Sony: PS3 price is a high risk strategy

Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer has admitted that the PS3's higher than average price point is a 'high risk strategy', but has said that users are paying for its 'potential'.

Speaking at a press conference, Stringer said of the PS3's high price point to assembled hacks that, "Obviously, it's a higher-risk strategy - as all new inventions are - but if the PS3 lives up to its total potential, then I don't think anyone will be worried about Nintendo or Xbox's cheaper price."

Stringer acknowledged that the PS3 was an expensive beast, saying "The Price of the PS3 is high", but then went on to tell conference attendees, "but you're paying for potential."

[TheMART]

Your paying for potential with all consoles.
But with Sony you're paying for the unnescessary BetaBluRay and foremost, pushing the format so Sony doesn't have to worry so much about the major loss of almost 600 million dollar the first quarter of this year and the coming ones also.

[achira]

the only thing which is unnecessary are you comments. when your xbox360 is so good, go buy it and have fun with it. there are other people out there who wants a good console, which is future proof and has the power for the games coming out next years. go buy a xbox360 and in two years you are the fool idiot who is sitting with the xbox360 without new games, because ms releases a new console, without support for the old one. xbox users are the loosers. and in two years xbox360 will be the loosers. sony has a different strategy then ms, so calm down and go play your xbox360.

[TheMART]

I already own a 360, an original xbox and a PS2. The DVD of the PS2 doesn't work anymore so it's laying in the closet.

If you're short sighted like that that's your problem. The original XBOX still has support. It has been there for 5 years now. The 360 will be for sure here for 5 years. So if you're talking about no games in 2 years you're the dumbest guy on earth!

So what's Sony's strategy. To give you a console with a sh*tty DVD so you've to go out and buy a new one if you want to play your old games? That makes their PS2 sell again.

And you know better then what you say here my friend.

[Moostache]

You post in every single thread it seems and you ALWAYS say the exact same things! Give it up already man, you are starting to come across as some kind of psycho-fanboy.

Of course, you will ignore this and go right on fighting the good fight I am sure, but just so you know, at one point you did not come across as such a snivelling, shrieking fanboy. At one time you were able to make half-way decent posts. Now, you are slipping firmly into the SSSJ-like depths of crap posting....

On topic for a moment - the price point of the PS3 is a funny thing because on forums like this and other gaming and entertainment device forums, everyone has an opinion and the arguments flow like the melting glaciers of Alaska...BUT, the wider world in general still has no idea what a PS3 is or Blu-Ray or anything at all about the price, and many of them never will either, until that day they walk into a store and see a PS3 listed at $599 and right next to it an XB360 listed at $399. Fans of either company aside, it is at THAT point that Sony needs to make the $200-better argument for a game console. They MUST show gamers at retail a valid and compelling reason to spend the extra $200. We will see....but I personally think they completely missed the boat on the pricing war this time out.

SImply put - a PS3 that was based on DVD-9 player and sold at $399 would have CRUSHED XB360. They instead chose to try to leverage the Playstation name to sell their Blu-Ray media. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but the gamers are the ones who suffer. Many titles have been delayed due to the hold-ups of the PS3. Companies don't want to hurt themselves - and releasing games multiple times on different platforms is almost universally bad for business - requires two separate mareting campaigns, also suffers from gamer-fatigue (gamers always want the "newest" games and even if THEY have not played a title, if someone else has, then it is not as imperative to own that game versus a 'newer' one, this si the main reason games at retail hit their sales peak within 3 weeks of release).

People want to post their thoughts on a news article and your knee-jerk reaction is to call XB360 owners "loosers" and spout off more Sony fanboy rhetoric.

[Droidbro]

I just think its funny that SSSJ is famous for being a fanboy c0cksucker but your pretty g4y too achira

[Karibu]

the mart, what's your problem??

[ACE]

THEY WANT YOU TO PAY FOR A WATERD DOWN BLUE RAY DRIVE ,, LOL THEY CAN SHUV IT UP THERE A$$.

NOW GAMES WHERE ARE THE GOOD GAMES,,, WHAT HAPPEND TO THE CGI THEY SHOWD AT E3 05 ,,, WHAT HAPPEND TO THE WATERD DOWN GRAPHICS THAT THEY WHERE ALL PROD OF WHAT A JOKE...

SONY= FONY

THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE WAKE UP SMELL THE COFFEE

[Droidbro]

you are correct idiot

[greenlynxx]

If you are going to ask consumers to pay a higher price you have got to justify that price to the them. I for one don't see the value and the feeling I get is that many others share this view. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[kingboy]

lol and i will pay for it..too late now

[the_bebop]

I wouldn't look to much into this article as the comments he has made, it is just to calm down the shareholders.

