Author Topic: Spong Says PS3 $499 (Read 14513 times)

Kairon · « **on:** April 05, 2006, 02:42:03 AM »

Better start working overtime!

Developer gossip in LA LA Land points to high-end pricepoint

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Edit:
Apparently, a Sony of Europe Exec has also let it slip:

gamesindustry.biz reports it

And so has Joystiq

BlackNMild2k1 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 05, 2006, 03:17:31 AM »

Hey Mon, I gonna get tweee moow joob to buy mee a pee esss twee mon

Nephilim · « **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2006, 04:05:13 AM »

proberly just a spokesman said it will cost 500, just one of those hype men who know nothing about whats really going on internally

capamerica · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2006, 04:53:15 AM »

My toilet says the PS3 was going to be $499 too, Hey you wonder if maybe my Toilet is the secret source that gave Spong the info?

Seriously thou why do people even listen to Spong? Their track record is like 0.

Caliban · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2006, 06:43:53 AM »

Well I read on jeux-france.com that Sony's european president stated that the PS3 will come with a price tag of $500 EUR (around $613 US), he said that it is expensive but alot cheaper than other blu-ray capable devices. I would guess that they would release it in the US for $499.99 too as has been mentioned above.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2006, 07:08:08 AM »

The original Playstation made a huge splash when shortly after Sega annouced their early Saturn launch, a Sony exec annouced the price as $100 less than the Saturn. Everyone assumed that the PSP would be insanely expensive. Well it is but the price is way lower than people were predicting. Sony has a track record of pricing lower than expectations. So I really doubt the PS3 will cost $499.

jasonditz · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2006, 07:25:41 AM »

The thing with the PSP is that no one was expecting Sony to sell units at as big a loss as they were willing to. The PS3's been rumored to cost upwards of $900 per unit to manufacture. If that's true, I don't even see how they can bring it to market for even $499... this isn't the electronics leviathon that Sony was when the PS1 came out, this is a company seeing declining margins across the board and declining revenue year over year.

Flames_of_chaos · « **Reply #7 on:** April 05, 2006, 07:40:34 AM »

Well oddly enough Spong was right on a couple of things like the Rev controller at TGC 05 but 499.99 thats a scary price tag and a lot of pretty pennies for a gaming system as wasn't it rumored that game may costs 60 - 80 USD since blu-rays might be more expensive to make and development costs that will probably spike up due to a different architecture and other things?.

jasonditz · « **Reply #8 on:** April 05, 2006, 08:00:24 AM »

High price didn't hurt the 3DO, right?

Kairon · « **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2006, 08:39:05 AM »

Edited the original post with Links to Joystiq and gamesindustry.biz which proceeed down the same lines, but with reports of a Sony European executive stating a european pricepoint

capamerica · « **Reply #10 on:** April 05, 2006, 09:47:42 AM »

okay I take it back, I guess Spong was due to get something right for once.

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #11 on:** April 05, 2006, 11:49:00 AM »

This isn't shocking.

Just as Nintendo let slip early on that the Revolution was only 2-3X the power of a Gamecube...though I question if Nintendo won't last minute at least up the RAM...Sony also mentioned early on that PS3 will be expensive.

$499.99 is very high...but I believe Sony probably feels the price is justified. Imagine you are not only getting a state of the art gaming system of supposedly unparalleled power...you are also getting Blue-Ray movie player to watch truly HD movies.

I really doubt that it is even remotely costing Sony $900.00 to make a single PS3. I would doubt that it is costing them $700.00.

Really Sony may believe that with their lead in the gaming market, and the verge of a new movie format that they can afford to price the system to actually make a small profit and possible help save Sony's financial troubles.

To me this is really going to hurt Sony's sales. Look at the systems that have launched with large price points...they have never succeeded. 3DO, NEO-GEO, Jaguar even...all had too high price points and failed in the market.

TMW · « **Reply #12 on:** April 05, 2006, 12:22:37 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: capamerica
okay I take it back, I guess Spong was due to get something right for once.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

IceCold · « **Reply #13 on:** April 05, 2006, 03:11:19 PM »

Not digital ones

TMW · « **Reply #14 on:** April 05, 2006, 03:18:04 PM »

They are if they are blinking 12:00!

