Patrons hold their Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) gaming consoles at a Best Buy store in Duluth, Georgia, November 17, 2006. Sony Corp. is likely to cut its PlayStation 3 price again by year-end following this week's $100 cut, a senior executive at Japanese game software maker Capcom Co. Ltd. said. REUTERS/Tami Chappell

SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) - Sony Corp. is likely to cut its PlayStation 3 price again by year-end following this week’s $100 cut, a senior executive at Japanese game software maker Capcom Co. Ltd. said.

“The number of PS2 users is still growing and a shift to the PS3 is on the back burner,” Capcom Chief Financial Officer Kazuhiko Abe told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

“But, the price has been cut once and it is likely to be cut again towards the end of the year. I expect the (PS3’s) installed base to grow gradually.”

Sony on Monday cut the price of the PS3 to $500 in the United States in a move to breathe life into sluggish demand.

Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s Wii have outsold the PS3 by several times in the crucial U.S. market, leaving Sony, which has dominated the game industry over the past decade, in the unfamiliar position of playing catch up.

The new price, however, is still $20 more than the most expensive version of the Xbox 360 and twice as much as that of the Wii.

Abe, visiting Santa Monica for the E3 video game exposition, also said sales of its action horror title “Resident Evil 4” for the Wii will likely exceed its target of 420,000 units for the current business year to March 2008.

“It is doing better than expected in Japan and the United States, and performing fairly well in Europe,” Abe said. “Sales are bound to exceed 420,000 units.”

Osaka-based Capcom is known for such major titles as “Lost Planet” shooting game and “Devil May Cry” action adventure.