Interviews & Features
RSS FeedDoes PS2's long tail need a snip?
The way ahead for Sony's greatest
October 10
Sony’s last-gen console is enjoying its seventh year of being a major force in the European console market. But as its sales decline and its audience gets younger, is it due a price cut? Tim Ingham asks those in the know…
And so it is with PS2. Once, it tore up the ‘video games = geeks’ rule book, tempting in a post-Loaded crowd looking for slick cars, bloody street battles and a slice of tech chic.
But now PS2’s audience is decreasing in number and age. So, if the console is going to drag yet another generation into gaming, does it need a price drop?
“We’re pleased to see that PS2 has shown such longevity,” says Ubisoft UK MD Rob Cooper. “It’s at an attractive price, but a price reduction in hardware and software would undoubtedly prove an extremely tempting purchase to the more casual gamer and family member.”
Atari MD UK Jeremy Wigmore agrees, adding that a cut in PS2’s price could well reinvigorate the whole pre-Christmas market: “Considering all of the financial turmoil going around, anything that might galvanise the market would be welcome. A PS2 cut would probably give it another lift.”
This view is also backed by SCi CEO Jane Cavanagh, who opines that a cut in the price of PS2 products would be a much more appealing kids’ gifting prospect for average mums and dads.
“The most important aspect of PS2 is the retail pricing,” she says. “There’s going to be a market for PS2 products for quite some time, subject to them being at a value price, which we’re keen to see become the norm.”
However, not all of the UK’s leading industry figures believe a price cut now would be the best scenario for Sony – or their own products.
General manager of Konami Pete Stone explains: “I'm sure a price-drop pre-Christmas will shift a lot more PS2 hardware. But, as we saw with PSOne, the cheaper the hardware then the lower software prices need to be.
“Someone who pays £50 for a console isn't going to spend £25 or more on a game. Eventually it stops being cost-effective to produce new games, so if we want to keep new PS2 software profitable we shouldn’t push down the hardware price too quickly.”
Whatever the encouragement from top publisher bosses for Sony to cut the SRP of the machine, there is unanimity in their admiration for the platform holder’s record on timing its price drops.
“We expect Sony to price manage the PS2’s shelf life for another two or three years at least,” says Sega of America president Simon Jeffrey.
“This generation of hardware will have longer legs than any previous generation, and that’s definitely healthy for the industry.”
Ubisoft’s Cooper adds: “The PS2 has been a great success story for Sony. And only Sony though can decide if now is the right time to drop the price in order to encourage continued sales.”
So, Sony knows best, it would seem. But with many publishers heavily backing the PS2 to charm the kids for one more Christmas, don’t be surprised if pressure builds on the platform holder to make its famously good value system even more of a bargain this Q4.
Sony says...
SCEE’s UK MD Ray Maguire:
“There are no immediate plans to cut the price of PS2. We still think it represents tremendous value for money and with continued innovative software support from ourselves and our third-party publishing partners we concur with the comments made in MCV recently about the commercial longevity of the platform. I think the big strides we have made in social gaming with franchises such as Buzz, SingStar and EyeToy give PS2 even more appeal and validity to its broadening demographic.”
Other Interviews
- Games vs Music - the stats
Mar 10 - ERA Yearbook 2008
- MCV Awards Finalists Part 1
Mar 06 - PR & Marketing
- MCV Awards Finalists Part 2
Mar 06 - People & Industry
- MCV Awards Finalists Part 3
Mar 06 - Retail
- INTERVIEW - Robin Burrowes
Mar 05 - Xbox Live - Marketing Manager
- INTERVIEW - Matt Carroll
Mar 03 - Disney’s new games dynasty
- EA & Take Two Timeline
Mar 03 - A chronological look at how that deal unfolded
- Peter Moore
Feb 29 - President, EA Sports
- The turnaround begins - read the publisher's new battleplan
Feb 29 - SCi re-invented
- Sales director Tarik Alozdi
Feb 28 - MEDIA SPECIAL: Uncooked
- MD Damian Butt speaks out
Feb 28 - MEDIA SPECIAL: Imagine Publishing
- Future's Robert Price
Feb 28 - MEDIA SPECIAL
- The state of games journalism
Feb 27 - MEDIA SPECIAL
- The Return of Atari
Feb 25 - David Gardner
- The story so far
Feb 25 - Phil Harrison
- IN-GAME ADVERTISING
Feb 21 - Sector Spotlight
- ChartTrack & ELSPA Monthly Report
Feb 18 - UK January Games Charts
- INTERVIEW - Ubisoft
Feb 15 - Yves Guillemot
- Introducing the Retail Advisory Board 2008
Feb 13 - RAB
- INTERVIEW - Nintendo UK
Feb 11 - David Yarnton
- The games of 2008
Feb 07 - The top titles you need to stock this year
- The return of Atari
Feb 04 - Mathias Hautefort
- 2007 - The year the video game industry went casual?
