How to revive sales in your flagging video game console

Let this be a lesson to anyone in the audience planning the usual Tuesday multi-billion dollar video game console launch: dropping the price by a healthy chunk (like, say, $100) does very good things for sales of systems like the PS3 on sites like Amazon.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

[Stefan @ Jul 9th 2007 10:05PM]

thats awesome something liek this will start a chain or reactions that will maybe end up with a larger supply of games for this console it so desperately needs. more poeple just need to have this console so theres a larger market for game developers to sell their games to.

[Alan Partridge @ Jul 10th 2007 6:40AM]

Has the UK had a price cut too? PS3 used to be £425 ($850) but now most places are selling for £400 ($800) with a free HDMI cable, no remote and blu-ray films though.

[Fatima @ Jul 9th 2007 10:05PM]

ahh! I just bought an iPhone. Blarg...I guess ill wait till fall to buy PS3, after my bank account refills since iPhone was a bit pricey. Its okay though, cuz I love my iPhone and its more useful at this point than PS3 w/o games.

[Dave @ Jul 9th 2007 10:06PM]

It even comes with a free remote and six blu-ray discs. That's not bad!

[T H @ Jul 9th 2007 10:17PM]

Now BRING ON THE DAMN GAMES!!!!!!

[Wun Chiou @ Jul 10th 2007 1:57AM]

The new price point, coupled with the built-in Blu-Ray player will help Sony grab the next-gen console fence-sitters, but it might not help them get gamers who already committed to a 360 to switch. What the PS3 really needs now is more exclusives. It had three excellent games released recently (Rainbow Six: Vegas, The Darkness, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma), but the first two are not exclusive and the last is a remake/update.

[Simon K @ Jul 9th 2007 10:21PM]

Now when will they drop the price in Australian price? Currently the 60GB model RRPs for A$995 or thereabouts, which at the current exchange rate means about US$850, 170% the price of the same thing in the us. what gives?

[david @ Jul 10th 2007 2:34AM]

Thats nuts! I hope they drop it $300A for ya.

[Manuel @ Jul 9th 2007 10:23PM]

Show me Shadow of the colossus II and i'll show sony my money.

[Dan @ Jul 9th 2007 10:23PM]

Maybe this will inspire developers to start properly using the PS3's hardware, and not just porting games over to it. The 360's been victorious thus far. Let's see where this takes us.

[jBiber @ Jul 9th 2007 10:30PM]

Its not hard to raise your sales by 2500% if you're only selling a few consoles to begin with :P

[Hardcore @ Jul 9th 2007 10:36PM]

It's not hard to be a douchebag when your name is jBiber. If you didn't notice, it says #1 in Video Games...that means more that your little Wii.

[linkman2004 @ Jul 10th 2007 1:10AM]

That's because Amazon still doesn't have any Wiis in stock.

[chilicoke @ Jul 10th 2007 2:15AM]

sorry but this joke got boring after the 500th time

[Tim Goldsmith @ Jul 10th 2007 9:44AM]

@Hardcore

hahaha i love the response to jBiber's comment. priceless

[kingofwale @ Jul 9th 2007 10:36PM]

>Its not hard to raise your sales by 2500% if you're only selling a few consoles to begin with :P

You must be confused or something, PS3 is ranked number 1 in sales on Amazon video games. 2500% is not an increasing sales percentage, it's an increasing ranking %

Although I must give you prop, that joke has only be told in Joystiq.com, PS3fanboy.com and a few other websites. ;)♦

[gonzo217 @ Jul 9th 2007 11:34PM]

I don't understand this then. How do they calculate % increase in rank? When you move up from 26 to 25, is that a 100% increase or a 3.8% (1/26) increase? What would be the point of giving % increases if every move was always an increase of at least 100%? And if an increase of one rank is worth 1/26th, then how cold it ever have grown 2500%?
I thought that % was a sales increase calculation. That makes the most sense..

