Gamestop CEO consults Carnac the Magnificent

[Queasy]

Edge - I don't think there's anyone that isn't anticipating a PS3 price cut sometime between now and the holiday buying season. Even my non-gamer co-worker mentioned to me yesterday before a meeting that he was waiting for a PS3 price drop later this year so he could have a blu-ray player for himself and game machine for his kids.

GameStop has predicted that PS3 and Wii price cuts will be introduced during the third quarter of the company?s financial year.

Speaking during an earnings call with investors, GameStop?s chief financial officer David Carlson said the firm expects hardware sales in the US to hit 33.5 million units this year.

?That assumes that there will be price cuts on the PS3 and potentially one on the Wii,? noted company CEO Daniel Dematteo, according to Seeking Alpha. ?It?s hard to tell if we actually need a price cut on the Wii to get to our numbers. There are some price cuts built into that assumption, but not until the third quarter.

?I think as I said initially, the hardware price points where they?re at right now, given this economic environment are potentially too high or are too high, and that if the platform holders are going to make the numbers that they forecasted for the year, those prices would have to change,? he added.

?Also, if you think about it, these hardware prices have stayed up longer in this cycle than in any other time before, and in a very dire economic environment, those two things seem to be mutually exclusive? Put all those things together, I think that there will have to be price cuts in order to get the hardware moving to where it needs to be.?

Speaking earlier this month after Sony predicted an increase in annual PS3 sales, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian said that the company will likely drop the price of the console some time between next month?s E3 event and the end of the summer.

Meanwhile, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said recently that he?s not adverse to the idea of hardware price cuts, but noted that pricing policy is now a global consideration, rather than something that can be decided on a territory by territory basis.

 

[NiKeFiDO]

idk if i want to wait until 3rd quarter.

e3, however, is something worth waiting for (to see if any fun announcements come our way)

 

[nsafreak]

Price cuts on the Wii? I really doubt that they're needed. Most folks seem to be quite happy paying the $249 that Nintendo is currently asking for the console and it still regularly needs to be restocked quicker than the 360 or PS3. I suppose if Nintendo thought that they could make even more money with a minor price cut they might do it. The hardware costs on the unit are very minimal as it is so I imagine they could still make money on the console if they dropped it to $199. On the PS3 through they're something to put more consideration into. The system is not selling as well as Sony would like and its getting harder to sell based on the fact that it has Blu Ray built into it. I'm starting to see pretty decent Blu Ray standalone players for as little as $150 - $200 now so that pretty much kills the selling point of buying a Blu Ray player and getting a gaming machine included.

 

[Jack Flash]

Originally posted by: nsafreak
Price cuts on the Wii? I really doubt that they're needed. Most folks seem to be quite happy paying the $249 that Nintendo is currently asking for the console and it still regularly needs to be restocked quicker than the 360 or PS3. I suppose if Nintendo thought that they could make even more money with a minor price cut they might do it. The hardware costs on the unit are very minimal as it is so I imagine they could still make money on the console if they dropped it to $199. On the PS3 through they're something to put more consideration into. The system is not selling as well as Sony would like and its getting harder to sell based on the fact that it has Blu Ray built into it. I'm starting to see pretty decent Blu Ray standalone players for as little as $150 - $200 now so that pretty much kills the selling point of buying a Blu Ray player and getting a gaming machine included.

I've been seeing a lot of Wii units on the shelf at all major retailers lately; the same goes for their cash cow Wii Fit. I'm guessing Nintendo will do something to spark the momentum they've gotten used to over the past few years.

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: Jack Flash

Originally posted by: nsafreak
Price cuts on the Wii? I really doubt that they're needed. Most folks seem to be quite happy paying the $249 that Nintendo is currently asking for the console and it still regularly needs to be restocked quicker than the 360 or PS3. I suppose if Nintendo thought that they could make even more money with a minor price cut they might do it. The hardware costs on the unit are very minimal as it is so I imagine they could still make money on the console if they dropped it to $199. On the PS3 through they're something to put more consideration into. The system is not selling as well as Sony would like and its getting harder to sell based on the fact that it has Blu Ray built into it. I'm starting to see pretty decent Blu Ray standalone players for as little as $150 - $200 now so that pretty much kills the selling point of buying a Blu Ray player and getting a gaming machine included.

I've been seeing a lot of Wii units on the shelf at all major retailers lately; the same goes for their cash cow Wii Fit. I'm guessing Nintendo will do something to spark the momentum they've gotten used to over the past few years.

