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Sony was surprised by 3DS price, subsequent price drop
A portion of a Wired interview with Sony's Shuhei Yoshida...
Wired: What’s on everyone’s mind over the last few months is that Nintendo brought out its 3DS at $250, and very publicly said, sales were not what we thought they were going to be at $250 and they had to have this massive climbdown and lower the price. Are you worried that you’re pricing the system at the same level they just did and that it’ll be a challenge?
Yoshida: Personally, I was very surprised when they announced the price of the 3DS as $250 at launch. And personally I was surprised again by the announcement of the price cut, the size of it was massive, they went really aggressive. And that worked, it worked for them in the Christmas period in judging the sales of 3DS. But we’re not selling the same system. What we have with PS Vita is very different from the 3DS. It’s a great system but very different. We are targeting different consumers, I believe, and what we are offering is about value for the money. I believe that this system, there are people who see the value at $250 or $300, but there is a broader audience that might not be willing to pay this price at this point. We’re going to work hard to add more features and more casual games and whatnot in the future. But as far as the pricing at the launch is concerned, we are not worried.
Full interview here
Wired: What’s on everyone’s mind over the last few months is that Nintendo brought out its 3DS at $250, and very publicly said, sales were not what we thought they were going to be at $250 and they had to have this massive climbdown and lower the price. Are you worried that you’re pricing the system at the same level they just did and that it’ll be a challenge?
Yoshida: Personally, I was very surprised when they announced the price of the 3DS as $250 at launch. And personally I was surprised again by the announcement of the price cut, the size of it was massive, they went really aggressive. And that worked, it worked for them in the Christmas period in judging the sales of 3DS. But we’re not selling the same system. What we have with PS Vita is very different from the 3DS. It’s a great system but very different. We are targeting different consumers, I believe, and what we are offering is about value for the money. I believe that this system, there are people who see the value at $250 or $300, but there is a broader audience that might not be willing to pay this price at this point. We’re going to work hard to add more features and more casual games and whatnot in the future. But as far as the pricing at the launch is concerned, we are not worried.