A Review of PS3 Release Date Prices Across the World
Mid-November will be a hot time for Sony with the release of the Playstation 3 in North American on the 11th and Japan on the 17th of that month. Worldwide, other regions will have to wait until March of 2007 to purchase a Playstation 3. Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Oceana are among the regions that will see a longer wait for the Playstation 3’s launch.
From region to region, the Playstation 3 will retail for varying prices, conforming to the local aspects of the market, not just changes in exchange rates. The basic and premium versions of the Playstation 3 will see release in most, if not all, of those regions.
Those two versions of the console will provide much debate over which offers the better bang for its buck. The premium version of the Playstation 3 will add a flash card reader, internal Wi-Fi and a 60 GB hard drive instead of the basic model’s 20 GB model. For the premium version of the console, Sony has taken the interesting approach in Japan of not releasing a price point, putting the burden of determining the cost on market dynamics and individual retailers. Many expect that to drive the cost of the console up a bit, possibly to the equivalent of $700 in the United States, a $100 premium over the console’s North American price point.
Conversely, the basic version of the Playstation 3 has a fixed price lower than its North American counterpart. Japanese customers will be able to land a basic Playstation 3 for the equivalent of $420, $80 savings off of the North American cost.
The practice of providing two different versions of a console was ushered in by the Microsoft Xbox 360’s premium and core versions of the console. Though the price of the premium Playstation 3 comes in $200 more than the premium Xbox 360 model, demand has remained high and initial supplies are sure to sell out. While North American consumers will see that high cost but get their console early, European consumers will not only have to wait but will pay more for the console. The basic version will retail close to the equivalent of $630 and the premium at an equivalent of $750. That’s a steep price to pay for a delayed product launch and even so, initial supplies are sure to sell out. Australian consumers will pay A$829 and A$999 for the two versions of the console.
Hopes for a Playstation 3 price drop will be pipe dreams for a considerable amount of time. Even with Sony’s high price point for the Playstation 3, they are estimated to be losing anywhere from $100 to $200 for each console sold. With those dynamics, price drops bring an even steeper loss, something that Sony will likely avoid until it becomes absolutely necessary and production costs stabilize. The practice of losing money initially is common for console producers that do so in hopes of reaping benefits from later software sales.
As production techniques improve and economies of scale are reached, production costs drop over time. For Sony, a lot of that cost will hinge on the system’s Blu-ray technology stabilizing in price, perhaps offering Sony the chance to drop the Playstation 3’s price at a key time to spur demand.
No matter when the price drop happens, initial costs are well publicized for the console and have been an area of criticism for Sony’s chief competitors in the gaming industry, Nintendo and Microsoft. In fact, at times, executives from both sides have touted each other, unofficially suggesting a Wii/Xbox 360 combo purchase instead of a Playstation 3 purchase.
Power has to be paid for an the Playstation 3 packs a considerable punch in terms of graphical horsepower and disk storage room to create vast amounts of rich content. Ultimately, that distinction will drive the success or failure of the console, offering a premium experience but at a premium price. Time will tell which way the latest video game war goes.
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