Well, we’re in the home stretch! A new format for E3 brought a new look and feel, a few challenges and most importantly a great opportunity to show off our wares for all PlayStation platforms. All the planning, preparations and hard work has paid off into what was a great E3 for SCEA. Congratulations to everyone involved in making that happen! And a thanks to all of you guys for your positive comments regarding the press conference and what we showed there. I know Jack was checking out all the comments on his post and really appreciated your feedback. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing our games via the trailers on PlayStation Network. I just wanted to also let you know that yes, we hear you, and we are working to make those great games you saw into more interactive content and demos.
One quick thing before I head to the show for the last day. I just wanted to clarify something. I’ve seen a lot of posts this morning related to the 60GB SKU and the comments by SCEE President David Reeves. As we announced this week, SCEA’s product offering in North America consists of a 80GB PS3 available in August and a 60GB PS3 available now for $499. We will have ample supplies of both models to meet the needs of consumers for the foreseeable future.
Talk to you again soon, once we get back from Santa Monica.
No demos today…
@300 – True enough. Maybe since the Limited Edition SKU would be gradually phased out as well (since according to Kaz they don’t want to keep around two SKUs), the vanilla SKU would be 499, and the limited edition ones would be 549 until they sold out.
im a real proud ps3 owner now .
SONY PLS ONE MORE THING “”firmware update v2.00 with XMB access so that i can listen to my own music while playing PLS PLS.
@300
You’re right, that would be madness….
but wait… THIS IS SONYYYYY!
OK here’s the thing.Apprently this whole time they were talking about EU NOT N/A??
http://digg.com/playstation_3/Sony_Lies_About_Not_Phasing_Out_60GB_To_Save_Face_Kaz_Hirai_Admits_On_Vid
Read closely people
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/sony-says-499-60gb-ps3-is-staying-alive-alive-in-us/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/sony-says-499-60gb-ps3-is-staying-alive-alive-in-us/
Read closely people.Apperntly they were talking about EU not N/A
Look, the thing is that it isn’t necessarily bad to have a new SKU at $600 with added features. However, it is suicide to make it seem as if there was a price cut when in fact there isn’t. It is already too late to take back the promises of a lower price.
let me tell you why this is a big deal.
why microsoft discontinue the original xbox in such a short time? they bleed money on each console sold. The technology they have simply cannot make the xbox cheap enough to be profitable.
now sony has cease the production of 20 gb and 60 gb. why? because there is no way they can continue to support those models, it costs way too much money to keep the assembly lines of the 20 gb and the 60 gb running.
now why we care about this?
well, that tells us that sony is still EXPERIMENTING on the hardware production. It doesn’t matter how many 60 gb’s are left, but sony has CONCLUDED that the 20 gb and the 60 gb is NOT A SUCCESSFUL platform for sony.
what if they later find out that the 80 gb is not a succesfful? what if they find out that the ps3 is not a successful platform?
there goes the 10 year plan. it shakes the confidence about the future of the playstation 3.
Well, whatever happens in the long run, I hope Sony learns one important lesson:
NEVER make important public announcements on Friday the 13th!
Also, as I post every time I post on this blog:
Sony, please, when making your new 80GB SKUs, please, for the love of all that is Holy, include COMPOSITE HIGH DEFINITION CABLES in the box.
Sorry, this has always, and will always, annoy me. This is one place where Microsoft did get it right. Both the PS3 and X360 are designed with High Definition in mind, so please, please, please put high definition cables in the box at the same price.
@305 No, they were talking about NA. David Karraker already confirmed via joystiq that the 60 gig model has been discontinued. Apparently, his “clarification” is just to let everyone know that they still have a lot of 60 gig models in stock.
@302 What I think will happen is that the Motorstorm bundle will last through X-mas and a price drop will happen around Nov. Once the X-mas season has passed, the bundle will lose Motorstorm but keep the semi-sweet spot of $499.
@306
By added features you mean the removal of the EE thus lower backwards compatiblity, correct?
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/07/13/sony-says-60gb-is-not-over-in-us/
@ 310 re-read that because they are saying the same thing here to as engadget.
How do they manage it?
How do they have such an amazing E3, have killzone deliver… have great games… and then have the whole damn thing overshadowed on the last day by their execs not being ‘with the programme’
look whats happened…
first the price is cut by $100
The the ceo of sony australia announces a PAL price cut of ‘around 17%’
then a european exec says the $100 cut is just until stocks run out
Then they DON’T announce a PAL price cut.
Then Europe bactracks from it’s ’till stocks last statement’
Then SCEA Pr kicks in and says europe was misquoted…
THEN Kaz hirai confirms it IS till stocks run out….
These people don;t deserve our money, or loyaty… they constantly show themselves up as incompetant… and they held a lot of announcements back.
