Pachter: PS2 price drop this year and another for PS3 by GTA IV

by Alexander Sliwinski on Aug 7th 2007 6:25PM

Having recently returned from the future with 4399 other people, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter revealed that he believes a PS2 price cut may be possible this year and the PS3 will get another drop in early 2008. Last year's PS2 price cut wasn't exactly what many were hoping for, but continued strong sales of the PS2 show it didn't hurt. Now Pachter believes that the PS2 might finally hit the $99 mark this year, which if you've held out on getting a PS2 this long -- seriously, it's a really amazing system for $99.

As for the PS3, Pachter doesn't expect any further price cuts on the PS3 this year. He expects the next price drop to happen with the release of the delayed GTA IV and Metal Gear Solid 4 next year. We're still wondering if the 80GB will take the 60GB's spot once the clearance sale is over. We know that in a semantic argument that doesn't technically count as a price drop and is more of a "product shift," but we're very curious to know what happens after those 60GBs are gone?

Source

Tags: pachter, playstation, price drop, ps2, ps3

Reader Comments (37)

What do these analysts analyze anyway? To me, it just seems like they spout off good business moves, and whether a company does it or not is the company's issue.

Uh. that's the whole point.

Wow, what if that actually comes to pass? The 360 has broken a record for the longest time before a price cut for consoles (though they werent even being pressured to do so because they have games that have sold systems and a good install base right now), while the PS3 seems to be trying to do that opposite. Desperation Sony.

Maybe they were not pressured because they had no competition the first year it had been out.

Microsoft still should have dropped the price $100 on all SKU's this year.

Props for a 4400 joke.

I was going to say the same thing. I love that show.

I don't see a further price cut as likely. Sony seems to really like the pricing system they've set up (for some reason). Maybe they'll drop the pack-in game and drop it to $550, but I think they're looking at Wii and saying, huh, pack-ins work again.

This year, I mean.

I agree on not cutting the price more for a while. Somy cut the price to get rid of the 60GB systems as they loose less money on the 80GB. There isn't a whole lot of incentive to decrease the 80 GB until next fall.

its not hard to predict that sony will want two price points for its system. so once 60gb is gone its 80's turn to be cut down. it will be hard for sony to sell systems unless they have one out there that is 500usd.

then again, the 60gb might not sell out for a while, if they've still got 20gb ones lying around..

Yeah, I wonder how many 60GB they stockpiled. I would have expected Sony to have stopped manufacturing the EmotionEngine-equipped units as soon they got backwards-compatibility working, since they are more expensive to produce (and that added expense goes straight to their arch nemesis Toshiba). But that was months ago!

"but we're very curious to know what happens after those 60GBs are gone?"

Didn't they just say at E3 that they'd realized that more people responded to a single SKU/bundle?

and this is an off-topic question based on all I've seen on various gaming communities:

But why is Pachter the analyst everyone talks about?

Nintendo is sitting pretty since they've been making a profit on their hardware since day one. Cheap little...

... smart business people.

Sony has kind of muddied what it means to give the PS3 a price drop at this point.
I would expect them to drop the 80gb with no game to $500 around early December/late November; That would give them some of that "price drop hype" again...even though they already dropped it to $500 once.

On the other hand, they really DON'T have any true mega-ton releases coming for the PS3 this year, so I can see the logic in waiting until '08 to drop the price again. Say what you want, but Heavenly Sword and Ratchet & Clank are no GTA, Halo, Smash Bros or Mario.

Either way, a price drop around the time MGS4 and GTA come out is kind of an obvious move...even for a company as dense as Sony.

"Say what you want, but Heavenly Sword and Ratchet & Clank are no GTA, Halo, Smash Bros or Mario."

They are to PS3 owners.

You're right in terms of public attention, but the games themselves may be great. I personally thought every R&C game on the PS2 was better than that POS Mario Sunshine game on the Cube. So, for me, R&C ranks higher than Mario currently on my list of anticipated games.

I never listen to these people, they are guesses nothing more.

Pretty much.

As far as the PS2 price drop, I've yet to hear anyone complain that it's still too much in electronics retail. People are still buying new PS2s, especially with the continuing surge of Guitar Hero 2 sales, and the fact that PS2 games are still coming out.

Honestly, I wouldn't touch the PS2 price. But obviously PS3 sales went up when it hit $500, I wouldn't keep seesawing the price with new skus, as people will hold out each few months for the next to hit shelves. Stick with at most 2 skus, keep one in the $499 range, and then if you must, another at $599. I wouldn't expect them to gain any ground this gen until the big Sony titles release, or it hits sub $500.

