Sony: Seriously, Denial Is Just a River in Egypt

Nintendo surpassed consumer electronics behemoth Sony in market capitalization for the first time ever last month, underscoring the phenomenal success its Wii gaming console has enjoyed at the expense of Sony’s PlayStation 3. Little wonder then, that in the run-up to the E3 video-gaming conference next week, we’re hearing talk of a PS3 price cut.

Word around the campfire is that Sony, which has been discussing “refinements” to the PS3′s price, will drop it to $499.99 from $599.99 on July 12.

Sony, of course, denies this. “We have no immediate plans as of now” for price cuts, President Ryoji Chubachi said today, noting that previous iterations of the console also had inauspicious beginnings at market. “If you take a look at how PlayStation and PlayStation 2 have taken off, this is not such an unusual start.” True. When its PlayStation 2 gaming console debuted in 2000, Sony posted an ugly loss. But by 2003, when component costs had dropped and game sales increased, the company’s PlayStation business accounted for about 10% of Sony’s revenue and 68% of its profit.