A few hours ago, a report published by Bloomberg unveiled the Difficulties Sony is going through to define the final price of the PlayStation 5, console that will go on sale during the last quarter of 2020. According to the aforementioned medium, the component shortage, mainly in DRAM and NAND Flash memories, has brought the production cost up to $ 450. Of course, this would result in consumers having to spend more.
Undoubtedly, the price of next-generation consoles is one of the unknowns that is causing the most interest in the industry, especially for gamers. Various reports published in 2019 anticipated that, according to sources close to the plans of Sony and Microsoft, new proposals would cost approximately $ 500, so the information of Bloomberg It may not be surprising for some.
The problem, however, is that over the months it was possible to glimpse that the PS5 and Xbox Series X could follow very different launch strategies from each other, and this is where the Japanese company would be in trouble; I explain why. Of course, it is important to clarify that everything is based on data not confirmed by either of the two companies.
Different approaches and objectives
In early January, Eurogamer, a fairly reliable source in the video game industry, revealed the alleged specifications of the PlayStation 5, same that were obtained after a test of the console in August. According to the mentioned medium, the processor could reach 36 computing units 2.0 GHz, while the GPU would reach 9.2 Teraflops. The RAM would be GDDR6 with a bandwidth of 512 GB / s, possibly with a capacity of 16 GB.
However, the most interesting thing about the report is that the Xbox Series X would offer greater performance. Microsoft's hardware would reach 56 computation units and 12 Teraflops, a fairly significant disparity with the PS5. Does this mean that Sony did not expect the power of its competitor? Did they lose the opportunity to react and equalize conditions? No and no, not at all; surely both companies know the characteristics of the "enemy" proposal. After all, they both share the same technology provider of CPU and GPU: AMD.
The technical information, if finally specified, would reveal the different strategies that each will follow. Sony would bet on offering the cheapest next-generation console, but not the most powerful. Microsoft, by contrast, will promote the Xbox Series X as the hardware with the highest performance, but it will not be able to boast the price, since it would clearly be higher.
If an even deeper analysis is carried out, we could deduce that the PlayStation 5 will be the direct successor to the standard version of PS4, not the PS4 Pro. For its part, the Xbox Series X would come to replace the Xbox One X, not the Xbox One S. In fact, those of Redmond opened the doors to variants of their new console in the future, hence the name "Series "
For all of the above, we cannot rule out that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are not even direct rivals in terms of price and specifications. In the next few years, even before — on launch day, perhaps — Sony would match the power of its opponent by launching a PS5 Pro, and Microsoft would do the same with a hypothetical lower-performance and lower-priced Xbox Series S. The coin is in the air.
Sony's setback and its possible solution
Once the approaches of the two hardware have been explained, for Sony it will be a fundamental decision to define the price of the PS5. If they really want to distinguish themselves from their opponent in that regard, then the difference in cost must be considerable. This is where we can determine, thanks to the report shared by Bloomberg, that the increase in the cost of production can be a very big problem for those in Tokyo.
And is that if its price fails to distance itself enough from the Xbox Series X, the latter could become more attractive to the consumer. Obviously, other factors such as the catalog of launch titles will influence, which so far remains a great mystery in both cases. Microsoft has already confirmed that, at least in the first years, its exclusive games will be intergenerational. In other words: titles like Halo: Infinite They will be available on both Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
In such a situation, Sony would have no choice but to sell the PlayStation 5 with initial loss. However, it would not be the first time that a console firm uses this strategy to boost sales. In 2006, the Xbox 360 landed on the market at a price of $ 399, but it cost 470 to manufacture. As time went on, demand increased and it was feasible to cut component spending to profit. Certainly, Microsoft is a company with significant economic power, so they had no trouble starting this way.
"Microsoft, first you"
Bloomberg ensures that Sony is waiting to know the price of the Xbox Series X, since from that moment it would be easier to make a decision regarding your product. If the Microsoft console breaks the $ 500 barrier, then they would have more leeway to set the cost of the PS5; even without resorting to losses during the first months.
Hiroki Totoki, Sony chief financial officer, hinted at the same thing a few days ago: "What is still not very clear is because we are competing in a space, so it is very difficult to comment on the price at this time. And depending on that price level, we will have to determine the promotion that we are going to carry out and how many expenses we are prepared to pay ".
For now it is unknown at what time the Redmond will celebrate the event on their console. As some point to the conference in the E3 2020, which will take place in the second week of June, others affirm that months before we will know new information. Regarding Sony, everything indicates that they did not reveal the price during the presentation event of the PlayStation 5. Remember that the Japanese entity will not attend the fair in Los Angeles, California.
