Retail and publisher bosses suggest drop may ‘reinvigorate the market’; Sony rules out move
Leading industry figures have called on Sony to drop the suggested retail price of PS2 as the console nears the final stages of its hugely successful lifecycle.
The system, which burst onto the market seven years ago, currently holds a suggested retail price point of around £95.
But publisher bosses have told MCV that a cut could entice more family purchases of the console – and its software – this Christmas.
“We’re pleased to see that PS2 has shown such longevity,” said Ubisoft UK MD Rob Cooper.
“It’s already at an attractive price, but a reduction on hardware and software would undoubtedly prove an extremely tempting purchase to the more casual gamer and family member.”
Atari UK MD Jeremy Wigmore added: “Considering all of the financial turmoil going around, anything that might galvanise the market is welcome. A PS2 cut would probably give it a little lift.”
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And head of games at HMV Tim Ellis said: “Well-timed price drops, which help stimulate demand without devaluing the appeal of the product, are more often welcome than not. So we can understand why some publishers are suggesting one on PS2.”
However, Sony has ruled out the idea. SCEE UK MD Ray Maguire told MCV: “There are no immediate plans to cut the price. We still think PS2 offers tremendous value for money.
"And, with continued innovative software support from ourselves and our third-party publishing partners, we concur with the comments recently made in MCV about the longevity of the system.”
Comments
They are joking right?
Why buy a PS2 when you can get an Xbox 360? Has anyone checked play.com latestly? £199.99 for a PREMIUM yes PREMIUM Xbox 360!! Where many games are very cheap as well now!!
I say give those a decent gift this x-mas and get them an Xbox 360 the worlds best in console gaming.
Re: They are joking right?
@ Goku - Why buy a PS2 when you can get an Xbox 360?
Cos a PS2 is far more reliable than a 360, costs less and has a HUGE back catalogue and current range of quality games - not just FPS which is all that seem to be found on the 360 these days.
Re: They are joking right?
PS2 was well known for not reading discs, scratching discs very badly and the new slim one? Well that was known for overheating.
There goes your argument douche.
A price drop is well overdue.
The very fact that everywhere you read on the Web that the X360 overheats is not because of rumours but because owners are complaining on blogs etc. The very fact that the same has not been said about the original PS2 or the slimline model tells me that it's a fine, solid and reliable design.
I've owned the orignlal PS2 and yes, if you put that unit upright, there was a possibility of it scratching the discs but not the new unit. It doesn't do that or overheat in any way - nor does it have any other blatantly obvious hardware faults, unlike the X360.
Turning to the news heading, I think a drop would be very welcome and would certainly boost the sales of the PS2 and give it a 'final push', so to speak.
I don't see anything in the way of dropping the official SRP of games for it either. Some titles may enjoy huge sales and even a revival, if that were to happen.
The PS2 has been a wonderful system, building on the success of the first generation PlayStation and taking it a definitely and clear step forward in many aspects, while killing any competition along the way (Xbox, GameCube and Dreamcast)...Oh yes, and bringing one of the industry's long-term players to its knees: SEGA!!!
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