Sony drops US PS2 price to $149.99

Sony's first announcement of E3 this year was that the PlayStation 2 is to drop in price to $149.99 in the United States, effective immediately - mirroring a similar drop by the Xbox at the end of March.

The move comes after weeks of speculation about the company's pricing plans, although it was fairly well expected after financial information from the company's Japanese headquarters indicated a drop in revenues during the current quarter due to a lower PS2 price point.

Sony will be hoping that the drop will stimulate flagging sales of the PlayStation 2 in North America, where the console is thought to be well past its sales peak - and where it seems likely to have been outsold by the Xbox in April for the first month since the rival console launched in late 2001.

The Xbox sales surge was largely attributed to Microsoft's decision to cut the price of the system to $149 at the end of March. Sony's ability to respond quickly to this cut was affected by accounting regulations due to the end of its financial year on March 31st, a factor which probably contributed to the decision to hold off the price cut until E3.

We've not yet heard anything about any possible equivalent cut to the price of the console in Europe or other territories. We'll let you know as soon as we do - obviously. I mean, it is our job, after all.