Playstation 5 will launch on November 12 for $499.99
theverge.com
theverge.com
The question becomes how large of a loss per console and how long will it take for Sony to recoup?
I wrote a bit about the dynamics here: https://www.stevenbuccini.com/console-wars
but I would also recommend playing MIT's simulator to develop an intuitive feel for the forces at play: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/simulations/platform-w...
Right after Sega’s E3 presentation announcing the Saturn, US release date, and it’s $399 price tag, it was Sony’s turn. The guy from Sony walked up to the mic, said “$299”, and walked off stage. [1]
How much that increase in bandwidth will actually affect games is hard to predict. Some devs on twitter were claiming that it's a bit easier to hit 4K60 on XsX.
Are you sure that's completely true? They've said they'll let you install your own PCIe4 SSD providing it meets some perf requirements.
- Sony's CPU + GPU are slightly higher clocked than Microsoft's, which typically means special binning required and increases costs (Bloomberg story collaborates on this: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-15/sony-is-s...)
- Proprietary storage system, super fast but R&D dedicated to design and implement it
Ultimately both companies losing money on these initial sales but it seems Sony losing more than Microsoft.
With this large price difference they are betting on a larger digital only share which will shrink the physical disk market.
You have at least 30% of the price from Retail as their Margin. That is covering wholesale, logistics, operation, shipping etc. By going Digital they could keep some of those 30% for themselves. Hence why the Digital Version of the Console is Cheaper, it is subsidised.
Game Development cost is at all time high. Despite having much better Engine and Tooling. Gamers demand better graphics, physics, sound etc.
And then people also expect the console price to be same.
The only thing that has helped was the increasing number of Gamers.
Sony has previously been quite clear and vocal about not killing the Retail market. Especially considering the Japanese value physical properties and still prefer to buy Disc whenever possible. So I am sure it isn't their intention to try and kill Retail, more likely being forced to do so by the market.
I realize it's very possible publishers will continue to expand the use of microtransactions anyway, but, well, at least now they'll have the ability to not do that. Before, it was basically a lost cause.
Also... game prices drop so quickly that if you're actually budget-constrained, there's a pretty easy solution, which is to buy everything on a ~3 year delay. This will of course likely require getting the version of the PS5 with a disc drive, which everyone should do, for exactly this reason.
(Note also here that $60 now is not equal to $60 fifteen years ago, due to inflation.)
It was very much possible before too, just look at what the indie scene is capable of at much lower prices.
Source?
A few years after release, physical copies of games are usually cheaper—often much cheaper—than what's available digitally. I picked up a new copy of Horizon Zero Dawn for $12 a couple of years ago. I got Uncharted 4 for $20, also new. I don't remember what the equivalent digital prices were, but I'm pretty sure they were closer to $40.
I honestly think it's a bit of a shame—and a problem—that game prices fall so quickly. It puts too much emphasis on the first few months of sales (even more-so than other media), and in turn forces companies to churn out new franchise entries that don't actually do anything new. But as long as this is the state of the world, I think you'd be crazy to get the model with no disc drive.
Saving $100 is just the cherry on top.
I have an xbox one and I rarely buy new games. Once every three months, I get an offer to try Gamepass for a dollar.
Selection can be an issue as well. I was in the local game store yesterday and they didn’t have a copy of Red Dead Redemption 2. I already have it but it’s kind of funny that I couldn’t buy a physical copy here of one of the biggest selling games if I wanted to.
For me, saving $100 on a digital-only console isn’t such a terrible purchase.
I had a Switch last year but sold it. The Nintendo store would be a very distant third in the generosity department.
I'm waiting to see how this changes exactly, before I form an opinion on which one someone should buy. (on the PS3, you could have your account on 5 consoles, and each one could play all of your games)
For reference: I will only buy a console once it's hacked to the extent that I can run my own homebrew software and backups (morals aside, piracy usually gives you the best user experience for any kind of media.) on it, and even then I will only buy it second-hand, iff the price is right. Hence why I never bought an xbone: since you could load developer code onto the thing easily, nobody's bothered to find out how to totally pwn the console yet.
I thought they might have been selling a digital version of the whole PS5. Both stupid of me, but will happen at some point I guess.