Japan gets an early Christmas; Sony lowers price of Playstation 3
In an attempt to compete with the more modestly priced Xbox 360 and Wii, Sony has announced that it will lower the cost of it’s basic Playstation 3 system for its Japanese launch.
According to The Washington Post, the new cost of the core console will be 47,000 Yen ($410) from an original 59,800 Yen ($515.) At present time, this price drop will only take place in the companies home country.
“Sony spokeswoman Nanako Kato said there were no plans to lower the price in other markets.”
Unfortunately for potential customers this news does not at present time affect the price of the 60GB system which, if you recall, will make up 80% of the systems available at launch.
This move creates an interesting dilemma for people hoping to get their hands on a PS3 before Christmas.
With the old pricing, it did not make much sense to purchase a core system instead of shelling out the extra $100 for the 60GB. However, if the supped up version remains at $600 while the core drops to around $400, things get a little more complicated. Not to mention the fact that there will only be about 20,000 or so available in Japan at launch.
As it stands, the discount really isn’t much to get very excited about. If the company decides to expand its discount to other markets and/or include the 60GB version in the price drop, then that’s another story.
Sony cuts price of Playstation 3 to $410 [WashingtonPost]
Analyist: 80% of launch Ps3s to be high end [Gamespot]