May 14^th, 2002 (12:00am) - Sony Computer Entertainment America has officially reduced the price of PlayStation 2 from $299 to $199 in North America, the company said in a late night press release Monday. The price drop will take effect immediately.

"The $199 price point for PlayStation 2 has always been part of Sony Computer Entertainment America’s strategy to bring the world’s leading computer entertainment system to the broadest audience," said Kaz Hirai, president and chief operating officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. "As we currently stand, our company has shipped more than 30 million PlayStation 2 units, and 90 million PlayStation/PS one consoles worldwide. With the popularity of the PlayStation brand breaking all industry expectations, Sony Computer Entertainment has been able to grow the gaming category as a whole representing tremendous opportunities for our partners and ultimately, for the consumer."

"Our company has always been very aggressive on pricing and we have always looked forward to passing on the manufacturing cost efficiencies to the consumers," said Molly Smith, SCEA’s director of public relations. "We want to further escalate the accessibility of the PlayStation 2 and to encourage gamers to buy consoles. We don’t want pricing to be an inhibitor. With a price point of $199, we will be able to further enhance our business.

Also SCEA announced a sweeping set of price drops including a price reduction of the PS2 as well as the 8MB PS2 memory card and PS2 Dual Shock controller. The official memory card will retail for $24.99 (down $10 from $34.99), while the Dual Shock from $34.99 to $24.99.

If you don’t own a PS2 yet you should at least try to get one now with it’s new sweet price.