PS3 price cut? ...Maybe not

[Xiahou]

Could the welcomed $100 price cut for Sony's PlayStation 3 be temporary? Reported comments from multiple Sony execs in online publications Gamesindustry.biz and Joystiq.com indicate so. The current PlayStation 3 model, which is equipped with a 60 GB hard drive, certainly has received a price cut to $499 and is available at that price right now - but Sony's recent statements indicate that model is no longer in production.

If that's accurate, once those sell out, which could take as little as 1-3 months, the only PlayStation 3 model that's available will be the just-announced premium version. Going on sale in August and equipped with an 80 GB hard drive and racing game Motorstorm, it'll set purchasers back $599. Barring further price cuts, holiday shoppers would potentially still be faced with a $600 PS3, although they'd be getting more for their money.

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So, it's actually a clearance sale? Congrats to all 60GB PS3 owners- you now apparently own a discontinued model.

[Whacker]

Congrats to all PS3 owners, you (still?) own an insanely overpriced Blu-ray player that shows every sign of following in it's forrunner's footsteps, meaning if you actually DO use it to play DVDs, it'll drastically lower the device's lifespan, thus leaving you with a $600+ boat anchor in short order.

[Husar]

So what should we make of europeans getting no price cut but an additional controller and two games?

[frogbeastegg]

So what should we make of europeans getting no price cut but an additional controller and two games?

Since the controller is of a sort which will soon be obsolete thanks to the impending restoration of rumble, and since the two games will cost Sony peanuts to bung in the box, I'd say nothing has changed. We're still being massively over-charged so other territories can have lower prices. They're just trying to make it look like we aren't.

Do note that we aren't getting the 80GB version of the console either; the 60GB model which isn't good enough for America is still good enough for us.

[Xiahou]

It really seems to me that Sony is almost going out of it's way to demoralize their customers. Doesn't it?

[Husar]

Since the controller is of a sort which will soon be obsolete thanks to the impending restoration of rumble, and since the two games will cost Sony peanuts to bung in the box, I'd say nothing has changed. We're still being massively over-charged so other territories can have lower prices. They're just trying to make it look like we aren't.

That's about what I thought and it makes their statement about that package being worth 170EUR a lot more funny.

Do note that we aren't getting the 80GB version of the console either; the 60GB model which isn't good enough for America is still good enough for us.

Well, they know that europeans pay a lot for crap that has a brand name on it, I knew that since someone told me he gets jeans in the US for 12$ which cost upwards of 40EUR here.
Oh and they're most likely produced in Turkey anyway so transportation can't really be the issue.

[Fragony]

It really seems to me that Sony is almost going out of it's way to demoralize their customers. Doesn't it?

They have made a few *ahum* mistakes. It's a neat machine though, but blu-ray was a mistake wether it succeeds or not. Now 600 euro is a decent price for a next-gen console/blu-ray package, but in 2 years you will probably get a much better blu-ray player with a pack of cornflakes. Don't really pity them, they have been pretty arrogant 'next gen begins when we say so' 'the 360 wanted to compete with the ps2, that is why it ended up the way it did''rumble is last gen'"omg rumble rocks after all' it just doesn't end. They assumed everyone would be all over it just because of the brandname, stoopid. My favorite screwup was that pr-guy trying to auction a ps3 after a rock concert, just stepped on the stage after the concert, band was amazed, crowd was amazed, he didn't sell his ps3