, you gotta consider the price of an Xbox360 Elite + HDDVD drive. Then you've got an equal competition", I say this
get your head out of your ass
There is no adverage consumer that really gives a damn about HDMI or Blu-Ray. None. Peroid. end of fricken story.
If someone wants a blu-ray player, they'll buy a damn blu-ray player. If someone wants a game system, they'll buy a damn game system. This is the problem with the PS3. IT'S A DAMN GAME CONSOLE!! Until sony markets it as such, they're only filling the nich game console/movie player/ media hub marke, which is obvisly pretty damn small
steve @ May 18th 2007 4:24PM
one more thing, HDMI makes absolutly no difference in picture quality
Dud @ May 18th 2007 4:29PM
The only way these systems are going to sell this generation is when they sell them for $250 and less. Sony needs a $350 price drop. Microsoft needs a $50 price drop. The Elites are selling but no where near what Wiis and DSs are.
samfish @ May 18th 2007 4:30PM
A $100 dollar price cut isn't going to do crap for the PS3. The 360 is barely moving at $400. A $500 dollar PS3 is still going to sit and collect dust on store shelves.
If they managed to chop $200 from the price of the PS3, I think you'd see it move faster than the 360. The PS3 is already selling better than the 360 at this point in it's life.
Mostly this is because there are a LOT of morons out there who say, "Man, I GOTSTA owns me a Playstation!"
The way I see it, that's Sony's only REAL trump card left – the PS2's 110 million+ install base. The brand loyalty of the average (and typically ignorant) consumer.
But even that ignorant consumer is going to be hesitant to buy a $500-$600 dollar console. Especially since the economy kinda sucks, over all.
I've said it before – $300 is the magic price point where consoles start to move. I don't imagine the PS3 getting it's price down that far until late 2009...and by then it'll probably pretty much be wrapping for the current crop of consoles.
Jason @ May 18th 2007 4:40PM
Fuck you #8! I am sick of "you gotta add HD-DVD drive"... Not to play games you don't, bitch. It's the Sony fans that HAVE to add that cost, because you don't have a choice!
The price complaint against the PS3 is becoming deafening, and when even developers working with the system are shitting on it, you've got a problem!
RazorElite @ May 18th 2007 4:51PM
"The PS3 is already selling better than the 360 at this point in it's life."
Are you delusional?? The 360 never sold under 100k in a month since release. I don't think it's been below 150k. The only slight advantage Sony has is the Japanese market, and even there sales for them suck.
DarkCylon @ May 18th 2007 5:01PM
Poor Sony. I almost feel sorry for the company. Who knows, they might came back roaring. Though I don't plan on buying a PS3 (even with a price drop), I really hope they give Microsoft a run for its money. Microsoft would really screw us 360 owners if it didn't have Sony as competition.
Digi Smalls @ May 18th 2007 5:22PM
could be a Rally game. the sequels to WRC were all european exclusives...
rfom - you have some logic crimes to answer for in the MGS4 thread before anyone should begin to take you seriously.
.
Dan @ May 18th 2007 5:25PM
"IT'S A DAMN GAME CONSOLE!!"
OH no my boy.... it's more than a games console,
as the ads remind us, the PS3 "IS LIVING".
Seriously though, I have an xbox 360 premium, with a 20GB HDD, and I have space for loads of hd-movies downloaded from the marketplace, no disc or massive hdd required. Yes it would be nice if I had the bigger hdd, but realistically, you can get the same experience if not better for much less on the 360 than you can on the PS3.
But don't get me wrong, I'll pay $600 dollars like it was melting my skin as soon as MGS4 and FFXIII come out.
Games are the most important thing, and sony is underestimating that.
Count Westwest @ May 18th 2007 5:35PM
Actually a Mainzelmaenchen game is not a bad idea. Every time I'm in Germany I look forward for the shorts on TV.
Coding @ May 18th 2007 5:33PM
I don't feel sorry for Sony, they were Rude saying we are lazy and had to take a second job and then they cancelled several hardware elements even after launch. And now all they do is saying that filled shelves are good, the PS3 will meet expectations in 2016 and they are the best because they indeed moved the most dollars.
Weird, i think producers are looking to the amount of people they could sell their pixed-priced games to.
I don't feel sorry, not for betamax, DAT, MMCD (yet if it depended on Sony we would not have had dvd's), SDDS, SACD, UMD, MiniDisk, ATRAC, ...
I support the console market, not those who want to drain it. At least Nintendo gives us something for it... (and unlike others they don't keep on supporting failures, VirtualBoy was pulled 2 months after release)
training @ May 18th 2007 5:51PM
Sony just lost about about $500 million and that was after adding the profits from their other division and the PS2 profits that have increased. PS3 has cost Sony about $2 billion dollars. They are currently selling the PS3 at a $200 dollar loss.
Now what the hell do you think will happen if Sony cuts the price to $300. Anything above it won't help much. If they really do go down $300 dollars. It would be effective suicide. Their losses would increase and the PS3 will get axed.
