Rumours of a PlayStation 3 price cut have been circling the interwebz for a while now, but today respected trade publication MCV has published a report which claims that Sony is planning to cut the price of the PS3 at Gamescom in August.<\/p>\n
Apparently various industry insiders are anticipating the price cut, and the price is expected to drop to around \u00a3199.99 (R2,200), with some suggesting that it may go as low as \u00a3179.99 (R1980). Naturally, Sony has retorted with its trademark \u201cwe don\u2019t comment on speculation and rumour\u201d response, and Microsoft had similar things to say about a possible Xbox 360 price cut.<\/p>\n
According to MCV, the software market is down by over \u00a350m year-on-year in 2011. Console price cuts could be just what the console market needs to stimulate sales.<\/p>\n
Codemasters boss Rod Cousens went on record, telling MCV \u201cI would anticipate a further price cut on existing consoles prior to Christmas,\u201d and that \u201cIt\u2019ll probably happen around September and Gamescom may be interesting. But there\u2019s also time for a further cut next year, before Wii U is out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Analyst Nick Parker added: \u201c\u00a3199.99 makes sense as it keeps Sony\u2019s options open for another drop, but they could be more aggressive.<\/p>\n
To date, console price cuts have been globally endorsed, so if a UK and US price cut is announced at Gamescom, we can expect something similar to filter through to the South African market.<\/p>\n