Ben-DutkaSome say there's absolutely no reason to drop the price of the PlayStation 4. After all, it's selling just fine.
I would agree with that. But I'll be interested to see if Sony can maintain its lead over Microsoft (especially in the US) now that the Xbox One is the same price. Let's face it, that $100 price difference is a big reason why PS4 is in the position it's in.
With that gap gone and several top-notch Xbox One exclusives on the horizon for 2014, it's plenty feasible that Microsoft could start closing in very quickly. If that happens, would it be wrong for Sony to consider a $50 price cut, just to maintain at least a slight advantage on the all-important price issue? If they drop the price around the holidays, it would be awfully attractive, especially because a lot of consumers wait about a year before jumping into a new generation of hardware.
Of course, there's no reason to do it if the PS4 continues to outpace the Xbox One in all territories. That much is plain. However, if Sony can actually afford it, I'm not sure slashing the price just a little will be a bad thing…
its never too early but Sony's gotta avoid whats happening to MS at this point. They are laying off 15% of all MS staff. They are cutting ALL support for anything below the Windows 9 which launches this year. They are losing money already on xbox one due to the price cut, and now for the first time ever, they are actually losing money. Windows 8 bombed and died quick. All thats left for them if Windows 9 doesn't deliver is xbox and if they don't have that they have nothing. They won't disappear but this is real.
Sony did some re-shaping for a different reason, and they too lost a lot of money. But unlike MS, Sony's going to recover pretty quick. If Sony wants to end MS now, they could drop the price lose some money and demolish xbox early on. They shouldn't though, its too soon. For now. Wait till November ;P
Sony will recover from losses much more quickly than MS. MS has a weird tendency to only want to own things if they get to control it. Sony does not. Sony Corp. own shares and interest in a multitude of tech., especially tech in R&D. So they remain profitable as a corporation even though as a standalone company, they are losing money.
For example… they don't own blu-ray, but from every disk sold, they make a royalty. (That is just one of many, many different examples.) They also have their hand in the new tube research in an attempt to one day replace silicon.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 7/14/2014 9:17:41 AM
Don't flinch Sony!
I kinda wonder if the Kinect-less Xbox One is gonna backfire a bit for Microsoft. Since they so heavily focus on the Kinect features in ads, there could be quite a few (albeit ignorant) people who buy the $400 one and become a bit miffed it doesn't do certain things they wanted w/o Kinect.
I think this holiday season they should offer a bundle that comes with a ps4 exclusive game or one of the big remasters and price it at $350 just over the holidays. Like a 2 month sale to get a huge boost of sales and then January first raise it back up to $400.
Could market it as a special holiday sale bundle and sales numbers could be huge and afterwards there would be nothing wrong with going back to the regular price.
Maybe reverse Microsoft things. Include the Eye Camera with it (but no price increase). PS4 becomes a bargain again. Sony introduces it to more people, and if it never catches on, nobody's out money.
maybe i think they'll make that call based off of their sales and M$ sales and the gap and stuff its hard to say when they(sony(SCE)) will drop the price.
happy gaming
within 2 years of launch really dont need a price drop.
after 2 years definitely need a drop but not before that.
that is of course assuming the products not selling like the vita!
xone will still cost 500$ because most xone games if not all will be designed with Kinect in mind so the still will have to buy Kinect. Them separating Kinect from xone to lower price is just an illusion
I've yet to play an X1 game that requires Kinect.
i think it depends entirely on if the PS4's are still moving at the same pace as they're being made.
If Sony can only push about 40K consoles to US shelves per week, and then they're selling at that rate at $400 it would be pointless to give them away cheaper.
It's the whole supply and demand thing here. Sure MS could possibly push up with their new lower price to sell as fast they ship too but if Sony were to try and reduce price to gain a lead, in this case, it wouldn't do anything.
EDIT: also. we're heading into the holidays. where systems on both sides of the camp are going to fly off the shelves and it doesn't appear Sony has had any downtime to kick up back stock.
EDIT2: with that said, I think it's likely MS will have built up a pile of back stock XO's on retailer shelves, so when that big holiday push does come, XO will appear to have been more popular because they'll have had more console stocked waiting to be moved.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 7/14/2014 11:02:19 AM
For the past few weeks I've seen the PS4 (new) on ebay for $359.99.
Any price drop pre-Uncharted 4 / God of War would be too soon with the current momentum the PS4 has. The first price drop should accompany a new design that helps lower the manufacturing costs to reduce the impact of the cheaper entry point.
We'll possibly see that new model teased late 2015 (no later than 2016 – with a larger HDD) in attempt to remain price competitive with the competition. With a new 'slim' model, Sony could reevaluate their current offerings and possibly ship a cheaper PS4/Vita bundle at a more attractive price point.
Price cut is good, considering the selection of games is sucking now. The games on the ps4 is really not THAT bad, but compared to Nintendo's games, it is the suck. Unless you love FPSers.
I'm thinking crazy good bundles will come before an actual price cut.
Last edited by trumpetmon65 on 7/14/2014 2:04:20 PM