SONY = in a single day you went from winning E3 to confusing everyone and looking like idtiots again…
Also, take a look on XBox live… look at the huge amount of content from E3… and we got a few first party trailers… not a single demo… not one.
… i am totally sick of this…
SICK OF IT…
Anyway, after being with playstation since importing a Japanese PSone at launch… you lost me. I’ve ordered an elite 360… and good riddance to you and your incompetant execs.
@ 287, does it seem to you that ms cares about its costumers?? rushing a console out and spitting on gamers faces???
all 10 million 360 will fail accordind to robbie bach from ms
that is not acceptable, and also, ms has killed any chance it had to succed if it was to launch a successor to the 360
on the other hand, sony cares, they give you what you pay for, a console that works and will last, they are not robbing gamers
http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/microsoft-admits-all-xbox-360s-are-faulty/
@ 314, your elite 360 will fail on you very soon, what an idiot
http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/microsoft-admits-all-xbox-360s-are-faulty/
@zefie
keep up the trolling
@ 256: what’s up unforgiven?
good to see you here
well sony have failled me in more ways than a hardware issue
they have taken years of loyalty and washed it away… for all this denial of whether the cut is till stocks last…. they did the exact same thing with the 20gb model… right before it was annouced they were dropping it.
w00t!yea. Hey how long before they get back form Santa Monica?
I’d really like to see you guys respond to some of our posts.
Wow…
Talk about Black Friday. This is going to be a shaky weekend for Sony.
@Darkendless
I think you are correct that Sony is experimenting with hardware, but do it when things are going forward, not backward.
—-
And the important thing. Quoting Mr. David Reeves:
“From a hardware perspective, the $499 price adjustment we did for the 60GB version for the American market, we’re no longer in production for that product,” he said in an undedited on-camera interview. “Once that product is gone from the retailer shelves, then we’re back to a $599 SKU only, so it’s not like we have a two-price strategy in the US market. We found out very early on how consumers react to having just one SKU as opposed to two.”
All I was expecting was that you guys (Sony) might drop the price of the 80 model after the 60 model has run out but like it says there.
Once the product is gone of the shelves we are BACK to our 599 SKU.
SO WHERE IN THE HELL IS OUR PRICE DROP????
Also, you claim to know how two SKUs don’t work. Well, guess again, because people don’t want these kind of bundles.
A couple things I’ve realized now that my anger has somewhat subsided is that the Motorstorm bundle(as some of you have pointed out) was announced as a limited edition, and I did read somewhere that once those sold out they weren’t going to produce anymore.
Mr. Hirai still needs to get some things sorted out, because in the video interview he states only the $599 80GB SKU would be sold(apparently after they sell all the 60GB). So they’ll sell all their remainig 60GB SKU’s while introducing the limited edition bundle in August.
My question is: If they don’t sell all the limited edtion bundles, then what happens?
Oh, endgadget has updated their story:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/13/sony-says-499-60gb-ps3-is-staying-alive-alive-in-us/
An quoting Dave Karraker:
“We won’t be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated.”
So, this translates in WE NOT getting our answers till all the 60 GB are gone.
So I as a consumer, feel like a complete idiot who bought a 600 machine and don’t even know what the hell is it going to.
Ok, People lets make a list of the questions Sony HAS to answer (Hopefully today), but please make them worthy and polite:
(Please copy and paste this and then add yours if you have more):
– Is the 60GB model out of production?
– Is the new bundle a limited edition or this is a new model?
– Which is the final price after the 60 GB model is gone? 599 or 499?
– Why not making a special discount for PS3 buyers with a HD manufacturer?
Gone.
what are ppl crying about? PS3 60 gig had a price drop. it was 600 now its 500. If you want a ps3 buy it now. The only difference with the 80 gig is no EE chip and 20 gigs. Id rather have the EE chip so i got mine know. there is no inferior model as you can install a larger harddrive if you need to. consumers need to get a brain
@326 nice list keep’em comming.
can’t believe their are 329 comments about this post. And like 50 of them involve the 360.
I’m a Sony fan. But I was a little disappointed with the ps3. Tha console have all the ingredientes to be succesfull great hardware, a bright future catalogue, a free network service, but it’s expensive for some that only wants to play videogames.
This week was awesome for all Sony fans. we get a price drop so many people can get it and make the install base to grow faster. Every Sony fan was happy with this. Then comes E3 and we saw for the first time Killzone 2 in action, that was amazing.
Then you come with this. As you can see in current ps3 sales $499 is a great price to make more people get interested in the ps3 specially when the xbox 360 is having a bad time right now. So please keep it in mind we don’t need more extra stuff, we just need a good price and $499 is great for us. Most of us only want to play games!
Please hear us as you stated in the note above.
