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Tretton Shoots Down PS3 Price-Cut Calls Too

sjohnson
46 Comments

Posted July 8, 2009 - By Stephen Johnson

Jack TrettonSony would like to make one thing perfectly clear: It is not cutting the price of the PlayStation 3, no matter how many people whine about it. So shut up already.

Earlier, I told you how CEO Sir Howard Stringer said Robert Kotick's seeming-threats that Activision could stop developing for PS3 if the price isn't lowered are "a lot of noise," and now Jack Tretton, President of Sony Computer Entertainment America, has reiterated his point.

In an interview with Fast Company, Tretton said:

"People are always wanting you to lower your price on hardware. We could've come out with a PlayStation 2.5 for $299 or less, and in the first two or three years it would sell extremely well. But there would be a point where people would be going, "I am not really seeing the incremental leap." We feel that we're sacrificing the short term to pay dividends in the long term. People are having short-term thinking--the platform is not even three years old. It was $599; it's now $399. The focus on pricing is something we appreciate, but you have to have the conviction and the confidence that you are on the right path for the long term and ultimately you'll get all the consumers you want. You won't get them all day one, but we're looking to get them over a 10-year period. It's going to take different things to get different consumers."

If you're following along at home, here are just some of the people who have called for or predicted a price cut in the last few months: Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, Wedbush Morgan Securities video game analyst Michael Pachter, some guy I met on a train, Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown,  Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans, Activision head Robert Kottick, half of our commenters, and many others.

But just to be different, and contrary, I'm going to say this: I don't think Sony should cut the price of the PS3. It's not crazy expensive for what you get. The price has already been chopped since the thing was launched, and now, finally, it's actually worth the cost. Everyone who doesn't already have a PS3 needs to quit complaining. I know it's tough out there economically, but pick up a paper-route, sell some plasma and save up the price of a PS3. You'll like it better because you earned it, know what I mean?

Also, keep in mind, many of the people calling for a price-cut are game makers, and in a perfect world for them, consoles would be free, so everyone would have at least one and they'd sell a lot more software. I bet if Sony started saying that PS3 games should be cheaper, so Sony could sell more consoles, game publishers would disagree pretty strongly.

Source

Tretton Shoots Down PS3 Price-Cut Calls Too
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/697222/tretton-shoots-down-ps3-price-cut-calls-too/
http://images.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/165826_S/Jack-Tretton.jpg
BlogThread_697222
  • theangrygimp

    They wont lower the price, so I won't buy it. That simple. 3DO/NeoGeo/PS3?.... Maybe not that extreme, but its turning out that way considering how far behind the competition in sales they are. You can get a bluray player for less than $100 now, so if a cheap bluray player was the idea, its not reason anymore, which just leaves the games, and considering how expensive they are, I'll stick with my PC. At least most popular PC games have been extended by plenty of user generated free content and online play.

    Posted: July 10, 2009 1:14 AM | Reply | Report
    theangrygimp
  • JingJang

    Geez this community just keeps getting worse and worse. On a side note, YAY i can finally use chrome to see the feed! Can anyone tell me what happened?

    Posted: July 9, 2009 11:39 AM | Reply | Report
    JingJang
  • r_pad

    @RRODisBack Sorry, that made me laugh. It shouldn't of, but it did. I'm going to go razz Leahy about it.

    Posted: July 9, 2009 9:34 AM | Reply | Report
    r_pad
  • l33t360

    Ps3 is not worth picking up even after a price cut. There are equally and superior games in the 360, Sony pumps out too many mediocre titles, and there is mo standard for their online service which is why xbox live is known for it's robust online community. Sorry Sony, not buying you this time around and from looking at he npd charts, I'm definitely not the only one.

    Posted: July 9, 2009 8:01 AM | Reply | Report
    l33t360
  • Brixtonville

    What Sony's not considering is that many of us are willing to buy a PS3 for less and not give Sony any money. We do this by purchasing used consoles.

    Not only was I (and even after purchasing and playing it, still) not willing to pay $400+ for a console, but the fact that all the new consoles have stripped down functionality was a huge turn-off.

    Blu-ray: awesome. No backwards-compatibility: failure. Sony was the company that made me sneer at and turn my back on Nintendo for going through five platform iterations with no compatibility. Sony's games are still amazing, but MS is doing everything right this time around (frequent price cuts, frequent and transparent system upgrades, securing exclusives and preventing other platforms' exclusives). I'm not so sure why Sony's corporate line is "we know what we're doing" when gamers like me are helping game developers but not Sony by buying used consoles.

