The entire video game industry is seemingly waiting for Sony to finally go ahead and lower the MSRP on its PS3 hardware, and the chatter just won't stop. Sony's CEO Sir Howard Stringer will have none of it, however. Responding to a question from Reuters about the "logic" of not cutting price on PS3, he snapped back, "I (would) lose money on every PlayStation I make -- how's that for logic."
And that really is the major dilemma that Stringer and Sony continue to grapple with. In order to boost PS3 adoption and to grow the installed base, the company needs to make the hardware more affordable for consumers, but by cutting the price Sony will lose more money on each unit sold. As SCEA boss Jack Tretton pointed out, the tough economic environment is only highlighting the situation, but he believes that PS3 will be just fine over the long-term.
One of the most vocal PS3 critics of late has actually been Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who infamously threatened to stop supporting the PS3 altogether if Sony doesn't start selling more hardware soon. SCEA at the time issued us a blanket statement saying that they value all their publishing partners, but now Stringer has responded directly to Kotick's comments. Stringer essentially dismissed Kotick's words as standard business posturing. "He likes to make a lot of noise," Stringer said. "He's putting pressure on me and I'm putting pressure on him. That's the nature of business."
So it would seem that Stringer is calling Kotick's bluff. We doubt Activision would actually pull support for PS3, but stranger things have happened in this industry.
Reader Comments (0)