The PS5 is finally here, and players are posting pictures and videos about their consoles and set-ups for the new machine all over social media. Aside from miscellaneous reports of delivery theft or order delays, the launch of the PS5 seems to be a pretty big success for Sony.
However, the price point, and the current state of the world, has caused a lot of players to delay their purchases of the PS5. Thankfully, technology analysts are already predicting that the PS5 will get discounted from its original price point about six months or so after launch.
This report comes by way of Southeast Asian tech analyst website iPrice. According to iPrice, after analyzing the pricing patterns of Sony’s previous consoles and the rate at which they were discounted, the site calculated its prediction on when players can expect the PS5’s discount. iPrice is predicting that players could very well see a PS5 discount by May 2021, but only by about six percent of the original price. For reference, the PS5’s launch date price is $499 for the standard edition and $399 for the digital edition in the US.
This means that the discount would save players about $30 dollars on each console following the discount. Additionally, iPrice is predicting that by this time next year the discount could move down to eight percent of the original price, saving players in the US around $70 dollars or so. Though that discount may not seem that large to some, players also need to take into account the supply constraint on consoles, which caused the chaotic situation surrounding PS5 pre-orders ahead of launch. There’s no telling when PS5’s will be readily available after launch, so it makes sense that Sony would keep the original price point for as long as possible.
Sony also took quite a while to discount the PS4’s massive price point after launch. The PS4 did receive a hefty price cut eventually, but it was only after a little less than two years after the console first hit shelves. Additionally, PS5’s are selling well at launch and are in very high demand thanks to supply constraints. Sony isn’t likely to miss out on this opportunity to get the most out of the PS5’s $499 and $399 price point.
Players should also factor in the fact that it’s still far cheaper than what many PS5 consoles are going on sale for on auction sites, who are some of the only sellers with extra consoles. Taking a quick search through sites like eBay and Amazon show that scalpers are selling PS5 consoles for prices well over the original selling price of $499. Of course, iPrice’s predictions are just that, so there’s no telling when an actual, permanent discount to the PS5 will come or how much it will actually be discounted. However, analysts are still going to take their best guess.
The PlayStation 5 is available now.
Source: iPrice