The Prices, They Are A Droppin' Special @ Gaming Target

Written by Adam Woolcott on May 14, 2002

Special: And if Bob Dylan was dead, he'd be rolling over in his grave after that comment.

At approximately Midnight PST last night, SCEA again went on the offensive in the latest Console War by slashing the price of their PlayStation 2 to an affordable $199. The move comes after rumors and leaks of Microsoft's plans to reduce the price of their Xbox console to $199 the week of E3, on May 23rd. The move may come as a shock to many, and for others it was a foregone conclusion Ц but the price-slashing portion of the 5-year game console cycles has begun and it only means better prices for the gamers. After all, gamers are always the victors in a console war.

Does this mean Sony is failing? Not at all. The PS2, at $299 was still selling impressively, outpacing GameCube and Xbox sales combined here in the United States. This move was one-upmanship at its best Ц instead of making MS's price drop look like a stunner, SCEA leaped first and now makes the Xbox drop look like a reaction, instead of aggression. Of course those in the know realize Sony dropped the price because of the leak of MS's drop (which was never confirmed by MS officially), but to the average consumer it makes MS look like a follower in dropping the price.

To many, the first price drop for PS2 comes later than expected Ц Sony took a major risk in not reducing the price this past Christmas season in light of 2 new consoles to compete with Ц and rolled the dice perfectly, selling millions of consoles despite that price. However, Sony can't keep the price at $300 forever, especially given the multiple price drops in the Japan and PAL regions (Europe/Australia). And with rumors of MS dropping the price, the time obviously was right, and all Sony's talk of no price drops was obviously a bluff to goad the others into thinking of a price drop to better compete with the market leader.

The price drop of May 14th isn't just about the actual PS2, by the way. What else is a part of this new deal?

-PlayStation 2 Dual Shock 2 controller: Once $35, now $25
-PlayStation 2 8MB Memory Card: Once $35, now $25
-PSOne Game Console: Once $100, now $50
-PSOne Game Console with LCD Screen: Once $200, now $149

While the idea of buying a PSOne, despite the price, instead of a PS2 that lets you play PSOne games, DVD movies out of the box, and of course PS2 games is farfetched, being able to buy a new PSOne system for the cost of a new PS2 game is fairly tempting, and the $150 tag for a PSOne/Screen bundle is not bad either, especially if you want a portable PlayStation. For the really budget minded, the price is right, and the games are still out there in high numbers because the PS2 is backwards compatible, thus the software is never truly Уoutdated.Ф

To the early adopters that purchased a PS2 at its full price point, the most important things are the Memory Card/Controller price reductions. Getting an 8 MB memory card for $25 bucks is an excellent deal for $10 less than before, as is the lower price of the DS2 controllers. Now that the PS2 memory card shortage is over, no doubt Sony expects to sell tons of both accessories.

What about game prices, you may ask? Well, for now new games are still going to retail for $50, but it's likely (and discussed as a possibility in an interview by the SCEA President recently) that Sony will reduce the licensing fees to allow new games to retail for $40, making it once again easier on the wallets of gamers, especially given the large quality library of the PlayStation 2. For now, growing library of Greatest Hits, including 3rd party games like Midnight Club Street Racing, Onimusha, Smuggler's Run, and Red Faction amongst the SCEA releases will do. The console price drop not only helps out those who can't afford a PS2 at the old price, it combines the GH line to target not only the hardcore gamer, but the budget minded gamer looking for a good time at a low price. And now for $300, you can get a PS2, a memory card, and 3-4 GH games. Not too shabby, if I may say so.

What does this all mean for the other console makers? For Microsoft, it pretty much forces them to drop the price, whether the rumor was untrue or not. Hard Drive/Network Port built in or not, MS can't sell the Xbox at $300 with the PS2 100 dollars cheaper. Nintendo on the other hand can either sit at $199 and be on even ground, or reduce the price to $150 and hope for the best. With Xbox and PS2 at $199, each with more features for the price than GameCube has, it's almost a conclusion that they also HAVE to drop the price or be outclassed, at least in terms of what each system can do besides play games. Also, considering the drop in price of the 2 vital PS2 accessories, MS will have to play catch-up and drop their prices on controllers and memory units (even if they aren't vital to Xbox), to keep pace. More Controller S's for me at $25-30Еmmmm tasty.

Final Thoughts
Personally, I expected the PS2 price to be dropped around E3 time Ц despite Sony's claims to the contrary. I assumed that Sony was just bluffing, waiting for someone to call them on it. Plus, why tell of a price drop that may stop sales until the new price kicks in? Business is business, and Sony hung on as long as they could to the $300 tag until this morning. Now, however, with the PS2 going for $199, sales should boost more, and it's highly possible that Sony has put away MS and Nintendo this time around. Who knows what the future holds, but for now Sony has pulled a fast one on the competition and the aftershocks should be very interesting to see and hear.