[Frankie @ Jul 10th 2007 2:39PM]

Wiis are never in stock because Nintendo trickled the hardware release by 3 or 4 units a week to keep the demand artificial. There's no other obvious reason why a system built on 4-year old technology and is 8+ months old wouldn't be in stock by now.

[kaztm @ Jul 9th 2007 11:02PM]

Now showing 2,700%

[IsLNdbOi @ Jul 9th 2007 11:05PM]

Is it true that the 80GB model coming to the US will use software emulation (like the EU models) for PS2 games?

[menuka @ Jul 10th 2007 12:05AM]

yes

[Silver @ Jul 9th 2007 11:15PM]

Yes, *increased* sales at *lower* prices = even *greater* losses for Sony!!!!

Business 101, people. Business 101 in a bizarre, alternative universe that is.

[MJ510 @ Jul 10th 2007 12:42AM]

No, increased sales lead to greater economies of scale, which mean that it costs Sony less to produce each unit.

Economics 101, people.

After all, while the folks at Sony may misjudge the market on occasion, they still aren't as stupid as you are.

[Kamokazi @ Jul 10th 2007 10:10AM]

Yes, but if they were losing $200+ or so per unit before, you can't tell me they've shaved more than $100 off the manufacturing costs already, can you?

Accounting 101, people.

But in all fairness, more estabilished consoles=more games sold=Sony actually turning a profit on this thing...eventually...when there are some more decent ones available (so is that Business 201?). Really good PS3 exclusives need to happen for Sony to profit, and they need more consoles sold so developers are willing to produce them. So even if they are losing a full $300 a pop (not likely), it's what they need if they are ever going to make money off the damn things in the long run.

[MC @ Jul 10th 2007 12:59PM]

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/05/01/blue-lasers-coming-down-in-price-ps3-to-follow/

[Russell @ Jul 9th 2007 11:17PM]

Yes, we need more PS3's out there so there is a reason for exclusive games.

Right now I'm wearing the hell out of Forza 2, Rainbow six and live arcade on my 360 while my PS3 is the occasional "i got a bluray from netflix" player

[TwhiT @ Jul 9th 2007 11:17PM]

jBiber, you are soooooooo..........................right :D

I lol'd

seriously ps3 fanboys, lighten up, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen (Harry S. Truman)

or atleast bring a funny comment like ol' Biber did

+1 to you Biber lol

[ozzzy @ Jul 9th 2007 11:43PM]

I don't know if I'd put much stock in Amazon's charts. Number 10 is the original Super Mario Brothers. I don't foresee Nintendo shipping 100 million more NES' =)

10. 258% Sales Rank in Video Games: 424 (was 1,521)
Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros.
by Nintendo of America
Platform: Nintendo NES
Average Customer Review:
Available from these sellers.

[Sizer @ Jul 10th 2007 12:04AM]

Knowing that the 80 GB models are going to lose the PS2 hardware compatibility plus the $100 drop is probably enough to make anyone who's hedging their bets finally pull the trigger. Even if it doesn't actually have any games other than Resistance and Motorstorm.

[darkstar @ Jul 10th 2007 12:27AM]

i wish they brought back the 20gb model! make it 399 and im sold!
the 60gb model has mo features that i have no interest in. but for 499, its very tempting

[Matt @ Jul 10th 2007 12:28AM]

Microsoft and Nintendo seem to be in a better position. Dropping the price this early does smell of desperation. Plus, as other have mentioned, now they're losing even more. While Microsoft and especially Nintendo can afford to drop their prices, likely always staying lower than the PS3.

[nojok3 @ Jul 10th 2007 12:37AM]

I like my 360 but if the PS3 doesn't get games then it won't sell (even at $500) and it will hurt everyone else because there is no healthy competition.

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Jul 10th 2007 12:49AM]

Weren't they selling these at a loss?
Did they suddenly get really good at producing these things, or are they now selling them at /more/ of a loss?

