Will PlayStation, Xbox ever sell for under $200?

The head of Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) sees the prices of the major game consoles dropping to under $200. Otherwise the game maker does not think the products will ever have mass market appeal. The cheapest Sony (NYSE: SNE) PS3 is $400, and a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360 is not available below $280.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick told Reuters that "the (Nintendo) Wii at its price point is now setting a standard and an expectation, and people say, well, the Wii is less complex technically. I don't think that really matters as much to the consumer." He does not see wide adoption for other platforms unless they are priced at $199.

Of course, the man may be right, but that does not mean that game console prices are coming down much. Microsoft and Sony have to ask themselves whether they would rather sell 10 million units at $400, or 18 million at $199. The math is complex because of manufacturing costs and income from video games.

Working to the advantage of lower retail pricing is the fact that component costs for the game consoles probably drop as production picks up. And with some games, like Halo 3, the platform maker gets money from the sale of the video game, so more platforms have an extra financial benefit.

Will the market see a $199 PS3 soon? Probably not. Sony can't go to its shareholders with that big a loss per unit.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.