New PS3 Model Means Price Cuts Soon?

Sony unveiled a new 80GB PS3 model today, scheduled to launch this June in the broadband-pervasive South Korea. The news comes amid slow sales of the pricey console and just one month after pulling the cheaper 20GB version from North American shelves.

"At this time there are no concrete plans [to sell the 80GB model in other markets]," said one company spokesman, speaking with PC World. However, Sony also denied rumors of the newest PS3 back in March, despite filing a change request with the FCC that mentioned the 80GB's existence.

The common belief behind the new move is that Sony may be prepping for an earlier-than-expected price drop of the PS3's steep $599 MSRP. What better way to do it than by introducing a larger capacity machine whilst dropping the current 60GB model to $499?

[lil bush]

if they do, just before the heavy hitters come, they will sell alot more consoles imo...........

[gta_cb]

i agree.

[closedxxx]

There is no way SONY could afford to drop the 60gb PS3 price by $100 simply by releasing an 80gb version. Right now, it's cheaper for all of us to just go purchase our own 80gb hard drives and install them in the current PS3.

[Vojkan]

why would there be a price difference in 100 dollars between 60GB and 80GB? Its only 20gb difference, not 200GB.
Nonsense, forget about price drop this year, not going to happened

[THAMMER1]

Not till then.

[gta_cb]

i know thats what Sony have said, but they dont always tell the truth, and if they get in trouble then they mite have to.

[dale1]

they need a bigger hard drive over there it makes sense there broadband download speeds are fast and i mean fast so films on demand which what there used to and other down loadable content space is key

[Boink]

sony has said no price cut anytime soon, and I believe it, they just cannot afford it yet.

[DrRage77]

so far, just about every other statement that sony releases about the ps3 has been shown to be either a complete lie, or inaccurate.

i am willing to bet that sony DOES drop the price of the ps3 by early fall of this year, along with replacing the 60gb version with the 80gb version. why would they admit that they are going to release the 80gb ps3 version everywhere and that they will drop the price on the unit? that would only allow microsoft to beat them to a price drop. you never want to reveal your next move and allow the company you are competing with to beat you to the punch.

[dauden]

Making all sorts of facts of an article that is plain speculation.

It's so funny.

/me plays Qbert.

[Expy]

Plain and simple, those who complain about the price won't get it for another year or so, or until they get better jobs.

[omansteveo]

Its to much for a game seriously a GAME!...oh and the potential also i forgot.

[fenderputty]

going to cause a price cut. If anything, the price will stay constant and the 60 gig system will be replaced with the 80 gig in order to justify not lowering the price at all.

[DrRage77]

the reason i see a price drop happening is this...

the difference between manufacturing a 60gb and 80gb harddrive is a few dollars at most now (go to pricewatch and check prices on 60gb and 80gb notebook drives). sony is simply making a good business move, replacing the 60gb with an 80gb harddrive for NO ADDED COST TO THEM. plus the fact that the manufacturing for the blue diode for blu-ray drives is now almost $100 cheaper than when they first started, i think we will DEFINITELY see a sony price drop, along with the replacement of the 60gb ps3 with the 80gb ps3...

[ITR]

Why do they keep posting this crap!?

No price cuts for the 20th time.

If anything the 60GB goes bye bye and is replaced by the 80GB ver.

[IBLEEDBLU]

the bigger harddrive is for future work on the PSN - like TV on demand when that comes out - sh@t like that would require more HDD space so i think they are just getting ready for that

NO PRICE CUT!! are u ppl stupid...that will only happen 2-3 years down the road

[EnforcerOfTheTruth]

Sony said that, because otherwise more people would wait and they would sell less. You can expect a price cut by the end of the year and I'm pretty sure it will be 100 bucks.

LOL WTF I didn't post like for 2 weeks and lost some bubbles in the last few days

[Boink]

but until their costs drop drastically, I wouldn't expect it, and even the 65nm chip won't drop their price enough to bring them anywhere close to making a profit on the console.If it does happen, it will likely be next year, unless MS drops their price of course, which could force their hand early. Which is funny, cause I'm sure MS is waiting for sony to drop before they do. kind of a cat and mouse kinda thing.

