I was talking with someone on IRC (as I often do) and they mentioned about buying a PS3 when it reached $250 and it got me thinking.
Because I know I never bought a PS2, because the price/performance was never there for me, even $129 felt like a lot to pay for a six year old system, so I decided to do some math.
The Ps2 was released in America Oct 26th, 2000 at a price of $299.99
as of April 20, 2006 (roughly six years) the price was $129.99
Thats 57% give or take of a price reduction in six years.
Applying the same math, to the PS3, which is currently $499 for the low end model, comes to $215 rounded up… in six years.
The Xbox came out Nov 15th, 2001 at $299 and was $149 3 years later, thats a price decrease of almost 50% in half the time. A price decrease of $50 a year.
so, in 3 years, the Xbox 360 should be about $200 WITH the hard drive, and you can go buy yourself a classic 360 game with the extra $15.
(note: I had some major mistakes in my math, which I have tried to correct. Thanks to those who noticed it.)
You know that 299.99 to 129.99 is not a 43% reduction but close to 57% reduction right?
One other thing to consider is that over 6 years, inflation takes a toll on that figure as well. Looking at inflation, (I am not an economist), but a $129 console in 2006 would go for $117 in 2000. Comparing the original price of $299 to the reduced price of $117, it’s more of an ~60% reduction in price.
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
Not to really question it. I bought a PS3 in 2002 for use as a DVD player and game system. I can’t justify buying a PS3 or XBox 360 at their current prices. Heck, the price and features of the Wii seem to be more inline with what I want to spend, and how I’m going to game. But that’s just me.
Hey, thanks for letting me know, don’t worry, I will be getting a math refresher when I start college in jan. Cheers.
I think all this shows is that consoles reduce price at different paces, depending on supply and demand. Nobody was was buying the XBOX because it was big and ugly and expensive - so it dropped price faster. Why can’t the PS3 do the same? Also, the PS3 uses newer, more expensive technology. I don’t know if you keep up with technology prices, but things like what’s in the PS3 drop in price almost exponentially over the course of even 2 years. It’s not completely unreasonable to think that the PS3 which now costs some $800 to manufacture will only run them $250 in 2008-2009.
It’s concievable that the PS3’s price could fall literally in half in 3 years like the XBOX, especially if it’s not selling well because of the price point in later years.
Keep in mind also that the Japanese PS3 saw a price drop before it was even released.
PS3 is a rip i refuse to be gouged on a stupid toy everyone should wait till sony gets there act toghter. note to consumers that first version of any game system is bound to have problems, just wait for the price to lower and the glitchs to work out.
Its worth noting that the ps2 hit the 50% discount mark after 3.5 years, and it was another couple years before the final discount to $129.
Also worth nothing is that the ps2 had credibility in the video game industry, so aggressive pricing discounts made sense for the xbox to gain a foothold in the market. While discounts are inevitable in both nextgen systems over the next few years, they are much less likely to happen at drastically different rates from each other. If anything, the ps3 will be able to discount faster than the 360 because of the prohibitive cost of the bluray drive, which will fall drastically in the coming year or three.
you all talk about the price but most of the stuff in the PS3 isn’t used anywhere else. Most of it was made or borrowed from other products. If the product isn’t mass produced to lower the cost it will stay high cause people want a competitors product more then the theirs.
Plus PS3 is lossing aobut 200$ per unit sold. So they will try to maximize profit when they can. Rather then continue their losses.
The blueray drive isn’t going to lower the cost if it loses. If HD-DVD wins then nobody buys blu-ray discs and the players still cost alot of money and the discs cost alot more due to the fact they aren’t mass produced.
Unless blu-ray wins i don’t think that the PS3 will see any priced drop that would cause a sales increase.
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title in 2012 at Game by design. Thanks for informative article