Konami Questions PS3 Price Cut, Metal Gear Exclusivity

Kazumi Kitaue, CEO of Konami Digital Entertainment in North America, has said that he is skeptical about the $100 price cut of the PlayStation 3 having a substantial impact on sales. The cut was announced on Monday and reduces the price of the console with a 60GB hard drive to $499. A 80GB hard drive version was also announced for $599, with a free copy of MotorStorm. “I wonder if Sony can win back user support by the price cut of just $100," said Kitaue in a Reuters interview. "I don't expect a substantial impact... With $500, you can buy a personal computer." Kitaue also suggested that the company may not keep the Metal Gear franchise exclusive to the PlayStation format, in an attempt to recoup development costs. "Since Metal Gear Solid was born for the PlayStation, we would like to keep it a PlayStation game. But we might have to take some steps," said Kitaue. Forthcoming PlayStation 3 game Metal Gear Solid 4 was not mentioned by name, despite intense fan speculation that the title will eventually be released on the Xbox 360. Although closely associated with the PlayStation brand, the Metal Gear series has appeared on a wide range of formats, starting on the NES and MSX and continuing on the Game Boy, GameCube, Xbox and PC. In other comments, Kitaue also touched on Konami’s plans to further compete with Electronic Arts in the lucrative soccer action game market, by doubling sales of the Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution Soccer series in the U.S. "Our soccer game sales in the United States total a little fewer than 500,000 units. If we combine ours with EA's, that's going to be 2 to 3 million units. I believe, with proper preparation, we can bring our number to 1 million," he said.