If Sony PS3 Price Cut in 2009, Will Xbox 360 be crushed?
Filed under: Gaming | By: Peter Chubb
Posted on: December 4, 2008 | 57 Comments
There are so many of you out there who wish that they could own a Sony PS3, but there is one thing getting in their way, the price. It is no secret that the reason why sales of the PlayStation 3 have been lower than expected is because of that high price.
The most important thing that Sony can do to help kick start PS3 sales is to introduce a price cut, but the company has always insisted that they will not reduce the price of their third-gen console. Microsoft are not stupid, they know to help keep the Xbox 360 popular is to offer a price cut.
Over the past year the Xbox 360 has seen a number of price cuts across the range, and it is that which has helped to revive the consoles strong sales figures. If Sony were to offer more prices cuts for their PS3, will the Xbox 360 be crushed?
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@ David Macphail
I sure hope you’re joking about the software comment… MS/Nintendo are DEMOLISHING Sony on the software front. While you’ll probably attribute that to the number of consoles sold, I’ll attribute the lack of software as a reason the PS3 is lacking hardware sales.
Their games, even the ones that sell well… they’re just not that good. You can spin it however you like, any Sony PS3 owner is going to say, their only game for each season is AMAZING to justify their purchase to a bleeding edge game console. When that’s the issue, they’re OKAY games that are blown out of proportion to make it seem like they have a more high quality line-up. It’s an imaginary pile of AAA-titles.
Quit talking about games that simply are not out, and will not be out for awhile. That’s Sony’s advertising campaign in a summary - We WILL have games…. eventually.
Screw that man… Sony’s line up is decent at best, having the 2 or 3 “must buy” games out, which is not worth the price tag - When the 360 has arguably not as good games - but a VASTLY larger variety, to accommodate various game tastes.
The 360 is already being crushed, if the PS3 got a price cut the 360 would be reduced to a fine paste.
Don’t kid yourselves, the 360 doesn’t stand a chance going forward into 2009.
@ Rin D
PS3 exclusives yet to come:
Killzone 2
Uncharted 2
Gran Turismo 5
God of War 3
White Knight Chronicles
Final Fantasy Versus 13
Final Fantasy 13 (Exclusive in Japan, where it matters)
Wardevil
Team Ico’s game
Twisted Metal
Heavy Rain
inFamous
MAG
Jak and Daxter
L.A. Noire
Quantum Theory
Dark Cloud 3
Kingdom Hearts 3
Zone of the Enders 3
Syphon Filter
I’d keep going, but the PS3 had the 360 beat with the first game I typed. Seriously, the 360 has nothing left but yet another Halo game. What else, Alan Wake? The game that looks dated despite being shown from the PC high spec version? Besides, since Alan Wake along with the majority of “quality” titles on the 360 are available on the PC… THEY AREN’T EXCLUSIVE YOU IDIOTS.
@ Rin D
i, too, much disagree with you
the 360 has dwindling 3rd exclusivity support, while the ps3 has been gaining in 1st party support. what does this mean? it means much more quality exclusives for the ps3, and much fewer for the 360. what microsoft really lacks is 1st party support, and it will start to show as we get into the middle years of this generation’s life cycle. remember people, we are still at the beginning of this generation. the xbox has only been out 3 years. the ps3 2 years in the us, and 1.5 in europe. microsoft is starting to losing the exclusivity that they inherently gained by being the 1st “next gen” console on the market, and without 1st party support they are going to have trouble putting out amazing titles. that is why everyone continues to point towards the future, when you start to look at the quality of the games that are coming out, these trends become apparent
Rin D, i’m going to assume you’re mildly retarded otherwise there would be no explanation for your comments.
The PS3 has a much bigger line up of quality exclusive titles than the 360 (LBP beating Halo 3 AND Gears Of War/2 - that MUST be embarassing). Also, your point about none of the games i mentioned coming out anytime soon is WAY off - Killzone 2 is coming out in a mere 2 months, White knight Chronicles gets released THIS MONTH (In Japan, rest of the world early 2009), Demon Souls, Uncharted 2, Gran Turismo 5, Heavy Rain and Quantum Theory all GUARANTEED to hit sometime next year. The only game i mentioned that could POSSIBLLY slip to 2010 is Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which is a shame, because it looks far better than XIII does.
Not only does the 360 have very limited third party support (Despite them throwing millions of dollars at every developer they can find) but their first party games are poor quality and get completely overshadowed by their PS3 counterparts. Forza Motorsport/PGR can’t hold a candle to Gran Turismo in terms of sound, graphics OR gameplay (You can try and spin that anyway you like but it won’t make a difference!), Halo 3 is set to be crushed by Killzone 2, Uncharted has WAY better gameplay AND graphics than Gears Of War and if you even try comparing Fable to White Knight Chronicles then you’ll get sectioned to an insane asylum.
The 360 is appealing to consumers because it’s cheap, if the 360 was the same price as the PS3 NO - ONE would buy it, why? Because it simply doesn’t have any games (Any that are worth purchasing that is). You can attribute strong hardware sales to quality software, but if you did that you would prove that you’re a moron - do you REALLY think it’s just coincidence that 360 sales picked up IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE PRICE DROP?!?
OK, here’s the thing about prices. The price of the PS3 is still higher than those of the Wii and 360. OK. Said it. However think of this, Sony is still selling good numbers despite a considerably higher price. Wii and 360 are currently burning their way through the core game console buyers pockets. The people who will never pay more than @250 for a game console.
Sony is still selling to the $400 crowd, and as I said, with good numbers. The price cut for the 360 did one thing, it moved the 360 down market into a different segment.
Now, if the PS3 has a 10 year life cycle, we are only two years into that life. The initial price captured the early adopters, and the price cut that Sony has given moved the PS3 into the premium electronics market - the same market as HD TVs and Blu-Ray players in general. The people buying PS3 right now are primarily those with the resources to buy an HDTV, to buy BluRay movies, to buy the PS3 and it’s games. And they are buying them in good numbers.
This holiday season is seeing continued growth in BluRay sales and HDTV sales as well as a downward movement in price. HDTV and BluRay are heading towards the mainstream prices. BD movies can be had via Amazon (and mos other online retailers) for little more than the cost of the DVD versions. In 2009, HDTV will really begin to break into the mass market. That’s not to say that the same folks who will never pay more than $50 for a DVD player will invest, they won’t. However BluRay players below $200, and possibly hitting the $100-$150 range along with 32-inch LCDs for less than $500 make a compelling argument for HD going mainstream. That’s 2009.
So in year three of the 10 year life cycle, Sony could well see the core market for PS3 being those people making the shift to HD. That may not be the same crowd as those buying $199 Xbox Arcade systems, but who cares? Sony clearly has it’s strategy and is executing. I wonder how the sales of the Xbox at two years past launch looked compared to the sales of PS3 at two years after launch?
So, I don’t see Sony doing much with their price until the new year, probably spring, probably a year to the day that they last dropped prices. It will be a $100 drop (or local equivalent), and there will continue to be two SKUs. As the PS3 get’s into the sub $300 range, it’s sales will continue to grow as HDTV uptake increases. Sony may even throw in an additional $50 cut late in 2009 id BD players drop to $100. Once those BD players get into the commodity price range, the PS3 will have to compete as a game console alone, right now it still benefits from being a darned good BluRay player.
I don’t see 360 sales boosting past their current levels, nor Wii sales. Clearly those that want one are going and getting one, cutting another $50 of either would not really help their sales since thy are already selling to the base gamer market. Nor would cutting another $50 off either hurt PS3 sales since the PS3 is clearly not selling to the same people right now.
I would go as far s to say that from a marketting point of view Sony has pulled of quite a trick because they are not competing directly with either the 360 or the Wii. In a year’s time when Sony’s PS3 is sitting under $299 the 360 will still be at the $199-$299 level. But by contrast 360 sales at that time will be stead, or gently decreasing, while PS3 sales will continue to ramp as the console moves into the mass market. Sony has to be smart, and keep surfing that HDTV ‘wave’ of market adoption, but so far they’ve done a better job of that task than Microsoft.
Nintendo and the wii, is a completely different kettle of fish. It sells both to the mass market and the premium crowd, it’s lower cost appealing to one segment and it’s quirky/novelty/innovative controls appeal to the other. I don’t honestly see the Wii being hurt by the 360 price cut, or a future PS3 price cut. Much like Sony, Nintendo are executing their strategy and selling to their market.
Sony is playing a long term game and it’s risky, but right now looks like it will pay off in that long term.
BTW, for an interesting revelation, go look at VGChartz. They have a very, very interesting chart that tracks console unit sales since launch.
PS3 is approximately 2.5 million units ahead of where the 360 was at the exact same point in it’s life cycle.
http://vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php
Interesting tool to use.
@ David Macphail
Nice, real productive. I didn’t feel too compelled to read your response without taking it with a grain of salt, since you’re obviously a militant fanboy who likes to throw insults when it comes to a console. Pathetic.
I just assumed the rest of the comment was viscous foaming from the mouth over the fact that a price drop before 2009 would mean you wasted money on a premium priced console with all “soon to come” games, while people who waited will buy the PS3 when the time comes, for cheaper, and play those games the same (and maybe even better if they make console enhancements in later editions as they have).
I, unlike you obviously, am not a fan boy. I could give two craps about MS and Sony as companies. Games/experience attract my attention, 360 offers it now - if PS3 does in the future, good for them - and I’ll get one and drop the 360 like a bad habit.
Oh, and… Lets see the PS3 sell as many consoles w/o the blu-ray player at a more affordable price point. Or if a 360 with a blu-ray player would outsell the PS3 at 400$ - not “if the 360 was the same price as the PS3 NO - ONE would buy it” The blu-ray is the X factor and you leave it out completely.
That - is a retarded argument - although, I won’t stoop as low as you to apply the integrity of your opinions to the integrity of your personality.
@ RROD
Nice list, of YET TO COME games. I’m sick of this list, I knew of it 2 years ago too, announced in what… 2007? and I still don’t see these games. Albeit it’s a spectacular list, this is exactly what I was talking about, and you’ve officially confirmed it for me. Congratulations.
When those come out, that’s a different situation. When is the question though.
@ TheHighlander
Great post, I agree with everything you wrote. I think the 360 is reaching the end of it’s tenure as a hardcore gaming console, which explains all of the new main-stream stuff being released. They’re trying to stretch out it’s existence since it has limited technology.
If the 360 went the Wii path, it’d be dead to me, because it’s not my style. Then I’d hope that PS3 didn’t follow as well with that crap and I’d be on board.
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So guys, relax - it’s a game console, these are all game consoles. We’ll be alright, no matter what happens to the companies here. Stop getting all up at arms over this crap just because someone hates on your precious console. Sheesh.
@ RROD
In addition, you assumed I care about 360’s exclusives to come up. Not really… I don’t really salivate over games to come like you guys do. Maybe if I could play them now, it’d be a different story.
Rin D, very intelligent, you made a response to my comment without even READING it, what a clever little person you are!
If you’d had the brains to read what other people are saying BEFORE you reply to them you’d actually notice that i was making a valid counter - argument to your idiotic comments about the PS3’s games being far from release. However, i guess fanboys like you have a tendency to tell me how great their consoles are without even bothering to read what i’m trying to get across.
If i WAS a militant fanboy then i would have said something like “The Xbox 360 is an RROD’ing piece of garbage that doesn’t have the neccessary software quality to allow it to sell over the £250.00 price point.”. Unfortunately, not only would that make me a fanboy, it would also make me RIGHT!
Your comments about Blu - Ray also prove your ignorance to the gaming industry (Or maybe they’re just the result of you not reading my post properly, who knows?). You said you’d like to see Sony sell more PS3’s without the Blu - Ray player??? THAT is a retarded argument, which proves my earlier theory about you, the PS3 uses the Blu - Ray player for it’s GAMES you genious! Without the Blu - Ray player the PS3 wouldn’t have any games to work on it, so obviously nobody would buy it! Don’t you know ANYTHING about the videogame industry?
If i were to stoop to your level of stupidity i would challenge Microsoft to sell as many 360’s without the DVD drive………….but i’m above idiotic fanboy “Daring” contests. Anyway, you did a good job of proving my earlier point, congratulations.
Also i like how you mention the PS3’s excellent list of YET TO COME games, how many games does the 360 have announced for next year??? 3???