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PS5 Pro at $700: ‘Lack of Competition’ Made It an ‘Easier Decision’ for Sony to Run With Higher Price

JimboJones

Member
They would have definitely ate the cost of including a disk drive if Microsoft offered a similar proposition with a drive.
Although I think even Microsoft would have felt the pressure of trying to cost reduce it by opting to forgo disk drive as well so it may have just played out similarly. At least there is an option with PS5, even if it is a fairly pricey upsell.
 

Putonahappyface

Gold Member
Mild Shock GIF
 
I hope Nintendo fucks them into the dirt with a Switch 2 announcement at $400-$500 this month.
I wouldn't count on this lol. Nintendo and Sony are basically in two different categories at this point. There is obviously overlap, but the PS only audience aren't going to be convinced to go Nintendo especially when it won't perform close to current consoles besides maybe the Series S.
 
While it's hard to argue that the lack of competition isn't a factor, I don't think it's the largest factor. I think it's less that a lack of competition is driving the price up but more so that competition isn't driving the price down.

At the end of the day, though, the Pro's price will be decided by the consumer. The price will be whatever the market will bear. If enough consumers are fine paying the 700, then it'll stay at 700. If all the talk recently isn't just idle complaining from non-potential customers and the Pro really doesn't sell well, then, yeah, we might see a nice drop or, at the very least, a sku with the disc drive.

This whole thing reminds me of the first days of the 3DS. Nintendo horribly misread the market and bought into their own hype. Thankfully, they were smart enough to quickly course-correct. Time will tell if Sony will end up in a similar place in need of a similar solution.
 

Senua

Gold Member
A friend against my advice got back into PC gaming 6months back with a top tier PC with RTX4080ti/ AMD 7900X3D and only on Pro reveal admitted to himself he made a huge mistake, and will now lose more or the same on owning that PC for 6months than the cost of him buying a Pro with disc drive in the UK.
What? There is no such card as a 4080 ti, do you mean 4080 super? Secondly that card is £900 new and sells on ebay for like £800. You're talking absolute shite mate.
 

Monkfish877

Member
Of course it's true, hoping Samsung or someone else enters the market, there's space for a third console that is dedicated to exclusive games now that MS have gone third party.
 

Omnipunctual Godot

Gold Member
They will be burying themselves with that price and ps4 level performance.
It's not crazy to think they'll use some sort of upscaling technology from Nvidia chips to at least get PS4 Pro-level performance. Their teams have learned how to make underpowered hardware sing. I think if people have the new console choice between ~$800 on a PS5 Pro or $400-$500 on a Switch 2, the PS5 Pro will get monkey-stomped by comparison. Of course, the base PS5 will still be popular. If anything, the Pro's price would probably justify a higher price tag from Nintendo internally when they might have just gone with $400 originally.

Consumers will be comparing the two consoles at some point, and graphics aren't a priority for most Nintendo customers. If Sony wants to go after a super-niche whale demo, they're entitled to. But that rationale is also why the PSVR2 flopped terribly until a huge price cut a couple of months ago.
 

DragonNCM

Member
So many people here celebrating when Xbox would fail over the years, but the reality is that this is the result we get when Sony has no competition.
Sony was always scum company from the days of Walkman till now. If they can they would rise prices to the roof. And now without competition they will do it shamelessly.
Next Sony console will cost more then new gaming midrange PC & this is probably my last PS or Xbox console. PS is flexing muscles & MS gaming & Xbox division circus is run by clowns & monkeys.
Fuck this console bullshit, PC land here I come.
 

Alebrije

Member
Blame Uncle Phil. Not only reduced Xbox to a joke , Open the way for Sony (at least this generation) for a monopoly.

a236e826fe64dfbf93c7c4eef5282000


Nintendo Switch 2 won't hurt Sony since they are on another league.

But this market is.changing a Lot , who knows what PS6 Will be , Microsoft and Nintendo Will be around. Maybe they move full Mobil, stream, cloud,etc.

For the moment Sony is doing whaever they want, obviously consumers have limits for prices and services and Sony Will be tested.
 
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Omnipunctual Godot

Gold Member
At 500? Same price as the PS5 and probably a much weaker performing machine... Doubt
You say that. I'm worried about the domino effect of Nvidia getting away with their asinine pricing, which led Sony to think they could get away with their asinine pricing, which could have Nintendo following suit. I think the Switch 2 at $400 would seem like a steal at this point to most consumers.
 
