New PS3 Slim and price-cuts can send Sony flying past Microsoft's Xbox
- Posted July 26th, 2012 at 09:09 EDT by Steven Williamson
- 20 Comments
PlayStation 3 has a great roster of games and boasts the best first-party exclusives across the three major console platforms, with the likes of God of War, Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid, to name but a few, all setting the console alight. For those who have yet to experience the PS3, the arrival of a budget-priced, super slim model at GamesCom would be perfect timing.
It’s currently rumoured that Sony will announce a PS3 slim (PS3-4000) that will be thinner than the current model and sport an entry-level 16GB harddrive. The knock-on effect of producing a slimmer, lower storage model is that the price, rumoured to be around $150, will be more affordable for the consumer.
With Microsoft snubbing GamesCom this year, Sony is totally in the limelight and has the opportunity to make a real impression and push to overtake its competitor, who has largely dominated console hardware sales since the Xbox 360 and PS3 launched. The Xbox 360, however, is looking exhausted with a poor showing at E3, and with estimates that Microsoft’s console is only just ahead in hardware sales – VGChartz reports 67.4m 65.4m units sold in favour of Xbox 360– there’s a great chance for Sony to overtake and really stamp its mark quite vigorously on this current-gen.
The Last Of Us, part of a host of new games that gives PS3 legs
The best way Sony can do this will be through the games, which we know are coming, and price reductions across its entire range of models, which we believe is also about to happen. The PlayStation 3 already has a host of impressive titles available and many can now pick it up at a fraction of the cost the system was sold at release date. Games such as Skyrim, Arkham City, LittleBig Planet and Red Dead Redemption on their own should spur sales of a new lower-priced PS3, but with GamesCom showing off a host of great looking new IPs, including PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, LBP Karting, Beyond: Two Souls and The Last Of Us, it’s a killer opportunity for Sony to sprint ahead and swell its install base.
Even titles such as Wonderbook, which some may have laughed about at E3, will sell these new lower-priced consoles like popcorn at a funfair. Parents harassed by their children wanting to play J.K Rowling’s Book Of Spells will opt for the entry-level affordable model and PS3-4000, if indeed it does exist, will fly off the shelves this Christmas.
Sony had a great E3 this year, despite the lack of PS Vita news, and GamesCom is looking more and more important for the company, and its performance in Europe and North America, the closer it gets. On top of what we’ve already seen at E3, there are two new IPs set to be revealed and the debut of some new Vita titles, including Call Of Duty: Declassified. If Sony also reveals this new PS3 Slim model at its press conference, and brings down the price of existing PS3 SKUs, it could be in for a very successful six months indeed.
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1solidsnake |
solid1snake67- 10:03am EDT - July 26th, 2012
- 2
i hope the price is low so they can start selling systems, when people go buy a blu ray and then see the ps3 has one in it for a little bit more they'll prolly decide to buy it instead. i wanna see pics on how much slimmer it is, i wonder if its like the ps2 slim and has a flat surface. they need a price cut
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Soldier 95B |
Solder_95B- 11:39am EDT - July 26th, 2012
- 4
There is no doubt that MS will drop their price even further
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Armonie Wilkins |
gwking33- 12:24pm EDT - July 26th, 2012
- 5
Well with only 16gb dont expect anyone to buy that. I just hope sony doesn't release a horrible looking system for the new ps3 slim. In my opinion sony is already ahead of microsoft and they will always be ahead.
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mikeghtmare
- 1:35pm EDT - July 26th, 2012
- 6
@1 Cuguy
It's not irrelevant; remember the PS2 was a top seller for a while after the PS3 came out; in this case the PS4 hasn't been announced so it's still very good timing. -
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bigCman123
- 2:43pm EDT - July 26th, 2012
- 9
@Cuguy
For a long time the PS2 was what kept Playstation afloat while the PS3 was losing money. Now that PS3 is at a point where it is both profitable and selling great this is really important for Sony. The PS3 will be Playstation's main source of profit for the beginning of the next generation.
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joeyjoejoeshababadoo
- 9:27pm EDT - July 26th, 2012
- 11
I don't see how a 16gb system would make any sense. There must be a typo somewhere, 160gb sounds much more believable
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Shane Killen
- 10:22pm EDT - July 26th, 2012
- 13
@Armoine Of course it will sell. The "budget priced" Xbox 360 Core with only 4GB is selling just fine, so if Sony adds 4x the space of the nearest 360 competition model at the same price with a blu-ray player to boot, why wouldn't it sell?
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TheTenth666
- 2:51am EDT - July 27th, 2012
- 15
the PS3 has actually sold more than X360 considering the 40% failure rate of the X360 of the first years where people bought a new one
16Gb can be enough if you play only one game at a time or delete game data when you don't need it
PS4/X720 were not announced at E3 this year, it's still possible they won't be announced next year, making over 2 years of PS3/X720 gaming
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Dana Ray
- 1:16pm EDT - July 27th, 2012
- 16
Thanks to a brilliant effort in publishing your article. One can be more informative as this. There are many things I can know only after reading your wonderful article. Thesis Writing.
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Dylan Cowden
- 8:41pm EDT - July 27th, 2012
- 17
Sure the Xbox 360 core only has 4GB, but PS3 requires you to install games and large updates. And if people are buying the PS3 not realizing this, then its kind of misleading because people will have to buy a new hard drive.
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Choco Smith
- 3:45am EDT - July 28th, 2012
- 18
Microsoft are not that stupid. Smells like a next gen release is sooner contrary to what the experts say.
i agree with @1 it still just a pig with makeup, give us and the devs the next gen. ffs
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mgillespie
- 8:47am EDT - July 28th, 2012
- 19
Past? The PS3 has long since passed the Xbox in terms for REAL sales. Many of XBox 64m sales are replacements. The American media of course won't ever say this, as it's aim is to support the American console...
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steviej
- 7:57pm EDT - July 28th, 2012
- 20
Long past?
Shall we use some common sense, ie, if you doubt hardware sales check software sales.
The 360 spanks the PS3 sales of the vast majority of games.
MW3
BF3
AC
the list goes on and on
Exclusive games don't sell nearly as well on PS3 compared to 360.
The highest selling PS3 exclusive is GT5, 7.7m, which had a 6 year waiting period and history going back to the mid 90s.
The highest selling 360 exclusive is Halo 3, 11.55m,coming out just 3 years after Halo 2 and with a history only back to 2001.
This is not an isolated example, as a list of PS3 exclusives will pale in comparision to the sales of 360 exclusives.
Bigger sales, bigger install base.
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