Sony PS3 price to cut down!

Sony is trying to decide by how much it will cut the price of its PlayStation 3 console as consumers want it reduced, its chief executive said in an interview published Friday.

"That (price cuts) is what we are studying at the moment. That's what we are trying to refine," Howard Stringer told the London-based Financial Times.

He admitted that Sony faced tough competition from rival Nintendo's Wii video game console, which is enjoying stronger sales than the PS3 and has a lower price.

"Nintendo Wii has been a successful enterprise, and a very good business model, compared with ours ... because it's cheaper," he said, adding there was "no question" consumers wanted a lower price.

Sony slashed the price of the PS3 by 20 percent in Japan ahead of its launch here last November as it prepared for a fierce fight against cheaper games consoles from rivals Microsoft and Nintendo.

Even after the price reduction, however, the PS3 is still by far the most expensive of the three main next-generation video games consoles on the market and many analysts say Sony will need to lower the price further.

Rival Nintendo is enjoying strong sales of the Wii, known for its motion-sensitive controller, outselling the PS3 by more than five to one in Japan in May, according to research from publisher Enterbrain.

Sony's video game division suffered a huge operating loss in the last fiscal year and is expected to remain in the red this year.

The success of the PS3 is considered vital to a revival at the Japanese giant, which is in the midst of major restructuring under Stringer, its first foreign boss.