PS3 announcements fail to halt Sony stock slide

Despite a seemingly strong positive reaction from the industry following Sony's long-awaited announcement of a price cut for the PlayStation 3 - and the impending launch of the PS3 Slim - shares in the Corporation continued to fall yesterday, continuing a steady descent from their two-month peak at the beginning of last week.

The stock closed down by 1.4 per cent today on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to sit at JPY 2445 (USD 26.02), declining yet further from its peak of over JPY 2770 (USD 29.48) on August 10 - a drop of around 12 per cent in total.

Investors took exception to the price cut announcement - despite the likelihood that the move will spur console sales for the company globally - with a 3.9 per cent fall in the price coming on Wednesday, the day after the press conference reveal in Cologne.

There is some agreement that if the Western markets, particularly the US, UK, France and Germany, continue to show some signs of macro-economic recovery in the next few months the USD 299 / EUR 299 / GBP 249 price points should fuel sales spikes.

However, if recovery stalls and consumer spending falls apart once again, its numbers are likely to be somewhat less spectacular.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and EA Games president Frank Gibeau both told GamesIndustry.biz this week that they believed the price cut was a very good move for the market.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ny-stock-slide