The Wall Street Journal has a new story up about the price drop of the 80GB PS3 and the upcoming 40GB model. Contained in the article, however, is yet another gem from Sony’s camp — more specifically, president and chief executive officer of Sony’s U.S. games division Jack Tretton.
According to the WSJ: "Mr. Tretton conceded that removing that capability [backwards compatibility], along with a few other features, isn’t dramatically reducing Sony’s cost of manufacturing the console but will instead encourage buyers of the entry-level PlayStation 3 to purchase more games designed specifically for the new system."
The article continues, "Mr. Tretton said the company’s research showed that compatibility with PlayStation 2 games isn’t likely to be missed by customers, who most likely already own the older system." I guess Sony’s research camp didn’t discuss their findings with the NPD, who found that BC was very important to gamers.
For those of you questioning the removal of backwards compatibility in the new 40GB model, this just further complicates Sony’s decision and recent announcements. Not too long ago, the reason behind the removal was to reduce production costs and effort, which would pass the savings on to gamers.
Now, it looks like the removal was to help nudge gamers towards buying more PS3 titles, and had little to do with the lower price, which is $399 for the 40GB PS3 version.
Oh well. At least we won’t really care about it, since we all have a PS2 and wouldn’t like to minimize the amount of electronics in our entertainment centers or play our old games with upscaled graphics and a wireless controller.
[via Wall Street Journal]
