With the launch of the PlayStation 5 nigh upon us, it’s only natural to talk about pricing. If there’s anything we’ve learned since time immemorial, it’s that good things don’t necessarily come cheap.
Recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan shed some light about where the PS5 can go in terms of pricing, while speaking to Games Industry. Given that this machine will herald the next generation of video games, with the state-of-the-art graphics and processing, it’s all about ensuring that gamers get the right value for money when it launches.
Furthermore, Ryan adds that the PS5’s price has also been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, as the industry as a whole finds itself “challenged” in this current situation. It has essentially forced manufacturers and hardware engineers in China to stay home, where the PS5 would be mass-produced.
As such, it would not be so simple as to slap on the standard retail price that the marketing team had proposed before the coronavirus began to spread, what with the costs and losses incurred during this period.
“I think the best way that we can address this is by providing the best possible value proposition that we can. I don’t necessarily mean lowest price,” said Ryan. “Value is a combination of many things. In our area it means games, it means number of games, depth of games, breadth of games, quality of games, price of games… all of these things and how they avail themselves of the feature set of the platform.”
Interestingly, the PS4’s launch price was at around US$399. Given all the above factors considered, we could be looking at somewhere between US$500 – US$700.
Of course, Sony itself has to confirm the price, and could likely do so at the upcoming PS5 launch event, which is currently postponed indefinitely in lieu of the Minneapolis riots happening in the US.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Si Jia
Trinity Sun
