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Sony PS3 at $200: Will sell like PS2 and 140m sales

Sony PS3 at $200: Will sell like PS2 and 140m sales

By: Daniel Chubb | July 20, 2008 | 49 Comments

Sony PS3 at 200

The current $400 price for a Sony PS3 is a good one and it also means that Sony are losing money on every Playstation 3 sold. What’s confusing at first is the report on FT today that chief executive of Sony’s PlayStation 3 (Kaz Hirai) wants to exceed the PS2 units sold.

When you look at the figures, this is a major claim considering the PS3 has only sold 12.85m compared to the PS2’s 140m.

Some analysts say that the price of the Playstation 3 needs to get below the $200 mark before it will start to sell as well as the PS2. That would not be a surprise at that cheap price, but this price point will not be coming anytime soon.

The Nintendo Wii is ruling the market not just for its unique control system compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360; it is also the cheap price that the Wii has been since the start.

When Kaz Hirai said to FT that they want to pass the PS2 numbers, he was setting this goal for a similar time period of the PS2’s life.

With the PS3 having such a slow start in its first twenty months, it really needs to get moving with unit sales and last months results were good thanks to MGS4, but there needs to be a lot more.

If you do not own a PS3, are you waiting for the right price?

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  • unknown

    sony wont make the ps3 to 2004 until like 4-6 years later.

  • The Future of Sega

    Sony will need to make the internal Blu Ray seperate, and restore FULL BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY, 4 USB PORTS, MEMORY CARD SLOTS, etc. It’s just fact. But when they do, and hopefully the price will be under $199, the PS3 will receive MASSIVE sales!

    Take my advice Sony, this will work :)

  • qahar

    you are stupid!! if sony removed the blu ray, then the games wont be playable because the games are all on blu ray format. The idea of sony was to make ps3 have the blu so when the developers made games for ps3, the games would be bigger better and more badass, or is that from cliff.

  • Gio

    qahar you are right, the bluray cannot be seperate

  • The Truth

    It already lost a lot of market share to Nintendo and Microsoft, and a 200 dollar PS3 means massive losses for Sony, and by massive, I mean in the billions of dollars annually.

    They are ruined, their only hope for survival is either doing what Sega did and start selling games only, or releasing another PS2-like console ASAP. And no, I don’t have a PS3, just like all of my friends that left the Sony market and moved to Microsoft/Nintendo after this huge fiasco.

  • PEP

    Congrats on your misleading and vacuous “article” (replete with an intentionally titillating yet wholly misleading title), which offers exactly zero information or perspective. Enjoy the extra ad revenue it brought your site by getting picked up by Google news!

  • vik

    they should make one with out a hard drive so it can be cheaper

  • Andy

    There aren’t too many blue ray players for under $500 atm. So when those goes down I can see it happening.

  • herc

    Here is something to think about. Make the unit work on a seperate 12volt system so that you can use it in the car as the parents drive. This will make the parents go out and get one to keep the kids quiet. A Seperate power supply will make the unit smaller and lighter, making it easy to move around. Wifi on it is an added plus.

  • keith

    Sony…..Your “Get Rich Quik” scheme with PS3 didn’t work. I doubt it sells very well at $300……but you could try. Oh, BTW……..backward compatible or go jump.

  • Steve dickhouse

    I agree, that was a crappy article with no point, I think you should be sharing your ad revenue with the rest of us who had to waste our time reading this lame-o “article”

  • Scott

    Wtf ?? I thought they dropped the price… Thanks you idiots.

  • jess

    I’ve always been an avid gamer, but I stopped buying new consoles after the PS2 and Gamecube generation. IWhy? I’ve been priced out of the market.

    I have been of the same opinion since all of the “next gen” consoles rolled out a couple years ago: I’m NEVER going to pay more for a video game console than I am for a new computer. I am of limited financial means (like most of us these days) and when given the choice between buying a high quality new computer for $400-600, which I can use for hundreds of tasks besides games, or a new video game console, what do you think I’m going to choose? I understand the components are expensive, and it’s expensive to develop games. But that’s a problem. Sony and Microsoft need to learn how to make their products less expensive to produce so they can actually turn a profit.

