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Retailers Begin Dropping Price Of PlayStation TV
Most major game and electronics retailers have significantly cut the price of Sony's streaming media/home console the PlayStation TV.
GameSpot noticed the price drops. Right now, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and GameStop (Disclosure: GameStop is Game Informer's parent company.) are all selling the PlayStation TV for $79, down from it's original $100 MSRP. These sites are also selling various bundles which include a DualShock 3 game controller and - in some cases - a voucher for The Lego Movie video games for $99. These bundles originally sold for $130-$140.
We reached out to Sony for an official comment as to whether this represents a permanent price drop for the system. "These are retailer-specific price promotions for PlayStation TV," a representative told us via email.
[Source: GameSpot]
Our Take
This isn't a good sign for the PlayStation TV. Retailers don't generally do non-holiday sales of specific items en masse - and we've seen no indications from Sony that the device is selling well. I never quite understood who this console was intended for. Streaming media capabilities are so ubiquitous as to be meaningless - there are already popular devices like Roku, Google Chromecast, and Amazon Fire TV that do the same thing with better support. In addition, many TVs now include "smart" media apps built-in, including Sony's own Bravia TVs.
As a game device, I can't see it having much appeal either. Just half of the current Vita-exclusive lineup is available on the system, though when you add in things like PSP games, PS1 Classics, PlayStation Minis, and PlayStation Mobile games, the total number is well over 1,000. Still, the appeal of most of these games was being able to play them on the go, and for just a bit more you could get a new or used PlayStation 3 - a far better home system that still offers all the same media-streaming capabilities. The PlayStation TV has seemed like an oddly conceived and barely marketed device from the beginning - it should be no surprise that it's not exactly flying off the shelves.
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