I work at the #12 target in the company. We never had wiis for more than about 20 min whenever we got any. For about 2 months now we haven't been able to get rid of them or the wii fit. Demand has definitely declined.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: Jack Flash

Originally posted by: nsafreak
Price cuts on the Wii? I really doubt that they're needed. Most folks seem to be quite happy paying the $249 that Nintendo is currently asking for the console and it still regularly needs to be restocked quicker than the 360 or PS3. I suppose if Nintendo thought that they could make even more money with a minor price cut they might do it. The hardware costs on the unit are very minimal as it is so I imagine they could still make money on the console if they dropped it to $199. On the PS3 through they're something to put more consideration into. The system is not selling as well as Sony would like and its getting harder to sell based on the fact that it has Blu Ray built into it. I'm starting to see pretty decent Blu Ray standalone players for as little as $150 - $200 now so that pretty much kills the selling point of buying a Blu Ray player and getting a gaming machine included.

I've been seeing a lot of Wii units on the shelf at all major retailers lately; the same goes for their cash cow Wii Fit. I'm guessing Nintendo will do something to spark the momentum they've gotten used to over the past few years.

I work at the #12 target in the company. We never had wiis for more than about 20 min whenever we got any. For about 2 months now we haven't been able to get rid of them or the wii fit. Demand has definitely declined.

so they're in stock for 2 months after being rare for 2.5 years and stores are looking to offload them fast? Nah... it's a rough economy and they'll start selling just fine again around the holidays. A price cut would actually surprise me.

Besides, if your store is #12 in the country then you're probably going to get a better supply of the things to begin with.

 

[Soccerman06]

Originally posted by: Matt2

Originally posted by: Jack Flash

Originally posted by: nsafreak
Price cuts on the Wii? I really doubt that they're needed. Most folks seem to be quite happy paying the $249 that Nintendo is currently asking for the console and it still regularly needs to be restocked quicker than the 360 or PS3. I suppose if Nintendo thought that they could make even more money with a minor price cut they might do it. The hardware costs on the unit are very minimal as it is so I imagine they could still make money on the console if they dropped it to $199. On the PS3 through they're something to put more consideration into. The system is not selling as well as Sony would like and its getting harder to sell based on the fact that it has Blu Ray built into it. I'm starting to see pretty decent Blu Ray standalone players for as little as $150 - $200 now so that pretty much kills the selling point of buying a Blu Ray player and getting a gaming machine included.

I've been seeing a lot of Wii units on the shelf at all major retailers lately; the same goes for their cash cow Wii Fit. I'm guessing Nintendo will do something to spark the momentum they've gotten used to over the past few years.

I work at the #12 target in the company. We never had wiis for more than about 20 min whenever we got any. For about 2 months now we haven't been able to get rid of them or the wii fit. Demand has definitely declined.

All the major retailers here have had every system available for well over a year.

 

[zerocool84]

The Wii is the one that needs a price cut the least. It's still selling well. I wonder if they'll release different colors of it before they do a price cut. That's always given Nintendo systems a sales jump.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I've noticed Wii ads now list freebies (free game, points card) and it finally seems to stay in stock everywhere including Amazon. So demand is down, even if it's still beating the competition senseless.

But Nintendo makes more selling 1m a month at $249 than 1.25m at $199, so demand needs to drop further before they cut the price or even add a game pack in besides Sports.

Sony needs a price drop to have any hope of moving back into second place, but they might be better off financially selling fewer units at a higher price too.

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I've noticed Wii ads now list freebies (free game, points card) and it finally seems to stay in stock everywhere including Amazon. So demand is down, even if it's still beating the competition senseless.

But Nintendo makes more selling 1m a month at $249 than 1.25m at $199, so demand needs to drop further before they cut the price or even add a game pack in besides Sports.

Sony needs a price drop to have any hope of moving back into second place, but they might be better off financially selling fewer units at a higher price too.

I have all 3, so no fanboy.

I will not buy Wii games as so many suck. I only have Wii sports. I wish they would make better quality games.

My son loves the 360 but it does not have all the features of a PS3 without expensive add-ons, but Xbox live is fantastic even though it is $50/yr(although I think there was a price drop??)

I love the PS3, I have an 80gb unit. As a blu-ray player it is awesome, and you get frequent updates for the hardware. Built-in wifi and it is so much quieter than xbox 360.
At the time I bought mine last Aug. it was $399 and I thought it was an awesome deal.
I love the meida streaming to our TV.

I actually hope sony lowers the cost to boost sales and keep things competitive.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Sony ... any hope of moving back into second place

Lulz