Third-party publishers such as Activision Blizzard have tolerated the Sony PlayStation 3’s high console price for a while. Activision Blizzard threatened to drop the PS3 and the PSP during an announcement on June 19. Now, CEO Sir Howard Stringer of Sony Corp. responds to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s threats by dismissing them. Stringer responds, “He’s putting pressure on me, and I’m putting pressure on him. That’s the nature of business. … [But] I lose money on every PlayStation I make—how’s that for logic?”
Rumored reductions in the console’s price do not seem very likely seeing as how Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton refused to confirm these rumors. The worldwide economic recession has slowed the gaming industry in sales, and as we know, the PS3 has been struggling because of its high price points. However, Tretton said that there was a 38 percent increase in PS3 sales for 2008 and a 116 percent increase in software sales.
Personally, I think the Xbox 360 is just as expensive as the PS3. If you add in the Xbox Live and the Wi-fi adapters, the prices of both consoles are about the same. It’s just another marketing tactic Microsoft employs. Any thoughts on this?
