E3 2007: The PS3 price cut farce

Written By Words of Ivory 372 days ago
News Category: E3 2007 News
Relevant Consoles: : PlayStation 3

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As E3 2007 slowly began to wind down yesterday, it would see itself ending now in a whisper, but a controversial bang of confusion, angry and downright animosity towards the already damaged Sony Company and their constantly troubled Playstation 3.

So what exactly occurred at the event to turn our slowly returning fate in Sony back into a massive time-bomb that has once against left the industry and culture annoyed at the company? Why, the fact that the recent price cut of the PS3 to $499 is a farce!

Two night again, Last night, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO David Reeves (in a very bad career more) told the press that the PS3 price-cut was merely a markdown of the 60GB HDD version... because production of the 60GB PS3 has officially been discontinued

A Sony Computer Entertainment America spokesperson told the press later that day, that Reeve's report in the press were "not accurate." This would only get worse when the master of embarrasment himse, SCEI president and group CEO Kaz Hirai, confirmed to Norwegian game-news outlet VGTV that Reeve's report was indeed accurate.

"From a hardware perspective, the $499 price adjustment we did for the 60GB version for the American market, we're no longer in production for that product," he announced in an unedited on-camera interview. "Once that product is gone from the retailer shelves, then we're back to a $599 SKU only, so it's not like we have a two-price strategy in the US market. We found out very early on how consumers react to having just one SKU as opposed to two."

So what does this mean, exactly? It means the the $499 60GB will only be on store shelves until the current stock has been sold out. After that point, consumers will have no other choice but to buy the newer 80GB version for the machine's previous price point, $599.

$100 extra dollars for an extra 20GB of space? Most consumers will never even fill a third of the current model's disc space!

Sony of course, are very, very, very, very insistant that this weening out of the cheaper model is not a bait and switch strategy, failing to realise that the entire consumer market has stopped wasting time with the duplicity and already gone out and bought a Wii60 already.

"This is absolutely not a bait and switch," he said. "We are offering a full featured PS3 for $100 lower than the original price and will do so for months to come, allowing consumers the opportunity to acquire this model at this adjusted price."

Anyone for a game of Wii Tennis?

Tags : E3 2007 : kaz hirai : PlayStation 3 : Sony

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Comments

By: Corrine On: 08:57 Jul 14th, 2007 Offline	Sony, I felt sorry for you once, because you were more innocently dying once. Now you can go crash and burn for all that matters, because this is just a cheap strategy. *shakes head and sighs*
By: ApplesauceNinja On: 08:59 Jul 14th, 2007 Offline	Okay, I was looking for Sony to pull out of its nosedive once the price cut hit. I actually read about this last night, but I understood it not to apply to the U.S. market. I've since found out otherwise. Sony, what the hell are you thinking?
By: Mobius Zero On: 09:28 Jul 14th, 2007 Offline	Well, I guess it's true after all what they say "The right hands does not know what the left hand is doing". This seems to be true and it seems like there is still some confusion so maybe TGS might explain themselves a little better but as I said before this whole "we need it bigger and more expensive" is getting totally fucking retarded, maybe they should go back to focusing on the PS2.
By: Dragonfly On: 01:14 Jul 14th, 2007 Online	ApplesauceNinja;24668 I actually read about this last night, but I understood it not to apply to the U.S. market. As far as I know, us Europeans aren't even *getting* a price-cut. Or even the 80GB. THey'll probably just phase it out at the same price as the new model. Of course, an 80GB HDD doesn't cost an extra $100 to produce annyway. Mobius Zero;24672 ... maybe they should go back to focusing on the PS2. You would think so, considering it's selling better.
By: ApplesauceNinja On: 07:13 Jul 16th, 2007 Offline	http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n104/ApplesauceNinja/psfarce2.gif" class="picture">
By: fsck! On: 11:36 Jul 16th, 2007 Offline	xD hilarious! price-cut my ass! they rip ideas from other systems (wireless from the 'box, the movement from the Wii) then manage to f'ck it up on the sale. heres an idea: take out the Blu-Ray.
By: dragongee On: 05:09 Jul 17th, 2007 Offline	tut tut, near the end?
By: Samuel On: 12:41 Jul 17th, 2007 Online	This is not only a crappy marketing tool, but it's a big middle finger to all it's developers and fans. Sony should be ashamed.
By: Black Convoy On: 02:15 Jul 17th, 2007 Offline	Ummm yeah, this was a great idea. /sarcasm

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