SCEA holding back on 40GB announcement, says Pachter
- Posted October 15th, 2007 at 10:05 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 5,279 views
- 19 Comments
Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, believes that Sony is neglecting to announce availability of a 40GB PlayStation 3 in North America due to the fact there is still an ample supply of 60GB consoles waiting to be sold.
Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, in light of multiple Internet sources claiming that a 40GB machine would arrive on November 2, Pachter stated: “These rolling announcements suggest to me that Sony has an inventory control problem, with too many unsold 60GB units out there, and they don't want to have to cut the price to clear them.”
Pachter speculated that the company will either hold off announcing a new SKU until the 60GB has been phased out, or simply "accept reality and bundle [the 60GB with] a game and an extra controller for USD 499.99, giving consumers some value for their money."
In doing so, Pachter believes that the PS3 sell-through rate would increase by as much as 50 per cent for every USD 100 in the price cut.
He also added that he feels the lack of PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility in the new model would do little to deter consumer interest, observing, "I don't think most people who waited this long care enough about backwards compatibility to affect their decision either way.”
Stay tuned to PSU for more news on a possible 40GB entry console for North America as it breaks.
Comments
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sorrow880 |
Sorrow880- 10:24am BST - October 15th, 2007
- 1
Uh...duh...exactly what I've been saying all along...the US will get the 40GB after the 60GB sku inventory is depleted further. That is the only thing holding them back from introducing the 40GB and from "unbundling" the 80GB version and dropping its price to $499.
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a_n_t_h_o_n_y |
a_n_t_h_o_n_y- 10:44am BST - October 15th, 2007
- 3
Drop the 60GB to $450 or less and it'll be gone before November 2.
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The Master
- 1:30pm BST - October 15th, 2007
- 9
I would never get a PS3 that didn't have backwards compatibility, most especially because they do the BC through emulation now, so they don't have the spend the extra cash on the unit having the extra chip on board.
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NY_Young1 |
NY_Young1- 2:15pm BST - October 15th, 2007
- 10
Well with the launch of the 40GB, more people are gonna be willing to buy the PS3, with this being done people are going to ask the difference between the 40GB and 60GB and thus making it more appealing to buy the 60GB due to some features that the 40GB may lack.
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Ryoma
- 4:07pm BST - October 15th, 2007
- 12
the software for BC costs money, i myself will not get a ps3 till around MGS4 at the moment no games interest me but its ps3 so there should be some in the future.
i hope there is either 60gb left on shelves or the 80gb here in the uk as i wont get the 40gb, most my money goes to getting games for x360 and college
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Mo-green28 |
Mo-green28- 4:59pm BST - October 15th, 2007
- 13
Um alot of people that's going to get PS3 before Christmas wont have enough money to get a game with it at first... So Backwards compatibility will be a very high regard.
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Soviet-Messiah |
Soviet-Messiah- 5:22pm BST - October 15th, 2007
- 14
I think the real reason Sony has made no annoucement yet is because they are testing the reaction to the 40GB in Europe first. Think about it, the European market would give a rough approximation of how the American market would respond (more so than say Japan or the Middle East) to the new hardware. The fact that Sony has not even confirmed a RUMOR about an American 40GB is because they do not want to get into any confirmation about what the American 40GB PS3 will have or not have hardware wise. If the 40GB SKU that lacks BC fails miserably in Europe because of BC or card readers, etc, then Sony will announce an American 40GB that hasthose features. America is a larger market than Europe for Sony ATM, so Sony is using Europe as a sort of hardware guinea pig. A mistake there would let sony know what they need to fix for an american version, without nearly as large a financial hit than a huge blunder in America.
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Uncool |
Admodistrator- 6:15pm BST - October 15th, 2007
- 16
Thing is though people have waited for a long time to buy a PS3 at a reasonable price they are willing to pay. If they don't already have a PS2 the need not worry about BC if they even care about that.
In any case, they can always buy the higher end models if the want the full goodies.
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Alpha2
- 8:37pm BST - October 15th, 2007
- 17
Pachter is a freaking tool. He's spewing garbage everyone either knows already or is blatantly obvious, except he's got no clue on the concept of backwards compatability. Because people who waited would still be in the market for it. A friend of mine just ordered a 80gb with the intention of buying brand new PS2 games that he didnt get to play when he traded off his PS2 for a 36*.
Once again proving the point I've stated dozens of times that Backwards compatability is an important feature. Sony is only removing it in a deserate measure to get people to buy the system but it's not going to have the effect it should because it's a tardpack with deminished functionality.
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The Cleaner
- 4:32am BST - October 16th, 2007
- 19
No BC is a big mistake - I guarantee they will look back two years from now and it will be obvious.
ABC's OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT....RULE #1: CUSTOMER RETENTION; Make it easy for your existing customers to upgrade using your product. - "Easy" means "make the decision to upgrade simple" (ie: no confusion), therefore....maintain compatibility with what they have now. "Simple" also means keeping the number of configurations / choices to a minimum.
As for opinions of whether BC is important...If just one in ten people say it is...then it is. Only an idiot would cut out 10% of the total market potential. Sony cant afford to limit itself. 10% of 120 million is 12 million....Ummm that's XBox 360's current installed base. Does Sony want to help them double that by pissing off PS2 users who want BC?
Inventory management will always be difficult when you chop & change your SKU's too frequently. These guys are out of control. PS3 is a great machine, the original model was fine - but the current management are broken - Sony needs to fix that.
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