PS3 Price
The Sony PS3 Price for the Playstation 3 is now official. The console will be released in November in two different packages in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Below are the converted prices for the regions for each of the different console sets:
Final PS3 Pricing
The PS3 will come out in two different sets; neither is named yet, like the Xbox 360’s Core and Premium packages.
The first PS3
Ken Kutagari’s (Sony Computer Entertainment President) position on the PS3 Price
Ken Kutagari, the creator of the Playstation franchise has officially stated that the PS3 will be expensive, but if consumers really want hardware like the Playstation 3, then they will be able to purchase it. There have also been comparisons on how the Playstation 1 was more expensive the Super NES and how the PSP is more expensive than the DS, yet Sony’s video game consoles are performing quite well. It is only logical to take this comparison over the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The Xbox 360, with a hard drive is priced at 400 USD, or 300 USD without a hard drive, so it would seem reasonable for the PS3 to range from 400 to 500 USD.
Comments from Georges Fornay, President of Sony Computer Entertainment France
In early 2006, Georges Fornay was given a chance to talk about the Playstation 3 on a popular French radio program, Europe 1. Georges stated that the PS3 would sell between the respectable price of 500 USD and the 1000 USD price of a blu-ray player. It was also indicated that the PS3 would be closer to the 500 or 600 USD price than near 1000 USD. Nonetheless, shortly afterward Sony denounced Fornay’s comments about the Playstation 3’s price.
Speculation from financial publications
In early 2006, publications such as CNN Money and Bloomberg have given rough estimates on the cost of building consoles such as the PS3 or Xbox 360. So far, estimates for the cost of the Playstation 3 have ranged from 700 USD to 900 USD. These estimates look at the cost of all of the hardware that Sony has stated will be included on the PS3, but it is also wholly possible that Sony will discount a few of the features on the Playstation 3’s vast range of hardware features. Also, Sony may receive greater discounts on some of the hardware because of the circumstances of being part of the PS3, and so this could also decrease the price.
Vgescape’s Analysis on the Sony PS3 Price
PS3 Hardware features such as the blu-ray capabilities, custom "Reality Synthesizer" graphics card, gigabit Ethernet hub, and custom cell processor chip all equate to a steep console price when compared to previous successful consoles. However, it is also known that recent consoles like the Xbox and Xbox 360 have released the consoles with a loss of possibly over $100 per unit. The Playstation 3 will most likely need to pull out a few hardware features or downgrade features to reduce the price by at least 100 USD. After this, with the cheap cost of much of the PS3’s hardware because of mass production, and Sony’s likely financial plan to initially sell the PS3 with a loss of 100 to 150 USD, the PS3 should be able to sell for approximately 400 to 500 USD at launch. If Sony can cut the price down to 400 or 450 USD for the Christmas 2006 launch date, then it is in good hands to continue as the leader of the console market.
Vgescape Final PS3/Playstation 3 Pricing Verdict
Overall, we will take a direct stab at the Playstation 3’s price and put out a 450 launch price. We would like to be clearer and say 500 USD, which seems more logical at this point, but inside we are hoping for a price cheaper than the relatively steep price of 500 USD, and at the moment it is too hard to accurately give out the Playstation 3’s price, either way. In exactly one month, once e3 hits in the second week of May, Vgescape will push out a whole new analysis of the PS3 pricing.
