Sony Corp. has cut the price of its PlayStation 3 console by 25 percent, bowing to demands from game publishers and increasing pressure on industry leader Nintendo Co. to follow.
The PlayStation 3's price will be $299 in the United States starting Wednesday, with comparable reductions in Europe and Japan, the Tokyo-based company said at a games conference in Germany on Tuesday. Nintendo offers the Wii for $250 and Microsoft Corp. sells its Xbox 360 machine for as little as $200.
Sony Chairman Howard Stringer, who rebuffed calls for lower prices as recently as last month, reversed course after PS3 sales tumbled to a two-year low. Sales of Nintendo's market-leading Wii dropped for the first time last quarter as the global economic slump drove down consumer spending.