    It costs way, way too much to establish a gaming setup. First you’re forced to choose between a Wii, Xbox, and PS3, depending on what you want to play. There’s no way most people can afford all three. Second, you buy the console. When the PS3 first came out, that was $600. Third, you need to purchase some games and all the accessories that used to come with consoles for free or a very low price. Let’s assume you have iron willpower and buy three games and a few accessories – a bare bones setup. It’s going to be at least $200 for that stuff generally. So you’ve just paid $800 to get started. Wii or Xbox is a little cheaper, but you also have to factor in Xbox subscription fees and the like. If you want a game like Rock Band, be prepared to dump another $180 on the game and the instrument controllers.

    The problem is NOT the games – there are tons of amazing games out right now I wish I was playing. But I still cannot justify spending $800-1000 to set up a video game system in my home. I might buy a PS3 if they drop to under $200. Xbox is $300 now and I’m seriously considering getting one. It has most of the PS3 releases anyway. But $600 and even $400 is just way too damn high. I appreciate the advance of gaming technology, but I’m not willing to pay triple the price of what a console was 3-4 years ago when the prices of all other electronics have dropped. I

  • Daywalker

    The problem is, PS2 still has new titles coming out, and the PS2 was/is still a great system. They are looking for sales to beat the PS2 within a timeframe of the PS2′s lifespan, so it is still very possible. I have a Wii, its great family fun, I gave my PS2 to to my brother-in-law, and threw the 360 out of the window. IMO, PS3 is the best so far for the type of gaming I like, and the free PS3 network is great, I haven’t ever had as much fun playing video games as when I have COD4, MGS4, and GTA4 to play online with/against my friends. I have always been a PS fan, always will be. In the long run, Microsoft will lose the “war”, Sony will be second, but Nintendo as a company, will reign forever, have we forgotten how much fun the original NES was? and how that boosted Nintendo into super stardom for eternity?

  • gamerz

    I have a PS3 since launch and boy, what an incredible disappointment. Hardly any good game, downscales the only good ones to 480p instead of upscaling them to 1080i like the 360 does for all games. Absolutely crappy compatibility with PS2 gear. Sony has really let its fan base down. I know I certainly regret buying such an expensive console that rarely ever gets used. Maybe once a month to play a blu-ray movie but other than that it’s a complete POS. Too bad. The PS2 ruled the last generation so who would have thought this could happen to mighty Sony.

  • Tom

    $200 or less and soon. Even if it’s worth more than that, it isn’t to me…cause I have a XBOX 360. They need the price lower if they want anyone to care.

  • cheney

    @The Truth
    You’re a complete idiot. The PS3 sales at this point, nearly 20 months after release, is almost EXACTLY the same as the PS2 after 2 years of release.

    Check vgchartz.com which usually has the most conservative numbers.

  • kush

    well most Bluray players are above the price of the ps3 now, and that actually accounts for a large portion of the sales…so i mean when that stops and people can get bluray players for less than the ps3….that would pretty much be the end of the line for sony

  • http://www.thejohnsmith.com rastanot

    Truly an article not worth reading because it didn’t contain any news.
    In my opinion, if you look at the US economy today you will see that the middle-class is struggling rapidly. The majority of gamers are having to tighten-up their wallets and worry about rising costs in fuel and food. My point is; video games are entertainment. Sony projected that our market economy would be thriving when they released a high-end platform(ps3) but our market is not thriving right now, so expensive forms of entertainment get put on hold. Sony can’t exactly downgrade the platform or make major changes to it at this point because that would take them too long and cost more money allotted to the gaming division.
    Sony must bite-the-bullet at this point. The company will have to hold on until the US economy bounces back or the cost of production drops, which always does with technological components.

  • Tui NZ

    Sony just needs to reduce the size of the hard disk to maybe 1 GB and that should significantly get the price of PS3 quite low competitive with the rival products

  • Nick

    The PS3 was too expensive in the beginning. I am waiting for the price to drop more or at least a decent bundle at $400. The games are even more expensive. I can afford a PS3 but I don’t support these constant price increases each generation without better bundles. If the PS3 were $299.99 or $349.99 then I would probably buy it.