Personally, I would be surprised if the PS3 wasn't at -least- $500USD. Honestly, I was expecting it to go for $600 given the rumors of production cost.

skyfire · « **Reply #15 on:** April 05, 2006, 03:54:23 PM »

Yeah but see that is how they get you sucked in. Some exec. spews out some crazy number and then months later (oh would you look at that, E3 is just around the corner

) Sony announces the official price which ofcourse is much lower (even if only $100) thus the people say "well that ain't so bad now" cushioning the blow.

Regardless of price I'm not sure I will be buying any of the next-gen systems. Simply have other things going on right now so gaming has to take a back seat for the moment.

Bloodworth · « **Reply #16 on:** April 05, 2006, 05:31:20 PM »

http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3824

Lik Sang posted a quote from Kutaragi declaring that PS3 would not be priced below 50,000 Yen, and although that's about $430 in currency conversions, it tends to translate to $500 in the US. I am not surprised, but I think Skyfire is right about the possibility of them pricing it lower than that with all of this as a diversion.

Hocotate · « **Reply #17 on:** April 05, 2006, 05:36:24 PM »

Gaming should be taking a back seat in my life as well... but it's not lol. I'll be moving in a few months, and be going to a new college, along with my girlfriend moving in with me a year or so after that. It's such a mess because all of these uper new games are being released left and right!! Plus we have a new gen starting up later this year... I don't wanna miss out on this!

Getting back on topic, I think half a grand is way too much, and most shouldn't want to pay that much. But what do I know, I though the $400 price tag was too much on the X360 and people still bought it.

Avinash_Tyagi · « **Reply #18 on:** April 05, 2006, 07:49:35 PM »

I think that's what Sony is banking on the PS3 being such a sought after commodity that even at half a grand it'll still sell massive amounts.

While the PSP was priced less than expected, the thing is they were not losing too much money on each system at its $250 price, with the PS3, even at $499 US they'd still be losing upwards of $300 per system any lower and they risk financial ruin.

jasonditz · « **Reply #19 on:** April 05, 2006, 07:55:32 PM »

I'm just waiting for the 5 easy payments of 99.95 infomercials.

Mark my words, this "they'll want it so bad, they'll get a second job to buy one" attitude is going to jump up and bite them in the ass.

wandering · « **Reply #20 on:** April 05, 2006, 08:16:43 PM »

Quote
Mark my words, this "they'll want it so bad, they'll get a second job to buy one" attitude is going to jump up and bite them in the ass.

Yeah...I don't get it. Why not adopt a "they'll want it so bad, they'll get it even without a 400-core synergistic processor" attitude instead?

mantidor · « **Reply #21 on:** April 06, 2006, 05:16:45 AM »

I dont see the PS3 being priced above $400, it would be stupid if is higher, the whole "get a second job" rethoric is honestly a hype tactic, so when they announce the $400 price everyone will go "oh its cheap!" when the truth is that it isnt cheap at all.

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #22 on:** April 06, 2006, 06:42:27 AM »

Mantidor: When is $400.00 cheap to anyone? $400.00 would be getting a second job for some people...and that would still mean you probably aren't leaving the store without spending over $500.00-$550.00 on the system.

Look at the technology in both the Xbox 360 and PS3. They are basically really nice and impressive computers. If you were to go out and buy a computer with these specifications you would be spending this much money easy.

I remember before computers were good at doing games that console systems were always underpowered compared to today's computer market, which is why they were so much cheaper...but the console's very design allowed it to do games great.

This is what excites me about the Revolution, the fact that it isn't going to be $400-$500 dollars, and that it is being designed specifically to play games and take them in a new direction.

Even if it is released at $400 nobody will say that is cheap. And I have my doubts that $400 is even possible.

Rhoq · « **Reply #23 on:** April 06, 2006, 06:44:42 AM »

I think the PS3 will only be available with one option (no lower priced "core" system). It will be priced the same as the full XBox 360 ($399.99 US). Anything higher would be too risky for Sony, as people could get a comparable system (the 360) for less.

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #24 on:** April 06, 2006, 07:07:50 AM »

RHOQ: But it isn't comparable. The PS3 is said to be more powerful...and even if that isn't true, the PS3 allows you to play Blue-Ray movies so that you have added value.

Sony could get away with the price just in the fact that it could be the cheapest Blue-Ray video player on the market (which I read somewhere.)

News:

Author Topic: Spong Says PS3 $499 (Read 14513 times)