Sony today announced that the recent PlayStation 2 price drop has resulted in a surge of sales, more than doubling the last month's numbers. To be specific, the first week of the drop saw a 216% increase in sales, with a 141% boost for the following three weeks.

"This price drop came when we felt it was strategically the best timing to expand the market, and it's gratifying to see consumers respond so aggressively to our commitment to meet their growing expectations," commented Jack Tretton, executive vice president, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "The new sales data provides a powerful proof-point that consumers–both our mass-market core audience and casual gamers–are placing their confidence in the longevity of PlayStation 2, which we see as absolutely essential to the health of the industry. We will continue to make the PlayStation 2 experience the best entertainment value in the gaming category."

"Response to the $149 price point has been amazing," added Debbie Mola, divisional vice president of merchandising for Electronics Boutique. "We've seen a steady increase in consumer demand throughout our stores nationwide, with sales of PlayStation 2 rising to well above our expectations."

Two days ago, both GameStop and EBGames began listing the latest entry in the ESPN NFL series, ESPN NFL 2K5, as $19.99. Statements were issued, claiming both retailers "erroneously posted a price." Notice that sentence indicates not that the retailers posted the wrong price, but rather they posted it before they should have.

Adding more fuel to the fire, yesterday EBGames updated their front page, saying "Just announced—only $19.99!" in regards to ESPN NFL 2K5. As far as we can tell, there hasn't been any announcement from Visual Concepts. While a little confusing, there's a general consensus that ESPN NFL 2K5, the full featured follow-up to ESPN NFL 2004, will be $19.99, and online retailers just reported it too soon.

There are also rumors suggesting the current August 24th date reported by both sites is a placeholder, with the release actually planned for late July or early August in order to compete more aggressively with Madden 2005.

We were unable to reach Visual Concepts for comment, but an announcement of sorts is expected within the next few days.

Sega and Take-Two Interactive today announced they have signed an agreement, under which all of Sega's ESPN titles will be co-published and exclusively distributed by Take-Two Interactive.

"We believe this exclusive relationship with SEGA is a great opportunity for Take-Two," stated Paul Eibeler, Take-Two's President. "We have tremendous respect for the critically acclaimed properties that Visual Concepts has created and we are confident that our global sales and distribution capabilities provide the resources that will fully support these products."

"The combined efforts of SEGA and Take-Two will create an exciting and powerful partnership that is sure to heighten the level of aggressive competition in the growing sports game segment," commented Hisao Oguchi, Representative Director and President of SEGA Corporation.

"We are excited to have Take-Two bring their second-to-none distribution power and proven experience reaching the mass market to the ESPN Videogames franchise we've built with SEGA," added Greg Thomas, President of Visual Concepts. "We are proud of the quality of our games and the loyalty of our fans, and we look forward to being able to reach a whole new audience."

The press release also included an interesting little statement that read: "The multi-year co-publishing and distribution agreement includes a provision for Take-Two to further extend its participation in SEGA's sports game business and all associated intellectual property for current and future gaming platforms."

There are rumors flying that this is the first step in Sega selling ESPN developer Visual concepts to Take-Two, but they remain unproven. Like we stated last week, things are changing for Sega, but it's too early to see their long-term effects.