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Mar 1 / Ozymandias

[Edit] UK PS3 Preorders do indeed appear to be slow…

,

… as we discussed in this post earlier.

Received my daily update from gamesindustry.biz discussing backward compatibility changes in the PS3, and how Europeans were getting the short end of the stick. Good read, but I found one paragraph particularly interesting (bolding my emphasis):

This latest debacle over backwards compatibility simply adds to a long list of woes which Sony faces – a litany of PR problems which are winding their way through the mainstream press, no longer confined to the specialist media. In America, reports of PS3 units sitting on shelves unsold are rife, and SCEA's public firefighter Jack Tretton has lost vast amounts of credibility for his much-derided attempts to claim otherwise – with his statements having done little but fuel hostility towards the platform and the company. Here in the UK, the official line is that PS3 pre-orders are remarkably high; but with PS3 bundles being downgraded in price already, it doesn't take the flood of anecdotal reports to the contrary which we've seen from retail insiders in the last week to see that this claim is on shaky ground.

Appears the press in the UK are hearing that those claims aren't quite as high as retailers might have liked you to believe. Not a terrible surprise, of course. But this is yet another indication that a price cut is likely this year for the PS3. Mark my words (and earlier prediction): $100 off PS3 by Thanksgiving.

[Edit: added link to full article.]

Related posts:

  1. [Edit] UK PS3 Preorders Slow?
  2. [Edit] PS3 Price Cut Redux (Drinking The Kool-Aid)

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  • itsgreen

    Ozymandias, Mark my words: atleast $50 bucks off the current configurations of the 360 before june.

    Btw, you are absolutely right about the PS3… they will have to.

  • Trellium

    According to http://games.kikizo.com/news/200702/118.asp Sony doesn’t expect a price cut until 2009.

    At least their marketing team has never been wrong before. (hahahaha)

  • http://www.klio.org/marks/ Mike Kozlowski

    So here’s the problem with a Sony price reduction: Let’s say they do knock $100 off, and bring the price down to $399/$499. I think it’s fairly obvious (and I know you can’t comment, so let’s just take it as a given) that Microsoft would instantly knock its own $100 off, if it hadn’t already.

    At which point, the PS3 is merely “very expensive” (still $100 more than 360 at launch), but the 360 is now starting to get affordable at $199/$299. The base PS3 would be twice as expensive as the base 360. Relatively speaking, Sony’s competitive position is worse, not better.

    Obviously, Sony NOT dropping their prices (particularly if the 360 does) is a plan for doom, but I don’t see a price cut as any kind of panacea for the PS3′s woes, unless it’s a truly drastic price cut that brings it down to parity with the 360 (which would probably kill Sony while saving the PS3).

  • Mazda3guy

    Hey Ozy,

    After reading this email myself earlier today, I was hoping you would make reference to it. The entire editorial felt like a breath of fresh air, and stands in such stark contrast in regards to what we’ve been fed until now in regards to the EU launch.

    For those who don’t receive the newsletter, I’ve included my favorite quote below:

    "The European model (and presumably future shipments in the US and Japan) will also feature a new chassis which is cheaper to build, which is exactly the kind of under-the-hood cost saving one expects from a console firm – but the fact that Sony is so keen to save costs on building the PS3 that it’s willing to strike out functionality which it has boasted about quite openly for a couple of years comes as a surprise, and a disappointment."

    Sums things up nicely doesn’t it.

  • kingkatt
  • http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2007/02/everywhere-still-has-ps3s-left.html F-Word

    ALL major online and high street retailers in the UK are still accepting new PS3 pre-orders, over a week into the campaign.

    <a href="http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2007/02/everywhere-still-has-ps3s-left.html">Sales disaster!</a>

  • exprohound

    The pre orders are very weird here in the UK (i’m from aberdeen,scotland).

    I went into my local Blockbuster and they can guarantee ANY pre order up to the 18th March, thats ANY number they get, very weird. They now offer a PS3, 2 games and an extra controller for £500 sterling.

  • http://userrankings.com/ Jim

    I really really would like to see the price drop for PS3 (and for X360 as well)… but I don’t think in 2007 (at least not in Europe where I live).

  • Andy

    I’m not sure that is such a grand claim Ozy. $100 is about £60 right? Well, the XBox 360 was available this Christmas for £279 with at least one top game instead of £279 (yes, the premium model), despite the fact that Microsoft say there hasn’t been a price cut. It is obvious there has, to anyone except you it seems. Even now Play.com is offering it for 289 with Gears, which retails at £50. Seems like a price cut to me.

    The article itself is out of date and does not mention Phil Harrison saying that there will be over 1000 games compatible at launch. Whether they do that or not remains to be seen, but I think the main issue for the launch is the time of year. Who buys consoles in March?