Am I alone in not giving a damn about any of this?? Price cuts or not don’t really affect me. I’m happy with the price I paid. If a price cut comes for someone still waiting to by one BONUS for them if not i still say it’s a worthwhile product. I’m happy with my PS3.
Hey Guys. Let me jump back in here to answer some questions. Kaz has confirmed that we have stopped production on the 60GB in Asia. However, we have a very ample supply of systems still here in the North American market and will be able to meet demand for months to come at the new $499. We will keep monitoring the market and take the necessary steps to meet consumer needs once the 60GB model is depleted from retail.
Also remember
” every consumer is an elite consumer”
The hard drive size doesn’t make a difference since it’s not a proprietary hard drive.
Only thing of concern is the removal of the emotion engine chip,but software emulation isn’t that bad since it’s update-able.
Wow. This really puts Microsofts E3 tagline “We’re putting our cards on the table” in a whole new context. Perhaps they were able to see before we were that Sony was destined to do the opposite.
I love my ps3 and everything that it can do, and I have been genuinely distressed by the amount of hate that people have expressed towards it since its launch, but now I’m starting to wonder if perhaps all of those “Xbox 360 fanboys” were actually attempting to do me a favor! Maybe they were trying to save my soul before it was too late!
Well, it’s too late. I was genuinely excited following the E3 conferences and thought – “finally… here is some substance that can justify my spending $600 on this beautiful but undersupported machine…! It looks like Sony does have some sort of plan to make an effort at satisfying customers and attracting business for its console!”
With a blunder of this magnitude, I can’t help but to think that I was simply wrong. You just keep promising and promising and then not delivering and then promising and breaking said promise before it’s even accepted in the first place. What gives?
Much as I hate to say it, the Xbox 360 is starting to look better every day. If they introduce a price cut this holiday season, along with all of the great games they have shown, it may be cheaper and less painful for me to just shelve my $600 plastic statue and divert my investment in gaming towards a platform that consistently puts its money where its mouth is and its cards on the table.
Dave,
thank you for answering. The question now is what happens when the 60 GB is gone for good. Will you guys offer another model at the 499.99 price point or will the PS3 be back up to the 599.99 price point?
I want to know seeing as E3 is dying out and ending will the other big games we did not see yet be at TGS or a later date.
I want to know more about Afrika, Eyedentify, DC comics MMO, Getaway, God of War 3, Buzz, Siren, Wild Arms, Ape Escape and WarDevil: Enigma.
Also please Sony talk to Sqaure-Enix and tell them we want to see a remake of FFVII. I know when it came out on the PS1 Sony published the game so I think you guys should have some rights to it.
Other games I want to see either a remake or a new game are Twisted Metal, Jet Moto, Legend of Legaia, Syphon Filter, The Legend of Dragoon,
So I hope to see a remake of a lot of these games some day.
I want to say I like seeing games like Warhawk come back from the shadows and make a return. So it would be great to see many other games from PS1 make it on to the PS3.
That all being said E3 was great and I can’t wait to see and hear about more PS3 games in the coming months.
NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING IS THIS TOPIC. YOU CAN GET A PS3 FOR $499 NOW. THAT IS A FACT. DO YOU HONESTLY THINK SONY IS GONNA DROP THE PRICE THEN WHEN THE 60 GIGS SELLS OUT ANNOUNCE THAT YOU CAN ONLY GET ONE FOR $599. GOD YOU GUYS ARE STUPID. ITS CALLED MARKETING AND PRODUCTION. THE 499 IS DRIVING SALES RIGHT NOW AND PEOPLE ARE BUYING IT. ONCE THERE ARE LIKE NO MORE 60 GIG ONES LEFT I KNOW SONY WILL HAVE THE 80 GIG AT 499. THEY MAKE MORE MONEY ON THE 80 GIG BECAUSE ON THE REMOVAL ON THE EE CHIP. SO IF OYU WANT A PS3 THAT CAN PLAY ALL PS2 GAMES THEN GET THE 60 GIG NOW FOR 499. IF YOU WANT A PS3 WITH A LARGER HARDDRIVE THAT CAN PLAY MOST BUT NOT ALL PS2 GAMES WAIT FOR THE 80 GIG TO DROP TO 499 MOST LIKELY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. WHY DO YOU THINK IT SAYS LIMITED EDITION ON THE 80 GIG PS3 WITH MOTORSTORM. YOU ALL NEEDS A NEW BRAIN I HATE THIS INDUSTRY.
@haldalish
Calm down and don’t come here [DELETED] around because you couldn’t read the whole thread.
Reeves said that the price will raise again to 599 after the 60GB is gone so shut up.
ALSO TAKE NOTE THAT YOU CAN ALWAYS INSTALL A LARGER HARD DRIVE IN YOUR PS3 EASILY
@Sartorius 334
Good for you. Buy a 360 and be happy with that. Who cares.
