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 great 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 setting the standard for the industry. The Wii now costs $250, while 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.
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.
(Click here to see Reuters MediaFile blog)
(Reporting by Gina Keating and Scott Hillis; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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