It’s not that bad! PS3 price negatively overhyped
Remember the PS2. Remember the product cycle! March: We told you about the long lifespans of the PS1 and PS2. The PS3 looks like it also has a long lifespan. August: Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai told you that Sony thinks in long-term cycles. This means they have a plan for the PS3 that may extend for a decade (or at least half a decade?). So with these things in mind, let’s put the PS3’s future into perspective.
Stan Beer over at iTWire reminds us that when the PS2 was released, people complained about the price. But the PS2 still sold very well. Of course, it’s different this time around: there’s competition from the Xbox 360 (which “has a respectable range of titles”) and the Nintendo Wii (“a novel gaming experience”). But Beer believes that it’ll all turn out OK.
We tend to agree with his vision of the future:
- The PS3 will launch in Japan and the U.S. then Australia and Europe. The West is a rich market, and there will be buyers who won’t mind the price of the PS3.
- Some will buy it right away. It has Blu-ray and it can play PS2 games.
- Some will wait. They expect that the PS3’s price will eventually drop (like it did with the PS2; read the articles I mentioned above). Some may buy a Wii while they wait for the PS3’s price to come down and for more games to be released for the PS3.
- Eventually, people will buy the PS3.
Why do we want to agree? Because Sony has proven that it can handle long-term planning. The PS1 and PS2 proved that. Sony keeps telling us that, but unfortunately some analysts keep trying to read the future that they forget the past: Sony has done it before and might actually do it again. Which is why we have such warm and fuzzy feelings when we read Stan Beer’s article, because there are analysts who aren’t falling prey to the negative price hype:
A number of market analysts are saying that the first year of sales does not determine the success of a console. The sales cycles of the PS1 and PS2 have already demonstrated that. … If the PS3 follows the path of the PS2, and Sony gets its way, the cycle of successive price cuts and an ever growing library of PS3 games will continue for about five years until PS3 is a fraction the price it is today.
Remember the PS2. Remember the product cycle! March: We told you about the long lifespans of the PS1 and PS2. The PS3 looks like it also has a long lifespan. August: Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai told you that Sony thinks in long-term cycles. This means they have a plan for the PS3 that may extend for a decade (or at least half a decade?). So with these things in mind, let’s put the PS3’s future into perspective.
Stan Beer over at iTWire reminds us that when the PS2 was released, people complained about the price. But the PS2 still sold very well. Of course, it’s different this time around: there’s competition from the Xbox 360 (which “has a respectable range of titles”) and the Nintendo Wii (“a novel gaming experience”). But Beer believes that it’ll all turn out OK.
We tend to agree with his vision of the future:
- The PS3 will launch in Japan and the U.S. then Australia and Europe. The West is a rich market, and there will be buyers who won’t mind the price of the PS3.
- Some will buy it right away. It has Blu-ray and it can play PS2 games.
- Some will wait. They expect that the PS3’s price will eventually drop (like it did with the PS2; read the articles I mentioned above). Some may buy a Wii while they wait for the PS3’s price to come down and for more games to be released for the PS3.
- Eventually, people will buy the PS3.
Why do we want to agree? Because Sony has proven that it can handle long-term planning. The PS1 and PS2 proved that. Sony keeps telling us that, but unfortunately some analysts keep trying to read the future that they forget the past: Sony has done it before and might actually do it again. Which is why we have such warm and fuzzy feelings when we read Stan Beer’s article, because there are analysts who aren’t falling prey to the negative price hype:
A number of market analysts are saying that the first year of sales does not determine the success of a console. The sales cycles of the PS1 and PS2 have already demonstrated that. … If the PS3 follows the path of the PS2, and Sony gets its way, the cycle of successive price cuts and an ever growing library of PS3 games will continue for about five years until PS3 is a fraction the price it is today.
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