Sony Cuts PlayStation 2 Price to $149
May 11, 2:38 PM (EDT)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp. <6758.T> <SNE.N> on Tuesday said it would cut the price of its market-leading PlayStation 2 video game console to $149 from $179, bringing it in line with Microsoft, which has seen sales of its Xbox soar on a similar move.
Sony, one of the world's biggest makers of consumer electronics, said it would immediately begin a marketing campaign to promote the new lower price, which follows a move by its closest competitor, Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O>, which cut Xbox to $149 at the end of March.
Sony said the lower price applies to both its stand-alone PS2, which had been $179, and the PS2 bundled with a networking adapter, which was $199.
Industry analysts had suggested that if Sony did not lower the price on its PS2 to spur sales, U.S. game software makers, many of whom track Sony's fiscal year, might find sales growth targets harder to reach.
They had speculated that Sony might cut the price of the PS2 by the opening of E3, the video game industry's annual trade show, which started this week in Los Angeles.
Late in April, Sony forecast that PS2 sales in the business year ending March 2005 would fall by as much as 30 percent, a much sharper decline than analysts had expected.
In a press conference at the E3 video game trade show, Sony also showed off live demonstrations of its PlayStation Portable handheld video game device, set to be released by the end of 2004 in Japan and by March 2005 in the United States and Europe.
Among the demos Sony executives showed were a trailer for the movie "Spider-Man 2" and a music video from the alternative rock band "Incubus."
The PSP, which will feature Wi-Fi wireless networking and a 4.3-inch screen in a wide-screen format, is expected to have a battery life of anywhere from 2 hours to 10 hours, depending on how it is being used.
Electronic Arts, the world's largest video game publisher, committed to have at least four titles ready for the PSP at its launch, including versions of its "NFL Street" and "NBA Street" and the racing game "Need for Speed Underground."
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