GameStop expecting PS3, Wii price cuts in Q3

May 22nd, 2009, 16:58 Posted By: wraggster

US retailer GameStop is expecting price cuts for the PlayStation 3 and Wii in the third quarter of its financial year.

Speaking during a conference call to investors, CEO Daniel DeMatteo said that the company's forecast of 33.5 million hardware unit sales factors in price cuts on current hardware from Sony and Nintendo.

"That assumes that there will be price cuts on the PS3 and potentially one on the Wii," offered DeMatteo, although he admitted that "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."

DeMatteo said the price of hardware was too high in the current economic market, and format-holders will need to reduce the RRP of consoles in order to meet their current sales forecasts.

"The hardware price points, given this economic environment are potentially too high, and if the platform holders are going to make the numbers that they forecasted for the year, those prices would have to change.

"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," he added.

During the same call, David Carlson, CFO for the retailer also pinned dates on some upcoming release, suggesting Take-Two's BioShock 2 and Namco's Tekken 6 will be released in October, and Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed will be in stores for November.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ice-cuts-in-q3

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