The USA has been a difficult region for Sony over the past few years. The Wii has dominated sales charts consistently due to its ability to appeal to a market beyond core gamers, and the Xbox 360 has outsold the PS3 thanks to a number of factors, one of which is price.<\/p>\n
Recently released NPD findings indicate a very strong consumer reaction to the recently released PS3 120GB Slim for $300. This model increases the already high value proposition of the outgoing 80GB PS3, by being smaller, lighter and cooler and featuring a larger hardrive. Furthermore, at $100 less than the previous model, the PS3 Slim was bound to do well at retail.<\/p>\n
Between August and September, Sony increased its PS3 sales figures by 70%. Furthermore, the company managed to sell over double the amount of PS3s in September 09 as it did in September 08.<\/p>\n
The sales boost is directly linked to the PS3 price cut, however, Microsoft reacted by cutting the price of the Xbox 360 Elite to $300, a move which analysts thought would contain the explosion of PS3 sales. However, the value proposition of a brand new PS3 model being made cheaper has obviously outweighed that of the $100 price cut on the Xbox 360 Elite.<\/p>\n
Nintendo even jumped on the bandwagon and reduced the price of the Wii from $250 to $200 in late September. However, this reduction was made too late to really affect September sales figures, and Sony for the first time in history sold more PS3s in a month that Nintendo and Microsoft did Xbox 360s and Wiis.
US home console sales figures for September 09<\/p>\n
1. PlayStation 3 – 491,800<\/p>\n
2. Wii – 462,800<\/p>\n
3. Xbox 360 – 352,600<\/p>\n
It would seem that at its new price point, the PS3 Slim may offer more value than the Xbox 360. When we consider that Sony’s console features additional functionality such as a Blu-ray player, built in Wifi, and remotes with built in rechargeable batteries, the Slim measures up well against the Xbox 360.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the recent release of the PS3 exclusive Uncharted 2, which currently holds a Metacritic rating of 96 percent , does a lot for the perception of the quality of games available exclusively on PS3.<\/p>\n
The Xbox 360 Elite is now typically priced at R3399 in SA, while the PS3 Slim carries a recommended retail price of R3799 and the Wii is R2499.<\/p>\n