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ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
Until now, these companies were fine to sell at cost or take a loss on the hardware. Obviously the reason for that is to be competitive with the competition and make the money back on game sales and services. If Xbox were a viable competitor then Sony would find a way to get that price down, starting with making the 2 TB optional. The fact that Microsoft is selling a 2 TB XSX at $599 doesn't help though.

So yeah......this is all Phil Spencer's fault.
They were fine to sell at cost or take a loss for a little bit because it was manifestly growing the audience. The audience has now plateaued, and in emerging markets, it's best to start establishing profitable prices now as opposed to hooking those consumers on subsidized products.

BTW, Sony was making a profit on PS4s six months into the consoles lifespan. Expecting manufacturers to sell 100 million units of hardware even at a 10 dollar loss per unit is absolutely insane.
 

sainraja

Member
Before we settle down on this being because of no competition, and no doubt that has influenced it to a degree, but, has anyone done an analysis on how much the PS5 Pro is costing Sony and what their profit margin on it is?
If the PS4 Pro only sold like 12 million units as someone else has pointed out to me, then I think it is fair to think that Sony knows the market for a Pro console isn't huge and they don't want to take a loss on it. It is very possible that there wouldn't have been a pro console at all (this was a point made by another poster but I think it is a worth considering).
 
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lack of competition has little to do with this. apple, which's always had competition, basically created 'tech fetishism', incorporating the 'exorbitant status pricing' system of the fashion industry. sony's just hopping aboard. why not?...
 

RickMasters

Member
Nah Sony just know their fanbase is ready to take anything, internally it was called the PS5 BRO, which stood for Bending Retards Over.



I heard it was called the PS5 PRO-fit …. because they refuse to and don’t need to sell consoles at a Loss anymore.
 

sainraja

Member
lack of competition has little to do with this. apple, which's always had competition, basically created 'tech fetishism', incorporating the 'exorbitant status pricing' system of the fashion industry. sony's just hopping aboard. why not?...
Funny thing is.... if Sony/MS/Nintendo were to adopt the same model as Apple, with yearly updates to their consoles, they could likely keep the prices the same and make profit on it, which would also make it worth while for them. For gamers as well, because they'd have the choice to upgrade whenever they needed to, and have content to play.
 
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analog_future

Resident Crybaby
Sony was always scum company from the days of Walkman till now. If they can they would rise prices to the roof. And now without competition they will do it shamelessly.
Next Sony console will cost more then new gaming midrange PC & this is probably my last PS or Xbox console. PS is flexing muscles & MS gaming & Xbox division circus is run by clowns & monkeys.
Fuck this console bullshit, PC land here I come.

PC's the way to go.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
And these are the people that make it into marketing and upper management and gamers think these corporations are their friends and defend them lol
Yep. I never understood people who shill for corporations they don't work for. Sony, Microsoft, Apple, NVIDIA, all these companies would charge your soul for their products if they could. Yet you have idiots who side with them and against the customers.
 
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PaintTinJr

Member
What? There is no such card as a 4080 ti, do you mean 4080 super? Secondly that card is £900 new and sells on ebay for like £800. You're talking absolute shite mate.
Yeah, old habit of not making the distinction between Super and ti other than price/performance, but have gone back and editted.

He bought the whole PC for £2500 all in with extras and 2year warranty and will be lucky to get £1700 back, but yeah that's not his reality, right?
 
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Bernardougf

Member
I prefer to pay premium than have MS as competition ... imho nothing good comes from that company .. only shitty ideas like gamepass.

So if paying more is the tax I have to pay to not have to deal with MS shitty practices... its ok by me.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
I fail to see how it isn't a fair price for a totally optional mid-gen refresh in a market of PC graphics cards and rising inflation, and with Sony effectively being just a mid sized corporation with a CAP a fraction of Nvidia, Apple and Google who are all making more from gaming while Sony delivers the moon on stick for high end game and expected to live on modest margins even on luxury optional items like this Pro refresh.

