Industry Speculation On PS3 Price Cut

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

Thought you guys might be interested in this article published yesterday ....

PS3 price cut announcement "in the next couple of days" - Janco

The PlayStation 3 could be about to receive a price cut, with Sony due to make an announcement imminently.
That's according to Janco Partners' Mike Hickey, who has said in his latest note to investors that Sony needs to cut USD 100 off the asking price of the luxury console.
"Recent channel checks indicate increased speculation for a PS3 price cut announcement from Sony in the next couple of days," wrote Hickey.
"We think the company needs to reduce the current price by USD 100 to effectively restart unit velocity at retail. We believe the market is expecting a PS3 price cut in April or by June at the latest," he added.
Hickey said that without a price cut, the console could stagnate on shelves, prompting publishers to move resources away from PlayStation 3 development.
"If Sony does not cut the price of their console, we expect the continuation of languishing PS3 hardware sales and the potential for publishers to accelerate their reallocation of resources away from the PS3 console."
He also said that there is talk of a PlayStation 3 unit without the Blu-ray drive, although such a console would not be compatible with the PS3 software already on the market.
"We are also hearing continued speculation that Sony is working on a non-Blu-ray PS3 console, which could enable them to make the aforementioned hardware price reduction."

Now we have also heard that Sony had no intention of a price cut but the very interesting part is the non Blu Ray version idea. Is the blu-ray a deal breaker for you ???

Kenno90

hate to say it , but as soon as that was released , sony spokes person said they were not giving the PS3 a drop at this time

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

Definitely two conflicting reports alright but the concept of dropping the blu ray player if true could only be paving the way for a price cut.

Captain-America

Hang on, aren't all PS3 games Blu-Ray? How would a non Blu-Ray PS3 work?

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

Captain-America wrote: »

Hang on, aren't all PS3 games Blu-Ray? How would a non Blu-Ray PS3 work?

Digital download only ???

Further releases on blu ray and dvd - not really sure. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

AlmightyCushion

Yeah, a non bluray version could still work (digital distribution and releasing future games on dvd and bluray like gamesnash says above) but it would be a stupid idea. I doubt developers would like having to release two versions of games and I doubt consumers would like downloading upto 25GBs of data. Plus they would need a massive hard drive to store a few games.

Really can't see them ditching the bluray drive.

Josey Wales

A PS3 without a Blu-ray drive?

Not interested in that in the slightest.

noodler

It couldn't work without a Blu-Ray Drive. So every game thats out there at the moment can't be played on the system? So if you want to play MGS4 you need to download 25GB? LMAO it better come with a fantasy internet connection and 1TB HD.

Publishers won't produce a DVD and Blu Ray copy of a game either, even if they did-the non Blu-Ray owners would be settling for a comprimised game everytime.

NotorietyH

I can't see Sony dropping the blu-ray drive. For one they marketed it as the main selling point for the console, and still are. It makes no sense for them to drop it. I don't even see how it's possible. So everyone who buys a new blu-rayless PS3 are supposed to know that all the existing games out for the PS3 on blu-ray won't work with the new system? It's ridiculous. I could see them selling one, by accident. No one would buy it. They may aswell try and sell the thing without controllers.

yoshytoshy

Without blu-ray there wouldn't be any need for HDMI and other hardware inside it.
They could probably sell it for half the price for online only ,without the blu-ray.

noodler

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Without blu-ray there wouldn't be any need for HDMI and other hardware inside it.
They could probably sell it for half the price for online only ,without the blu-ray.

Well clearly there would still be a need for a HDMI, just ask the 360. If not you are stuck with the prospect of a PS3 component cable if you want HD.

Doesn't matter if they could sell it for half the price-it doesn't work if it can't play games.

Kersmash

I do hope there's a price drop on PS3s, normal ones though, the ones without bluray wouldn't even be worth it.

yoshytoshy

noodler wrote: »

Well clearly there would still be a need for a HDMI, just ask the 360. If not you are stuck with the prospect of a PS3 component cable if you want HD.

Doesn't matter if they could sell it for half the price-it doesn't work if it can't play games.

Sony could easily come up with their own connection for hdmi tv's .
TrueHD sound is half of a hdmi connection and most games are only 720p ,proper HD movies are too big to download.
So they could easily strip it down from where it is now.

Kashkai

Isn't there already a blu ray less PS3? Its called the PS2 :D:D:D:D

btw, my PS3 is mostly used now for showing blu ray movies which it does very well. Without the blu ray drive, whats the point of the PS3????

AlmightyCushion

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Sony could easily come up with their own connection for hdmi tv's .
TrueHD sound is half of a hdmi connection and most games are only 720p ,proper HD movies are too big to download.
So they could easily strip it down from where it is now.

PS3 games would be too big to download. I'm downloading left 4 dead now and it's nearly 5GBs. That's a pain in the ass but 25GBs would be a hell of a lot worse. Also where would they be stored? A 80GB would store about 3/4 games.

yoshytoshy

There a lot of good games that are only 5GB ,I've downloaded burnout paradise and that was fairly small. Also GT5 was only a few gigabyte, warhawk.

I'm not suggesting that it's for the irish market or anything ,but in the states cable is everywhere and they could sell a good few.
There would be a market for it

noodler

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Sony could easily come up with their own connection for hdmi tv's .
TrueHD sound is half of a hdmi connection and most games are only 720p ,proper HD movies are too big to download.
So they could easily strip it down from where it is now.

I don't understand that. Isn't there only DVI, HDMI or component?

If they invented a new cable wouldn't it be useless as no Tvs could use it?

norrie rugger

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

btw, my PS3 is mostly used now for showing blu ray movies which it does very well. Without the blu ray drive, whats the point of the PS3????

Exactly, I would have gotten an XBox if the PS3 had not got a BluRay player