Tech Shout!

Sony’s PlayStation 3 is undoubtedly the most steeply priced next-gen console and that may be (Read. Surely is) one of the reasons deterring people to go in for the gaming device. Practically double the price of the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, the PS3 too now is in the probable works of dropping its price.

In an interview conducted by London-based Financial Times, Sony stated that the company was in the move to cut the price of the PS3 since consumers are demanding the same. (Well that seems to be the inevitable step the company needs to take if it wants to boost its sales).

Sony’s Howard Stringer told the publication, “That (price cuts) is what we are studying at the moment. That’s what we are trying to refine,” acknowledging that Sony’s gaming gizmo did encounter a cut throat competition from rival Nintendo’s Wii video game console, which is bearing the fruits of a low price in the form of stronger sales in comparison to the PS3.

Speaking about Nintendo’s dominance in the next-gen console market, Stringer admitted, “Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise, and a very good business model, compared with ours,’ Stringer said, ‘because it’s cheaper.”

In November 2006, Sony announced a 20 percent cut in the pricing of the PS3 in Japan, sensing the competition it was facing from Microsoft and Nintendo.

But ironically in spite of the price drop, Sony’s next-gen gaming console was yet the most expensive in the lot, and in fact analysts too stated that there was a need for the company to reduce the price even more.

Though Sony is yet weighing as to exactly how much of a price cut would lure people, a drop of about US $100 is being predicted (and I’d say anticipated) by analysts, which surely is the minimum that the company needs to have if they want to lure consumers into buying their gaming piece.