"I think the consumer wants to see better value on the PlayStation 3." -Mike Griffith, Activision Publishing
"[We're] disappointed," Sega of America's VP of Marketing Sean Ratcliffe told us. "I just think it must be hard for Sony to balance three live platforms – that's not something Nintendo or Microsoft have to contend with. ... I think from a platform point of view, we would like to see Sony sell more PS3s. It's good for us as a publisher. We think it's a great [machine] and that for consumers, if they hit a sweet spot with price point that would bring more consumers to that platform. I think because of the success of PS2 people were automatically expecting PS3 to be the natural successor, and that actually really hasn't happened yet."
He continued, "We need as many consoles out there as possible so our games [can sell to a larger installed base] so I hope they do something on price, especially in this economy. It's really tough. I was talking to some of our counterparts in Europe and I think in Spain the unemployment rate is going be around 20% by the end of this year. And so it's not just the console itself; you have to invest in the TV and so on. I think Sony needs to recognize that and hopefully do something about it this year."
When we met with Activision Publishing boss Mike Griffith and asked him for his reaction to the lack of a price cut from Sony, we observed noticeable disappointment in his face. He sighed and answered, "Yeah, I think the consumer wants to see better value on that platform. It's really up to Sony to figure out what they'll do with the price. ... History would say they'll get there."
Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive of Activision Blizzard was more direct, telling Bloomberg without specifically naming PS3, "I was disappointed not to see any sort of aggressive price cutting. Of all the things that the hardware companies need to be doing right now, it's recognizing the difficulties of the economy and pricing their hardware appropriately."
Retailers of course would like to be able to move more units as well. GameStop, the largest video game retailer in the world, is likely tired of seeing dust accumulating on their PS3 boxes.
"The hardware price points, where they are right now given this economic environment, are too high," added GameStop Chief Executive Officer Daniel DeMatteo. "If the platform holders are going to make the numbers that they've forecasted for the year, those numbers will have to change."
Despite the considerable outcry for a price drop from gamers and the industry itself, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kaz Hirai maintains that Sony is pleased with the current price. "We're very happy with the price point that we have," he said to Bloomberg. "We will move when we think it's appropriate at some point in time."
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174671
There were a ton of big announcements at E3 this year, but one thing we didn't see -- from any of the big three -- were price cuts. For Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, that was a bummer.
"I was disappointed not to see any sort of aggressive price cutting," Kotick said to Bloomberg on the last day of E3 (via Edge-Online). "Of all the things that the hardware companies need to be doing right now, it's recognizing the difficulties of the economy and pricing their hardware appropriately."
It's a familiar refrain for Kotick, who criticized the pricing of all three consoles back in March, saying they had not reached a "mass-market" point. According to Bloomberg, GameStop head Dan DeMatteo agrees. "The hardware price points, where they are right now given this economic environment, are too high," DeMatteo said. "If the platform holders are going to make the numbers that they've forecasted for the year, those numbers will have to change." And according to UBS AG, worldwide shipments of consoles and handhelds are expected to drop by 7 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2010 -- which would be the first annual drop in six years.
But Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, meanwhile, have not made any indications that price drops will come any time soon. "We're very happy with the price point that we have," said Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai in an interview earlier this week. "We will move when we think it?s appropriate at some point in time."
