What a night, first Microsoft come out with their new 3 year hardware warranty and now this.
Kotaku.com spotted an advertisement for a PS3 at Circuit City for $499 yesterday. GameDaily.biz then contacted Sony Entertainment America and has been told by an anonymous merchandise manager that the price drop is true.
The PS3 is going to cost $499 in the US from the 12th of July. I am not sure if Sony leaked this information to counter Microsoft’s announcement or if someone at Circuit City is in some real trouble.
The general rule of thumb is that the exchange rate is R10:$1 for some obscure reason so we can expect our price to drop down to about R5400…
Which makes it more appealing but still just that little bit to high.
I do expect a huge jump in PS3 sales resulting from this however.
What are the chances of Microsoft now dropping the price of the Xbox 360 as well? I wouldn’t buy anything now until after E3 next week to see how everyone reacts.
Link to GameDaily BIZ: Report: PS3 $499 on July 12
Last Updated: July 6, 2007
MarioAna
July 6, 2007 at 07:58
I agree, there should be a sales jump. Not because it’s suddenly cheap, but because people will know that there won’t be another price drop for a long while. I’m surprised at the timing of this though, i would have though it better to do in about a week.
Maybe they want everyone hyped for E3 not after E3.
Good news from MS today as well, I think they’ll sell more units now as well. A lot of people were worried about the failure rate and although this doesn’t fix the problem it at least gives some peace of mind.
Brad
July 6, 2007 at 09:18
“Which makes it more appealing but still just that little bit to high.”
Is this comparing with a 360 ?
If so my argument ;
The Ps3 has
an extra 40gigs HDD ( 2x 360 HDD @ R999 = R1998 )
Comes with Rechargeable batteries & cable ( 360 play n charge R250 )
Comes with Wi-fi ( 360 wireless = R999 )
Playstation network is Free ( 360 = R350 )
then ill minus the HD cables needed = R250 ( 360 = Free )
So all in all the price is in some ways cheaper , in a wierd kinda way …
Cause 360, needs all these extra things …
LazySAGamer
July 6, 2007 at 09:38
Brad, I have seen this argument a few times but don’t agree….
I don’t need a larger HDD
The PS3’s batteries can’t be replaced which is a problem on it’s own
Don’t need wifi when I have a ethernet cable
PSN is currently no match for Live (Which is R500 I think)
Either way though I was not comparing to the 360 when I said it is still a bit to high. I would struggle to part with over R5000 for a games console not matter what it had.. Now if it was R4999 I would be really tempted…
MarioAna
July 6, 2007 at 10:57
Will this price drop be worldwide, or do we have to wait 6 months before it gets to us?
LazySAGamer
July 6, 2007 at 11:40
Rumoured to be worldwide, I don’t expect any concrete details until E3….
max
July 6, 2007 at 12:07
I just saw a article saying that it is not true and it was a Sony official said so.
max
July 6, 2007 at 12:10
I just saw a article saying that it is not true and it was a Sony official who said so.
LazySAGamer
July 6, 2007 at 12:19
Would that be this article?
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUKT4990520070706?feedType=RSS
it is possible that it is only going to be a North American price cut which by all rights should destroy the PS3’s chances anywhere else….
The Canadian price drop is set for $150 (CAD) http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/1451.html
LazySAGamer
July 6, 2007 at 12:21
damn wrong link
http://www.psxextreme.com/images/common/News/ps3_bb_drop.jpg.html
max
July 6, 2007 at 18:33
True………..people should only import then because that is like the PS3 price in Japan.
Ruslan
July 9, 2007 at 13:00
Tick one off my Sony to-do-wish-list for gamers. 🙂