Super-Slim PS3 Could Make Sony Market Leader
Sony’s new ‘super-slim’ PS3 could seriously push Sony ahead of its console market competitors and even change the industry as a whole, analysts suggest.
In an interview with gameindustry.biz, M2 Research Analyst Billy Pidgeon argued that the PS3 has a serious chance to outsell the Xbox 360 in the US, which always comes out on top of the monthly hardware sales.
“Sony already has a strong edge in Europe, but the economy is weak and generous hardware price cuts will have a big impact,” Pidgeon said. “Microsoft would suffer deeper market share loss in Europe and with value pricing PS3 could outsell Xbox 360 in the US where Microsoft has dominated monthly hardware sales.”
On top of beating out the Xbox 360, a cheaper, slimmer PS3 may also have the potential to drive game sales.
“A dramatic price reduction to $150 for PS3 would be terrific for Sony and for the industry overall,” Pidegon said. “A value-priced PS3 could rapidly increase the [customer] base and would free up more consumer revenue for higher software sales.”
Gameindustry.biz also spoke to Michael Prachter, a Wedbush Securities Analyst for more insight on the impact of a super-slim PS3. This new PS3 model will supposedly feature 16GB of flash memory, which may drive the cost down to as low as $150.
“I think the success of the 4GB Xbox 360 should have been emulated a long time ago,” Pachter said. “You’re right that flash memory is cheap enough to allow Sony to price pretty competitively.”
Lewis Ward of IDC Research spoke with gameindustry.biz as well. He argued this new PS3, if successful, would inevitably end up pushing back the release of the PS4.
“Perhaps this offering will be Sony’s final bid to drive up the PS3 installed base beginning this holiday season before turning its attention to the PS4. If the SKU proves popular it could push back the PS4 launch window to 2014,” Ward said.
Even though Sony has not officially confirmed the existence of a super-slim PS3, documents were uncovered that were filed with the U.S. FCC referencing Model CECH-400, which seems to be a smaller PlayStation console.
