Tuesday 4 July 2006
Senior figures in the games industry have expressed their concerns over the price of PlayStation 3 and suggest Sony should be looking at introducing a price drop in 2007 in order to compete.
Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot told Bloomberg news agency that he expected PS3 to sell out when it is launched later this year but that the high price, which could be as much as %26pound;425 in the UK, may put off many casual consumers in the following months.
Sega of America executive Scott Steinberg expressed similar apprehension about the price during an online interview but believes the strength of the PlayStation brand is such that PS3 will still be a success.
Steinberg believes that PS3 will be successful but that Sony "has a job to do in selling and marketing [PS3] to not only gamers; [Sony's] also got to play with the Blu-ray platform in the consumer electronics market".
He then went on to suggest that a price drop would have to be considered quite soon after launch. "[Sony's] going to have to lifecycle price the hardware in a way that brings it to the masses, I would think relatively soon, because it is expensive."
