More and more details about the new PlayStation 5 are coming to light. But one important thing is still missing: the price. It seems that they will let Microsoft take the lead – possibly to undercut them again.
Why is the price being withheld? On February 4th, Sony held the “Earnings Call“, where the financial situation of the third business quarter of 2019 was discussed.
In this, Sony’s Chief Financial Officer, Hiroki Totoki, was also asked about the topic of the PS5 and the price of the console. He revealed that the price depended on various factors. In addition to production and personnel costs, there is also another factor: competition.
What exactly does Totoki say? In his statement, Totoki is very vague. Nevertheless, one can at least assume that Sony would prefer to announce the price after their competitor Microsoft:
First, we need to consider production and labor costs. And that leads to the costs of the console. We have that under control. And also the first batch, how many we prepare, plays a role. We are working on preparing the right volume when we [release the PS5].
The [right volume] is, however, not entirely clear or visible, which is due to the fact that we do not operate alone in this area. So it is difficult to discuss the price at this point. And depending on the price level, we have to determine how much money and effort we invest in advertising. It’s all a matter of balance.
And because it is a balancing act, it is very difficult to say anything concrete at this point.
According to Totoki, the goal should be to ensure that the PlayStation 5 remains profitable throughout its entire sales period.
Is Sony following the PS4 strategy?
How was it with the previous generation? With the PS4 and Xbox One, it went down like this: Sony let their competitor take the lead. Microsoft announced the price first at E3 2013. The Xbox One was supposed to cost 499 dollars.
A little later, Sony followed suit and announced the PS4 for 399 dollars. It is therefore quite possible that Sony will orient itself to this approach and deliberately undercut the Xbox Series X in the end.
Also, with the console releases, Sony always used an advantage and released the PS4 a week before the Xbox One. Whether this was ultimately a reason for the greater success can only be speculated.
PS4 also sold millions in 2019
How did the PS4 perform during the Christmas business? The earnings call also reveals that the PS4 sold around 6.1 million units during the Christmas business of 2019.
While this is significantly less than the previous year (8.1 million), it is still impressive, especially considering that the PS5 has already been announced for the next Christmas business 2020.
