The games industry will be "resilient" during the global credit crisis, says PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Hirai said that he expects hard-pushed consumers to spend money on cheap home entertainment rather than go out.
"As long as we can generate excitement, then we will be less affected than other industries," he said. "We're getting to the point where price becomes more important".
Bizarrely contradicting his last statement, Kaz says that Sony has no plans to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 - currently the most expensive of the current-gen consoles - before Christmas.
"The answer is yes, if you're asking, 'Are these the prices we're going with this Christmas?" he said. "When you really compare apples to apples, then I think we have a very good value proposition."
Or you could become a games journo and get your fix for free. Cough. Read PSW's guide to Beat the Credit Crunch (and play games) for top tips.
"As long as we can generate excitement, then we will be less affected than other industries," he said. "We're getting to the point where price becomes more important".
Bizarrely contradicting his last statement, Kaz says that Sony has no plans to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 - currently the most expensive of the current-gen consoles - before Christmas."
Agreed. He is completely contradicting his last statement. Price is either important, or irrelevant. Sonys decision to keep the price constant heading into the Christmas period suggests they believe the latter.
I respectfully disagree.
"The answer is yes, if you're asking, 'Are these the prices we're going with this Christmas?" he said. "When you really compare apples to apples, then I think we have a very good value proposition."
What is 'apples to apples' here? Another next gen, high def, games console, with build in wifi, hard drive and blu-ray playback? If so, then yes, it's the cheapest on the market that fits this bill.
However, most will compare the PS3 to the Xbox360 - and these will see a huge discrepancy in their prices...
The games industry may well be "resilient" to the world economic meltdown but he's crazy if he doesn't think there'll be any casualties.
Whereas during the boom years people would have bought multiple games, more and more people will have to ration the amount they buy which will obviously lead to lower sales and I'm sure dev shut-downs.
And like the article says, he totally contradicts himself saying that it's all about the price-point and then says the PS3 won't get a price drop on the run upto Christmas...could be a long, cold Christmas for Sony this year.
I'm not convinced. Hirai refers to "cheap home entertainment", but on the whole, gaming is the most expensive form of home entertainment - more so than DVDs or music, or just watching television! Sony's prices in particular are ridiculous, and while I'm not disputing the the purported value of what you are getting (Blu-Ray etc etc), it is still Ł300.
What Hirai is forgetting is in the past, and for many people, luxury consumer electronics, such as games consoles, tended to be purchased using credit cards. That bubble's burst and I think he needs to be realistic. Call Microsoft "desperate" for cutting their prices so drastically, but in this climate, I think it was the best thing they could have done to attract sales this Christmas.
More widely, the RRP of games needs to come down, and hopefully, retailers will start discounting more heavily. The sales should be good (for once).
I love the way articles like this just bring out the corporate bashing squads!!
I'm skint up until Xmas, so unfortunately I'm completely unable to fund the games I want over xmas period so I'm gonna have to play to death the one's I bought whimsically so that I can then trade them in! Might just trade in EVERYTHING for Fallout3, should get me through the cold Autumn/winter time!!
This whole credit crunch thing has been a bit strange because they only area's i've seen get hit are food costs going up a bit and a few bills and millions losing savings - you can still rack up debt on credit cards very easily and when it gets tight at christmas more will turn to credit cards to avoid disappointing their kids
i heard he`d had to sell his sleigh and put the reindeer down ,after all it costs a fortune to get electricity and heat to the north pole ,poor infrastructure and all,also wonder how he does not go insane with 12 hours of daylight
The credit crunch affects me in the way I can't go out as much as I would like to. Spending Ł40- Ł50 a night getting off my rocker on booze at weekends for instance... I save more in the long run and it goes on activities that are on the whole cheaper. For example, a night out at the movies, buy a computer game and spend a few hours that way. Healthier too
The credit crunch affects me in the way I can't go out as much as I would like to. Spending Ł40- Ł50 a night getting off my rocker on booze at weekends for instance... I save more in the long run and it goes on activities that are on the whole cheaper. For example, a night out at the movies, buy a computer game and spend a few hours that way. Healthier too
This what I like. Man maths!!
"Darling, I have decided to save us some money. Instead of going to the pub and getting hammered I will buy a computer game and get the beers from Tesco. It will be about a tenner less than a night out and I can trade the game in afterwards!"
The thing is, Ł300 is not cheap. It maybe cheap for the technology, but it is not cheap! Add to that a TV big enough to play 1080p and it's way more above what most people can afford.
And most of us here on this website are young (ish!), so don't have a huge mortgage on a 4bed house to pay with fuel and food bills going through the roof and multiple kids to feed. And the fallout hasn't even started on what's been going on over the last couple of weeks.
Let see then if people will spend Ł300 on a games console, when they can get one for Ł100 - Ł200. Not saying one is better than the other, but people have a price limit. If they didn't they'd all have Ł2000+ PC gaming rigs. Probably.
I really can't see a Ł300 console is going to be top of everyone's list this christmas. And buying BR for Ł20 when you can get a DVD for half the price.
Sales will be ok, and Nintendo will continue to make money hand over fist. But all companies will take a hit.
300 is a lot of money,but it's value for your money. you do get a decent deal for what's in the package,also with a ever growing list of exclusive first party games.
