E3 2k7: Friday the 13th: Sony's Revenge

Photo credit goes to kotaku, yet again.

Burning the candle at both ends tonight. It's time to pick up the pace.

Yesterday's entry was a little more impression-heavy than I would have liked. I think this altogether odd E3 has done something permanently bad to my state of mind. I've forgotten my main purpose in starting this blog: commentary. That's what NPC is supposed to be made of: equal parts information and cynicism. Without Sony, there'd be much less of that to go around.

As almost everyone in the scene, as some call it knows, the big S has a history of being complete corporate asshats, which is pretty much common knowlege in the gaming community at this point.

This latest chapter continues the now time-honoured tradition of utterly awful Sony business strategy. For your consideration, a chain of events:

1. At their presser, Sony announces a $100 USD price drop of the current 60 gig PS3, and announces the new 80 gig model, retailing for $599 USD. This is posted on several news sites. Reaction is mostly positive, most think Sony has a long way to go to make sales.

2. A day goes by. This morning, the 13th, a report comes out on Kotaku and other sources that claims SCEE President David Reeves stated that no new 60GB consoles will be produced following the sale of the price cut PS3s

3. In the afternoon, SCEA releases a cryptically worded statement denying that the 60GB consoles would be discontinued.

"Those quotes from David Reeves are not accurate. He said that if they had lowered the price in Europe, that territory would have run out of their current inventory by the end of July... As announced this week, SCEA's product offering in North America consists of a 80GB PS3 available in August at $599 and a 60GB PS3 available now for $499. We have will have ample supplies of both models to meet the needs of our consumers for the foreseeable future."
(From http://kotaku.com/gaming/durr/the-great-60gb-phase-out-clusterfuck-278256.php)

This was also confirmed by Sony president Kaz Hirai in a video circulated on several foreign sites.

The result? Mass confusion.

This is all we have, at the moment. A shining example of Sony business strategy at work, and the frantic scramble for a cover-up as quickly as possible. Clearly, they plan to sell off the 60 GBs as soon as possible, then keep the 80GBs inflated at their $599 USD price point. As I said, business as usual.

What, you ask will come of this?

Probably nothing.

We as gamers seem to have trouble identifying, or even caring about a corporate cover-up when we see one. Brand loyalty plays a big part to be sure. For the record this situation has more "cover" than a Duvet.

Something like thiss takes a special, corporate brand of foolishness. It is a foolishness bred from complacency and garnished with whole generations leading the easy life. Complacency that can only come with having a top selling console for two generations running, getting comfortable in your situation, and becoming stagnant. As a company, a growing, evolving entity, you cannot expect to coast on one success for all eternity. The greater they are...well, you know the saying, I'm sure. As far as I'm concerned, this is it. The proverbial nail in the coffin that brings Nintendo and Microsoft to the forefront, where they belong.

It pays to ask: What the hell went wrong? If their marketing VP had any sense in his head...But wait, it's this guy Peter Dille, who apparently had better things to do.

He must have missed the memo.

UPDATE:

Well, I started writing this at around 8. When I got back from work, much to my surprise, I found this in my inbox. To quote from the article:

"We are offering the full-function 60GB PS3 for $100 less than the original price and we have ample supply to meet consumer needs for months. We think this is great news for the PlayStation fans. Throughout the remainder of the year, we will constantly be evaluating market conditions and will develop strategies to further meet the needs of consumers in this market."

Well, I called it. Car salesman strategies in order to move systems.

On the bright side, if Sony's business practices weren't this horrid, there'd be nothing to write about.