Sony likely to cut PS3 price again

Reuters

Sony Corp.
is likely to cut its PlayStation 3 price again by year-end following this
week’s $100 cut, a senior executive at Japanese game software maker Capcom Co.
Ltd. said.

“The
number of PS2 users is still growing and a shift to the PS3 is on the back
burner,” Capcom Chief Financial Officer Kazuhiko Abe told Reuters in an
interview on Wednesday.

“But,
the price has been cut once and it is likely to be cut again towards the end of
the year. I expect the (PS3’s) installed base to grow gradually.”

Sony on
Monday cut the price of the PS3 to $500 in the

United States in a move to breathe
life into sluggish demand.

Microsoft
Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s Wii have outsold the PS3 by several
times in the crucial U.S. market, leaving Sony, which has dominated the game
industry over the past decade, in the unfamiliar position of playing catch up.

The new
price, however, is still $20 more than the most expensive version of the Xbox
360 and twice as much as that of the Wii.

Abe,
visiting

Santa Monica
for the E3 video game exposition, also said sales of its action horror title “Resident
Evil 4” for the Wii will likely exceed its target of 420,000 units for the
current business year to March 2008.

“It
is doing better than expected in
Japan
and the
United States, and
performing fairly well in
Europe,” Abe
said. “Sales are bound to exceed 420,000 units.”

Osaka-based
Capcom is known for such major titles as “Lost Planet” shooting game
and “Devil May Cry” action adventure.