Sony: Confusion Over PlayStation 3 Price Cut Comments

Sony has moved to deny reports that the company is considering an early price cut for the PlayStation 3 in North America and Japan, despite comments by Sony president Ryoji Chubachi which appeared to suggest just such a move may be forthcoming. Chubachi was originally interviewed by British newspaper The Financial Times, in which he stated, "We are re-examining our [PS3] budgeting process in terms of pricing and volume. Sales assumptions change and the market is competitive. We are in the midst of revisiting our strategy for the PS3." Despite the relatively unambiguous nature of his comments, Sony has moved quickly to refute the story, with spokeswoman Mami Imada saying in a statement that, “PS3 prices and shipment plans for the future should be determined by market trends and competition. Sony currently doesn't have any specific plan to cut the PlayStation 3's price”. The high price of the PlayStation 3 console has been widely blamed as the primary reason for a perceived lax demand for the hardware. However, the current high cost of manufacturing the console has previously been seen as a serious obstacle to an early price cut by Sony. Elsewhere, Sony has recently been indicating that its global game group operations may see more 'streamlining measures' such as those recently proposed by SCEE which threatened to cut nearly 10 percent of its workforce. SCE spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka spoke to Reuters, indicating that "....other regional operations, such as those in the United States and Japan, could also take some streamlining measures," though he adds that "nothing has been decided."