  • ie2special

    Frankly we will have them all, and they are all good for certain things. The Wii is great, anyone can play it and be good. The PS3 plays blu-rays, PS2 games and gran turismo, that was enough for us to get one. Next is the Xbox 360, we didnt think we were going to get one but I think we are, my husband really likes Forza, and the PS3 has very few 2 player games. I think that is one of the major problems with the games that are available. Most people who can afford a $500 machine plus accessories are not the types that sit home alone and play. We also have PC’s for each of the 4 of us in the house, we play games on those as well. Probably for the little time we spend on them all it is a waste, but they are tons of fun when we do get everything out.

  • Scott Davis

    I agree with some of the other posters here. I recently bought my PS3 purely for its blu-ray player and was pleasantly surprised that I could access the web, serve up media from other computers on my network and (gasp) play qames. Console games are for children, any real gamer uses a PC. I tried out Quake the other night and just had to shake my head and laugh at the awful controls. How can anyone actually play games on this thing?

    For an adult audience however, it completely rocks as a media server. I know the original idea was a gaming console, but it really is much more useful for playing movies in 1080p with incredible uncompressed sound. I love the fact that my entire library of videos and music is easily accessed with an awesome media server program called Tversity. I won’t be buying any more games for this device, so for me, it was a steal! Blu-ray, WWW and complete entertainment center all in one box. I’m buying another for my father for his upcoming birthday and he doesn’t even play games, but he’s going to love it.

  • jOkER

    My friend got a PS3 last year and he was visiting last night. I have the Wii. He said “i’ve never played one let’s play”. I fired up the basic Wii Sports and we played tennis and boxing for about 45 minutes.

    Afterwards he was like “dude I have to get one of these”.

    I said “Why did you get the PS3?” He said cause it is his BlueRay player.

    XMAS 2008 Blue Ray players will be dirt cheap from ALL manufacturers as a price war ensues. This will allow Wii owners to upgrade their DVD players to BlueRay and not have to bother with getting a PS3. Why would we? We love our Wii’s which are 100% backward compatible with the Gamecube.

  • Lemons will rule the world

    $200 PS3? It wont ever happen… until like 20 years go by and no one uses blu ray anymore. But then i guess no one will want a PS3 either… I’d LOVE to see Sony fall and Sega take their place. Sega was total Kick @$$ :D

  • Annon

    What I find is most annoying about sony is how they decided to anounce this powerful machine and delived a waterdown version. They removed backwards compatability, Hardware and relentlessly changed HDD space. They keep promising some type of online functionality and will not deliver. I have lost all faith in sony. It should have been a console from the start and not used as a trojan to force feed us Blue-Ray. XBOX has already build an online space that is head and shoulders above what sony will deliver. NO THANK YOU, I’d rather spend a bit more money on an Xbox and a Wii.

  • Annonymous

    Where are the good games. I’m sorry but for that kind of money I better see something groundbreaking not just marginally better than the competition. Sony has definetly let down all it’s fans. And the worst thing of all is that after 2 years they just don’t seem to care.

  • Pathetic Article

    What a stupid article. This really has nothing to do w/ the PS3 at $200. What a waste of my time and what a pathetic site. Way to lie about this storyline so you can get more clicks. Pathetic.

  • Annonymous

    What I find is most annoying about sony is how they decided to anounce this powerful machine and delived a waterdown version. They removed backwards compatability, Hardware and relentlessly changed HDD space. They keep promising some type of online functionality and will not deliver. I have lost all faith in sony. It should have been a console from the start and not used as a trojan to force feed us Blue-Ray. XBOX has already build an online space that is head and shoulders above what sony will deliver.

    Also, where are the good games. I’m sorry but for that kind of money I better see something groundbreaking not just marginally better than the competition. Sony has definetly let down all it’s fans. And the worst thing of all is that after 2 years they just don’t seem to care.

    NO THANK YOU, I’d rather spend a bit more money on an Xbox and a Wii.

