Activision CEO sees $199 game consoles

By Scott Hillis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Activision Inc (ATVI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said on Tuesday that prices on Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(SNE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Xbox 360 video game consoles must fall to $199 in the next two years to reach mass-market appeal.

Kotick said the PlayStation 3, whose lowest-priced model costs $400, was a good product, but that Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) wildly popular Wii was leading the way with its $250 price tag. The cheapest Xbox 360 is $280.

"The Wii at its price point is now setting a standard and an expectation, and people say, well, the Wii is less complex technically. I don't think that really matters as much to the consumer," Kotick told the Reuters Media Summit in New York.

The key price point for mass adoption was $199, he added.

"In the next 24 months they all will need to be at that $199 price point, and you can imagine Nintendo will be down to the $129 price point over the next few years," he said.

Activision and other game publishers want console prices to fall since it typically leads to higher sales of those machines and gives them a larger base of potential game buyers.

Faced with lackluster PS3 sales in the year since its launch, Sony has cut the price and tweaked features in a bid to attract more consumers.

Nintendo, meanwhile, has been selling all the Wiis it can make due to its lower price, innovative motion controls and easy-to-learn games, all of which have drawn older and female buyers outside the industry's core of young males.  Continued...