Sony considers dropping PS3 price

A price cut for the PlayStation 3 got closer to reality today. Sony chairman and chief executive Sir Howard Stringer has told the Financial Times he is aware that there is "no question" that consumers want a lower price tag.

Stringer praised the success of rival Nintendo's latest console, the Wii, saying that the company "has been a successful enterprise and a very good business model compared with ours". He vehemently disagreed, however, that the Wii was more fun to play. "No, no, no, no," the executive replied to the question.

He also attributed much of the difference in sales between the two consoles to the fact that the Wii was significantly cheaper, and that the two systems were "complementary and supplementary", to each other, and not in direct competition.

In light of this, Stringer confirmed that Sony would be looking to cut the price of the PS3 -- he gave no specific amount, but indicated that the company was looking to make a decision about this before Christmas. He said, "[The amount of the price cut] is what we are studying at the moment. That's what we are trying to define."

Stringer said that he "was not worried" about the PS3 at all. "While [it seems] people haven't bought as many PS3s, it is no different from the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation in terms of sales," he said. He pointed out that the PS3 was following the sales path of the previous two consoles, both of which over time ended up with market dominance.

He added that current games for the console were using only 20 per cent or so of the machine's capabilities. "Once they use the full bandwidth the games experience is stunning... it's dazzling."