NEWS - Tuesday, March 4, 2003
Price Cuts Are On There Way
EA sees price cuts this year, new consoles coming LOS ANGELES, March 4 (Reuters) - Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. expects a new generation of video game consoles to come in 2005 or 2006 and is already talking to console makers about their plans, the company’s chief financial officer said on Tuesday. In a presentation at a Bear Stearns investment conference in Florida, monitored via Webcast, Warren Jenson also said that EA, like many other game publishers, expects Sony Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. Ltd. to cut $50 each off the price of their consoles this year. Such cuts, which many expect to come in May around the industry’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, would take Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Microsoft’s Xbox to $149 and Nintendo’s GameCube to $99. "Today we’re already in discussion with Sony, with Microsoft, with Nintendo on the next generation of consoles," Jenson said. "When do we think the transition would occur? Sometime around 2005, 2006 -- that’s really Sony’s call to make." Sony, which dominates the field, was ahead of Microsoft and Nintendo by a year in the current cycle, releasing the PS2 in late 2000.Source: http://www.reuters.com
