Sony today cut the price of its new Playstation 3 by 20 per cent in Japan.
The surprise move comes amid concerns among industry specialists that PS3's high price tag could prompt some gamers to turn to rival consoles - Microsoft's already available Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.
Sony, which will unveil the latest version of its console on November 11th in Japan, now plans to sell a version of PS3 with a 20-gigabyte (GB) hard disk drive for 49,980 yen (€335), down from the previously announced 62,790 yen (€420).
Microsoft sells its Xbox 360 in Japan for 39,795 yen (€266), and Nintendo will be launching its Wii console on December 2nd for 25,000 yen.
If Sony had left its previous price unchanged, game players in Japan would have nearly been able to buy both the Xbox 360 and Wii for the price of one PS3.
The company will keep its planned prices of $499 in the United States and €499 in Europe for the 20-GB model.