Kaz Hirai on PS3: original price was just right

SPOnG recently scored an exclusive interview with Sony‘s big boss Kazuo Hirai to talk about the company’s current standing in the market. In the interview, Hirai talked about Sony’s past and future stratagems and how it’s holding up now in the console wars, particularly the ever debatably hefty price of the PlayStation 3.

Sony seems to be sticking with their tried and tested strategy with the PS2. In its generation, the PS2 had to compete with the Dreamcast which had a head start; now the PS2 is still thriving in hardware and software sales. Hirai explains that the same can be said for the PS3:

The PS3 has been on the market less than a year in the US and Japan and, what is it, less than that in Europe? It’s difficult right now to say who’s where. […] Clearly we’ve never started from a position of strength and we’ve always had to catch up with every generation of hardware that we’ve brought into the market.

And on that note the conversation continues to the pricing of the PS3. Hirai expressed that the original price of the PS3 – US$ 599 for the 60 GB version – was just right and the issue wasn’t one of price but of supply. When the PS3 was first released, the market didn’t have enough supplies to meet the demand in the US and Japanese markets.

Although this isn’t a very encouraging comment if you’re looking forward to a price cut, it’s not to say that it won’t happen; we won’t know for sure until the holiday announcements come in. One thing we can anticipate in the future though:

We’re very excited about this holiday season, moving into the new fiscal year. We’ll have 200 titles worldwide, 120 of which will be available in the North American market. I almost wish the holiday season was here now so we can really get in there.

Via SPOnG

SPOnG recently scored an exclusive interview with Sony‘s big boss Kazuo Hirai to talk about the company’s current standing in the market. In the interview, Hirai talked about Sony’s past and future stratagems and how it’s holding up now in the console wars, particularly the ever debatably hefty price of the PlayStation 3.

Sony seems to be sticking with their tried and tested strategy with the PS2. In its generation, the PS2 had to compete with the Dreamcast which had a head start; now the PS2 is still thriving in hardware and software sales. Hirai explains that the same can be said for the PS3:

The PS3 has been on the market less than a year in the US and Japan and, what is it, less than that in Europe? It’s difficult right now to say who’s where. […] Clearly we’ve never started from a position of strength and we’ve always had to catch up with every generation of hardware that we’ve brought into the market.

And on that note the conversation continues to the pricing of the PS3. Hirai expressed that the original price of the PS3 – US$ 599 for the 60 GB version – was just right and the issue wasn’t one of price but of supply. When the PS3 was first released, the market didn’t have enough supplies to meet the demand in the US and Japanese markets.

Although this isn’t a very encouraging comment if you’re looking forward to a price cut, it’s not to say that it won’t happen; we won’t know for sure until the holiday announcements come in. One thing we can anticipate in the future though:

We’re very excited about this holiday season, moving into the new fiscal year. We’ll have 200 titles worldwide, 120 of which will be available in the North American market. I almost wish the holiday season was here now so we can really get in there.

Via SPOnG