Play Station 3, an Exclusivist Video Console?

The price of the next generation consoles is the well-guarded secret for both Sony’s Play Station 3, as well as Microsoft’s Xbox 360.


Although both producers were generous with revealing technical specifications, when it came to the price, every allusion that hints at the strategy which will be used by Microsoft to defeat Sony (at this moment, the Play Station consoles are more successful than the Xbox) is carefully analyzed.

The last information related to the possible price for a Sony Play Station 3 appeared during an interview, published by Beyond3D , with Jen-Hsun Huang, nVidia’s CEO and President, the company that provides the graphics solution for Play Station 3. Jen-Hsun Huang didn’t mention any figure, he only talked about the price policy Sony will adopt for its console.

Referring to the idea that GeForce 7800 GTX has exceeded the $499 threshold, Jen-Hsun Huang said: "I'm not even too sure there is a perceived barrier at $499. We need to price it at a level the enthusiasts will buy it at, that's the way that we think about pricing. We think about the pricing of this in the same way that Sony thinks about PlayStation 3's - its not about how much is costs, its about what is the price it needs to sell at, and we need to figure out how to make money underneath that".

This comment confirms in a way what Ken Kutaragi, CEO Sony Computer Entertainment, said in June, when he referred to the price of Sony Play Station 3: "Our goal for PlayStation 3 is for consumers to think to themselves, 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."

By making these allusions (that Play Station 3 will have a higher price than 360), Sony is playing with fire, because it’s hard to believe than gamers won’t prefer a cheaper console, which will have hundreds of new titles (Xbox 360).

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