No PS3 price cut this year, says Reeves

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) President David Reeves has confirmed that the company has no plans to lower the price of the PlayStation 3 in 2008.
“There is no price cut,” Reeves told VG247.com, adding, “We’re not going to drop the price this year.”
Asked as to whether or not he believes that software is the key to PS3’s success throughout Europe, he replied, “Yes, absolutely.”
“And I think it’s the games for Nintendo; I think whatever price they’re at, I think it’s the games that have really, really driven it.”
“We started off at the beginning of the year with GT5 Prologue, then we went to GTA IV, then Metal Gear Solid. There’ll be LittleBigPlanet, and then we move onto PES and FIFA and all those.” [VG247]

“We’re on rails, and I think that those games are going to drive it,” he added.
According to Reeves, focus testing has deduced that young consumers in particular do not consider price as important as software or features when deciding to purchase a PS3.
“When you do focus groups with people, whether it’s in the UK or not, it’s amazing that – not necessarily children, but an 11 or 12 year-old boy – has in his mind… that he wants a PS3 because of this game or because of this particular feature,” he said.
“He doesn’t really think of the price because he doesn’t really have any perception of it. But, he’ll say to his parents, ‘I want a PS3.’

“If he wants a new bike, and he gets an old back, he’s not going to be very happy. Children don’t think about the price so much. The press think about the price: it’s got to come down.”
Concluding, Reeves again reiterated that there would be no price cut this year, but remained confident that the platform holder was maintaining enough value for consumers, pointing to the release of the 80GB and 160GB PS3 systems.
“We have not announced a price drop, but we have got an 80Gb [SKU] instead of a 40Gb [SKU] – now that’s interesting – and there’s going to be twice as many games, and there is a 160Gb [SKU] with 70 euros of downloadable content,” said Reeves.
“So we think that we’re keeping that value there. The former boss of Sony Computer Entertainment was Terry Tokunaka and he’d answer the question of, ‘Will there be a price cut?’ with, ‘I’m not saying in the long term future we’re not going to drop the price.’
“What I’m saying is that we’re not going to drop the price this year.”