Dear Future Gamer

On the same note as Jermain Williams's 'PS2: Console or Video' letter (FG66), I was wondering whether Sony might also face a problem reducing the price of PS2 to mass-market levels, due to the fact that it is also a DVD movie player.

The reason I ask is that both the US and Europe have strict policies on anti-competitive practices, and to sell an electrical product at a loss is illegal. Nintendo, Sega and Sony have been able to get away with it up until now, I suspect, because their consoles aren't being anti-competitive since no-one else makes them. However, other companies (Pioneer, Panasonic, Philips, etc) make DVD players, and, so the argument would go, if Sony sell PS2 at a loss then they're "dumping" their product on the market, which is illegal.

If that were the case then we might not see PS2 ever get to be less than £100, and probably not less than £150 within the next couple of years. Personally, I just don't see how they can expect to dominate the market with such high prices.

Geoffrey Roberts

FG: Well pointed out, Geoffrey. Maybe the days of really cheap consoles are over. Perhaps they'll revise their marketing strategies and do more games bundling with new consoles. Only time will tell.