Not flaming. Just curious :)

[Jypson @ Jul 10th 2007 12:51AM]

I took the Amazon deal. I don't forsee ANOTHER price drop in the near future, and with the remote (which should be included anyway) and the 6 movies included....it pushed me off the fense. I'm just glad I held out until now, hopefully won't regret it in six months.

[Phil @ Jul 10th 2007 1:31AM]

$299 by Christmas, baby! It's not that unrealistic. The PS3 is just a computer that ships with a game controller instead of kb and mouse and no monitor. Before the fanboys shout "BluRay!" just remember how quickly DVD hardware got cheap once manufacturing hit its stride.

[Koji @ Jul 10th 2007 1:21AM]

Remember: The Blu-Ray drives now cost way, way, way, WAY less to produce than they did. I've been expecting this for a while now.

[FordGTGuy @ Jul 10th 2007 1:46AM]

@Phil

Actually anything under 449.99$ is completely unrealistic.

[10.Deep @ Jul 10th 2007 1:49AM]

Most people saw "$500 Blu-Ray player" and bought it, cause its got about around, maybe, kinda, something like 2 good games out right now

[birddog @ Jul 10th 2007 2:42AM]

dropping the price early? it has been 7 months..

[S.Meyer @ Jul 10th 2007 3:53AM]

Would be glad if pricing here in Germany would be as low as in the USA. The PS3 still costs 816.19 US Dollar here..... Nearly double the price

Sven Meyer
http://www.holz-metall.info

[tomijlahtinen @ Jul 10th 2007 4:44AM]

PS3 60GB costs 965.81 USD Here in Finland, bundled with Call Of Duty 3 and crappy Talladega Nights Movie... :(

[PJK @ Jul 10th 2007 5:55AM]

So can someone tell me why it still costs me the equivalent of $846.16 to buy it in Ireland?

[just a resident cynic @ Jul 10th 2007 6:17AM]

Agreed PJK, agreed.

For us guys in the Europe even if we get a similar discount of the price of the console it would only go down to what guys across the Atlantic are currently paying for it now.


.....and I'm not even gonna start on how much Japan get theirs for......
Thanks for simultanously raping us while destroying options like Lik-Sang, Sony

Thanks alot.

(::sigh:: And the £/$ exchange rate was doing pretty well recently as well.)

[Xavier Gill @ Jul 10th 2007 7:05AM]

Europe subsidise the other regions. We buy more hardware and software than anywhere else and we pay a higher price. This allows them to sell at a large loss in Japan and America.

[PJK @ Jul 10th 2007 7:19AM]

I hope thats not meant to be comforting. I'm not even going to think about buying the ps3 until its down to at most 500 Euros and even then its still financial rape.

[Mattso @ Jul 10th 2007 10:59AM]

I'm really getting frustrated because there's still way too many reasons to wait and see how things pan out. I've been suffering without a console for so long because I'm trying to find definitive reasons to go one way or another (since I can only afford one). So far this has been a generation of evolution more than any other. The xbox 360 has been adding functionality, added a higher end version of the console, and then theres also "Falcon". The PS3 drops the price very early in the game and adds the 80 gig version... and has the precariously "next gen" blu-ray (now more reasonable with the price drop), which I would like to have. The Wii... I just don't know what to make of it yet because it's such a different concept with different games. I can't make a decision yet and it's killing me, but the competition definitely seems to be benefiting us consumers.

[cooliojohanson @ Jul 10th 2007 11:45AM]

lol at finally selling 2,500 consoles on amazon...

[mike @ Jul 10th 2007 12:43PM]

I think that's 2,500 PERCENT.

[mike @ Jul 10th 2007 5:42PM]

An educated person would know that 2500% of 1 is 25

[cooliojohanson @ Jul 10th 2007 8:54PM]

an educated person would be able to read and see that i wrote 'like one' indicating that i was being feciscious.