Summary
PlayStation’s new console announcementhas gone down like a lead balloon. Despite showing off what the PS5 Pro is capable of, and showing off the new features that come with it,all anyone is talking about is that whopping $700/£700 price point.PlayStationis being mocked, called out of touch with reality, as people are baffled as to how the company is getting away withcharging so much for a console nobody really needs.
According toAmperegames industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls (thanks IGN), there are several reasons for the console’s steep price. For starter’s, it’s claimed that Sony is attempting to protect its margin more thoroughly this time around, as the company is less willing to sell consoles at a high loss, while general supply chain inflation is also named as a potential cause.
However, another one of the key factors that Piers Harding-Rolls names is “a lack of direct competitor to its mid-cycle upgrade.” Upon the launch of the PS4 Pro, we had Xbox on hand with the Xbox One X to act as a direct competitor to Sony for those that wanted a more powerful console.With Xbox hardware sales in the toilet, and the business itselfin an almost perpetual state of turmoil, Microsoft didn’t seem it necessary to release an upgraded Xbox Series X this time around.
PS5 Pro’s Price Is Due To A “Lack Of Competition”
Xbox Is Nowhere To Be Seen
Harding-Rolls goes on to explain that the lack of competition has made it an “easier decision for Sony to run with a higher price point”, and you have to assume that had Xbox also had a mid-gen refresh to release alongside the PS5 Pro, it may not have been as expensive as it is right now.
Still, despite the PS5 Pro’s high price, it looks as though plenty of people are going to buy it. Harding-Rolls says that he’s expecting similar sales numbers to the PS4 Pro, and that looks likely to be the casewith sales of the recently released optional PS5 disc drive surging following the console’s announcement.
We don’t have the sales number for the PS5’s disc drive, but the attachment has become Amazon’s eighth best-selling video game product, outselling the PS5’s Dualsense and both the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Around 13 million PS5 Pros are expected to be sold between its launch date and 2029, when we’ll likely get a new console generation from PlayStation, so if Ampere is correct in its analysis, it seems there are still plenty of PlayStation enthusiasts out there willing to dump the contents of their bank accounts into Sony’s pockets.
