Can the PS3 become the console of the masses?

The big news at GamesCon 2009 was Sony’s announcement on Wednesday that the redesigned Playstation 3, now called the PS3 Slim, will retail at €299 in Europe. That is a price-drop of €100 in one go, and brought it to less than half the intimidating €629 the device was priced at on launch just over two years ago.

Clearly, Sony are hoping to reach a much broader audience with the console – ideally, the PS3 will replicate the journey taken by the PS2. Can the PS3 Slim – previously and elite and exclusive piece of kit - become the well loved console of the masses?

To recap, the Playstation 2 has sold a phenomenal 138.8 million consoles worldwide, with 51.8 million of those sales occurring within Europe, since 2000. The PS3 has sold 23.7 million units worldwide (10 million in Europe) in a quarter of the same period of time.

But the PS2 also started fairly slowly and only really took over as the dominant console with the launch of help of the Grand Theft Auto series; can the PS3 push on in similar fashion?

A major factor over the next 18 months or so will be the almost total lack of opposition from rival consoles.

Even Microsoft did not appear interested in pushing the X-Box at GamesCon, where it was relegated to a rather deserted area at the rear of a display hall. Quality control is still a major issue - a recent report by Game Informer magazine found that the X-Box suffers from a whopping 52.4% failure rate, with 41.2% failing twice; my colleague Rob Wright is not alone. Microsoft have also declined to respond to the Sony move with a price drop of their own and in truth it looks as though the X-Box, darling of the 2008 Christmas market, is nearing the end of the road.

The second part of the puzzle for the PS3 is the redesign and the addition of new features. The new slimmed down version replaces what was, in truth, a bit of a hulking brute. It is 32% smaller, 36% lighter and, arguably most importantly, 34% more efficient.

That adds up to a better looking machine that will fit much more comfortably into the average living room. The downsides are that, unlike the current version of the PS3, the new PS3 will not offer backwards compatibility with Playstation 2 games, nor will it enable users to install Linux to their hard drive.

But there is plenty on offer to more than make up for that.

Two new features in particular may help the console, and the internet itself, make the long predicted transition from the quieter corners of most houses to the centre of the living room.

First, the PS3 will allow users to access on-demand services such as the BBC iPlayer in certain territories. Irish PS3 owners south of the border will not benefit from this as soon as customers in the UK, for whom it will come on stream in November 2009. However, I understand that, moves are afoot to bring on-demand services to PS3 owners in the Republic in the near future.

Secondly, PS3 owners will also be able to rent or buy high quality downloadable versions of movie releases through their PS3s. For many consumers, this will represent a significant move towards a much more user-friendly internet purchase option than the PC.

To make this happen, Sony have conclude a massive range of deals with the major film studios (remember the ‘residuals’ strikes threatened by actors a few months ago), which should give the PS3 purchasing a more ‘legit’ feel than that with attaches itself to the PC. Can you imagine the whole family watching a mediocre quality downloaded movie on a PC? Probably not. Make that a film downloaded from the PS3 in HD that will play uninterrupted on a high-end TV and it arguably becomes far more likely.

So, arguably for the first time, there is a realistic prospect of large numbers of Irish consumers using the internet for family entertainment. This trend is being mirrored on the software side, with titles such as Heavy Rain set to blur the line between gaming and action-drama film genres as never before.

Clearly, the above developments have major implications for retailers. On the one hand, the drop in the price of the PS3 is itself is excellent news and improve theirs prospects for what is a potentially rocky Christmas period. On the other hand, the PS3 can potentially act as a means for consumers to cut the middleman out of software and DVD rentals – bad news in the long term. The potential loss of DVD rental sales is somewhat offset by the voucher/card system designed to assuage consumer concerns over credit card use on the web.

Clearly, the potential stumbling block both in Ireland and worldwide is the recession. Ireland has undoubtedly been hit harder than most by the global downturn and for a lot of customers who might previously have been thought of as likely PS3 owners, the €299 price-tag may still be a bridge too far.

On the other hand, people are still buying ‘09 cars, and there is no doubt that the recession has hit some much harder than others.

All in all, the PS3 Slim is a much improved product with 25% knocked off the price and it should achieve a far more significant market-share in the coming months on the back of those facts alone.

Brendan Cole