Cash for Atari games

Sony executives, seeking to boost floundering software sales for their popular game consoles, have decided to emulate the federal government's "Cash for Clunkers" program. The Board of Directors voted yesterday to allocate $50 million dollars in rebate monies for customers who can trade in their old Atari 2600 games in exchange for a $20 dollar rebate after purchasing selected new PS2, PSP, or PS3 video games.

"This program obviously works," commented Sony VP of Marketing, Navin Johnson. "Look at the Cash for Clunkers program. People came to the dealerships in droves to buy their new cars. I predict sales for our new games will skyrocket over the next month."

This move is not unanimously well-thought of within Sony, however. Many who oppose this plan fear that the rebates will take away any profit made from the sales of the games.

"It's simple math," said an unnamed Sony executive.

Additionally, because only certain titles are are part of the rebate program, many fear the customers will be less than enthusiastic.

"If they could buy 'Guitar Hero' or one of our EA Sports titles, I think customers would be excited. But 'Superstar Table Tennis' and 'SimCity:Accountants' aren't going to sustain interest."

Still, early results show demand outstripping the money allocated. There's already talk of extending the program among some execs.

"Sure they're coming," countered the unnamed executive. "People think it's free money. All we're doing is flushing money down the toilet. Our sales numbers will appear to go up, but our bottom line won't show any improvement. If anything, this idea will put us under over time. You can't just give away something for nothing and stay in business."