Pachter: PS3 at $299 in April, 360 price cut too

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has issued his NPD preview report ahead of Thursday night's figures in which he states that PlayStation 3 is expected to drop in price in April with another 360 price cut soon to follow.

"Once the PS3 is at a more affordable price point (we expect a cut to $299 in April), we think that sales of that device will once again begin to grow," said Pachter.

"We expect another cut in price for the Xbox 360, with the feature-laden Pro model likely to come down in price to $249 at or before this year's E3 show in June."

Pachter predicted that those rules don't apply to Wii, however: "We expect Nintendo to maintain Wii pricing at $249 until the company sees signs that demand is slowing, which means a price cut may not happen until late in the year, if at all," he added.

Back in December SCEE president David Reeves said that the company will not be dropping the price in Spring and as recently as last week, Sony issued a press release whereby it reaffirmed its claim the PlayStation is cheap in comparison to its rivals.

By Mike Bowden