GameStop begins selling PS3 for $199

Although Sony hasn’t officially cut the price of the PS3 since last fall, GameStop has taken it upon itself to slash the cost of the system to the magic sub-$200 mark. The retailer now lists the 160 GB version of the Sony console as being available for $199.99. That is $50 less than Sony’s manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $249.99. The cheapest place in the country to buy a new PS3 right now is GameStop.

Now, GameStop has not put out any sort of press release about this, and being that the retail world is incredibly fickle, this could be some sort of temporary price drop or a promotion or just some sort of test for corporate to see how it affects sales. But for the time being, $200 is what you’ll be paying for a PS3 at any GameStop store across the country or on its website. No coupons, no gimmicks, nothing like that.

Given that video game equipment is known to have razor thin margins, it’s incredibly likely that GameStop is taking some sort of hit on every PS3 that it sells for $200, but it if it can peddle something like an extended warranty or some other high-margin service to customers, then it could end up being a profitable sale. Of course, that’s just retail 101. The real question is if GameStop knows a secret and is trying to sell of inventory before a major Sony announcement happens. But who knows, really? If you’ve been wanting a PS3, all you need to know is it’s only $200 at this very moment.

[via GameZone]