Sony Says It Has No Plan to Cut PlayStation Prices Outside U.S.

July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp., the world's largest game-console maker, isn't planning to lower its PlayStation 3 prices in Asia or Europe after cutting prices of the machines by 17 percent this month in the U.S., President Ryoji Chubachi said.

The company doesn't plan to cut prices ``at this point,'' Chubachi said today in an interview in Shizuoka, where Japan's Keidanren business lobby is holding a two-day forum. ``About the future, no comment,'' he said.

Losses at the game division widened last quarter after sales of the PS3 fell behind those of the cheaper Wii player from Nintendo Co., which this week raised its forecasts for profit and shipments. Earlier this month, Sony cut prices of its new consoles by $100 to compete with Nintendo and Microsoft Corp., maker of the rival Xbox 360 game machines.

``Sony is having a tough time with its PlayStation,'' said Shigemi Nonaka, chairman at Polestar Investment Management Co. in Tokyo, which has $218 million in assets including Sony shares. ``Sony's always had this image of being at the leading edge of technology, but they've fallen behind the Wii.''

Chubachi, 59, said in a July 6 interview that Sony had no current plans to lower prices of PS3s. Three days later, Sony announced it would cut prices of the consoles in the U.S.

Shares of Sony gained 1.1 percent today after the Tokyo-based company yesterday reported fiscal first-quarter profit doubled to 66.5 billion yen ($552 million). Sony said the weaker yen, which raised the value of exports of Cyber-shot cameras and televisions, helped boost earnings.

$499 Versus $299

A PlayStation with a 60-gigabyte hard drive now sells for $499, while an 80-gigabyte model goes on sale in August for $599. Microsoft's Xbox 360 Elite model sells for $479, while Nintendo's Wii, the top-selling console, costs $249.

Sony yesterday forecast sales of the PlayStation 3 to reach 11 million units this fiscal year. Kyoto-based Nintendo on July 25 increased its sales target for the Wii by 18 percent to 16.5 million units for the year ending March 31.

The PlayStation 3, introduced in late November, is outsold by the Wii by about 2 to 1 in the U.S. and 3 to 1 in Japan, according to estimates from Port Washington, New York-based NPD Group Inc. and Tokyo-based researcher Enterbrain Inc.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kiyori Ueno in Shizuoka at kueno2@bloomberg.net; Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Teo Chian Wei at cwteo@bloomberg.net.