Does Series S need a permanent price cut?

So both Series X and PS5 start at 499$ and as far as we know both sustain a small amount of loss for MS and Sony respectively, which means Sony is probably taking an extra 100$ loss on the PS5DE. That loss is most likely being recouped thanks to PS+ as well as that 10$ tax that Sony now charges on all of their first party games, but it is still quite a significant loss and is most likely being done to drive as many sales as possible early on with long term benefits thanks to services and digital sales.

Sony has the mindshare and being at a price advantage isn’t really helping the competition. While I do think Series S at 299$ is a good value and I’ve suggested it friends, with all the hype being on PS5 it’s easy to think that a lot of gamers are willing to save that extra 100$ to get a 4K gaming system instead of the 1080p/1440p one.

Having Series S start at 249$ would make that price difference more interesting for prospective buyers and more logical with the power difference. It would put the system in compulsive buying territory. That is unless MS is willingly filling up retail channels and selling whatever they can at full price right now (we know its selling well in the main Xbox markets) and waiting for Black Friday to announce a permanent price drop or sellout at a discounted price of 249$ with a pack in game. I know it’s quite early, but seeing Series S not really gaining traction in countries where Xbox doesn’t have a huge presence means it’s not doing its job of convincing people to consider it as their main or even secondary system for Gamepass/exclusives and All Access doesn’t seem to be enough to convince PS owners to switch over.

What do you guys think?

No.

It just launched for $300 which considering the tech is a steal, plus Microsoft is losing money on every sale of both Series S and X so any price cut is at least three years away minimum.

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As of right now, no. There’s not even PS5s or Series X to begin with, so it’s that or nothing. That said maybe in 2 or 3 years they might cut off the prices, usually the consoles doesn’t make any profit at the start of the generation, as the components start to become cheaper the production of the hardware it’s cheaper, thus if they keep it in the og price, stonks, but I guess it will depend also based in what nintendo it’s gonna do with their next gen + if Amazon luna or the apple hardware (some say it’s an apple tv) for games get a huge ammount of sells. But I think that’s a question for the future.

You’re saying if Series S needs a price cut in a world where the Base PS4 and Xbox one S are 250-300?? And the Switch is the same price?

Cmon.

Also lets be realistic. No console is getting any price drops anytime soon. Not the PS5 Switch any xbox or any last gen systems.

They’re so in demand its not funny. I just sold my Xbox one X a few months back for 420 on ebay. I also sold my old friggin Nvidia GTX 1070 for 350 bucks…a card i got for 150 like 2 years ago on a newegg sale.

Series S is selling out as many as they can make them.

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What I’m saying is that Series S is not selling out in all countries. If you look in Europe for example it’s readily available, so a console in the launch window not selling out when it’s supposed to be in high demand is somewhat telling I think. Even in the UK, a MS stronghold, it’s not sold out. If they are looking to expand market share right now and are not selling out maybe price is the issue?

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Sony is also losing money, maybe even more than MS is losing considering PS5 is sold at a loss and the Blu-ray drive costs them like 16$ or so, so it’s not difficult to think they are easily losing 100$ per unit on the digital edition console and I doubt MS is losing that much on Series S, which is why I think it might be possible for them to lower the price some more to make it more attractive in the markets where they barely sell.

All four consoles are losing money but I don’t see Microsoft cutting the price unless they have a revision that allows them to do so. Besides, you can’t lower the price too soon because doing so more times than not devalues the console and also pisses off the people that bought it at full price.

Due to shortages, 2020/2021 seems like a wasted year so I see Fall 2024 as the earliest for a price cut for any of the four consoles and only if it’s been revised that saves Microsoft/Sony money that allows for a price cut.

No, 299 is a good deal and the Series S is still in heavy demand.

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It’s a ridiculous deal at $299.

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I just love these kind of takes 6-7 months into a generation with massive demand and not enough consoles to satisfy.

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They should bundle the Series X with it to increase its value.

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Just to be clear, it’s not typical for consoles to be sold out 6 months after launch. The PS4 was readily available by this point and certainly wasn’t a failure as a system.

The fact that Series S is available in some European countries, but still sold out permanently at every major American retailer, is actually a really good sign - hardly cause for panic.

So lets put it into perspective, series s plus gamepass vs ps5 DE with digital purchases . Its a no brainer, people will know which is the better value, you might not see it but poorer places might see value in being able to play alot of good stuff for basically a steal. Series S will gain traction just as how it was the best selling console in India in April, for a gamepass machine 299$ is perfect.

No the price is fine. If anything I could see MS raising the base price of Gamepass. When Gamepass launched it was the price of 2 videogames per year so $120 dollars a year.

Now the price of 2 videogames is $140 a year. The price of videogames has increased but Gamepass price has not. Hopefully they don’t raise the price until next gen.

Throw in a kinect too.

No, in my country base PS4 is more expensive than XSS, lmao.

No. People need to get past trying to worry about outselling the PS5. It isn’t happening but that’s simply down to branding and worldwide brand awareness. The Xbox consoles are better IMO and the value proposition is unbeatable. But you can’t just keep lowering the price. Sony will always have the edge here. But from what I can see the Series X and S are doing well. I suspect in places like the UK where the S has been more readily available your issue is you still have a lot of early adopters waiting for the SX or PS5. Whereas in India the S has been the top selling console for past 2 months. Primarily because the market is more price and value sensitive.

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No. The Series S found it’s market and will only sell better when the casuals move from One to Series S, because of next gen games. Remember early adapters aren’t price sensitive consumers and casuals can play 98% of the games on their One still. This will change in the next year or two.

Revisions don’t result in the same price reductions anymore according to MS. This is something consumers will learn soon enough.

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Sorry double post.

299 USD in principle is great for the box.

But some of the regional pricing is asinine. In my country, a Series S costs 500 USD (35,000 INR), which is basically cost of Series X elsewhere, which is atrocious.

So yeah in a way, XSS needs a permanent price cut in some regions because it is already way more expensive than it should be. Don’t care what the reasons are (import, taxes, GST, whatever). It’s especially worse when a PS5 DE can be gotten for the extra cost of one next gen game. So when PS5 DE starts selling heavy, MS should cut the price of XSS strategically.

I’m not paying 500 USD for it no matter what lol, so it should reduce by at least 80-90 dollars and settle at 30,000 INR (410 USD) then it’ll be perfect.

As mentioned above, Series S is not 300 dollars here in India, it’s 500. And right now, Sony hasn’t allocated enough PS5 stock here but shall be doing that in the coming month or two, and there’s high likelihood it’ll go back to being PS domination. This is why the price of XSS needs to drop here to combat against that.

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