Citing yesterdays disappointing November hardware sales, CNNMoney has called the Sony PlayStation 3 a “sinking ship.”
The numbers show that the PS3 sold 19 percent less consoles year-on-year from the same period in 2007, and CNNMoney believes that a substantial price cut is necessary if the console wants to see a growth in sales anytime soon.
After being outsold 840,000 to 380,000 for the month by its main rival the Xbox 360, many analysts have agreed that a price cut is necessary before the console falls behind by an “insurmountable margin.”
The CNNMoney article also attributed the slow down in sales to three specific reasons. The high price tag (All Xbox 360 models are cheaper than cheapest PS3), the fact that no one cares about Blu-ray, and the lack of strong selling titles for the platform.
We can all agree that price is an issue, but the other two issues CNNMoney brings up are a bit, for lack of a better word, iffy. Blu-ray player sales and Blu-ray movie sales continue to grow exponentially and show similar numbers to that of DVD when it was the “new” format in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Sony has had some hot selling exclusive titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBIGPlanet, Resistance 1 and 2, and Uncharted but software sales arent as strong as that of the Xbox 360, from most accounts. Whether it needs more exclusive titles is up for debate however.
Result for: 360 models
Microsoft Canada has announced price drops across the line for all of its Xbox 360 models and it seems Canadian buyers will finally see prices more equivalent to their southern neighbors in the US.
The Xbox 360 Pro pack will drop to $349 CAD and the Elite Pack will drop to $449 CAD. The base-level Arcade model will see the smallest cut, from $299 CAD to $279 CAD.
Its US counterparts reached their current pricing model in late August 2007, and so far Canadian gamers have been forced to pay a large premium for the consoles, higher than even the discrepancy in the US and Canadian dollar which is now less than a couple cents per dollar.
Result for: 360 models
Although it is not officially confirmed yet, industry sources have indicated that there are upcoming price cuts coming for all Microsoft Xbox 360 models in Europe.
The rumors suggest that there are “non-disclosure agreements in place with leading retailers” preventing them to reveal the upcoming price drop but that it is coming a week or so ahead of the Easter sales period. The expected price drop is EUR 50 for each available model.
Interestingly, the latest cuts will drop the price of the Arcade Xbox 360 model to a price cheaper than the rival Nintendo Wii. The Wii has dominated the “casual gamer” and family markets since its launch but Microsoft has said they hope to have the Arcade model steal some of the Wii’s thunder. A price drop of this magnitude would certainly put some pressure on Nintendo.
