Sony PS3

It’s not often Sony make a mistake but when they do, they sure know when to time it.

On April 4 Sony announced that the price of the new PS3, when it comes to the UK in November, would be between 300 and 375 pounds. This is almost 50% more than the Xbox360 when it was first launched in stores throughout the UK.

When you think about this price and how much the games will be for such a system, you’re talking a lot of money, obscene amounts in fact. Lets just run some basic figures for a moment to clarify how much this thing COULD cost the average homeowner. Ok so 300 to 375 pounds for the system, 50-60 pounds per game, 20-50 pounds for a gamepad and any other feature that is needed to run this console. Ok now add up the prices for the system, 5 games and 2 gamepads. Not a pretty penny is it, especially when the Xbox is delivering most of the major features for a fraction of the price.

Sony’s first mistake was when it announced specs that included features and hardware that had not been designed yet (ie. Blu-Ray). Will this spell the end of the Sony gaming legacy. The PS2 is quickly ageing, the PSP was not a great hit and now the PS3 is so expensive that no one will buy it (remember the Segway?) I would be willing to go as far as to say that the PS3 will never ship. Yes, I think that it might never ship. Sony should call their loses and pull out now.

I can clarify the above by noting that Sony are producing these machines at a LOSS. Yes ladies and gentlemen, a loss. So if they’re not making the money on the consoles, where are they making it? There is only one other option and thats to overprice the games while leaving a bitter taste in the consumers mouth.