  • lonz

    Well I must agree, this was a very misleading article.. But anywhoo, I have all three, and I am not in favor of any system, but hats off to nintendo for being the number one company after all these years, you deserve it. As much as I hate microsoft, hats off to making a very user freindly console; listening to ur ipod in game while playing is awesome, and the new netflix add on coming this fall is awesome. Microsoft, I never thought I would say this but hats off! Congrats! Now the biggestest dissappointment is the ps3, the cell processesor is one of the most power ful computer chips on the market, and you all still can’t make good games. I am very dissappointed. I only use my ps3 to watch bluray movies, but now with microsofts new netflix update, I might not even use my ps3 anymore, thanx sony for making an expensive black brick.

  • KB

    I agree it is a stupid article and misleading title

  • vova

    in my opinoun the ps3 did get overdon alittle with the blu ray they put it in to make a profit thats for sure but so far im happy with it becuse i got metal gear solid 4 all u poeple that got a xbox and try to say that ps3 is not a good system can fuk yourselfs u play the 360 and ill stik with my shet suk me xbox games suke bottom line ps3 exbox almost the same shet the diffrence is i get to play the better game and gta 4 is avalible for ps3 and it got better grafiks

  • Sanoj

    If the PS3 was under $200, I would buy it tonight.

    Dear Sony,

    The best price you can charge for your product is one that people will pay. You will make your profit in games and accessories. It’s time to reduce pricing before
    buyer motivation is lost. Nintendo’s success is of course a real life example of this.

  • ryan

    You know this kinda reminds me of starbucks. The whole damned western world is in a recession. This is a luxury item and a very expensive one. People simply cant afford this system like five dollar coffee. People are trading their consumptions from luxury to necessary goods. Playstaytions and coffee are not necessary. The PS3 IS great, its grand and wonderful but what do they seriously expect? The dollar is plummeting and its power sucks. If Sony made a product they are losing money on they need to find better analyst. But they may not have to worry. When China dumps the greenback there are going to be a lot happy and wealthy Chinese people.

  • You dont know what ur talkin about

    Its like this. The PS3 is still outselling the 360 by loads WW. It has outsold the 360 by 1.5million since the year started. Many people make the argument that the PS3 “has no games” but it actually has every game the 360 has besides Halo and Gears of War.

    COD3+4, Assassins Creed, Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock(soon), all the various guitar games. Its all on the PS3. What you get with the 360 is the promise of never getting favorites like Socom, MGS4, God of War, Twisted Metal, Gran Turismo, Tekken, and new games like Little Big Planet, Resistance Fall of Man, Motorstorm, and Killzone (which is a game that ALREADY looks better than anything possible on the 360)

    The PS3 is the only true next gen gaming system. The 360 made minimal upgrades, rushed it out the door, and makes up for its limited hardware by buying third party developers off and limiting their games to play on the 360. Look at MGS4, the only third party developer that didn’t sell out to the 360 and it received 10/10s from various sites including IGN and gamespot.

    Sony may have fumbled with the price, but if the price were to reach around $199 there are many many games that you will only play on the PS3 because only its hardware has the power to make it possible.

  • http://suking.com usuk

    grats in failing to write a comprehensive review.

  • repper

    ‘Deys lets anyone types on the internets anymore thas why your article so stupid you cant rite and thw article not realy about wha da top was sayin no 200 dolar ps3 u dumb

  • kevin

    Are you stupid? You can buy a name brand blue ray player at Wal Mart for $250.00

  • Mustaffa

    I think to really make money sony needs to add a hot plate and an anti-depressent dispenser. An antenna with a small sony flag would be cool esspecially if it was flexible and could bend.

    Also going outside is nice so maybe sony could give the PS3 wheels and a headlight. Oh! and a phone, so we can call other people.

    How about we stop buying video games, pick up a book, go outside and get a life.

  • MikeRolla

    I don’t give a damn what any of you say, I LOVE MY PS3!!! I have the the 60 GB model which is 100% backward compatible with all of my PS2 games. I still love playing Manhunt 1,2 PSI Ops, Street Fighter 2, and Midway arcade classic games as well. The blu- ray player itself is worth the money itself, plus you get to play the next- gen of gaming thrown in for free. I bet 360 users were banging their heads against the wall when all the major movie studios went with Blu-ray instead of HD-DVD, lmao! Now all you 360 users must now go buy a Blu-ray add on, my guess on the price is between $250 – $300, or never step into the HD world of recently released movies lmao. I must admit, the 360 has a better game selection, but give Sony two more years and the PS3 library will be just as strong as the 360′s. I am a loyal Playstation customer and have never even considered getting a punk, little kid playing Wii or a 360. I have faith in the Sony brand, and it will rebound from a slow start.

  • Simone

    The writer is simply an idiot.

  • ie2special

    Also, the sony is update-able. Most blu-ray players are not, this means that as technology on the discs grows, some blu-ray players will not keep up, Sony will. I agree it is pricey, if we didn’t get one when we did I may not have been looking to get one now, but it is indeed a luxury right now.

  • David

    I bought a ps3 at launch back in 06. I didn’t buy a 360 because of the fear of the red rings of death, but I did buy one once the Elite model came out with the newer 65nm CPU size as this was supposed to stop the red ring of death problem. I have to say, even though I bought the 360 after the ps3, I consistently find myself buying game more for the 360 simply because online play with xbox live is much better than what ps3 offers, and most of my friends own 360s and I like being able to easily play online with them. I feel Sony has dug themselves a big hole. By forcing consumers to pay such a high price for a console because of their insistance of it having a Blu-ray drive. Yes hd movies are nice, but a lot of people still don’t have hd sets so it isn’t really a selling point for most people.

  • Roy Ley

    With the present economic problems a gaming system like the PS3 below $200 by Christmas time would be like getting a small boost. Middle income families will flock to the stores. Sony will make a killing, then and after, especially when the PS3 drops again a year after to $159.99 the following Christmas.

  • ie2special

    I really think those of you who think it would be reasonable to sell it for 200$ have only played a game on one at target or the mall. The machine is SO much more than that. Maybe if they send out a blu-ray and game only version, with a smaller HD, and no internet. Keep that in mind too, the PS3 has wireless internet, Xbox charges for it, and Free online play. Also if you have one you know that a lot of the games require updates just to play them, it is a pain, and takes HD space, but it means that Sony is constantly imporving. Just keep that all in mind.

  • Mustaffa

    If “Eb-onics” is ebony and phonetics, then “Iv-onics” is Ivory and phonetics as an ivory person I’d like to see the words “Woe” “wicked” “hella” and “so”(spoken arrogantly) added to the PS3 dictionary.
    Aswell as “no-way” “as-if” and “duh”.
    I think we ivory people should get our words into the PS3 dictionary!

    This is a must.
    By the way I tried to get a gravatar and they wanted me to pay for it. As-if!
    If I can’t find it for free it shouldn’t be on the net.

    Sincerely……..M

  • Shin

    LOL

    Bunch of ignorant little selfish boys.
    The PS3 is a advanced piece of hardware that costs over $700 to produce.

    Its already being sold at a huge loss.
    Now you little boys want Sony to be your rich uncle and almost give them away for under $200?

    Get real. The value of the PS3 is that its a home entertainment system. Its a primitive web browser, media player and game console.

    Xbox 360 and Wii are dedicated game consoles.

    I like hardware that empowers me. The ability to play dvd, blue ray and choose movies I can watch from the internet is a big plus for me. I hate being pigeon holed into only watching what corporate american networks allow us to watch.its full of propaganda,

    its just too bad there aren’t tv channels with commercials instead of renting each movie.

  • Richard P

    I can’t help but laugh at all these clueless people that keep comparing PS3 to the Wii. That’s like comparing BMW to Toyota. Toyota sells more at a cheaper price point but nobody says it’s ‘better’ than BMW because they are entirely separate classes of automobile. You’d be even more ridiculous if you said BMW should lower the price of their cars to compete with Toyota.

    It’s the same way with this generation of consoles. You have the affordable family class and the expensive enthusiast class (I don’t even need to tell you which applies to which). The family class ought to sell more and the enthusiast class ought to cost more. That’s how it works. Neither is “beating” the other because they are not direct competition for each other. Both are successfully serving their separate purposes.

  • fritoz

    “Congrats on your misleading and vacuous “article” (replete with an intentionally titillating yet wholly misleading title), which offers exactly zero information or perspective. Enjoy the extra ad revenue it brought your site by getting picked up by Google news!”

    my thoughts exactly…this site has numerous outlandish headlines…

    this is the Foxnews of gaming journalism…