PlayStation 2 price cut could stunt gaming’s growth
Sony's 10-year-old PlayStation 2 may change our thinking on video games.
Thanks to Sony, video gaming may have stopped evolving.
Today, the company announced it was dropping the price of its decade-old PlayStation 2 consoles to $99, plus sales tax, from $130. This is the console’s third price reduction since 2002; back then, it cost $299.
The price cut is intended to raise Sony’s profile after more than three years of disappointing sales for PlayStation 3, currently the most expensive console on the market at $400. PS3’s month-to-month sales lag well behind Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which marked down the price of all its consoles last year, and Nintendo’s Wii. (Microsoft, by the way, is rumored to announce yet another price cut for Xbox at E3.)
When Sony hinted last week at a big announcement today, market analysts were hoping it was the PS3 that would receive the discount. They see a PS3 price cut as the true elixir for Sony’s ills.
But by giving PS2 new life, Sony may have sent gaming development into a stall. Generally, the games coming out today require more processing power than those available for PS2, Though game makers still recast new titles for the console — about 140 million of the devices are floating around out there still — these makers are forced to dial down some of the features that motivate sales for bigger systems.
Furthermore, Microsoft with its Xbox Live and Sony with its PlayStation Home are trying to spur interest in direct-to-console downloads, eliminating the need for discs and the middleman industry that taps game-sales profits to make them.
So, what we’ll see now in this sour economy is heightened consumer interest in the less expensive PS2 and a subsequent slowdown in the evolution of direct-to-consumer online game development, which is where Microsoft and Sony both stand to make really big money.
With a PS2 price cut to $99 — and, really, who can ignore a bargain like that? — the gaming industry takes a step backward and begins hoping even harder for a fast economic turnaround so it can resume make oodles more money.
Thoughts?
Or…it takes a step forward and proves that you don’t need cutting-edge graphics and a processor powered by a personal coal burner in order to have good gameplay? There are a lot of games out today that came with much fanfare and advertising about great graphics, but then made it clear that they just weren’t good games.
I still prefer NES and SuperNES with an occasional game in the GameCube realm. Wii can be fun, but only because it can easily involve more people. I don’t get off on hardcore graphics or realism, far too often the (in)ability to do what you want the character to do detracts from the game play. For $400, I’ll pick up a PC, not a game console. $99 is better, but considering you’re not getting any games, with that initial $100, you can’t really call it a $99 purchase. I’ve loved that Nintendo has always dropped at least a basic game with it’s systems. OOBE is nicer that way.