In a move to stimulate demand for (and revenue from) its outgoing Playstation 2 gaming console, Sony today reduced the base U.S. pricing of the gaming system from $149 to $130, a drop of about 13 percent. Industry-watchers had been expecting a price cut on the Playstation 2 well ahead of the anticipated November introduction of the Playstation 3 console.
Sony’s Playstation 2 currently leads the overall console market, having sold more than 100 million units since the system was introduced in 2000. In June 2004, Sony reduced Playstation 2 pricing from $179 to $149.
Microsoft has dropped the price of its original Xbox gaming system to roughly $149, although analysts don’t generally expect that price to drop any further, since the Xbox 360 has already been on the market for several months, and supplies of the no-longer-made original Xbox console are already low, so there’s no inventory glut to sell off.
