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PS3 80GB SKU Announced, Priced at $399 |
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Wednesday, 16 July 2008 |
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Sony revealed during their E3 press conference yesterday that the present 40GB SKU is soon to be replaced by a new 80GB model, set to occupy the same $399 price point being vacated by the 40GB at the time of its introduction in September. The 40GB unit has already been discontinued, and existing stock on retail shelves will be allowed to sell to depletion. Besides the expanded hard drive, the new unit will come with a Dual Shock 3 controller vs the older non-rumble Sixaxis shipped with previous models. As the MGS4 bundle will be leaving retail once its own supplies are exhausted, this will return Sony to the single-SKU line-up they had for a brief time with the 40GB console prior to the MGS4 bundle announcement. For the time being, it will also remove backwards-compatible units from store shelves in North America. The Playstation unit shipped within the MGS4 bundle was stated from the beginning to be a temporary return of the technology, unique to that particular bundle.
With hard drive manufacturing costs unable to effectively drop below a certain level due to their mechanical nature, it becomes a more viable option for modern console manufacturers to include enlarged storage as platter densities increase. For Sony, it is probable that the 40GB drives used at present and the 80GB drives that will soon occupy their primary SKU have little material cost differential between them, allowing Sony to pass on a clear benefit to the consumer at the same time that it maintains its current pricing scheme in an effort to mitigate hardware losses. |
