Digital Home Thoughts: Cnet: Sony Unveils PS3 Pricing, Release Dates

"The PS3 will come in two configurations: one version with a 60GB hard drive that will cost $599, and a second with a 20GB hard drive that will come in at $499, SCE President Kaz Hirai said. Those prices are significantly higher than Microsoft's Xbox 360, which has two versions, one with a 20GB hard drive that costs $399 and another with no hard drive that retails for $299. The announcement came on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)--an annual gaming industry trade show taking place in Los Angeles this week. In an interview with CNET News.com on Friday, SCE Executive Vice President and co-Chief Operating Officer Jack Tretton said, effectively, that the company believes consumers will pay whatever the next-generation console costs. "People are going to perceive enough value" with the PS3, Tretton said, "that they're not going to consider the price to be a barrier to entry."...Hirai noted that Sony is committed to shipping 4 million PS3s by Dec. 31 and another 2 million by March 31, 2007. That means--if customers are not put off by the console's high price--Sony could be in position to avoid the criticism Microsoft took for not being able to meet initial customer demand for the Xbox 360."



The bold highlighting of Jack Tretton's quote is mine. Since when is price not an issue with consumers? To think that price is not an issue is to commit market suicide in my opinion. Particularly when what you're offering doesn't have any distinct advantage over it's competition (the Xbox 360). The graphics look roughly the same, there are no officially announced games with 1080p support, and Microsoft is releasing an HD DVD drive to counter the PS3's Blu-Ray drive. Price is not an issue...does this mean that we'll see PS3s for $1200 on eBay in November? :roll: