(English) Sony Cuts PlayStation 4 Prices

Sony Corp. said on Thursday it will cut prices of PlayStation 4 in the U.S. and Canada as it attempts to further bolster sales of the popular videogame console.The new prices, which will take effect on Friday, are $349.99 in the U.S. and C$429.99 ($329.34) in Canada. They are currently sold for $399.99 and C$449.99, respectively.

“By cutting the price at this time, we aim to fuel momentum of PlayStation 4 toward the year-end holiday season,” a spokesman at Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., the group’s videogame arm, said.

The action comes after it slashed the console’s price in Japan by more than 10% earlier this month. The spokesman said “it has nothing to announce now” about the company’s plan for Europe.

“This is good news because it shows cutting assembling cost of the console is going smoothly,” said Yu Okazaki, an analyst at Nomura Securities, though he noted any big impact on Sony share price is unlikely because investors had expected the move. He added Sony is likely to introduce new European prices at a game show in Paris later this month.

The new price in the U.S. will match the price of Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One, a major rival of PlayStation 4.

Andrew House, chief of Sony’s videogame unit, told The Wall Street Journal last month that the Sony console was outperforming their rival even without a price reduction, but offering customers the best possible product value was its long-held commitment.

Selling more than 20.2 million units as of March this year, PlayStation 4 is the best-selling videogame console among the latest machine generation. Sony plans to ship 16.5 million units of PS4 in the current fiscal year ending in March.

As one of the most promising businesses at Sony, the electronics and entertainment giant is working to make the PlayStation Network a gateway of next-generation multimedia consumption.

Besides buying traditional packaged software, users can stream games online and watch cable video channels and will soon be able to experience virtual reality through PlayStation VR, a headset planned to launch in the first half of next year.