From Wikipedia and other sources: Here are the different price points of the PS2 and the approximate number of consoles shipped.
Quote:10/26/2000 US$299.99 LAUNCH
05/14/2002 US$199.99 30 Million
05/13/2003 US$179.99 50 Million (Jan 2003)
05/11/2004 US$149.99 70 Million
04/20/2006 US$129.99 100 Million (Nov. 2005)
The first significant price drop a year and a half after launch signalled the start of mass-market acceptance for the PS2. The 30 million who bought the PS2 at the original price represent your hardcore gamer market and early adopters. The initial price drop was 1/3.
Projecting this to the PS3 that means the $599 model dropping down to $399. The questions now will be (1) Will Sony be willing to drop the price of the PS3 by that much? and (2) Will $399 still be too expensive for the mass market/casual gamer? It'll be interesting to see what Sony will do in the next few years to attract the casual gamer and retain market share.
in my honest opinion i believe the biggest mistake m$ can make is launching there greatest line up EVER right when the ps3 and wii come out i mean no matter how great the games r there will be much more hype about consoules coming out than new games coming out, and to the average gamer that doesn't watch e3 and the only site he goes to for video games is cheat planet and is only a newbie on afterdawn(j/k i luv u guys) will be engulfed in the insane specs with this mystikal thing called Blu-ray that is $1000 normally. but no one will have heard og gow, or prey, or even bioshock, but they know mario, mgs, tekken etc.
How could Sony really afford to drop the price when they say they're already making a loss on the sytem at that price? The more they drop the price the bigger the hole they've dug themselves... If they count soley on software to make up for such a loss then if piracy is rife, they might find themselves getting hurt profitability wise. Maybe as time passes, Blu ray devices will be released making the PS3 appear far cheaper than it originally was? MS think by putting out their best line-up when new consoles are released, it will give the 360 a new selling point - the hype around a new console is a selling point, but so are games like Halo etc. They're just trying to counter the launches of Sony and Nintendo and dampen the hype surrounding them...
Notice that Sony dropped the price of the PS2 by 1/3 a year and a half after launch. Probably with the PS3 the manufacturing costs of the Cell and the Blu ray drive will have come down after a year and a half to 2 years after launch to allow Sony to drop the price.
Every game console maker sale consoles in the begining for a loss MS & NIN.They dont make they money til down the road because of cost to build that system will only cost half as much as it did during lauch.What people dont understand is Sony is takeing a hit on the Cell processer not Blu-Ray.Cell cost them a whole lot of money and time to make.Starting spring of next year you will see the same Cell processer that in the PS3 be in home PC thats where they going to makeup some of the money for the PS3 lost.Sony had the tech for Blu-Ray 5-6 years ago but they said it was not the time to release it & also no TV on the market could reach the Spes Blu-Ray put out at that time.