Jan 31 - DFC Intelligence
- Format breakdown
Jan 30 - The games of 2007
- Top 50
Jan 30 - The games of 2007
- Top of its GAME
Jan 29 - Lisa Morgan, CEO; David Thomas, Deputy CEO and Group Finance Director
- INTERVIEW: David Reeves
Jan 25 - Three for all
- How to win an MCV Award:
Jan 25 - Special Awards
- How to win an MCV Award:
Jan 24 - PR & Marketing
- How to win an MCV Award
Jan 24 - People And Industry
- How to win an MCV Award
Jan 24 - Retail
- Just the job
Jan 22 - Recruitment Special
- INTERVIEW: Rod Cousens
Jan 17 - A talk with the CEO of Codemasters
- Atari's road to recovery
Jan 17 - Patrick Leleu
- INTERVIEW: 1C - A Russian Revolution
Jan 16 - Nikolay Baryshnikov (1C)
- UK GAMES MARKET 2007
Jan 10 - The definitive report
- What are you looking forward to in 2008?
Jan 09 - Industry execs reveal their hopes for the year
- MCV's Quiz of the Year 2007
Jan 03 - Your chance to win a Nintendo Wii
- INTERVIEW: When Martyn met David
Jan 02 - Gamestation's Martyn Gibbs speaks to Nintendo's David Yarnton
- All I want for Christmas...
Dec 19 - MCV asks games industry leaders for their top three Xmas wishes...
- ACTIVISION BLIZZARD: The deal that shook the industry
Dec 17 - An anaylisis of last month's gaming super-merger
- MCV Retail Survey 2007
Dec 13 - in association with Channel Advantage
- Mystery Shopper - Infinite Group
Dec 12 - Oxford Street
- Monthly Chart Analysis – November
Dec 07 - Courtesy of ChartTrack
- Delivering the goods
Dec 06 - Distribution Special Focus
- The power of the gaming sequel
Dec 06 - How gaming is putting Hollywood to shame
- GAME GAMESTATION ENQUIRY
Dec 05 - The Provisional Findings in full
- Games Marketing Forum
Dec 03 - Event report
- Taking on the big boys
Nov 30 - Smaller Publisher Special Focus
- DVD Gaming
Nov 29 - The forgotten platform?
- INTERVIEW - IGA Worldwide
Nov 28 - The in-game advertising sector
- Mystery Shopper
Nov 27 - Camden
- Warner Bros & TT Games
Nov 26 - Josh Berger (UK President and MD, Warner), Tom Stone (MD, TT Games)
- Curran affairs
Nov 23 - Ian Curran
- A look at the battle between retail and downloads
Nov 20 - UKTI Report: Revenue Channels
- The Halo Effect
Nov 16 - Chris Lewis
- INTERVIEW: In2Games
Nov 15 - Harry Holmwood
- Monthly Chart Analysis – October
Nov 14 - Courtesy of ChartTrack
- LGF: EA's 'Be the One'
Nov 12 - EA storms Trafalgar Square
- INTERVIEW: Nintendo
Nov 09 - David Yarnton
- INTERVIEW: Woolworths
Nov 07 - Gerry Berkley
- 30 Under 30
Nov 05 - The definitive list of the top 30 hot young execs in the industry...
- Just child's play? The Byron Report
Nov 02 - Dr Tanya Byron
- The Midas touch
Nov 01 - Adrian Clews
- INTERVIEW: Mad Catz
Oct 30 - Brian Andersen
- Screen Digest - Q4 Prediction
Oct 29 - Ed Barton
- Expanding Empire
Oct 25 - Ian Higgins
- INTERVIEW: Popcorn Arcade
Oct 24 - Stewart Green
- VIOLENCE IN GAMES: The BBFC
Oct 24 - Gianni Zamo
- Violence in Games Special
Oct 22 - Mum's the Word
- INTERVIEW: Ray Maguire, SCE UK
Oct 19 - Heralding the arrival of the new £299 40GB PS3
- Monthly Chart Analysis - September
Oct 17 - Courtesy of ChartTrack
- Trade-in Places
Oct 16 - A look at the pre-owned software market
- INTERVIEW: Activision
Oct 15 - Robin Kaminsky
- MCV INTERVIEW: Microsoft
Oct 12 - Neil Thompson
- Is Google trying out patents?
Oct 11 - A closer look at Google's gaming patents
- Ads in game: the facts
Oct 09 - IGA
- The SCi's the limit
Oct 08 - Jane Cavanagh (CEO), Phil Rogers (Chief Financial Officer)
- INTERVIEW: GAME
Oct 04 - Lisa Morgan, CEO; David Thomas, Deputy CEO & Group Finance Director
- GMAs: Specialist Games Media Finalists (Online)
Oct 02 - Games Media Awards Special
- GMAs: Specialist Games Media Finalists (Print)
Oct 02 - Games Media Awards Special
- GMAs: Mainstream Media Finalists
Oct 02 - Games Media Awards Special
- London Games Festival
Oct 01 - Keith Ramsdale
- Gem's evolution
Sep 28 - Chris Peacock & Simon Lee
- System 3 revs up
Sep 25 - A look at System 3's Ferrari Challenge
- INTERVIEW: Sega of America
Sep 21 - Simon Jeffery
- Midway looks to big Q4
Sep 19 - David Zucker
- Vivendi's French evolution
Sep 11 - Pascal Brochier
- Why buy SCi?
