Sony president says no 'immediate plans' for PS3 price cut

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jul 6th 2007 10:00AM

We're not calling Sony President Ryoji Chubachi a liar when he says there are no current plans to lower the PlayStation 3 price. It's only fair we don't, as we're still calling Sony's PS3 price drop a "rumor." A rumor that we're starting to get so much anecdotal information, off-the-record and anonymous sources that it feels like a garden-variety Red Ring of Death story -- and we all know how that one ends.

According to Bloomberg in an interview today Chubachi, in regards to the PS3 price cut, said, "We have no immediate plans of now." Then he deferred to Sony's PlayStation division. Bloomberg even goes on to report that a Tokyo-based analyst for Goldman Sachs said in a report dated yesterday that MS and Nintendo may announce price cuts as well. It's all gonna hit the fan in less than a week.

[Via GI.biz]

Source

Tags: chubachi, playstation, price drop, ps3, sony

Reader Comments (51)

he is just waiting for e3 to say it will be 450 for cheap basterds and e3 it will drop a bluray play for the same price as a 360 oh shit competition on the way

Cmon, Sony had plans to drop the price when the thing launched. "Immediate" plans are a different story, and Chubachi can hide behind its subjective meaning. Do they have "immediate" plans to announce a drop? As in the next hour? No. As in the next week? Likely. As in the next few months? Definitely.

Haha @ #1

A price drop would definitely stir things up and bring Sony back to the 'console wars'. Lately it seems like Sony has been listed on the proverbial 'DL'. I'd be shocked if there was announcement at E3 though...only time will tell.

Gamer says no 'immediate' plans for PS3 purchase.

@ Lawrence#1 - First off,the rumored price drop is $100 & not $150.So it still won't be the same amount as a 360.MS is most likely going to cut prices to match,so it will still be cheaper.

And until the PS3 gets enough EXCLUSIVE AWESOME games that will want to make people spend $500 on said system,it will stay in 3rd place.Sony doesn't have GTA all to themselves this time,& while I am excited about some of their stuff out now(Resistence,Motorstorm)& stuff coming out (MGS4,Lair,SOCOM) -Sony still has a long way to go to become the leader of this generation.

I just want the price of the Xbox 360 to drop so I can get an Elite.

I love how both sides are acting like a price drop alone is the full panacea

You f'ing TARDS!!!

They CAN'T DROP BLU-RAY!!! Did you dumbasses forget that the GAMES come on BD disk too!? WTF are they gonna do, sell multiple versions of the games!?

This is the dumbest f'in statement yet I continue to see it over and over...

Price drop = immenent
No BD = idiot comments by kids

I'll also add again that most independent publisher games will be multiplatform, period. GTAIV, DMC, Assasins Creed, etc

Each console will then have a number of exclusives:

PS3: Lair, Hevenly Sword, Ratchet and Clank, Warhawk, NG:Sigma, Drake's Fortune, all confirmed for release this year

360: Blue Dragon, Halo 3, Mass Effect

Owning either console is cool, owning both or all 3 and listening to fanboys bitch and whine when you get to enjoy any and every game to come out regardless --> Priceless.

If PS3 drops, and causes 360 to drop, do you think wii price will drop to $199 (the magic price point Bill Gates was talking about?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyXUVd2c83c

@Jonathan Tran

I doubt the Wii price would drop since they're still selling out at the current price. However, after the holidays, if the Wii sells die down, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo dropped the price.

If PS3 drops after E3, we might see a knee-jerk reaction by Microsoft. Nintendo is going to be unphased.

But I'd think the smartest move for each is
Sony - drop PS3 to $499 as soon as possible, drop to $399 after Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid sales die down

Microsoft - stay strong after Sony drops the PS3 price, drop the price to $299 for Premium after Halo 3 and GTA4 sales die down

Nintendo - stay at $249 until console sales and Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy sales die down, drop to $199 and include either an additional remote (2 remotes + Wii Sports) or some Wii Points

PRICE WAR!

Haha...told you so...

Sony can't take any more losses than they already are. they're not going to drop the price until after christmas, if then.

agathos: you idiot.. they meant dropping the price of a bd player... way to look like a fool.

Sony drops the PS3 price and it will cause MS to drop the 360 price considerably just to continue sticking the middle finger up at Sony. Then Nintendo MAY drop their price, but at $250 it's still cheaper than the PS3 by far even at a $499 price tag.
In Europe things may get interesting of Sony lower the price of the PS3 to £299 or £349, it will cause MS to drop the price of the Premium system a lot, as that's about £260, so knock that down to £220-£230, core system can then be £170-£180. It will cause Nintendo to drop the price of the Wii from £180 to something more reasonable, £130 maybe.
Or maybe I'm just thinking fantasical thoughts, Europe rarely sees price cuts outside of a console just not selling and even then the PS3 hasn't shifted.