    Posted: July 9, 2009 7:10 AM | Reply | Report
    Brixtonville
  • MegaMark26

    what i'd like to see is sony buying infinity ward away from activision

    Posted: July 9, 2009 1:53 AM | Reply | Report
    MegaMark26
  • Bellamorte

    If Sony doesn't want a larger market share, that's ok by me.

    Keep prices high, sell fewer PS3's.

    Lower prices, sell more consoles & lose more money.

    It'll be interesting to see how this runs its course.

    Posted: July 9, 2009 12:59 AM | Reply | Report
    Bellamorte
  • Silky08

    You know you can upgrade your ps3 hard drive pretty easily... Mines sporting about 250GB

    Posted: July 8, 2009 8:33 PM | Reply | Report
    Silky08
  • Zmeeds

    microsoft paid activision to tell sony to drop its price!

    Posted: July 8, 2009 8:02 PM | Reply | Report
    Zmeeds
  • ender_x

    Be a gamer, own all the consoles.
    or pick one and stick to it.
    the end.

    Posted: July 8, 2009 7:34 PM | Reply | Report
    ender_x
  • Killua_Zoldyck

    is it selfish to say that I'm kind of glad the PS3 is the most expensive console...? anyways, I think it's kind of naive to believe anything at face value, because with the decrease in costs to manufacture PS3 tech, Sony already has an explanation if people call them out on a price cut in the future...I think Sony might be effin with all of you just for kicks...

    Posted: July 8, 2009 6:02 PM | Reply | Report
    Killua_Zoldyck
  • RRODisBack

    @raydog44

    80gb is enough if you don't buy a lot of games. I do buy a lot so my 60gb HDD wasn't enough so I upgraded to 500gb for $99. $99 will only get you a 60gb HDD for your Xbox.

    Posted: July 8, 2009 5:57 PM | Reply | Report
    RRODisBack
  • MegaMark26

    i can understand why some people haven't opted to get a ps3 for its price tag but come on. save your money or find another alternative to get it. its well worth your money. i hope tretton goes as far as disowning and banning whatever corporation who keeps begging for a price cut. i'm pointing at you crappy activision and koei.

    you can go as far as getting a low gigabyte version of the ps3 and just upgrade it with a higher gigabyte drive. i went from having a 40 gig and went up to 250 gig. granted when you upgrade expect to lose some gigs for updates and the conversion.

    Posted: July 8, 2009 5:47 PM | Reply | Report
    MegaMark26
  • RRODisBack

    Very well written article and I agree with it all. Great job Stephen Johnson. You just got access my great G4 editor club. Tell Raymond Padilla and Patrick Klepek that I sent you and don't let Brian Leahy in no matter how much he begs and pleads.

    Posted: July 8, 2009 5:45 PM | Reply | Report
    RRODisBack
  • raydog44

    Just a thought, Sony just made a great bundle with MGS and Killzone. If they want to push units of course they are going to say they aren't lowering prices b/c then who would by the bundle. And the rumors of this PS3 slim are not going away.

    I am actaully one of those people on the fence and waiting for a price cut espically since I have a baby due in a month. But after reading this article and comments I am less hestitant to pay the 400 beans.

    Is an 80 gig machine enough? I play a lot but don't buy games like crazy.

    Posted: July 8, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Report
    raydog44
  • ahmedreoksmisox

    there gonna lower the price trust me. I dont care cause I ready have one hahahaha.

    Posted: July 8, 2009 4:55 PM | Reply | Report
    ahmedreoksmisox
  • Meteorflow

    good article. I agree with most of it.

    Posted: July 8, 2009 4:52 PM | Reply | Report
    Meteorflow
  • cwhas2godhands

    when did sony leave the planet earth?

    Posted: July 8, 2009 4:51 PM | Reply | Report
    cwhas2godhands
  • gameweasel

    I was thinking of getting a ps3 when MAG came out, but I am going to wait till I see that Sony's online service can handle it without massive lag. Plus I get the sneaking suspicion that the game experience will be hurt by cheaters and griefers who have noting to lose.

    Posted: July 8, 2009 4:42 PM | Reply | Report
    gameweasel
  • Arguello

    @stephen
    what did the guy on the train say??

    Posted: July 8, 2009 4:42 PM | Reply | Report
    Arguello

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