Sep 07 - MCV looks at why the three favourites might bid...
- Masters of their universe
Sep 05 - Andy Payne and Garry Williams
- Warner's own Superman
Sep 03 - Ron Scott
- MEDIA SPECIAL
Aug 29 - ABC Analysis
- History repeating itself
Aug 28 - The Rise of Retro Gaming
- Political Games - Part 2
Aug 24 - Margaret Hodge
- Political Games - Part 1
Aug 24 - Jeremy Hunt
- Disney's Joy Story
Aug 23 - Matt Carroll
- The rise of Mac gaming
Aug 22 - Return of the Mac
- Leipzig
Aug 21 - MCV's guide to the show:
- A Smart Korea Move
Aug 17 - Geoff Heath
- Walking on air
Aug 15 - Jim Scott
- Back to School Special
Aug 14 - Educating Retail
- UK July video games sales
Aug 13 - ChartTrack
- Vital Statistics
Aug 10 - Quarterly publisher financial data
- EA's Russian Revolution
Aug 09 - Peter Laughton
- MCV's Mystery Shopper
Aug 09 - Oxford Street
- The return of Activision
Aug 02 - Joerg Trouvain
- The Price is Right
Jul 31 - Budget software focus
- Say Halo wave goodbye
Jul 27 - Peter Moore
- View from the top
Jul 25 - Kaz Hirai
- Ahead of the GAME
Jul 24 - Lisa Morgan
- European Champion
Jul 23 - Jens Uwe Intat
- Sony: Home and dry
Jul 20 - MCV's E3 '07 round-up (Part 3)
- Nintendo: Shiny happy people
Jul 20 - MCV's E3 '07 round-up (Part 2)
- Microsoft: Moore the merrier
Jul 20 - MCV's E3 '07 round-up (Part 1)
- The US should learn from the UK
Jul 18 - Jack Thompson
- 2007's Magic Numbers
Jul 17 - MCV's look at ChartTrack's 2007 UK market stats...
- News analysis:
Jul 13 - Is Government listening as UK developers cry: 'Give us a (tax) break'?
- How the West is won
Jul 11 - An insight into the North American and European markets
- MCV's essential E3 guide
Jul 10 - E3 2007: The Ones to Watch
- NoE limits
Jul 06 - Laurent Fischer
- Manhunt 2 ban erodes civil liberties
Jul 03 - Adam Hartley
- Star Quality
Jul 02 - Martin Defries
- How to Play a blinder
Jun 27 - Gian Luzio
- Open for business
Jun 26 - Barry Hatch
- 505’s recipe for success
Jun 25 - Ian Howe
- Ubisoft's casual revolution
Jun 22 - Mat Quaeck
- Device City
Jun 21 - The peripherals sector
- The state of Play
Jun 19 - David Reeves
- THQ’s win-win situation
Jun 18 - James Dixon
- What can we learn from Second Life?
Jun 14 - Philip Rosedale, Catherine Smith
- MCVuk.com relaunch
Jun 05 - A user's guide to the site
- The Nintendo difference
Jun 01 - David Yarnton, Dawn Paine
- Mine’s a Double
May 31 - Tim Ellis
- Thinking Outside the Box
May 31 - The world of digital distribution
- Introducing the GMAs
May 31 - What are the Games Media Awards?
- Empire Strikes Back
May 31 - Ian Higgins
- Vivendi Goes Universal
May 30 - Adam Roberts
- Going Live
May 30 - Kevin Unangst
- No surrender
May 30 - Lisa Morgan, David Thomas
- Massively Ambitious
May 30 - Dirk Metzger
- The Waiting Game
May 30 - Rob Murphy
- Choices’ voice
May 30 - Anthony Skitt
- Atari’s Online Revolution
Apr 13 - Chris Bergstresser
- Live and let Live
Mar 30 - Chris Lewis
- Asia Specific
Mar 30 - Martin Good, Ian Curran and Rodney Block
- The third coming
Mar 23 - Ray Maguire
- Rise & Rise
Mar 23 - David Zucker
- Show me the money
Mar 16 - Bruce Hack
- The Masters Plan
Mar 09 - Rod Cousens
- Another supermarket sweep?
Mar 09 - Richard Searling
- The THQ & A
Mar 02 - Roy Campbell
- The Euro(gamer) vision
Feb 23 - Rupert Loman
- Easy as ABC
Feb 23 - Robert Price
- The French Revolution
Jan 26 - Jon Rosenblatt
- Blizzard’s Wizard
Jan 26 - Itzik Ben Bassat
- Capcom Rising
Jan 19 - Mark Beaumont
- Electronic Charts
Jan 12 - Keith Ramsdale