RSSSony Drops Price of PlayStation 2
By Ed Oswald | Published April 20, 2006, 10:58 AM
Sony said Thursday that it would drop the price of the PlayStation 2 to $129.99 USD in an effort to keep consumer demand high as it races to complete its next generation console. The company plans to release the PlayStation 3 in November of this year.
To date, the electronics maker has sold some 101 million consoles and over a billion game titles. It also enjoys a 56 percent market share in the U.S., double that of its nearest competitor, Nintendo. It also remains the most popular platform in every major market, including North America, Europe and the PAL markets, and Japan and Asia.
"While we continue to innovate and design groundbreaking new products, we remain dedicated to our long-term vision for the PlayStation 2 platform," president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Kaz Hirai said in a statement.
The PlayStation 3 will likely not be available in large quantities for the holiday season, giving Microsoft's Xbox 360 a distinct advantage. Thus, Sony may be lowering prices to stave off a push by Microsoft to gain some market share as a result of Sony's PS3 delay.
Sony plans a large marketing blitz to promote the new pricing structure for the console beginning April 27. Print ads will appear in Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, with online ads beginning the same day on sites such as AOL.
Along with the drop in the PS2 price, Sony also dropped the price of the PlayStation Portable console to $199.99 USD in mid-March.
old school move on
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|"While we continue to innovate and design groundbreaking new products, we remain dedicated to our long-term vision for the PlayStation 2 platform."
Uh-huh. Until 5 minutes after the PS3 hits the street.
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|"It also enjoys a 56 percent market share in the U.S., double that of its nearest competitor, Nintendo."(http://www.betanews.com/...layStation_2/1145543210)
I think that is interesting the the xbox is not seen as compittion to the playstation2
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|Making it $20 less is supposed to help sales? I dont think anyone was putting off buying a PS2 waiting for the price to come down $20.
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|Agreed, $20 is nothing. It needs to drop below that magical $100 mark...
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|True, but I'm more tempted to go out and buy it now, especially since I'm one of those guys that dont have any of the "current/last gen" consoles yet.
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|I might buy it once it's $100 or less. $80 is the suggested price it will be once the PS3 is released, but it's amazing how many units they've produced and sold, but I don't see the PS3 ever selling as well, as I see Nintendo will win the market in sales with the affordable but worthy Revolution given they have, say, 6 million manufactured at release.
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|Yeah, I kind of agree. I think the next generation will be alot closer this time around. If the Revolution releases at $199 it'll be harder for some people to decide which one they want if there just getting one consol. Especially if the PS3 is going to be over $500 like they'll saying it might.
I already own Xbox 360 and when the revolution comes out I may buy one of those too. The PS3 would have to be $399 or under for me to buy it. I don't care if it play's blue-ray movies or not... it's a gaming machine.
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|Even if it does proper hi-def? (in movies and games)
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|"I might buy once it's $100..." Wow, some people will wait five years to save $200 on a console?
I don't know where you're getting any of your information... $80MSRP after PS3 is released? I think people like posting in hopes that some console manufacturing company president reads it and says, "That's genius, why didn't I think of blowing out the product at rock-bottom prices earlier?!"
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|Nah. I guess I'm not really a movie guy. I don't even own 1 dvd. I guess for me it's not really worth paying about $10 for a dvd when I'll only watch it once or twice. I also still have just a standard 27" TV. I am thinking of getting an HDTV though.
I guess you could also say the same thing about games too, but once I beat a game I'll normally sell it (unless it has online/multiplayer). There is an expecption with a few games that I like alot though.
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|If I was the least bit interested in all this high definition hype I'd buy a new television that supports it, and if I did that I'd go the rest of the way and buy a consumer player to watch my movies on and not a game console. I'm not doing any such things though, I have a nice DVD collection and I'm not buying it all over again because some HD-BS marketing machine told me too. Anyway there's more to games than pretty pictures, and I think the Revolution is really going to be bringing the most to the table this time around.
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