Sony has faced severe criticism over its refusal to drop PlayStation 3 prices ahead of Xmas. But why has it stood firm in the face of a global drop in consumer spending, and shrugged off generous price cuts from its closest rival, Microsoft’s Xbox 360? Sony Computer Entertainment managing director, Ray Maguire explains: “We have a business to run.”
“And we have to make sure we’re doing the right thing for the shareholders as well,” he added
“At the moment there’s a marketplace for PS3 and I think for this particular Christmas, with the kind of quality of games we’re seeing coming out this Christmas, I don’t think the price of the console is going to be an issue at all,” Maguire stated at the Gamer 3.0 conference in London.
These are all fair arguments but rumour has it there’s a recession going on out there. Yes, PS3 does have a strong line-up this Xmas. Hell, it’s spectacular. The rub is that so is Microsoft’s. So unless you’re desperate for Resistance 2 to get your alien-killing fix, instead of say, Gears of War 2, then yes it’s the only choice. But why would you be, unless you’ve played Resistance: Fall of Man? In which case you probably already have a PS3.
Not only that, but if you’re just in the market for just any high quality gaming fare, many of them (Fallout 3, Call of Duty: World at War, Dead Space, Far Cry 2, etc) are multi-platform already. And it’s fair to say PS3 doesn’t usually come out on top in the side-by-side comparisons either.
So LittleBigPlanet remains Sony’s best hope of pulling through Xmas with its dignity intact. Yet phenomenal though the game may be, Microsoft has its own answer in the well-received Fable 2. And with our financial futures feeling less and less certain with every Breakfast news report (the recession doesn’t seem to be biting the BBC’s budget for financial correspondents, funnily enough) will parents be willing spend an extra £100 or more just for the sake of Sack Boy?
I just can’t see it myself. But then on the flipside, gaming seems fairly immune to the recession as it stands. Maybe people will have one last Xmas blow-out before the fear of redundancy and unemployment really kicks in.
Out now | £299| (via VideoGamer)
