'All they're doing is taking their stock and marking the price down'
SCEE president David Reeves has told GamesIndustry.biz that the 60GB PlayStation 3 will no longer be available in the US after stock sells out - which he predicts will occur by the end of the month.
Reeves was speaking at an E3 event to announce the introduction of a new PS3 bundle in Europe. When asked about possible criticisms over whether SCEE should have given consumers the option to pay a lower price, as SCEA has done, he replied, "Well, they're not really are they, because what the US are offering from the 1st of August is a USD 599 version with one game.
"All they're doing is taking their stock in trade that they've got at the moment of the 60GB model, marking the price down and it will all be gone by the end of July."
When asked to clarify if this will mean the end of the 60GB model, Reeves answered, "In America, yes."
SCEA announced a USD 100 price cut for PlayStation 3 earlier this week. A new 80GB model will come bundled with a copy of Motorstorm and will retail for USD 599.
The full
interview with Reeves is now on GamesIndustry.biz.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=26704
assuming this is true, 2 things could gonna happen:
1. everybody's gonna go rush out and buy the 60GB because of this, and it turns out to be false. sony smiles as they happen to sell their entire 60GB stock because of this false PR.
2. it's true and in another 8 months the 80GB drops to $499 and is replaced with yet another larger capacity HDD with some sort of game bundle too for $599 again.
I'll wait for what Dave Karraker has to say about this.
I would expect Sony to do something like this, if it is true.
I would expect Sony to do something like this, if it is true.
Why, did they disappoint you so much with the PSOne and PSTwo?
Wasn't this proven to be fake?
I would expect Sony to do something like this, if it is true.
Why, did they disappoint you so much with the PSOne and PSTwo?
I didn't buy them, so I dunno.
Supposedly, the 80 GB won't have the EE.GS combo chip for backwards compatibility (software will emulate 70% of titles). That right there makes my 60 GB worth it.
On both the rumors, as said before,
I'll wait for Dave Karraker to speak on the issue.
....What's up with sony? I really hope this isn't true...
but gft...he says at the bottom
"We dropped the price on the 60GB model, as you know that model is no longer in production, once it's no longer on store shelves it will just be the $600 SKU."
we'll just have to wait and see
From Dave Karraker's Blog
"Another E3 Winding Down, Plus a Quick Clarification+ Posted by Dave Karraker // Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
Well, we’re in the home stretch! A new format for E3 brought a new look and feel, a few challenges and most importantly a great opportunity to show off our wares for all PlayStation platforms. All the planning, preparations and hard work has paid off into what was a great E3 for SCEA. Congratulations to everyone involved in making that happen! And a thanks to all of you guys for your positive comments regarding the press conference and what we showed there. I know Jack was checking out all the comments on his post and really appreciated your feedback. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing our games via the trailers on PlayStation Network. I just wanted to also let you know that yes, we hear you, and we are working to make those great games you saw into more interactive content and demos.
One quick thing before I head to the show for the last day. I just wanted to clarify something. I’ve seen a lot of posts this morning related to the 60GB SKU and the comments by SCEE President David Reeves. As we announced this week, SCEA’s product offering in North America consists of a 80GB PS3 available in August and a 60GB PS3 available now for $499. We will have ample supplies of both models to meet the needs of consumers for the foreseeable future.
Talk to you again soon, once we get back from Santa Monica."
Source: Dave Karraker's Blog on Playstation US.
Interesting, to sum up what Dave Karraker said, it seems like even if Sony is not "manufacturing", they have a supply on shelves now, and more still to be shipped, in warehouses, so that they'll be available for months. Don't be surprised to see motorstorm cut from the 80 Gig and dropped to $499 right after they introduce a new $599 SKU with another game, and a larger hard drive. It's still too expensive for Sony to make an effective large price drop to something like $399, so they'll upgrade the SKUs until they can do so.
that is horrible business practice, i find it utterly deplorable that sony would make this anounced price cut and phase out the ps3 60 gig model...doesnt make sense they were FINALLY getting some positive press...its a puzzler
So in other words, there will be a constant supply of both 60gb and 80gb? Sorta how there was the 20gb and 60gb at the same time?
this is dumb. Sony is making a totally bad move with this. They need to just stick to one SKU and stopd shifting back and forth.
it's not dumb for the consumer so long as they can get a good deal.
I saw a similar article on gamespot. Nobody is sure whether this is true or not, but that seems to be a much more likely story than just a flatout price cut. I still plan on buying a PS3 eventually (like maybe next fall), so I hope that by then things will have definitely been settled.
They should have cut the 60 GB price, and then kept that at $499. Taken out the EE.GS chip, and they'd be sailing well right now.
Sony Europe spoils surprise, America says it's true.
So, is it true? SCEA confirmed to 1UP this morning that the phaseout is happening.
"The 60GB PS3 will be available in North America for $499 until supplies of that unit are depleted. We have ample inventory to meet the immediate needs of consumers in this territory for several months to come. We won't be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated."
Wow, you think it would be a smarter move on Sony's part to keep the 60g at 499, because I don't think adding an extra 20g to it and keeping it the same price will make very many people actually want to buy it.