Sony plans no PS3 price cuts at Leipzig games fair

A gamer plays a Sony Playstation 3 in a file photo. Sony does not plan to announce price cuts to its flagship PlayStation 3 games console at Europe's biggest video games fair in Leipzig, Germany next week, a company spokesman said on Friday.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T) does not plan to announce price cuts to its flagship PlayStation 3 games console at Europe's biggest video games fair in Leipzig, Germany next week, a company spokesman said on Friday.

"It's not going to happen. If you're coming for that you'll be disappointed," Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Nick Caplin said.

In the 12 months ending March 31, Sony sold 9.24 million units, below its initial estimates of 11 million sales.

But in an interview with Reuters on July 16, the company's video game chief said the firm was on track for the current year's target of 10 million sales.

Cuts to the Playstation 3's original high price have helped boost its fortunes in Sony's three-way battle with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS) in the global video game industry.

Sony ruled the video game industry for about a decade from the mid-1990s with its original PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

In the current console cycle, Sony has found itself in an unfamiliar position, trailing Nintendo's Wii and competing neck and neck with Microsoft's Xbox 360 for second place in monthly sales in the United States.

The Leipzig games fair runs from August 20-22.

(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Rory Channing)