The price of the PlayStation 3 is not going down after the PS4 launches.
It’s been a long-standing trend in new generation console launches that when the new one is out, the old one gets a price drop. However, Sony is changing that, and we can probably expect Microsoft to follow suit.
When the PS4 launches, Sony has no plans to drop the price of the PlayStation 3. This could be a downer for Sony, as the PlayStation 4, just like the Xbox One, is not planned to be backwards compatible. If you want to play PS3 games, you’ll need a PS3, and the launch of the PS4 is not going to make the price drop. In the words of Adam Orth, former creative director from Microsoft, deal with it.
The issue of backwards compatibility was the source of an uproar when a Microsoft executive stated, ever so bluntly, that if you’re backwards compatible, you’re just backwards. Ever since the invention of a second generation of consoles using the disc format for its games, backwards compatibility has always been the rule, but not this time.
This is the first generation where, if you want to play PlayStation 3 games, you have to keep your PS3 or buy one. On the bright side, the price of both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 has already dropped to 200 bucks, depending on where you shop. The current price won’t break you too badly.
UK managing director Fergal Gara states involving the decision to not drop the price of the PlayStation 3:
“There’s no plans as yet. The PlayStation 3 is a system where it hasn’t been particularly easy to get the costs down. We continue to look at opportunities, there may or may not be any more, I genuinely can’t answer to that. But it will certainly be a more keenly priced machine in relative to PlayStation 4. It will sit there as a viable entry level machine for years to come. It will be different by territory as to how long its life is. There’s still a lot of love for PS3 .”
As it’s always been since the SNES, there will always be those budget-minded gamers who will stick with what’s already available until the next generation proves itself worth the money, or until the price drops for the next generation.
Will you still buy a PlayStation 3 even in the shadow of the PS4? Is the lack of a price drop enough to sway your opinion?
