During the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, Sony announced to the public that it was going to bring down the price of the lower end model of the PlayStation 3 in Japan. The price drop will make the 20gb version of the console cost around 49,980 yen (about $429) when it goes on sale in November 11 in Japan.
With the recent announcement, various analysts in North America, where the same model of the PS3 will cost $499, were initially skeptical of the move and many saw it as a sign of weakness on the part of the company as well as a questionable business decision.
But the likelihood is that the price drop is just a sign of things to come. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun cited a study made by Enterbrain, Inc. (the publisher of Famitsu) that it is expecting more price reductions as well as a more expanded software catalog for the PS3 by the end of the 2007 holiday season.
Because of this, Enterbrain predicts that the PS3 will outsell its biggest rival in the Japanese market, the Nintendo Wii by the end of next year.
[tags]Enterbrain, Sony, Nintendo, Wii, PS3, PlayStation[/tags]