The Wedbush Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter, said for
GameDaily.com that Sony could cut the price of its embattled PS3 console with $100 as soon as this April.
That means that Sony will sell the 80 GB version of PS3 for only $299, a price which we must admit is very attractive, especially since there is also a Blu Ray unit included in the deal. However, don’t rush to preorder your PS3 for April, because is just a prediction. Pachter also said that if Sony will indeed cut the price, that the sales will start growing again.
According to the latest data released by the NPD Group, the company which tracks the gaming sales in United State, in November 2008 Sony sold only 378,000 PS3s, which was in fact a stunning year-over-year drop of roughly 80,000 units. The December figures are yet to be released by NPD later this month.
In fact, Sony was repeatedly criticized for its decision to maintain the $400 price tag for its PS3 gaming console. Nintendo is selling its revolutionary Wii for only $250, while Microsoft has repeatedly cut the price of Xbox 360.
In fact in November 2008 Microsoft sold 836,000 consoles and at the time the same Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter noted that the Xbox 360's average sale price (ASP) during November was $270.But there are signs that Michael Pachter might be right about PS3 price cut. Last year,
Sony Europe president David Reeves denied in a London conference that Sony will cut the price of the PS3 until March 2009. But he added that PS3 “will be getting more competitive in price from March 2009 onwards.”
In response to the critics, Sony has repeatedly said that there is no product in the industry today on the videogame console market that delivers what a PlayStation 3 delivers for under $400, in the case of the 80GB. While we have to agree with Sony on that, a $100 price cut is still a very good idea, especially because Microsoft will surely cut the price of its Xbox 360 once again.
In fact, Michael Pachter said the same thing. “We expect another cut in price for the Xbox 360, with the feature-laden Pro model likely to come down in price to $249 at or before this year's E3 show in June,” he said for GameDaily.com
As for Nintendo, Pachter forecasted something that we already knew. Until the demand will show signs of slowing, there is no need for Nintendo to cut the price. In fact, in November 2008, Nintendo has broke all records selling 2.04 million Wiis.
On the other hand, while is hard to believe that PS3 will manage to surpass Wii during 2009, it has all the chances to beat Xbox 360, especially since there are some great exclusive titles confirmed for PS3 like Gran Turismo 5, God of War III, Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
And the history has proven that a great title could mean a lot for a gaming console. In the past two years, Halo 3 and GTA IV have boosted the sales of Xbox 360. Maybe this year is Sony’s time.
