Sony responds to concerns that the PS5 price will be hugely expensive. While the company was praised for revealing the PS5 console design at yesterday's big event, others criticized Sony for not confirming how much the console or its digital version would cost.
Speaking to the BBC, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan spoke about whether "economic uncertainty" stemming from COVID-19's effect on the global economy, makes 2020 a bad year to release a new games console. While Ryan called the games industry a "more recession-proof" sector, the PlayStation boss did admit that "this will sharpen our need to ensure that we focus on getting the value equation right." The PlayStation team will be "more attentive than ever" to make sure that the PS5 and its games are something that fans will aspire to.
Ryan's comments are not an admission that the PS5 will be more affordable or more expensive as rumors have suggested. A report from April revealed that the PS5 would be in limited supply at launch as Sony expected the higher price of the console to lead to lower demand. This could mean that many fans will have to wait to get the console, whatever the number of zeroes in their bank account.
Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, also seems to think that the PS5 price will be $500 and that Microsoft will wait until Sony has confirmed this to announce the Xbox Series X price, in an effort to undercut its competitor. The analyst has gotten things wrong before but this time, he's not the only one who has suggested that the console will cost $500.
The concern over the PS5's price leading to low sales may have been why Sony chose to announce the PS5 digital edition at yesterday's event. This may also have been what Ryan meant when he said that PlayStation is doing more to make sure that that "value equation" is right.
This digital version of the console will not feature an optical disc drive meaning that while it won't be able to play games from discs, something which will also affect its backward compatibility, this should make it more affordable. The price of the PS5 or its digital edition may not have been confirmed but it does suggest that fans won't have to pay as much to enjoy PS5 games as they'd expected.
Source: BBC