PS3 price drop, new 80GB version (confirmed!)
EDIT: Topic title updated.
Sony confirms price drop for 60GB PS3 to $499, introduces new 80GB version with Motorstorm bundled in for $599 (releases in August)
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
A PS3 price cut rumor spread like wildfire across the Internet this afternoon when several sites spotted a new advertisement from Circuit City. The ad as seen on Kotaku lists the PS3 console at $499.99, $100 less than its current price.It wasn't clear at first if this ad was a special deal specific to the electronics retailer or if it's indeed a retail-wide price cut instituted by Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA). As it turns out, a merchandising manager (who wished to remain anonymous) at one of the world's biggest retailers has confirmed to GameDaily BIZ that the price drop is indeed retail-wide and it's scheduled to take place on July 12, although the first wave of ads to promote the PS3's new price won't kick in until Sunday, July 15.
(I'm still listing this as pseudo-confirmed until something even more solid is published. But here's the link to Kotaku where you can see the Circuit City ad)
So 3 days after I get a PS3 from my dad as payment for some web work I'm doing for him (and after I told him a price drop wasn't imminent), a price drop is leaked. 
Does Target do the "30 day price drop" stuff by any chance?
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Parody of yourself in color, giving it to everybody but your mother...
I bet they do. Just take the receipt in if the new price becomes official. Either that or return it and buy it back at the lower price!
Closest info I've found so far:
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Yeah, if I have to, I'll box it back up and perform the swaperoo.
Gaming / PC Tech Blog: www.blastprocessing.net
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Parody of yourself in color, giving it to everybody but your mother...
Console wars are heating up for the summer. And here I thought it was gonna be pretty quiet.
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Wow. There's been speculation that the 360 will drop in price if Sony beat them to the punch. I'm not so sure, personally. I don't think Microsoft would have much to gain dropping the price for the premium unit when the Core is barely selling as is. If they feel like they have a product that's equal or better than the PS3, they need to stand firm on their selling price.
Sony still has a lot of catching up to do on a month to month basis, Microsoft can probably afford not to be too reactionary. Better to shrug and say they're getting closer, but not quite there yet.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
I think the Wii has shown that price is a bigger factor than anyone believed coming into this console cycle, and MS should think long and hard about responding to that threat, more so than a $100 PS3 price drop.
Forgetting the PS3 and its crazy cost for a minute, $399 is pricey for a game console - and certainly something we normally would expect to see get cut in this, the summer before the console's 3rd holiday season.
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Parody of yourself in color, giving it to everybody but your mother...
$499? I have bought cars for less! Once the heat died down on the PS1, I bought one for $99. And I had to walk uphill, through the snow, dodgin horse-drawn buggies to get it! Almost got crushed by a brontosaurus on the way into the store, I swear!
Shepherd Book used to tell me: if you can't do something smart, do something right.
I still don't see it. Given a $25 price differential between the PS3 and the Xbox360 Elite, the Elite is still the way to go. The badass games to play online now are all on the Elite's side...which means that a smart gamer could jump on the 360 bandwagon now, and wait for further price reductions from Sony at year's end.
BTW, I do not feel that $300-500 is expensive for a console...it has always been that early adopters get the brunt of the cost of a new gaming platform...wasn't a PS2 equivalently priced at it's launch? I seemed to remember it being unattainable at the time, pricewise, if not in terms of supply.
I think Microsoft has the whole console as PC replacement figured out, and Nintendo has the console as boardgame replacement thing handled...what exactly does the PS3 bring to the party, other than another proprietary system and a shortage of games?
Target will give you a price match, but they make you bring in the original product to do it, can't just bring your receipt. It's a really sucky policy, I bought a peice of furniture there once and two days later it was on clearance and they want me to box it back up and bring it in.
That is because the Core sucks and half the places don't even stock it.
In the case of the 360, 20 months later is an early adopter? It came out in November 2005. The PS2 was $300 when it was released and dropped to $200 after 19 months.
No, that's not exactly it.
The Xbox 360 seems to shine online. It seems to me that booting up Gears and playing the Single Player is half the game...and it's hard to make the case that $60 for zero replayability (if that is a word) is sane.
If you are just going to play SP, doesn't the PS2 offer more bang (1000s of games) for less buck?
BTW, I don't have a 360...I am waiting to see if I can get my hands on an Elite this weekend.
Which contributes to the Core sucking...
A price drop now is a big deal! Now you know Sony is hurting to sell system's and I bet Microsoft drops price soon after(fall at the latest). They don't need to go down 100 bucks though. I hope they do but I bet a 50 dollar price cut is coming on the 360.
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The Wii is in a class of its own. $250 and a consumer friendly image is obviously a sweet spot for selling consoles, but Microsoft can't/won't drop the price of the 360 enough in one shot to compete at that level. Even $299 is missing that particular mass market boat when you don't have the software/hook that the Wii does. Especially not after eating what may be a huge loss on extending that 360 warranty.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
I'd say there's a 50/50 chance of seeing a 360 price drop or no change at all. Whatever move Microsoft makes will tell us a lot about their confidence and what they consider makes a successful console.
Reasons for not dropping the price - the 360 is already the primary development platform for cross-platform titles. The 360 is outselling the PS3. The 360 has the biggest install base of any console. Perhaps Microsoft is seeing enough profit from their current customers that they don't need to lose money on the hardware. Halo 3.
Reasons for a price drop - Microsoft has not converted large numbers of Playstation fans to 360 buyers. The 360 is doing poorly in Japan and mainland Europe. Nintendo might eat away at the hardcore base for both Sony and Microsoft. The install base is still not big enough to support titles like Viva Pinata. Bigger is always better, and Microsoft doesn't like to share market share.