(I should call myself an analyst.)

Joystiq, can I point out that on the rendered box art for the 80GB PS3 that it states the offer to be a 'Limited Edition'?

Its simple they lose another few billion to get the units in homes and reclaim the market or slow sales,saturation, and over all profits by keeping to a high price.

for teh PS3 to get out of tis slump it needs to be 500-600 world wide currently its 700-900,int eh US and japan it needs to be 400-500 in order for the PS3 to rebuild its brand quickly.

did the picture of that little girl blink or is it just me?

that girl. she makes me nervous. she just keeps looking and looking. her little eyes says "We are not amused."

who is that girl ... ahhhhh!

that girl. she makes me nervous. she just keeps looking and looking. her little eyes saying "We are not amused."

who is that girl ... ahhhhh!

Whenever anyone asks that question it's always them.

Korova:

The girl is one of the primary characters from The 4400. I need to give this post props for the small reference to that show. It's made of so much awesome. :D

@Korova

The girl is the character Maia from the show The 4400. On the show she gets visions of the future. Hence why her picture is being used in a news item where an analyst is predicting the future.

Thanks.

MacRumors actually tracks predictions like this and gives analysts a score based on how accurate they turn out to be.

I'd like to know Pachter's batting average.

He just tossed hand grenades and prays he gets close.

I understand the low sells and the need to seel more.
But another price drop? Where is the profit then?
Imagine PS3 real cost is 20%, 40% os for the store, 20% to 30% is publicity. Only 20% profit. Another drop and you are only trying to recover your investment. (suppousing they still have a profit)

So the PS2 will be a good $100 paper weight when it breaks? Good to know.

My only thoughts are in regards to his "predicted" price cut for the PS2...
I don't see why it would make sense to cut the price of the PS2. Gamecube and Xbox aren't competitors anymore since they've essentially be taken off the market, so where’s the need?
Also, a cheaper PS2 would make the PS3 look that much more expensive and unappealing.
The thing is, the PS2 is a cash cow, so they have to milk it until it bleeds. But on the other hand, they also have a PS3 that isn't selling as well so they have to take measures NOW to wean themselves off the PS2 money train...and I don't see a PS2 price cut helping them.
It would only serve to reduce profit off of individual PS2 sales, but then again, it would sell more PS2’s…But at this point, they really need to start selling PS3’s.

I really hope they don't run out of 60's, then let the price hover for a couple of weeks, then drop the 80 down to $500. Yay, you get an extra 20Gb and lose the emotion chip for the same price. We dropped ANOTHER $100.

Sony, I think your system is solid and I want one. However, I have a wii60; it is adequate. But a PSwii60 would obviously be preferable. I need you to go ahead and get the PS3 price down to $300 ASAP, or damn close, so that I can get one. You can put a 10 Gb hard-drive, remove ALL BC, remove wi-fi, etc. I don't care about all that.

I'm starting to feel like a fanboy with all this "only owning two of three consoles" BS.

Hey is it just me or is that little girl telling us to kill all our co-workers?

The 4400 reference for the win!

Sincerely
Promicin Positive

Pachter: PS2 price drop this year and another for PS3 by GTA IV

Reader Comments (37)

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:31PM Neebs said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:37PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:33PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 7:24PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 7:46PM Triforceowner said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:37PM watership said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 7:30PM Mistur said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:38PM mr nimblewick said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:40PM mr nimblewick said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:44PM kinshadow said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:47PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 7:12PM erh said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:49PM NintendoFanbot said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:50PM hvnlysoldr said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 6:52PM mr nimblewick said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 7:24PM samfish said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 9:12PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 8th 2007 2:13AM Vidikron said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 7:27PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 7:41PM jynxycat said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 8:10PM Silver R Wolfe said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 8:19PM ZippyDSMlee said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 8:33PM embassy said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 8:55PM Korova Pamplona said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 8:55PM Korova Pamplona said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 9:15PM hvnlysoldr said

Posted: Aug 8th 2007 8:17AM omgfloofy said

Posted: Aug 8th 2007 2:18AM Vidikron said

Posted: Aug 8th 2007 7:34AM Korova Pamplona said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 8:49PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 9:14PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 8th 2007 12:47PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 7th 2007 11:50PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 8th 2007 12:29AM Negativecool said

Posted: Aug 8th 2007 8:56AM sand0789 said

Posted: Aug 8th 2007 9:15AM tehlexicon said

Posted: Aug 9th 2007 4:03PM (Unverified) said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW