Survey Finds It's Time for a Console Price-Cut

[sievr]

This is hilarious.

Was the independent research group...gamers, aged 8 to 80/years old, in every country on the planet?

"Yeah...it would be cool, if, like, it didn't cost as much. We think it should cost less."

Actually, regarding the comment wondering if there are people who STILL don't have one at this point because of cost reasons, that would be me. I have been too poor to buy any of the current-generation consoles since they came out, and if there WAS a significant (say, 70$ or more) price drop, I'd probably go out and get one. I've been primarily interested in the PS3, and for the first couple of years it seemed like I might as well wait anyway, so they could actually make some games for the bloody thing. I'm still waiting for that new team ICO game...and a price drop. 'Cause it would be cool, if, like, it didn't cost as much.

 

[Icehearted]

Survey says: people are fucking poor because our global economy has been exposed (which is different, and far worse, than a simple recession), so the distributors of entertainment products should wise up and realize they don't deserve untold millions for nonessential contributions to society.

What's great about your post is that it's smart and I read it in Farnsworth's voice.


Okay, so I have a Xbox 360, I'd like to have a PS3. However, since I already have one the other offers little incentive for me to invest (my PC can also hold her own). A price drop would be the tipping point, but only if the cuts were substantial enough to justify two systems with a largely shared library of games that I'm interested in playing.

I'm also still sore about the loss of backward compatibility, which means the system has significantly less to offer me since I still purchase PS2 games and intend on buying a CRT(last one died which is why I went HD in the first place) at some point so that I can enjoy them.

 

[Grygor]

"We believe that the hardware manufacturers have left unit sales on the table by not reducing price points from $199 to $179 and $299 to $249 for the applicable consoles, and that doing so would have driven a more significant boost to hardware sales than the release (for Microsoft and Sony) of new motion-sensing peripherals."

umm... since the 360 is already being sold for less than the sum of its parts (its what my videogame design professor told me), i would assume selling it even cheaper is a bad move

but i dont know about he PS3, maybe it should be cheaper

lol No. The PS3 was costing Sony money when it was 600$.

However the cost of parts has also dropped in the meantime - Sony started making a profit on PS3 sales earlier this year. Microsoft has been making a profit on XBox 360 sales since late 2006.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

"We believe that the hardware manufacturers have left unit sales on the table by not reducing price points from $199 to $179 and $299 to $249 for the applicable consoles, and that doing so would have driven a more significant boost to hardware sales than the release (for Microsoft and Sony) of new motion-sensing peripherals."

umm... since the 360 is already being sold for less than the sum of its parts (its what my videogame design professor told me), i would assume selling it even cheaper is a bad move

but i dont know about he PS3, maybe it should be cheaper

lol No. The PS3 was costing Sony money when it was 600$.

However the cost of parts has also dropped in the meantime - Sony started making a profit on PS3 sales earlier this year. Microsoft has been making a profit on XBox 360 sales since late 2006.

Umm, I said 'was', as in the past tense.
IE, back when PS3 was released and 600$ a pop.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Considering that previous price cuts have only had a marginal effect on sales, what makes these people think that further price cuts will result in anything other than a momentary boost?

Ultimately, what sells the hardware is the software. If platform owners want to attract new users, they need to produce compelling software that would be of interest to them. It's not easy, but that is the only surefire way of picking up sales momentum.