Gamers were left scratching their heads when Sony (SNE) announced its new slimmer PlayStation 3 would actually cost more than the model it was replacing. With these types of products shrinking, it’s usually the case that the reduction in build materials means savings pass on to the consumer. Not so — the new $269.99 PlayStation 3 will replace the old and out of production $249.99 PS3. Granted, consumers will get a copy of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and a 250GB hard drive instead of a 160GB one, but why hasn’t the six-year-old console hit the $199 price point yet? After all, the 4GB Xbox 360 is already sold for $199.99.
Sony Computer Entertainment America vice president of marketing, handhelds and home consoles John Koller told Engadget that the company has no plans to drop the six-year-old console’s price any time in the foreseeable future.
“There’s no price drop formally, but the thing that’s been happening in the market over the last year or so is that there’s been so many retail price promotions, and so many different gift card offers and all those things, being done by all of us (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony), that we’ve heard from our consumer, ‘Enough with all these weird price moves. What we really want is content and games and value,’ ” Koller told Engadget.
That’s a bummer. It looks like shoppers looking for a PS3 this holiday will have to settle for whatever deals retailers dish out instead of relying on hard price cut.