I'M YELLING VIA THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!1

In Japan, the price probably isn't going to drop.

In Soviet Russia, price drops you!

@14

No, they're going to drop it. This is how it always works. When word of a price drop leaks out the company always denies it so they don't affect current sales. They'll officially announce it immediately before it takes effect. Yes, they are taking a loss, but by all reports the price of the BD drive diodes have been dropping recently so they can probably afford to do a price drop now without losing much, if any, more than they were at launch. In the long run it would likely pay off due to a larger install base. They have a good software line-up coming this fall... so that plus a price drop could really help give sales a boost.

Hahaha 360 sucks

This is called Sony not wanting to kill sales of the PS3 over the next week or two.

@Agathos:

Try thinking a little. Sony can very, very easily "drop" Blu-Ray. Play BD-Rom, don't play Blu-Ray movies. Charge for the update to play the movies. It doesn't drop manufacturing costs any, but they can sell console for less than now, console + upgrade can still be more than the current PS3

@6:
You have the coolest screen name ever. I just felt the need to point that out.

As for this, they'll probably drop the price at E3 on the PS3.
...not that it'll do 'em much good, anyway.

@Rob

I think charging people to play Blu-Ray movies would effectively counteract any good PR they got by dropping the price.

They just need to drop the price by $200, take the loss to try to get into the lead again and make it up later in game sales.

...that's probably just me imagining though.

Nintendo won't announce a price drop until there are systems sitting on the shelves to drop the price for.

Microsoft is basically waiting to see what Sony does, and my guess is that we see an HD upgrade and 65nm chips at the $399 price, probably with a pack-in game, and a $50-100 drop on the 20GB version to get them off shelves.

Sony will drop the price $100, the system will see a short spike in sales, and it'll be the same thing through Christmas.

@Anam "I think charging people to play Blu-Ray movies would effectively counteract any good PR they got by dropping the price."

They effectively charge people to watch Blu-Ray movies, because they charge extra for the remote control. And unlike the 360, you can't use a programmable remote control with the PS3. You could fumble around with the controller to watch BluRay movies, but that's awkward, looks dorky, and isn't wife-friendly. If a $50 DVD player comes with a proper remote control, why can't a $600 BluRay player?

i think they need to take a different strategy, actually. if they *raise* the price, they can reinforce the idea they've been driving home all along: that ps3 really is more powerful than its competitors, and that it's actually worth much more than they've been asking for it.

sony: you should raise the price of the ps3 at *least* 100$ so that the procrastinators will feel a sense of urgency and buy it immediately before it goes up again! after all, the ps3 is such an impressive piece of hardware... they're obviously short-changing themselves with this ridiculously low price point. it needs to go *up*. then maybe people will realize what a great deal it is!

a 100$ price increase is the best thing they could do to spur interest and make people finally realize the true POTENTIAL of the ps3!

-"superfan" tactics.

@Evan

You're right, let me rephrase: "I think charging people MORE to play Blu-Ray movies would effectively counteract any good PR they got for dropping the price."

Slightly off-topic, but the MacBook Pro I got came with a DVD remote... but not a mouse. It's a f***ing computer and it came with a DVD remote instead of a mouse.

@tactics

Brilliant! I love your thinking.

"Try thinking a little. Sony can very, very easily "drop" Blu-Ray. Play BD-Rom, don't play Blu-Ray movies. Charge for the update to play the movies. It doesn't drop manufacturing costs any, but they can sell console for less than now, console + upgrade can still be more than the current PS3"

Ummmm.... wha? So if this doesn't effect the cost of manufacturing the console, how in the holy hell does this drop the price they can charge? Nope, nope. They are in a much better position to charge $30 for an $8 remote if they want to.

And frankly speaking, the inability to watch BluRay would be incredibly retarded. Microsoft tried that crap, remember? I mean, you don't see consoles that could accept CD-ROMs not offering music playback, do you? Hell, PSX took it one step further by even throwing in visualizations.

sorry to go off topic for a moment but to Jonathan Tran:
finally got to check out that youtube video and it was hilarious! haha great job, man

@25

I love how my Wii has a remote control, and plays DVD discs, but I CANNOT WATCH DVD MOVIES ON IT FOR SOME REASON. Imagine you could even use the remote gestures for pause, zoom, etc.

Man, it's a dang shame. Even a Dreamcast can play VCDs. If you hack it... kinda.

THERE IS NO PS3 PRICE CUT PLANNED:-

http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/

This Christmas, PS3 = $500 and Xbox 360 = $300. Only $50 more than Wii to play games like GTA4, Halo 3, and Blue Dragon this winter? Sony and Nintendo BOTH need to watch out.

UH, did anyone get their Eb/Gamestop newsletter in their email? Buy a PS3 between July 1 and Sept 30 and they'll give you 5 free blu-ray movies. can you say "Desperation"?

@Sean M... not just EB... reread this thread. It's a promo being handled by the BluRay Association. In other words, Sony can't give away movies that are not theirs but considering PS3 is the main factor that's won the HD war, why not give the new adopters a reason to back a format? It's a sickness, really. Once you buy one BluRay... you find yourself buying more and more. I went from "Crank is enough" to having 12 movies...

If MS drops prices to match and stay competitive while Nintendo doesn't (as they're still selling out at the current price), here would be the pricing chart (from most expensive to least):

PlayStation 3 - $499
Xbox 360 Elite - $380
Xbox 360 Premium - $299
Nintendo Wii - $250
Xbox 360 Core - $199

Does anyone else see a problem for Nintendo here?

I thought the Core 360 was dead? Anyone care to refresh me on what went down there?

Yes, Spartacus, Nintendo will drop the price of the Wii as soon as the 360 drops low enough to hurt its sales. I read yesterday that they dropped the GC price only 4 months after release, so we know Nintendo isn't completely against price drops.

If they do drop their price it may move a few systems...until Microsoft drops their prices 100 bucks or so to stay competitive. Then the PS3 will be in the higher cost branch again.(360 Elite = 375 after a possible 100 dollar price cut and the PS3 being 500 dollars*)

*prices based on US

Oh snap, I just realized that was the 20GB PS3. Okay, so it WILL be an interesting price war.

Even if it does come true this holiday season, by that time I would imagine a 360 drop as well. That, along with the extended-extended warranty, could be what MS needs to cement this generation.

$499.00 is still too much for the average parent/consumer to plunk down for just the console.

And the big N will shock and awe everyone with mini-games galore. j/k...i wish. Don't forget the loyal fans while you court everyone else, N. Oh, and just b/c your focus isn't on graphics doesn't mean you should become lazy in that respect.

"20. This is called Sony not wanting to kill sales of the PS3 over the next week or two."

It took 20 posts before someone finally pointed out the reason any business would deny price drops until they actually go into effect? Scott, you must be some sort of genius.
That's in complete contrast to every person that ever even thinks that Sony would/could drop bluray from the ps3, who are just borderline functional.

In Canada, after months of throwing free games and movies into a PS3 bundle for $700, this week Futureshop and BestBuy have finally dropped the price back to it's original launch price of $659. No free crap though. Some of those bundles weren't bad, free Resistance & Motorstorm. I'd rather pay the extra $40 and get Resistance thrown in. Hopefully this isn't their version of the upcoming price cut, or Canada got screwed once again on console price jack ups.

@Spartacus

If the 360 Core drops down to $199, then that might hurt Wii sales, but you need to remember that many of the people buying the Wii either don't want an Xbox or are planning on buying a Wii and an Xbox.

Personally, I think Wii sales will remain solid through the holiday seasons regardless of any action by Microsoft or Sony. However, I think Wii sales will begin to slow considerably next year unless Nintendo dramatically improves their software lineup.

If for any reason this price cut was only from Circuit City, and has just snowballed out of control via the internet, Sony is in big trouble. If they really didn't plan to announce a price drop at E3, they better be putting together the powerpoint presentation now because the whole world (at least the US) is expecting a price drop announcement in at the show.

This really is bad for Sony if they didn't plan on lowering the price at E3- they really can't catch a break. They HAVE to announce a price drop now.

They will probably just end up phasing out the Core system if they decide to price drop. They are not going to be selling a $200 system after only a little over a year of being on the market. The core is really hurting them as far as being able to technically compete with Sony. No HDD makes it hard for developers to implement some features that would normally be very doable with the PS3.

So yeah, don't expect a $200 360 anytime soon.

@40

I mentioned it in post #18... thanks :-)

After Nintendo saying they weren't planning on a new DS model and then announcing the Lite the next day, nothing these top dogs say anymore holds any water.

"I mentioned it in post #18... thanks :-)"

I noticed that afterwards; so, to correct myself...

It took 18 posts before someone finally pointed out the reason any business would deny price drops until they actually go into effect? Vidikron, you must be some sort of genius.
The rest stands as is.

This amuses me to no end.

The Wii is killing because of 3 reasons.

#1 Wii Sports is awesome

#2 Price Point

#3 Reliability

If the core 360's drop to $200, I will buy like 4 of them just so I can play 360 in any room of the house. All I'd need to do is just take my hard drive and wireless controller with me. Imagine the satisfaction you'd get after winning a Forza race while taking a dump.

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Sony president says no 'immediate plans' for PS3 price cut

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