Sony PS2 finally hits the $100 price point
(Credit:
Sony)
No April Foolery here: Sony has announced that it's dropping the price of the PlayStation 2 from $129 to $100 as of April 1. The move confirms rumors that had surfaced in recent days.
Originally introduced in 2000, the current iteration of the PS2 is a superslim console that also doubles as a CD and DVD player. It has a library of around 1,900 games, including many classics that can be found in bargain bins at local stores and online. And unlike the PS3, the older model actually has an infrared port, so you can use a standard universal remote to control movie playback.
So what do you think: any interest in picking up a newly encheapened PS2? Or are you holding out hope that Sony will eventually drop the price of the PlayStation 3?
On Sale Now: $64.99 - $99.99
View the latest prices for Sony PlayStation 2 (slim form factor)
John P. Falcone covers home theater and network entertainment products. He's been writing for CNET since 2002. 
When Sony said they had a big announcement, who knew it would be this frickin' big?!
If they'd dropped the price to $299, I'd have run out and bought one this afternoon. Oh well. Guess it might be time to drop 220 on an Xbox + Hard Drive.
let's have fun with math. let's say that Sony would normally sell 4 milion PS3 this year. Now let's say with a $100 price cut they would sell 6 million.
At the current loss of $50 per sonsole Sony loses $200 million on those 4 million PS3 sold.
With a $100 price cut Sony would lose $150 on 6 million PS3 for a total of $900 million in losses.
Now how is losing an extra $700 million "smart"?
With the curent price Sony needs people to buy 4-5 games to break even. That can happen. With a $100 price cut that number goes up to 12-15 games. No one is buying 12-15 games in a year.
If the PS2 price cut can spurs sales of PS2 and games and can add more income to the games division and with the costs of making aPS3 droping all the time, I'm sure by late fall Sony can then afford a price cut. More people buy consoles in Nov and Dec than the rest of the year combined anyways.
This is not big news. This is...weird. I don't get it. A $29 price drop. What's the point?
And aren't they still losing money on the PS3?
PS3 needs a price drop if they want to start selling that thing in this economy.
$400 is a pretty good price for what you can do with a PS3. A price drop accompanied by a massive marketing campaign would be a win for Sony. A PS3 price cut is imminent. Who knows, an announcement may come during the E3, if not sooner.
What? Do they make this stuff up on the fly? "What do you think the most out of touch thing we can do today is, Bob?"
I don't know, maybe they finally just gave up on selling PS3s and decided they should just stick to selling 9 year old designs. If anybody can give me any form of insight on why you'd do this, please do. I've pretty much given up on Sony doing anything intelligent. I guess I'm just lucky I stopped playing games when I was about 10 years old... It seems to cost a fortune nowadays.
I remember back in the 16-bit days, that it took only 3-5 years before the SNES and Genesis were $100-130
and 5-6 years before NES was $90-110.
This long delay for a PS2 price cut clearly shows that Sony was aiming to profit the best they could on their old system before letting it die like the rest.
- by rucknrun March 31, 2009 9:47 AM PDT
- PS3 is a good deal at 400. You have to pay for everything with the xbox, online play, wireless adaptor, xbox hard drive and no bluray.
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- by grilledcharlie March 31, 2009 11:22 AM PDT
- No matter how great a deal $400 for a PS3 is, they still cost more to walk out the door with one. You don't have to buy all that stuff with an XBOX. I don't use wifi for my XBOX or PS3. After playing games on the Playstation Network and spending time on the ridiculously uselss Home, I gladly pay what amounts to $3 and some change per month to use the excellent XBOX Live.
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- by iSony March 31, 2009 12:21 PM PDT
- I actually paid $700 for my PS3 (60GB, BC, 2 controllers, 3 games) and it's one of my best purchases of all time.
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- by kalel33 March 31, 2009 12:47 PM PDT
- @ iSOny
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Showing 1 of 3 pages (71 Comments)@grilledcharlie
You are clueless when it comes to PSN.
Isnt' what grilledcharlie said the same thing that every publication says about the PSN compared to XBL? You say he doesn't have a clue, but he's in the same mindset as almost everyone else who've tried both.