Koller on Initial Price of PS3 and Release Timing: “We Absolutely Have No Regrets”

There’s no denying that the PlayStation 3 was one ridiculously expensive piece of hardware when it first launched back in 2006 for $599. Since that time, Sony has managed to slowly whittle down the price to an affordable $250, and they’ve seen much success since. Interestingly enough, John Koller, Sony’s head of hardware marketing recently spoke out on the console’s launch price and Microsoft’s head start, claiming the company doesn’t regret their decision.

Speaking to Kotaku, Koller explained:

There’s no secret that we opened behind a high price point. And certainly others got a relatively nice head start on us because of that. That’s certainly been part of it.

But we absolutely have no regrets. This has been a very good cycle for us, and I think if you ask any publisher they’d say the same thing. It’s been good, and we think it does portend good things for the future for PlayStation.

Sony is a company that prides itself on having top of the line products, so having such an expensive console, while a huge turn off to many consumers, helps to maintain their image of being a premier electronics brand. In fact, Jack Tretton’s latest comments on the next iteration of PlayStation hardware say it best: “we’ve never been first, we’ve never been cheapest, it’s about being best.” So start saving now, because the PS4 certainly won’t be cheap.

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