We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
If Sony was serious about taking Microsoft down a peg or two, they should be promoting the hell out of the reported failure fate for the 360.
And no, the PS2 was $299 at launch.
As always, the games shall decide the "winner" (if we even need to embrace that mentality), and as the PS3 games start to hit this summer and holiday season, people will definitely have a reason to buy the system.
In the end, the market will decide... and right now, it looks like BOTH microsoft and sony probably jumped the next gen gun by a few years. People just aren't that interested for these things right now (not when the old gen systems are still selling like gangbusters).
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That's What She Said -- A Podcast About NBC's THE OFFICE
And this might be Microsoft's biggest mistake... if you go by the last gen statistics, the VAST majority of people who owned the original xbox AND PS2's never went online. If you're selling a system where a lot of the value requires a LIVE subscription, that might be a bit too daunting for the casual gamer.
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That's What She Said -- A Podcast About NBC's THE OFFICE
This thread is about a PS3 price drop and what that may mean for everyone else. Let's not march out old arguments about the relative merits of a given system again, that ground is more worn out than Bagga's mom after a biker rally.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
Sahwish.
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If Sony doesn't use this price break to advertise in a big way, they've completely lost it... time to get ride of the exploding babies and all those other bizarre ads. Cheaper prices ALWAYS help system sales, but until more quality games hit, I don't know if it's going to matter all that much.
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That's What She Said -- A Podcast About NBC's THE OFFICE
I suppose this is US Only?
When Rock Band arrives, I think I'll buy a PS3 a few months later, after checking out which version(360 or ps3) is better. I would have paid the old 1,000 dollar price for that.
Other than that, I'm not looking forward to anything on the PS3.
I agree with Mr. SommerMatt, the lower price will help sales a bit, but in the long run, it's the great games that matter.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
A price drop is dangerous territory for Sony if not handled well. In addition to losing even more money on each PS3 they make, the media could frame it as a sign of desperation and cause consumers to avoid the console in yet greater droves. A retaliatory price drop by Microsoft would make it tough to see Sony's system as a good value even after the discount.
Everything can be debated, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's debatable.
--Chuck Klosterman, Fargo Rock City
Just curious but how long did MS wait to lower the price on the 360?
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Will the price drop coincide with software-based PS2 backwards compatibility PS3s here in the US? I wouldn't doubt it.
Another argument for the 360 following suit (with a price drop) is MS lowered their 360 shipped target ending June 30th to 11.6 mil from 12 mil which itself was a reduction of an earlier estimate months ago.
PLus I don't see the Elite (or even the Premium) comparing well with the PS3 at $499.
They haven't.
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That's counter intuitive. They aren't going to make their shipping targets, which means that supply is restricted....if anything, they would hold firm on the price, since they have no slack in demand.
I forget where I read it, but someone at Microsoft, maybe even the Media & Entertainment lead, said that the console sweet spot is $250...but Microsoft cannot get to that price point...and Sony sure as hell cannot.
I really doubt that a $100 cut will really help, unless they do a two stage cut: $100 now, another $100 when some top tier title hits that they can really get behind and promote.
I agree with KillerTomato (not the first time, either) that this really starts to look like a desperation play....
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*sobs*
Man, and I was *just about* to go fix mobile.gamerswithjobs.com.
I generated a virtual world in the toilet bowl this morning.
-- Podunk on the PS3's mystical, magical abilities
Can't wait for official confirmation of the drop, but I'm still not ready to buy a PS3.
It seems to me there are two logical times for MS to drop the price on the 360; to take advantage of summer lull (kids wanting to play over summer break) and capitalize on the anticipation for Halo 3/the rest of the amazing fall lineup.
The second logical time would be just ahead of Thanksgiving/the holiday buying craze. All of the amazing fall games are in the immediate rearview mirror with the hotly anticipated holiday season titles coming out. I don't know which way they'll go, but both seem feasible to me.
Also, next-gen.biz ran this article a month ago:
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*EDIT*
Right. They were channel stuffing. Mateo you may have blinders after talking yourself into buying a 360. Not that I blame you, I'm a fan too, but there's no shortage of 360s.
Also, Sony Announces no plans for a price cut. Maybe they're just holding tight for E3. They must hate the internets.
MrDeVil909: I feel it necessary to point out that there are drug resistant strains of most STDs. Especially in developing nations.
Funkenpants: Great. Yet another area in which we're losing our lead to foreigners.
Wasn't Microsoft caught selling more Xbox 360s and Windows Vista boxes to retailers than the retailers needed so that they could claim high sales to their shareholders?
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This is a poorly reported story. For one, it's not "Sony announces", but "Sony president says in an interview".
What's more is what he says afterwards:
So basically, all he said is that Sony the parent company isn't planning for a price cut, but that it's up to Sony Computer Entertainment (which is a big fat "duh").
That's kind of like a sports team owner saying he has "no immediate plans" of firing a certain player, but that it's a matter for the GM, the guy that actually does the player hiring and firing.
Joystiq managed to get this right, but pretty much everywhere else I've seen it hasn't.
Gaming / PC Tech Blog: www.blastprocessing.net
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Parody of yourself in color, giving it to everybody but your mother...
I'd like MS to make the Elite into the Premium (as Bill Harris suggests may happen), and then push the existing Premium into the Core slot. That would completely desuckify the Core, and act like a price drop, kinda.
Interesting that a PS3 price drop thread went into xbox territory.
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