If anybody is of the opinion that because Sony has already revealed the next generation of the PlayStation platform – PlayStation 4, the company will head over to reduce the price of the PS3. Well, that’s happening neither now nor anytime soon, as revealed by Sony.
Back at the E3, Sony had announced that the launch price for the PlayStation 4 would be $399 USD, much to the joy of all the fans and audience present. Although it’s needless to say that the price structure was well received by everyone, a certain price cut for the previous generation PS3 was expected. However, as Sir Mick Jagger (and the Stones) once said: “You can't always get what you want” (not at least this early).
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry International, Sony UK MD Fergal Gara, as far as a price cut for PS3 is concerned, stated: “There's no plans as yet. The PlayStation 3 is a system where it hasn't been particularly easy to get the costs down.”
"We continue to look at opportunities, there may or may not be any more, I genuinely can't answer to that. But it will certainly be a more keenly priced machine in relative to PlayStation 4. It will sit there as a viable entry level machine for years to come. It will be different by territory as to how long its life is. There's still a lot of love for PS3," he added.
Additionally, it was also reported that the PlayStation 4’s arrival will be a major boost to the prospects of more popularity for Sony’s last major handheld console PlayStation Vita. The Vita, of course, is still waiting to catch a major market share in the industry.
According to Gara, the PS4 will offer the Vita a massively needed "shot in the arm" and improve the system's sales and performance with accordance to Sony’s own gaming ecosystem.
"I don't think it's unfair to say it came into a very complex marketplace that probably wasn't fully envisaged at the time development started," Gara said of the Vita launch in late 2011,” Gara added.
"It borrows a lot from the mobile and tablet world, especially with touch control. And it borrows a fair amount from the PlayStation of old with the analogue sticks. And it's a very worthy and better successor to PSP. Where it's been difficult has been proving the companion status for PlayStation 3. The fact is it was developed for PS4, much more than PS3.”
The next generation PS4, alongside Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox One console, is set to arrive later this year.
