PS3 price could lead to next-gen defeat, says analyst

Microsoft’s recent price cuts to its range of Xbox 360 SKUs could lead to a drop in PS3 sales according to one analyst who insists that Sony must drop the price of PS3 if it is to remain competitive.

Edge Online quotes Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich as stating: We still urge Sony to consider a possible hardware price cut this holiday season. If September hardware sales fall below our estimate of 200,000 units, it could be an indication that the Xbox 360 price cut played a bigger role on hindering PS3 sales than what we originally expected.

If Microsoft’s first-party titles perform significantly better in quality and popularity than Sony’s this holiday season, we could begin to see a considerable amount of potential PS3 owners, who may be waiting for a PS3 price cut, to choose the Xbox 360 over the PS3.

The $399 price point is simply too steep to entice the casual and mainstream markets, regardless of how great Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet may be.”

However, SCEA’s director of corporate communications Patrick Seybold has defended his company’s current strategy: As previously discussed we aren’t making any price moves this holiday season. In my opinion, we have the best line up of any PlayStation generation going into this holiday and consumers will be very receptive to it.

With PS3 titles for this including Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift to name but a few of our multiple exclusives, combined with PlayStation Home and increasing multimedia features for the hardware, we expect to have continued momentum going into and beyond this holiday season.”