It will probably drop Ł50 when KZ 2 launches in february, with another Ł50 for christmas 09. at that point these are the games I expect to go with it from this christmas to next as new and budget titles.
R2 LBP MS2 Fallout Deadspace Mirrors edge KZ 2 RES 5 All those and more should be on the budget range,or even on psn with EA's games.
Street fighter 4 inFAMOUS White night chronicles Heavey rain MAG Tekken Uncharted 2 R&C and another new insomniac ip The so called secret BBC game at least one from team ico eye pet another buzz another singstar and plenty from PSN bioshock 2 crysis possibly FF13 hopefully GT5 Fifa PES Dead soul Quantum theory some other games from sony's massive collection of studios LA noire possibly the exclusive R* game
So they will see strong sales through the year and when the price drops blu-ray movies start to fully penetrate the market I expect to see huge sales towards the last 6 months of the year.
If they get it right over the next 12 months,it will make or brake the Ps3 as a worthy successor to Ps2.
300 is a lot of money,but it's value for your money. you do get a decent deal for what's in the package,also with a ever growing list of exclusive first party games.
It will probably drop Ł50 when KZ 2 launches in february, with another Ł50 for christmas 09. at that point these are the games I expect to go with it from this christmas to next as new and budget titles.
R2 LBP MS2 Fallout Deadspace Mirrors edge KZ 2 RES 5 All those and more should be on the budget range,or even on psn with EA's games.
Street fighter 4 inFAMOUS White night chronicles Heavey rain MAG Tekken Uncharted 2 R&C and another new insomniac ip The so called secret BBC game at least one from team ico eye pet another buzz another singstar and plenty from PSN bioshock 2 crysis possibly FF13 hopefully GT5 Fifa PES Dead soul Quantum theory some other games from sony's massive collection of studios LA noire possibly the exclusive R* game
So they will see strong sales through the year and when the price drops blu-ray movies start to fully penetrate the market I expect to see huge sales towards the last 6 months of the year.
If they get it right over the next 12 months,it will make or brake the Ps3 as a worthy successor to Ps2.
I agree somewhat, for the technology, plus a BR player it is decent value. However, I see houses in London for sale that are good value at Ł8m for what you get, but they are not within the budget! Rather extreme example, but you get the idea!
Even with your price cuts, it will still seem expensive to the man on the street compared to the others. They will look at a games console and see one which is Ł100 (with arguably a better, certainly a better advertised, catalogue of games) and one at Ł200. If a PS3 is Ł200 in xmas 09 and a wii hasn't come down by Ł50 minimum I'll eat my hat.
The thing is, this is a completely new financial climate for everybody. Sony and MS's experience is (at least within the UK) during growth in the console sector - a client of mine who is loaded and very knowledgeable has said everything is totally f**ked; for once the media aren't exagerrating!
Then again, 'gamers' tend to be male from 18 - 35 or so, so are always likely to have less financial ties and more disposable income.
He's turned into an analyst, he's pointing out the obvious! After all when has a credit crunch ever really affected the games industry?
Also I read a sexpert who had a similar but more valid point. Due to the credit crunch more couples are going to be spending more time at home having sex to save money going out, which'll lead to higher birth rates and most probably save more marriages (and shops like Ann Summers are profiting because people are starting to experiment). Same thing happened during the last major credit crunch apparently.
Funny though how he seems to think the PS3 is 'cheap' home entertainment At least Microsoft seemed to have sense.
He's turned into an analyst, he's pointing out the obvious! After all when has a credit crunch ever really affected the games industry?
Also I read a sexpert who had a similar but more valid point. Due to the credit crunch more couples are going to be spending more time at home having sex to save money going out, which'll lead to higher birth rates and most probably save more marriages (and shops like Ann Summers are profiting because people are starting to experiment). Same thing happened during the last major credit crunch apparently.
Funny though how he seems to think the PS3 is 'cheap' home entertainment At least Microsoft seemed to have sense.
Everyone staying in and making babies? Would make sense!!
We've never really had a credit crunch like this before though. We had high interest rates, inflation and unemployment (neither of which we have now) before but not had huge multi billion financial institutions going to the wall in six months. Neither has it been as global as this.
Just follow the Nintendo line - make something that is cheap and lacking in expensive tech, but use the long forgotten skill of innovation and not lose money on the console at all. And outsell the competition by miles.
I suppose Sony may come 3rd this gen, but as with MS last gen, it doesn't mean they will be 3rd in terms of profit/loss. If Sony/MS do take a hammering, it will be for just throwing money (that they thought would never run out) at a console (especially MS in terms of games) to beef it up without REALLY adding anything to the previous gen apart from HD.
The wii is far from perfect and the graphics suck alot of the time. But they captured the minds of the general public with something original. Just like Simon Cowell.
Also I read a sexpert who had a similar but more valid point. Due to the credit crunch more couples are going to be spending more time at home having sex to save money going out, which'll lead to higher birth rates and most probably save more marriages (and shops like Ann Summers are profiting because people are starting to experiment). Same thing happened during the last major credit crunch apparently.
I know what you mean, but that does show how stupid people are - global credit crisis - struggling to afford the mortgage.... let's have some babies, they don't cost anything, do they? And I'm sure after a couple of years, they'll get jobs and will pay for themselves!
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