I’ve said this loads but every $50 is half a billion from their first 10m consoles that will sell quite easily.
Everyone is now fully expecting $400DE/$500 so I hope the reports are right or there will be severe disappointment.
They also have a problem in that the DE is going to be compared to XSS despite only missing a disc drive. Nothing they say will change that and the closer in pricing they are the bigger that problem will be.
I guess they will be mulling over all this, including the fact MS probably has another $50 cut in them and just trying to decide what’s best.
Coming in low will definitely hurt their pockets so one good thing is it may stop them buying exclusives for a while.
I always thought having the PS5 would be a given, but I had not realized that the SSD indeed isn’t the cheapest. Maybe ar some point 600 bucks was in the cards for Sony until MS showed their hand.
But since the XSS is so competitively priced and sure to attract many buyers, don’t they want to position their PS5 DE as close as possible to that? Let’s say they put it at 399, won’t the crazy sales of both PS5 consoles and games eventually make up for that?
That last bit is interesting . I had not thought of that. That sure would be good news. We still don’t have the concrete details on these apparently big deals, according to insiders of which the scope is huge and ranges from all kinds of the bigger publishers , but if those indeed happen you’d think they would announce a few of those this year, or maybe next year when these games are closer to release. Whatever they are. What I find odd is that these insiders said PS5 will have a crazy first year, I assume because of some exclusives and timed exclusives…but, E3 happened ,GC happened, Sony’s show happened…where are these games?
No idea where they are. Xbox gets a big game next year that’s already on PS in FFVII. That’s pretty good timing.
MS pushing free BS, smart delivery etc must really piss off Sony as well. Wonder how much they made selling a second copy of TLOU last gen. This gen that revenue opportunity has been removed.
Of course it is “better” for Sony to have a PS5DE possibly within $100 of the Xbox Series S, but I don’t agree with the thought by some that this is somehow a major problem for the Series S and so many consumers will just decide to go with the PS5DE for $100 more. Hardcore gamers that were big fans of PlayStation were always going to buy a PS5, and for many of the truly casual gamer types that see prices and offerings of value that $299 mark is still a big difference from $399 even.
Remember that we are also still amid an ongoing global pandemic. And of course you have further value offerings of the ‘All Access’ purchase plan option that includes Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for 2 full years and Xbox Game Pass on its own with tons of games so that you don’t have to spend another $120 or more on games right at launch if you don’t want to. And remember consumers can’t just trade in or resell any of those purchased games either if buying the digital console.
In my opinion a digital game subscription service that has the awesome value of Game Pass is what really starts to make a digital only console truly valuable for the consumer versus just the big company making the device that wants greater margins on software purchases.
I think it’s true that the PS5 digital edition is going to be perceived unfairly as an analogue to the Series S, which isn’t going to do Sony any favors. Consumers who aren’t as informed are going to see that both Microsoft and Sony have high-end systems, and cheaper options that are digital only, and they’re going to question why Sony’s budget console is $100-150 more expensive than MS’s.
The fact that Sony hasn’t come out with price yet tells me they either haven’t decided yet or it’s priced high.
I had thought 449 for digital and 499 for regular. Now I’m not sure.
Dead on. I think we all keep looking at the PS5DE as being the same price as the Series S when the chip and contents are all the same price as the standard edition. Also, when you place power and price on a scale, you would think that the PS5 would want to be cheaper than the Series X but that then highlights the power difference as a value.
Ok, so making sure I keep it on track, if the 12tf Series X is priced at $499 and the 4tf Series S is $299, how do you see Sony pricing on a power to performance scale in relation?
If they go anything less than $499 for the disc edition, the comparisons will be that it is a lesser console for performance and the games will be the defining factor but as news has been happening, some games are slipping away from launch for PS5 (Kena) and with no sign of spider-man: miles morales, it could be third party fest for both systems.
Do we think Sony will price in scale against Xbox for high end and low end with both systems only having a $15 component being the reality for the bill of materials?
Really tough decision because 1st they have to make the teardown to show the real power of the console and where it lands exactly, base clock, features etc
When this is done consumers will automatically compare with the competition for 499 a 12tf console is insanely competitive. How can they justify a far weaker console more expensive.
Seems 2013 in reverse…
Exit door 1 secure some 3rd party deals timed exlusives to bring value to the platform and avoiding brutal DF face offs. Highly customizable console (faceplates, UI etc) to bring personality to the ecosystem and lessen the blow of the price, etc.
Look at this article it doesn’t inspire confidence about a competitive price but the recurring term is value. Meaning justifying the high price by bringing a premium experience.
In an old interview Jim Ryan spoke about bringing value to the the brand
Ryan explained: "Conventional wisdom and history show that our business is one of the more recession-proof businesses.
“But I think this will sharpen our need to ensure that we focus on getting the value equation right. And I emphasize value as opposed to price.”
“We must be more attentive than ever before to ensure that the overall value proposition in terms of the console and the games - the range of games, the quality of games, the quantity of games - makes this something that our community aspires towards.”
We know the production costs of the PS5 according to Bloomberg are high too. SSD, cooling system, controller features etc.
$499 for the base model (If they go any higher then they have a PS3 situation again) and possibly $399 for the all digital. These prices all make sense giving the situation Sony is in with the Series X being $499 and the Series S $299.
If they go high, then they’re market lead has gone to their head and they just entered the same situation as PS3 on pricing. If they match, they have a better chance against Series X even though the more powerful console is the Xbox.
$399 digital edition would be the best counter to the Series S as for $100 more, you’d have a PS5 that’s also all digital but more powerful than the Series S in the ram and GPU side.
Granted though, this is going to be a massive win for gamers because of this kind of competition. These machines for these prices are going to be a steal.
Yep. Competition is good, especially in the console space. It is why MS is being so agressive on price. They want their marketshare back and more.
I think Sony is pretty much cornered. I’m not sure they could go lower than 499 (maybe with the DE), or they would have annouced the price already. That’s my take, but it’s hard to know what they are doing.
When I saw that interview that is when I knew the PS5 is not going to be cheap. When execs start talking about value and not price it is because the thing is expensive normally.
However, the situation has changed. Microsoft has pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a next-gen console for $299, I mean the Series S is cheaper than the price of the PS4 for goodness sake if Amazon is anything to go by lol. Sony cannot be $200 more expensive than the Series S and be at the same price as a console that is more powerful. That is a horrible position from a marketing point of view to be in and it’s why the DE comes in at $399 to give Sony the opportunity to say that for $100 more you can get a more powerful console with all these great looking games.
However, the pressure on Jim Ryan will be enormous. Sony has priced in to their financial projections that the PS5 will sell quicker than the PS4 and of course expand their market share, but I bet they certainly will not have priced in the fact they would be looking at losing upwards of $100 per console and that would very much remain for years to come.
They are a business at the end of the day and as successful as the PS4 is it hasn’t been quite as dominant as the PS1 or the PS2 were during their cycles.
The Xbox One, for all its faults, has not totally collapsed like the Sega Saturn, N64, Xbox and Gamecube for example and has been able to sustain a reasonable market share.
I do agree with you that I actually think Sony will ultimately lose market share this gen to Xbox due to the Series S and Gamepass exists and that we will see the fruits of Microsoft’s investment into their first party this gen.