[HyperBear]

If this is a "High-Risk Strategy", why even bother with it. If Howard already knows that the price point is way to high, then why is he still in favor of it. Like I know he works for Sony and is supposed to defend everything sony does and makes, but if he already said that its a risky move and the price is way too high, then why doesnt he talk to Ken, or Kaz or whoever and get the price point to come down, and maybe tell those Sony people to stop talking to consumers about the price and motion sensing controller, weve heard it, seen it and known about it, so enough is enough people. Let Sony try to get their work done, cause they probably have a sh!t list of things to fix for the PS3 and trying to get it out by Nov. 17 specualted launch.

[mikeeno7]

It's sad how a great company like Sony has been going downhill over the last year. Seriously, if PS3 doesn't sell, it is over for them. I hope that Nintendo regain their former glory some day...

[Droidbro]

They still hold the biggest share of the market with sega in second place. Wait a minute, oh yeah I just woke out of a 12 year coma.

[Gamer13]

First of all the ps3 price is too expensive if your not saving, and the ps3 games will cost the same as 360 are more, secondley sony is way behind in the next gen and keep delaying - thirdley 360 will get some hot games summer and hotter ones to come this fall, so sony need to work extra hard to overtake the 360.

But ill still get a Wii and PS3 at launch if it don,t run out of stock, but ill make sure i pre order both before launch.

Anyway back to my Xbox live.

[Jay da 2KBalla]

More bs from another sony exec.

[Bhai]

'high risk strategy', but has said that users are paying for its 'potential'.......!!!

.......Wow, so PS brand has reached to the point where potential is going to be seen instead of price, definitely true as people WILL BE paying for it and millions are gonna be sold out immediately. I just enjoy watching a successful warrior conquering even more lands...AWESOME !!!!!!!

[Droidbro]

honestly.

[TitanXX]

I mean all this PRice talk is getting really really old. The PS3 has Blue-ray so what and right now no one is buying the next-gen formats, but thier is one thing about Sony and even nintendo ant other japanese companies is that they plan for the future, and if you think about I don't think Sony will have the lead the first 2 years but when the price is down(regardless of the 360 going down) and more people have HDTV then Blue-ray will win and thier is the PS3. Microsoft also has a vesion but will the 360 survive in the next 5-6+ years. I mean from what I have heard Halo 3 is the last Halo and even if Gears OF War is an exclusive who's to say in the future it will still be one. I mean one knows what the future hold but I think Sony sees a way to win not immiedatly but in the 2 years they see results.

[TheMART]

Wrong. The HDTV's sold main stream now and in 2 years will be the 720p native screens. The 1080p native screens are now very expensive and by that time still expensive enough compared to 720p native screens.

So no one sees the need of a 1080p native HDTV. And at this moment, everybody is already switching to 720p native HDTV's. Philips Europe even has closed it's CRT TV factory because they sell almost no CRT's anymore.

Those people won't switch the coming 5 to 7 years to a new TV.

BluRay doesn't have to win. HD-DVD is cheaper and has enough capability. People with PC dominate the market. They want burners that burn large data the cheapest way. Which is HD-DVD. Every winning format has been made by PC users.

Furthermore, Halo 3 is probably the last Halo. But still they could make Halo 4 if Halo 3 sold big time. Commercial thoughts are always changable.

Gears of War is an exclusive and it will stay that way. If Epic would decide to make a cross over for other formats then 360/PC, MS would instantly buy the whole company. They make enough money so they can spend it. They'll take over the console market no mather what cost. You've seen that with the original XBOX.

Sony loss first quarter 2006 was about 600 million dollars. They don't have so much money to burn. That's why BluRay might not make it and the 360 will be on top. MS always wins

[omansteveo]

Halo 2 has been out for almost 2 years nw and even with the 360 out people still buy buy xboxes for theat game and it is the no.1 played xbox live game.
I dont think theres needs to be a concern for life after halo 3 so to speak as long as quality games keep coming, the ps2 did okay with just 1 final fatasy game 11 or x-2 dont count they suck) and people havent been playin that game for 2 years. The point im tryin to make is people are gonna play Halo 3 2 maybe 3 years after it releases and their gonna still be ppl buyin the system bc of that game. Im a huge fan of the fresh and new not a huge fan of sequals so halo 3 bein the last one doesnt bother me i think some canpanies rely to heavily of sequals and we get shafted bc we buy their new system to play the games we had on the old one

[kingboy]

ahh! with all my connections that i have i`m gonna play the ps3 on october.Droidanomix u are some big looser attacking people .

[Droidbro]

... then you can eat the corn out of my sh1t too.

You idiot.

