PS3 price cut at TGS?

The simExchange has released an analyst research report indicating that it believes Sony needs to drop the price of the PlayStation 3 in the coming weeks or months in order to remain competitive with the Xbox 360 in North America.

The report, by analyst Jesse Divnich, indicates that either a USD 100 price cut or an added-value bundle would help to reduce the apparently widening gap with the Microsoft console.

Divnich believes that although a price drop would incur a greater financial loss per console manufactured, he feels that such action is necessary as "Sonyâs third party software support could be at serious risk if they allow Microsoft to continue to widen the sales gap."

If Sony does announce a price cut, the logical time to do that would be the Tokyo Game Show, taking place later this month — and such a move might have repercussions on the market share in its home territory as well.

Figures used in Divnich's analysis are taken from the virtual trading in the simExchange, a prediction market which allows gamers and developers to dabble in industry forecasting, and isn't based on actual share prices or financial exchanges.