[closedxxx]

Microsoft can much more readily afford a price drop than SONY, so the longer MS holds out on a price drop, the closer they are to turning a profit on the console hardware. And when SONY does drop the price, if MS hasn't yet, they certainly will at that time, putting them still in better financial shape than SONY in regards to the profit/loss margin over their respective consoles

[Amplifier]

"so far, just about every other statement that sony releases about the ps3 has been shown to be either a complete lie, or inaccurate."

@6.1 - So you mean to tell me that online gaming on PS3 is free, Blu Ray, HDD, Wireless Controllers in EVERY box were all lies, *looks at PS3* sure as hell NOT, you are a TOOL go back to your BROKE BOX.

Give it up, I can bet money that the PS3 will not drop in price at all this year just like the X360 won't drop in price either.

@mp

[BrotherSic]

Every month we get the same speculation about price cuts.

I dont think Sony will be scared into a price cut so there is no way they will reduce prices until they have started making money on each console.

Side note: I dont see Microsoft reducing their prices either as there is no need to. They are making money on each console, achieving better sales than Sony and that probably wont change thanks to Halo.

[Sly]

I'm tired of hearing about a price drop rubbish. They're will be a PRICE DROP i'm not sure when but they're will BE ONE i don't know how much it will drop BUT THEY'RE WILL BE ONE and i don't think korean 80 gb PS3's can lower PS3 prices in America,but thats my opinion.

Relax fellow gamers they're will be a price drop soon...

[gta_cb]

if theres a price cut, i dont think its going to be cos of a new SKU with just 20GBs more. it is more likely to be because of the diods becoming cheaper to make etc.

[sevenout]

I have not read a consistent report on the Blue-Laser debacle yet. I have heard the Chinese have flooded the market with cheap BL diodes. I have heard that Sony themselves have upped production of BL diodes to 1.7 million per month (far outstripping demand). However, just a few months ago there was a Blue-Laser shortage. Now, the cost of the BR drive in the PS3 was pegged at about $125, with most of that cost attributed to the BL pickup. If Sony can produce or buy the BL diodes at a reported $8, it should drive down the cost of the BR drive considerably.

This would be coup of sorts for Sony if indeed BR drive costs have dropped considerably, as it means that Blu-Ray could indeed become the market leader IF the PS3's price drops considerably soon.

As for the hard drive, I LOL. Sams club has a 500 gig SATA drive for $99, so that tells you that the hard drive cost is meaningless and pesonally, I am insulted at Microsoft's inclusion of a 20 gig in the 360 and the release of the "Elite" version so soon, really pist me off.
The biggest strike against the PS3 is the point of entry costs, which are about $700 (for tax, the system, one game). Games and dvd playback aside, the PS2 was considerably popular because it came down in price to the magic $199 number relatively quickly (1.5 years) especially since it only had to come down $100 to reach that magic price point. As it stands right now, the PS3 has to come down FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS in order to become anywhere near the mass consumer device the PS2 was and still is.

The PS3 has to come down FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS to get to $199. If the PS3 actually cost what it currently sells for, a price reduction of such magnitude in two years would be a stretch; however, the PS3 costs considerably more to make than it sells for currently, so that price drop will be even harder to materialize.

The 360, on the other hand, is actually making a small profit on each system sold currently. Microsoft most likely will drop the price of the 360 to $199 for the (crappy) core system this Christmas. I don't think that Halo 3 alone will push an inordinate amount of systems at the current price structure for the 360.

The problem with the PS3 price drops is that they will still lose money, and a lot of it. There is no way that even a behemoth such as Sony can trim the costs necessary to make the PS3 a mass market device in two years by lowering the retail price to $199.

[kornbeaner]

the 20 extra gigs given are due to the fact that there is no more EE chip in the PS3. SO this could in sense could be a trade-off with no official announcement. "we'll give our consumers 20 extra gigs but the EE chip is gone"...maybe.

It's could be that simple.