Sony can't afford to reduce prices. The only way it is going to make money is to reduce the cost of making PS3 and sell a lot of games.
At the moment it looks unlikely.
peluis @ May 22nd 2007 7:14PM
Ill get it when it goes down to $399.00 and only then.
nick @ May 18th 2007 6:21PM
...."PS3 has cost Sony about $2 billion dollars"...
That's only in the last year, right? It cost several billion more just to R&D and market. I think they were figuring about 5-7 years just to hardware recover costs (assuming they meet sales figures), which is why they keep stressing the 10 year cycle.
Sony, as a corporation, has 11 billion dollars worth of debt(!) which is the most I can recall ever for them. If they're truly losing money on each PS3 sold, reducing the price, will only further put them into debt and into a longer term for recovering their investment.
It's not a great situation for them. The only way I see them resolving the issue is to sell the hardware at it's current price or more, at the same volume they sold the PS2.
Perhaps they should investigate another model. Maybe the cell phone model? Give away the hardware for free, but charge a monthy usage fee, with a termed contract for X amount of years, until the console is paid off. I dunno...
Billiam247 @ May 18th 2007 6:22PM
#22:
you forgot Memory Stick.
Kenofthedead @ May 18th 2007 7:36PM
The 3D Asterix and Obelix game for GBA was rather good, so I wouldn't mind seeing one for the consoles.
Tintin needs a game though, get to work Ubisoft!
Time @ May 18th 2007 9:57PM
"It's not just gamers, journalists and analysts talking about PS3 price cuts anymore, now it's getting ugly -- publishers have entered the mix"
What the hell?...is it me or does it sound strange everyone desperately wants the ps3 price to drop so that they can sell better.....which is ironic because according to everyone else the ps3 is a black piece of shit console and sony is just trying to shove blu-ray down people throats.....but people want the ps3 price to drop so that people can buy them.....which is strange because the ps3 is a piece a shit console..you see what I am trying to say here?....what is the real reason people hate the ps3?...someone...tell me
thomas_h @ May 18th 2007 10:21PM
Umm, because it's 200$ more than a X360 Premium ?
Wes @ May 19th 2007 2:24AM
@Time
What it comes down to, is you don't really get much of a performance difference for your extra $200.00 and $200.00 is like a 30% increase in price over say the xbox 360 premium.
Its sort of like car shopping. There's a Hyundai and a Honda. The Honda costs more than a Hyundai but it is because its perceived to have more features, better engine, better looks so naturally it'll cost you 30% more.
Wouldn't you feel strange though if two different companies cars with similar reliabilities, engines and similar reliability had a price difference of 30%?
If it cars finished plus or minus a few seconds of eachother in races (ports), you'd think everyone would choose the cheaper model?
Now, if the cheaper car could travel on over 150 different types of terrain (games) versus 40-50 different types of terrains (games). You'd wonder why people are buying the more expensive version?
However, then you see it. The only difference. The more expensive car comes with a built in, in-dashboard blueray player and the cheap car comes with a upconverting dvd player in its dashboard.
Eventually you have to ask yourself, do I need that blue-ray player in my car? I'd have to buy discs that cost $30.00 each where as dvds I can pick up for $9 bucks a peice and there is a huge library of available titles.
In fact, a lot of customers start to ask, why do I even need a blue-ray player in my car? Its designed to get me from place a to place b(play games), and not to be a home theatre device. Is it worth the 30% more?
Of course, consumers would love the blue-ray built into the dashboard of all cars, if it could be done for the same price (hence why customers want the price drop of the more expensive car so its more competitive with the cheaper car).
Yes, Blu-ray is a nice feature but 30% more cost nice especially considering atm the car drives on less types of terrains (has less games) and with a current dryspell of upcoming new terrains until x-mas 2007 or even 2008 excluding psn titles like 'bolwing'.
Earl @ May 19th 2007 3:48PM
Screw Blu-Ray Sony and drop the damn price!
No matter which way you look at it, a $300-$400 console that is flying off the shelf at a greater loss to Sony is better than a $600 console collecting dust at the store.
At least Sony will get something for the cost of making a PS3, right now they aren't getting much from the low sales.
Time @ May 20th 2007 10:44PM
@Wes
you really didn't answer my question
ahhh, you basically told me why the 360 selling more then the ps3 which is weird because I didn't ask type of question like that
I asked why do people really hate the ps3, say they will never buy one, but turn around and get pissed off at sony if they don't lower the price soon so that they can buy one......I know that didn't make any sense which is why I am asking
but thanks anyway
Hook2005 @ Jun 25th 2007 9:59AM
Sony needs to drop its prices NOW. The longer they wait, the harder it will be for them to get gamers to switch platform. I have a Xbox360 but i also want a PS3. That is if i can get one for the same price as Japanese consumers, and that they make release dates the same Worldwide (i live in Europe) The last thing i heard was Price cuts in 2009. By then i will bother (Ill just wait for the Xbox720 or the PS4)