[omansteveo]

Sony is gonna ship a million units at most this fall(if it comes this fall) and the US is gonna get shafted like we did with the ps2...yeah 1 million units at leats 500,000 of those are going to Japan and the rest are split between here and europe word is at Gamestop is were only expecting 10-12 per store at most and thats alot of wishful thinking

[96impala]

i love my 360.

[Moostache]

I have been keenly interested in seeing how the Samsung BD-P1000 would be received by the early-adopters and from what I have seen at very respected AV sites like www.AVSforums.com and projectorcentral.com, the news for BD is not very inspiring...

The $1000 Samsung BD player is getting de-pants in many reviews by the $500 Toshiba HD-DVD player on video quality. That does not necessarily suggest the BD format is doomed, although it is embarassing to have quotes like this : "Overall, our initial experience with the Samsung BD player and the initial Blu-Ray discs leaves us underwhelmed. The image quality does not measure up to what we would expect from a high-definition source, and it certainly falls short of the hype." (Projectorcentral.com)

The story circulating the newsgroups and forums is that BD does NOT represent any great advantage over HD-DVD for the single most anticipated feature of either format - MOVIE PLAYBACK. I can certainly understand better now why Sony delayed the launch of their own BD player if the Samsung is so bad - they can't afford another high profile flop in advance of the PS3 release. They have so much riding on the future of BD that a piss-poor initial Blu-Disc player from them would have been catastrophic.

As it sits, things still don't look very rosy for them at the momenmt, and share hodlers have every right to be very worried and angry and in need of some top-level (CEO) reassurance. The list is long and growing by the week for Sony troubles.

If Blu-Ray is going to initially cost 2X HD-DVD and not show any meaningful improvement in picture quality (that should sound pretty familiar in this forum - where PS3 is going to cost nearly 2X XB360 and not show any meaningful improvement for in-game graphics), they are going to have a very hard time getting people to adopt the format.

The strange thing is that bad BD players might actually be GOOD news for the PS3...in a twisted and warped sort of way. If the first BD players all suck as bad as the initial reviews of the Samsung player, then the PS3 offering the Blu-Ray playback functionality at 1/2 price may look more attractive to some people. It may actually make some ill-informed consumers say "well, I know the PS3 is expensive comapred to the competition and it looks about the same, but hey, I do get a sub-par HD-disc player too...." Of course, those people may just buy it because it says "Sony" on it anyway...

The reality of the situation is this -IHMO - Sony and BD may have a ton of studio support at the moment, but if they cannot show a vastly superior picture quality (both have equal audio capability anyway), then the installed user base will suffer. When that user base suffers - on two fronts apparently, with one front being the overpriced and underwhelming PS3 in-game graphics relative to hype (making sales of the PS3 more tenuous than previously thought based on game graphics and such) and the second being a similar fate for Blu-Ray discs versus HD-DVD in picture quality - and when the installed user base is weaker than forecast or promised, then the studio support enjoyed by Blu-Ray now may just evaporate. Maybe not all at once, maybe in the form of more "dual-format" releases. But long term, selling something with inferior quality (or even comprable but very close quality) at 2X the price fo the competition is suicide.

Games aside, the PS3 is going to be at best the same quality of Blu-Ray player as the recently released (and panned) Samsung player. Anyone who really believes Sony is going to put a top-of-the-line, best available model player in their PS3 is sniffing glue. The much hyped "feature" of having a next-gen DVD player in addition to gaming is going to look remarkably bad if that "feature" cannot even deliver the hyped picture quality. If a bad BD player produces picture quality that is barely better than an upconverted DVD, then that is no longer a "bonus" feature, but it is an albatross on the product's neck.

What else has been said about it (Samsung's BD palyer)?

How about this quote: "Blu-Ray discs have been encoded in MPEG2, whereas HD-DVD has been encoded in VC-1 (editorial - the new HD compression format developed by Microsoft) - though there was an obvious difference in the quality of the 3 Blu-Ray discs we viewed, even the best of them falls short of the video quality of our HD-DVD samples." (projectorcentral.com)

And finally, this:
"If you buy one now, you risk makign a huge investment in Blu-Ray gear and movies, and then watching in horror as HD-DVD winds up winning the format war. Or vice versa. If that's your fate, then you'll have to junk your whole investment. In that case, don't forget to visit our sister site : Modern-Day-Betamax-suckers.com ." (New York Times - 6/22/06)

[omansteveo]

Yeha i read that article pretty interresting its proof that both formats are rushed to market and that maybe the next wave of systems should include these formats.
I think sony might bet getting a little ahead of themselves but i understand their strategy of put out a system with a ten year life span we can profit down the road longer, its very smart thinking but they have to relize that consumers decide when they are ready, they cant decide for us