PlayStation 2 price slashed in Japan

According to a report from Reuters, Sony will cut the price of the PlayStation 2 from $320 to $281.70 in Japan. The price change is scheduled to take place tomorrow, June 29. It was expected that Sony would eventually lower the price of the PlayStation 2 to compete with the impending launches of the Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Xbox, but the price drop came more quickly than expected.

Representatives from SCEA stated that it is comfortable with sales of the PlayStation 2 in the US and has no current plans to make price reductions. An international Sony representative stated that each Sony subsidiary would have to decide for itself whether to lower the price of the PlayStation 2 in other territories. Sony stated that the price drop will have little effect on the company's bottom line in Japan.

Sony also announced that it has sold 9.2 million PlayStation 2 units worldwide as of March 31, 2001, and it hopes to sell 20 million more units this fiscal year. Of the 9.2 million units, 3.34 million units have been sold in Japan. Nobumasa Morimoto, an analyst at Tokyo-Mitsubishi Securities, believes that Sony will have to drop the price even further to reach the mass market. "From the long-term perspective, it's better for Sony to drastically slash the price so that they could expand users. For instance, 35,000 yen is not the price kids can afford," he said. "So far, only two software titles have become a big hit, selling more than 1 million."

Sony's shares dipped 1.1 percent to 8,100 yen as a result of the announcement.

Source: Reuters