Sony cuts PlayStation 3 price to $499
Company also announces 80GB version for $599
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 7/9/2007
JULY 9 | On the eve of this year’s E3 videogame conference, Sony Computer Entertainment has slashed the price of its PlayStation 3 to $499.
Also, Sony is trumpeting the August bow of a new 80GB PS3, priced at $599, which will be sold with online racing game Motorstorm. Like the 60GB $499 model, the 80GB PS3 features a Blu-ray Disc player and is engineered to provide sufficient storage for game downloads.
Sony is expected to give further details at a Wednesday press conference during E3, which kicks off July 10 in Santa Monica, Calif.
Some stores were reportedly selling the PS3 at the lower $499 price—a $100 cut from its original price—as early as this past weekend.
The $499 60GB PS3 now essentially offers two media machines for the price of one. Sony’s just launched Blu-ray stand-alone player is priced at $499 and was the format’s cheapest available hardware.
Sony could use a fresh surge of excitement around the PS3, which despite initial launch hype continues to trail in sales to Nintendo’s Wii system. Both gaming consoles bowed during the fall of last year.
Additionally, Sony promised that 120 new proprietary and third-party software titles will be available for the PS3 through 2007. That is triple today’s 40-title library of titles for the console. Also, a new 3D social-networking product, PlayStation Home, will roll out soon through its downloading center, PlayStation Network.
“As we move into the next phase of PS3, it’s important that we continue to evaluate our product line, offering consumers the technology and features that meet their growing needs for new forms of media and the way in which it is delivered,” said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. “The introduction of the 80GB PS3, the new pricing for the 60GB model, the availability of more than 100 new software titles this fiscal year and, finally, the expansion of services for the PlayStation Network will provide even more options for users and will help bring consumers into the PS3 fold.”