One more comment – I mean, what in God’s name is the point of the 80 GB model anyways!?!!?!?! Isn’t the 60 GB ps3 already a “multimedia supercomputing broadband engine powerhouse” [or however it’s been chalked up] already? With its built-in wi-fi, DNLA capabilites, internet browsing, game playing, media playback etc., it certainly does everything I need it to and more.
The introduction of the 80 GB model really makes it feel to us as though you have NO idea what’s going on! The problem isn’t that the system needs to change (if you can even consider a 20 GB HDD bump-up a substantial change) – the system is fantastic!!! The problems are that: 1) there are not enough great games, and subsequently 2) nobody wants to buy it!!!!!
Thus, the solutions are simple – 1) Get better games out, NOW and 2) Make it cheaper! If you can afford to be selling a fully featured ps3 for $499 (or however cheap you possibly can), then THAT is what you ought to be doing. Nobody cares about adding 20 GB or anything else to an already ridiculously overpowered games consoles. And you should remember that no matter what else it can do, people buy it primarily because it’s a games console.
Finally – Demos suck (although everyone will likely disagree). They ruin the fun of playing a new game for the first time. So exert your effort on something else.
Sartorius you are a idiot you can get a ps3 for 499
look
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-60GB-PlayStation-3/dp/B0009VXAM0/ref=pd_ts_vg_1/102-5814557-2155342?ie=UTF8&s=videogames
you have no clue what the pricing situation will be once the 60 gig is sold out
@haldalish
Why don’t you chill out and take your insults somewhere else because you didn’t read the whole thread?
Mr Reeves himself told us that after the 60GB is gone, the price is going to be 599 again.
So shut up and read #241
of course he said that. what you think hes gonna say ” yeah once the 60 gig sells out u can get the 80 for 499 so just wait for that” its called marketing dimwit
y would anyone buy the 60 gig if youll be able to get the 80 gig for the same price in a couple months. MARKETING MARKETING MARKETING. thiers a reason they work for sony and you dont
Thanks for posting this clarification. As a reader of this blog and PS owner for years, I’m glad to Sony engaging in this kind of dialogue with it’s most hard core fans. I also appreciate Mr. Karraker posting in the comments, I’m sure it can be intimidating with 300+ posts, many of them negative, to wade back into to the discussion.
I think I speak for a lot of Sony fans when I say that it’s not this particular instance that really rubs, it’s all the foibles thus far added up that make me seriously question whether I made a sound investment. The seeming lack of transparency, or ability to level with the fan base really cause most of these problems. If Sony was upfront about all this stuff, the delays, PSN content, it would go far to engender brand loyalty. As someone who has been a loyal PS owner for many years, I just feel kind of slighted by the whole PS3 experience thus far. Don’t get me wrong, Resistance and Motorstorm are awesome, but the lack of levels for Motorstorm, and the long delayed Resistance map pack kind of illustrate the point, that there is so much potential that is just being underutilized at this point. It’s like with the PS3, Sony is like a Prodigy musician, a brilliant 15 year old with the potential to compose beautiful music that has developed an alcohol problem.
You need to get you act strait. There are to many people in the company say things that make their associates look uneducated. If you don’t make a move to keep the 499 price point beyond the 60 gig version your going to loose a big chunk of your fan base. The fact that your not denying the 60 gig console drop is proving to rumor to be true. This is fine but your you have to put a 499 model in it’s place. People have responed well to the new 60 gig price. The reason why the 20 gig went south with the consumer is becuase the 20 gig was not worth the price when for 100 dollars more they could be a much better system. If you want to keep a 600 dollar sku you should package it with a coupon for a game of your choice and include two controllers. Imagen what this might do for sales. It should have something the cheaper virsion does not have, like the dual hdmi out puts. It would be really nice to have my own screen while playing my friends. Just some thoughts. Keep up the good work like you did at E3.
Sony possible suggestion:
I think it would be good if poeple can send messages to Sony blog posters and other users here.
And maybe Sony could make a weekly blog update where they answer the questions asked alot.
People, Sony cant say right now if the 60gb version will fade and this is a rumor only.
Ít’s easy to spread a rumor if you think it will do the company good. (like the PS2 wii rumor, I thought would be a great idea and smart move)
And even if this happens, some Sony members denied the price drop rumors a day before they happend)
So please stop spamming the blogs, this is not a forum thread!
@haldalish
Alright, I am done talking to you. If you can’t make a point without putting silly excuses then I don’t care.
I know what marketing is. And I know they can not tell you that.
But price is going down, now or in a couple of months so if you want to but it right now, you don’t have. And you always wait till the price drop.
The importance here is that they called this a price drop, and if the price remains the same after the 60 is out, then is more like a Special Offer.
Haldalish is right we won’t really know anything solid until the 60GB is sold out.
I have a feeling that Sony will make an official statement regarding this situation by the end of next week.