Retail expects September promotion as supply channels run dry
Rumours and speculation have been rife for many weeks now, but MCV can reveal that Sony is clearing PS3 hardware stock from the channel ahead of what is expected to be a new price point introduced from early September.
A press conference at the Gamescom event in Cologne next Tuesday (August 18th) is expected to provide details of the price cut – and possibly the launch of the rumoured redesigned PS3 Slim.
But ahead of that, UK retail has already begun to comment on the current lack of hardware stock on the market.
Two of the UK’s leading national retailers have confirmed to MCV that they have been told not to expect any further supplies of the console until later this month or early September.
“Sourcing PS3 stock has been a challenge for the last two to three weeks,” an anonymous spokesperson for one of the UK’s largest national retailers confided.
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“There are obviously lots of rumours flying about as to why that might be. I don’t think it’s to do with demand, though. Sales are low at the moment and have been for a while. We’ve been told not to expect any further hardware deliveries until September.”
A major UK entertainment chain also confirmed to MCV that supplies have dried up and that it had been told not to expect any new stock until the end of the month.
Sony is remaining tight-lipped until its conference next week, but the situation with UK channel stock surely provides compelling evidence of a price move at the very least.
MCV will be providing comprehensive live coverage of the Sony press conference next Tuesday from 18:00, along with all the news and annoucements elsewhere from the Gamescom event.
Comments
Price cut
I wish they would hurry up and announce the price cut so that rumours of the next price cut can begin to circulate....
What else will be cut?
I wonder what Sony will cut from the system this time...each time they lower the price or introduce a new model, something else is taken away.
Maybe...
Maybe they're going to announce PS3Go and release it without a Blu-Ray drive. ;)
Re: What else will be cut?
I think that considering they dropped support for PS2 games in the last manouvre, maybe this time they'll drop support for PS3 games ;)
not affecting gamestation
i can confirm our store recived 16 PS3 in a recent delivery to our shop, which for this time of year is seriously high volume. we all said wtf is there gonna be some kind of promotion, as yet game or gamestation emails have not confirmed why we have so many standard 80gb SKU's
Sure
"Maybe they're going to announce PS3Go and release it without a Blu-Ray drive. ;)"
Suuuuure! So, We couldn't play the old games (Blu-ray)! ¬¬
PS3
I bought a PS3 a month ago, does this mean I've wasted my money if we won't be able to buy games etc for it when a new one comes out or will my PS3 be compatible with the new one?
RE: PS3
bj...Won't be compatible. You've wasted your money.
maybe
well i read that the manufacturing cost of the ps3 has dropped by 70% this is a good reason to drop the price and release a slim as the new lower price console, with the ps3 and the elite dropping in price it will entice more sale so its good all round for retail and customers
What a sham!!
who would have thought this would be happening when sony launched the PS3 that they would have to scrap the original PS3 for a completely new console model altogether so soon. What on earth are these people at Sony doing. PSP go got the alarm bells ringing but this now takes the biscuit.
Sounds familiar....
This all sounds a little familiar to me. As an experienced games retailer, I remember when Sony released the PSP Slim and Lite - it was rumoured for ages but nobody at Sony would confirm it's existence. Then, two or three months before S+L launched, the supply of PSP Base Packs just vanished. You couldn't source them for love nor money.
This episode is feeling very deja vu. Either a) Sony are going to announce and quickly launch the much-rumored PS3 Slim, or b) they are holding back on stock for a price drop. Reason b obviously makes sense, we all know Sony have a track-record of skewing sales figures to work in their favour (not saying both Nintendo and Microsoft are any better!!), but by slowing down supply now, dropping the price, then flooding the market with lower price SKU's, Sony will see a huge increase in console sales, so they can boast "PS3 sales up 400% in September". It's simply intelligent marketing.
The other reason - over the next 2-3 weeks in the middle of Summer Holidays, if people can't find PS3's in stock, they will automatically assume that it is because they are hugely popular, which will only serve to increase demand when the product is back in stock AND with a lower price point.
Hats off to Sony, they managed to manufacture SOME demand for the PSP a few years ago, right when the DS Lite was kicking the life out of it. If it worked then, why not try now?
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