Sony slashes PS2's price $100 before electronics expo Move seen as attempt to undercut Xbox
By Mike Snider
USA TODAY
Just a week before the video-game industry's giant annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony on Monday fired a shot across the joysticks of competitors Microsoft and Nintendo with a $100 price cut in its hugely popular PlayStation 2 system.
Effective immediately, the PS2 will be available in stores for $199 -- the same price as Nintendo's GameCube system and $100 less than Microsoft's Xbox.
The move further solidifies Sony's lead. The new price ''more than doubles the audience that can afford a PlayStation 2,'' says Richard Doherty of The Envisioneering Group, a Seaford, N.Y., technology assessment firm.
''This is really a price cut that will hurt Microsoft more than it will hurt Nintendo,'' he says. ''Nintendo is already at $199 and is making money (on GameCube systems), and they can cut the price $50 if they want to. Microsoft still can't make Xboxes for $299, let alone discount them.''
Sony has sold nearly 10 million PS2 systems in the USA in the 18 months since it hit the market -- a rate that is more than double the sales rate of the original PlayStation. Microsoft has sold more than 1.8 million Xbox systems since November; it had a week's head start on the Nintendo GameCube, which has sold more than 1.5 million, according to The NPD Group.
The PS2 plays disc-based video games and DVD movies. Sony also will cut the price of its original PlayStation to $49 from $99.
