14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss David Reeves says that the PlayStation 3 will not be getting any price cut during this year, even if there's a lot of pressure from the public especially during the holiday period. The price needs to stay up for Sony to reach its goal of bringing the games division to profitability by 2009.
He bluntly stated at the Games Convention in Leipzig that "There is no price cut, that is true". Sony’s strategy seems to be adding more interesting services to its gaming platform rather than cut the price, hoping that the improved social aspects and the media hub elements will make the platform more attractive than the rival Xbox 360 console made by Microsoft.
Vidzone is the newest offering from Sony, a service for music videos which can also deliver ringtones to the PlayStation 3 and to the PlayStation Portable. There's also a lot of talk about another service that will deliver movies to the PS3, just like Netflix partnered up with Microsoft.
Reeves also said that Home was on track, mentioning that 2008 would see the social service launched at last.
Just yesterday we reported on the news that Microsoft might be prepared to launch a new version of the Xbox 360 Arcade, with a price tag of just 199 dollars and with a motion tracking controller included in the package. The rumor says that the new version of the gaming console will be positioned as a direct competitor of the Nintendo Wii but if such a console is launched, some buyers might be attracted to it instead of the PlayStation 3.
With a line up of big releases during the upcoming fall and holiday seasons, featuring Home and LittleBigPlanet, Sony is hoping that their games will succeed in luring buyers to its console, which is currently performing a bit better than the Xbox 360 in the sales charts.