PLAYSTATION 2

Prices Remain Firm

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp has no intention of reducing the price of their Playstation II console, despite the fact that production volumes of the latter are constantly rising. This is reported by Reuters in a statement from Kazuo Hirai, who manages the American gaming subsidiary of the Japanese group.

The Playstation II will thus remain, on the US market, at a price of US$299, and this, despite the competition announced by Microsoft’s XBox and the Game Cube by Nintendo.
“We are really at ease with this price,”, explained Kazuo Hirai. According to Hirai, Sony should reach their goal of selling ten-million units by the end of March 2002, which is the end of the group’s fiscal year. It’s reported that for the moment, production will be increased from 1.8 million units per month to 2-million.
At a price of $299, the Playstation II will be at the same price as the XBox. The GameCube should be launched at a price of 199 dollars, notably because it does not dispose of a DVD player, nor an integrated network adapter.