Sony Announces PlayStation Price Drop for Black Friday, Holidays

With Black Friday 2014 sales now less than two weeks away, gamers have been waiting to see whether Sony would announce a special PS4 Black Friday deal, bundle or price cut. Sony did announce a PlayStation price drop today, though not fully what people were waiting for.

Sony announced a special Black Friday and holiday price for the PlayStation TV, which is now $20 to $40 less depending on whether you pick up a bundle or a stand-alone system. The company also announced a PS3 price drop for some specific PlayStation 3 bundles, with the discounts ranging from $20 to $50.

[UPDATE: Sony has just announced two PS4 Black Friday bundles that include two free games each. That effectively brings the PS4 price down by $100.]

The new Black Friday 2014 and holiday price for PlayStation TV is $79.99 for a stand-alone PS TV system (it had been $99.99), or $99.99 for a PlayStation TV DualShock 3 bundle (it had been $149.99). You can get the PlayStation TV stand-alone unit here while supplies last, and the PlayStation TV DualShock 3 bundle here.

PlayStation TV has been available in North America for about one month. Games continue to be announced for the system, including an news several days ago that a new Adventure Time game will release for PS TV next week.

Perhaps the more compelling PlayStation price drop Sony announced for Black Friday 2014 and the holidays is tied to consoles. Though the discount isn’t the hoped-for PS4 price cut gamers were hoping for, it does reflect a pretty sweet deal on a few PlayStation 3 bundles.

Sony has dropped the price of three different PS3 bundles for the holidays. The best deal is the PS3 12GB Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes bundle, which has dropped $50 from $249.99 to $199.99. The other two PS3 bundles on sale for Black Friday and the holidays are a The Last of Us bundle and a LEGO Batman bundle, both of which are now $249.99.

Though GameStop was the retailer that announced the PlayStation price drop info, all retailers seem to be honoring the deals. Like the PlayStation TV sale prices above, Amazon has the Disney Infinity Marvel Super Heros PS3 12GB bundle and the LEGO Batman 3 PS3 500GB bundle on sale, the latter of which also includes The Sly Collection. As of publication, Amazon had not begun offering the Black Friday PlayStation price drop on the PS3 500GB The Last of Us bundle (it was still $299), but that may change as we get closer to Black Friday 2014.

Two big questions remain. Most readily, will Sony announce a PS4 price drop for Black Friday 2014, much like Microsoft announced a $50 Xbox One price drop through January 2, 2015? And second, will the PlayStation TV discount actually compel people to buy the system, or will Sony’s Friday announcement that its PlayStation Vue cloud TV service will launch in Q1 2015 hamper PS TV sales entirely?