Microsoft And Nintendo Drop Prices In The Wake Of New PS3 Model

Early this morning, Nintendo announced that it would be dropping the price of the Nintendo Wii in North America from $149 to $129. This is, presumably, to cash in on the bargain hunters during the holiday season and make way for the release of the Wii U on November 18th of this year. This was almost immediately followed by Microsoft’s announcement that it would be dropping the price of its Xbox 360 bundles by $50, to $249.

Sony just cannot seem to catch a break. Nintendo has held the total market share in North America for the entire generation, while the 360 has been able to outpace the Playstation 3 console in North America for the last 21 months straight. While the worldwide total puts the 360 and the PS3 neck-and-neck, the PS3 is very far behind in North America. Sony saw an opportunity to release a new, slimmer SKU of the PS3 last month, bundled with the critically acclaimed Uncharted 3 for $269. Armed with a slew of first party exclusives due out this fall, Sony seemed set to take the Wii U head on, priced just under the cheaper of the two Wii U SKU’s. But these price drops may prove to be detrimental.

Sony’s strategy has been to release a constant stream of high-quality first and third party exclusives, and let the games themselves sell the system. Littlebigplanet, Ratchet, Sly, and PS All-Stars lead the way this fall, with God of War, The Last of Us, and Beyond: Two Souls headed for the Spring. Nintendo and Microsoft, on the other hand, have done the opposite- fans of the former had to beg to get the only two major Wii releases of the year localized, and Microsoft showed just about everything except for games at their E3 press conference, relying instead on 3rd party multiplatform games to draw people in. But those two consoles continue to surge ahead with little new content. Whatever the reason is, they surely will continue to do so with lower prices.

Sony really needed to bring their price down to compete, and they did not- if you compare SKU’s, the new one is not even the lowest-priced system that they have had. It is tragic really, because Sony’s lineup of exclusives this fall can go toe to toe even with Nintendo’s brand new console. For whatever reason, people do not seem to be interested in choosing the console that is continuing to deliver game after game so far out from launch. Is it bad marketing? Poor advertising? Bad luck? It does not help that it costs more. In my opinion, the Playstation 3 is absolutely the best console choice out there right now (pending your taste in games) in terms of value, especially when coupled with the Playstation Plus service. It is a shame that other people do not see it that way.

The new $129 Wii SKU will be available by October 28th, comes in black, and is bundled with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort on one disc in place of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The Wii U will release in two SKUs priced at $299 and $349 on November 18th. The two 360 SKUs will be out this holiday, the first being 250GB with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Forza Motorsport 4, the second being 4GB with Microsoft Kinect, Kinect Adventures and Disney Adventures. The new PS3 SKU is available now, and includes Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and Dust 514.

Are you in the market for a new console? Which one are you considering this fall?

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  1. You know why it won’t sell because Sony **ed their customers on the PS3 being able to play PS2 games and taking out so much stuff that made the 1ST model good. Sony fans know when something smells BS and a lot of them have some of the best PS2 games that they don’t want to sell it just to be able to buy it again if it hits on PS3 network! ”Only buy something once that is great and don’t get fooled twice”. I’m not a Sony fan but do follow gaming and Sony is like a PC power house release PS3 systems like its a needed PC upgrade that people don’t need. Customers are well prepared for the next BS PS4 is going to pull on different SKU bundles and they won’t fall for it again until they make one SKU that people will buy and not worry about trying to decide which is better.

  2. It’s not in the wake of the new PauperStation3. It’s in the wake of the new generation starting with the WiiU. PoS3 has no power in videogame land anymore and Sony is going down the drain really fast and taking PlayStation with them to hell. PoS3 sucks balls and the company behind it are lying retards. So F ’em!

  3. You’re right; the Wii’s price drop is due to the Wii U’s launch, as I stated in the first paragraph. But I would whole-heartedly argue that 360 drop was meant to keep the PS3 at bay specifically, and to continue the streak.

    It’s a shame that you guys have a tainted view of the company. Sony’s made dumb decisions this generation for sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are releasing an enormous amount of quality, exclusive software over the course of the next year, unparalleled by the other two companies.

  4. @toddblend — Sony was losing too much money on 1st generation PS3 and who the hell plays PS2 games anyways?? Plus the PS2 ports are hitting the PS3 network with HD graphics and better framerates. Sony was smart to take that PS2 chip out due to cost efficient, doesn’t justify to install on every PS3 out there…

    @Robert — You on drugs or what. PS3 games average the highest scored games out of the 3 consoles. Such ignorance.. at least the PoS3 doesn’t crap out and make everyone buy their console 2-7 times again. I bet half the cbox sales in North America are people buying their consoles again, they did reach a defective rate of 50% at some point.

  5. @toddblend and @Robert, you guys are complete retards, you know that right? Playstation 3 has the 2nd highest sell rate out of all the 3 console WORLD WIDE! (…faster than the 360)

    Please go back to school and stop wasting people’s valuable time.

  6. Okay. Lets get a few things straight out the gate.
    First, this generation of consoles is coming to an end…finally. Yes, this is probably the last Holiday season of any significance for these machines.

    Second, I don’t care which system you prefer but Wii is still the overall winner because of the huge impact on the casual crowd. Microsoft is second and had a much more impact on the core gamer than any console. Sony is catching up but that impact is late and not as profound.

    Third, from a money perspective, Microsoft is the big winner. Yes, Wii sold more but the price is cheaper and no real online revenue. MS made money off of XBOX LIVE and advertisement. Their few exclusive games made way more money than Sony’s. Not to mention the top multiplatform games sold better on their console. Their box cost less than the PS3 (since its older/no bluray) and its the reason why the PS3 price is always higher. Sony has loss tons of money on the PS3 and still trying to make up though they have broken even.

    Finally, I expect Sony to really try and make the next gen theirs to own. I’m assuming that’s why we don’t really see any big time game for the PS3 this Holiday. They should be focused on getting the next console with their games right. I think they will. They have to.

  7. Well said toddblend. I missed out on the PS3 first gen, so I never bought one. Because I did want backwards compatibility. I do in all my machines.