
Playstation 5 will launch on November 12 for $499.99 - tosh
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/16/21277234/ps5-playstation-5-price-release-date-sony
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paulpan
This pricing was inevitable and Sony very likely taking a loss to stay
competitive with Xbox Series X. Microsoft had first mover advantage and set
the price floor + ceiling with their earlier announcements.

The question becomes how large of a loss per console and how long will it take
for Sony to recoup?

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sbuccini
When it comes to console pricing, there is no such thing as "first-mover"
advantage. In fact, it's much more advantageous to be the _last_ company to
price your console.

I wrote a bit about the dynamics here: [https://www.stevenbuccini.com/console-
wars](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...](https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/simulations/platform-
wars/Pages/default.aspx)

~~~
cutety
My favorite “console wars” story that I came across a while back, and is
relevant to pricing advantage, is when Sony more-or-less immediately killed
the Sega Saturn before it’s US release.

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]

[1] [https://youtu.be/ExaAYIKsDBI](https://youtu.be/ExaAYIKsDBI)

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wernerb
The 80€ games are a bit of a shock. This makes deciding between all digital
(hello permanent 80 euro prices!) and drive edition something to contemplate.

With this large price difference they are betting on a larger digital only
share which will shrink the physical disk market.

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Wowfunhappy
I am legitimately delighted to see prices go up. At $60, many AAA titles
basically had to rely on micro-transactions in order to be profitable, which
ultimately incentivizes game designers to create worse experiences. I'd much
rather just pay what the game costs to create.

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.)

~~~
Nullabillity
> 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.

It was very much possible before too, just look at what the indie scene is
capable of at much lower prices.

~~~
Wowfunhappy
The indie scene makes games at lower prices, but at much lower budgets. I love
Celeste, but I also really enjoy games like Tomb Raider and Quantum Break
which just need higher production values in order to be fully realized.

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pb7
For those that won’t go past the headline, it’s $399.99 for the digital-only
version.

~~~
Wowfunhappy
Which, frankly, no one should buy. It's a bad investment long term.

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.

~~~
kinghtown
Depends where you live as well. In Taiwan I find that I never get the deep
discounts on physical games which I became accustomed to in Canada. Prices
seem to remain at the $40 level for about three years. Assassin’s Creed
Odyssey is about CDN$55 new, still. It’s on sale in the Xbox store for about
$20.

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.

~~~
Loranubi
Living in Taiwan as well, and physical PS4 games are much cheaper after some
time. I buy most of my games at around 500-600 NTD (17 to 20 USD). But PS4
(and Switch) seems to be much more popular here than Xbox, so that might be a
reason.

~~~
kinghtown
Yeah, in many ways I wish I got the PS4 instead, especially because of where
we are living. The Xbox exclusives weren’t that great compared to PS4 and the
people out here seem to strongly agree which is why it is unpopular. I do
think it’s a much cheaper system to own. The Xbox store is very generous.
Three free games each month (half the time they are pretty good ones) plus
gamepass is a really good deal.

I had a Switch last year but sold it. The Nintendo store would be a very
distant third in the generosity department.

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joe_momma
Sweet ps4 will be cheaper soon

