Analysts Discuss PS3 “Super-Slim”

A post on Games Industry from yesterday delves a little deeper into the “super slim,” the nickname given to the as-yet unannounced latest version of Sony’s PlayStation 3 console that’s been trimmed to even smaller proportions than its current model, the PlayStation 3 Slim. Of particular interest is the Flash-memory based 16 gb model that many speculate will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $150.

Analyst Billy Pidgeon from M2 Research offered his perspective on the ways in which a low-cost PS3 system could help win back much-needed ground for Sony in the gaming hardware race:

“A dramatic price reduction to $150 for PS3 would be terrific for Sony and for the industry overall.  A value-priced PS3 could rapidly increase the base and would free up more consumer revenue for higher software sales volume. Sony already has a strong edge in Europe, but the economy is weak and generous hardware price cuts will have big impact.  Microsoft would suffer deeper market share loss in Europe and with value pricing PS3 could outsell Xbox 360 in the U.S. where Microsoft has dominated monthly hardware sales.

Microsoft is less likely to reduce console prices this year with already strong hardware sales and Halo 4 coming out in Q4, but should Sony price PS3 at $150 this year, Microsoft could see stronger incentive to cut Xbox 360 prices sooner in retaliation.”

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, a regular commenter in the video game industry, explained how Sony’s low-cost, Flash-based console is a bit of a Johnny-Come-Lately:

“I think that the success of the 4GB Xbox 360 should have been emulated a long time ago.  You’re right that flash memory is cheap enough to allow Sony to price pretty competitively; I don’t know how badly it will hurt Xbox, given that the PS3 has been cheaper than the core Xbox 360 for almost a year without significantly cutting into market share. However, a cut to this price range would almost certainly prompt a response from Microsoft, and if both of them are significantly cheaper than the Wii U, they will impact sales.

This sounds logical to me. I think that Sony is probably spending around $150 to make the box without the hard drive, so selling at £99 would likely be below cost, but it’s possible.”

There are a few more analysts’ perspectives on the original post, weighing in on what the best price for the system might be. But what do you think? Anyone out there without a PS3 that’s attracted by this model? What’s the maximum price you’d pay…$200?

Via Games Industry