A friend against my advice got back into PC gaming 6months back with a top tier PC with RTX4080 ti(edit: meant Super)/ AMD 7900X3D and only on Pro reveal admitted to himself he made a huge mistake, and will now lose more or the same on owning that PC for 6months than the cost of him buying a Pro with disc drive in the UK.
A friend of mine went to purchase a PS5 against my better advice. When he got out of the store, he got surrounded by 5 6'6" 300lbs+ dudes wearing Sony t-shirts with guns and baseball bats. They asked him to give up his PS5, but he refused because he had bought it with his hard-earned cash. It then went about exactly as you would expect. A bunch of 7' tall dudes with Steam hoodies barged in and murdered the Sony guys. It was an absolute bloodbath, but thankfully, my friend escaped without a scratch. When it was all over, the Steam dude asked if he was alright. He said yes and thanked them. They said, "Don't thank us, thank Lord Gaben," and stormed off.

When he told me this, I told him that's one of the reasons I'll never switch to console gaming. Console warriors are dangerous as fuck.

My story sounds about as believable as yours.
 
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Omnipunctual Godot

Gold Member
I wouldn't count on this lol. Nintendo and Sony are basically in two different categories at this point. There is obviously overlap, but the PS only audience aren't going to be convinced to go Nintendo especially when it won't perform close to current consoles besides maybe the Series S.
I have a gaming PC, a PS5, a Quest 3, a Switch, and an Xbox Series X. I am the demographic for a PS5 Pro and a Switch 2. I wanted a PS5 Pro to replace my PS4 Pro. I think the PS5 Pro is an insulting value proposition at its price and with its lack of basic features.
 
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Since Xbox 360 all Xbox had to do with make good games
3 generations in and now their strategy is to buy everything and release on other platforms since they basically gave up.
For the last 5 years Phil said the games are coming but when the games actually came now they are also releasing slowly but surely on ps.
Microsoft gaming division should be taught in business schools on how not to do business.
This is the reason Sony is arrogant enough to charge us 700 for a mid gen refresh because their competition is brain dead
Yeah. The problem tho. Once they had the games. They need to make money back now. Cause they can’t wait for ppl to switch next gen. Cause nobody was gonna do it this gen. Prices are staying high and all.
 
Blame Uncle Phil. Not only reduced Xbox to a joke , Open the way for Sony (at least this generation) for a monopoly.

a236e826fe64dfbf93c7c4eef5282000


Nintendo Switch 2 won't hurt Sony since they are on another league.

But this market is.changing a Lot , who knows what PS6 Will be , Microsoft and Nintendo Will be around. Maybe they move full Mobil, stream, cloud,etc.

For the moment Sony is doing whaever they want, obviously consumers have limits for prices and services and Sony Will be tested.
Sony having a monopoly is good for msft.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
Well he's a tit for buying an overpriced pre-built.
I did offer to build it for free with a slightly better parts list to save him £400 on the basic £2250 price, but like a classic console gamer he was too impatient and wanted it yesterday.

So £800 in Sony's hip pocket at 40% mark up is fair game from him for a Pro when of all the tech companies making money from him, only Sony don't get easy money and give him the most. Even Nintendo make more from him for less.

It's an option premium product he'll get more value from and probably even trade against his PS6 purchase.
 

Rudius

Member
Nah Sony just know their fanbase is ready to take anything, internally it was called the PS5 BRO, which stood for Bending Retards Over.
You always post the same shit about the PS5 Pro.

What is happening is not new on the PC space: NVidia has being milking consumer for years now, since AND can't really compete on the same level.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
A friend of mine went to purchase a PS5 against my better advice. When he got out of the store, he got surrounded by 5 6'6" 300lbs+ dudes wearing Sony t-shirts with guns and baseball bats. They asked him to give up his PS5, but he refused because he had bought it with his hard-earned cash. It then went about exactly as you would expect. A bunch of 7' tall dudes with Steam hoodies barged in and murdered the Sony guys. It was an absolute bloodbath, but thankfully, my friend escaped without a scratch. When it was all over, the Steam dude asked if he was alright. He said yes and thanked them. They said, "Don't thank us, thank Lord Gaben," and stormed off.

When he told me this, I told him that's one of the reasons I'll never switch to console gaming. Console warriors are dangerous as fuck.

My story sounds about as believable as yours.
I take it you missed my discussion with Topher back at the time the week after he got the PC when I was asked to troubleshoot why he couldn't get it to use bluetooth?

If my gaf search foo was any good I would have found it and quoted it here.
 
I have a gaming PC, a PS5, a Quest 3, a Switch, and an Xbox Series X. I am the demographic for a PS5 Pro and a Switch 2. I wanted a PS5 Pro to replace my PS4 Pro. I think the PS5 Pro is an insulting value proposition at its price and with its lack of basic features.
Oh I'm right there with you (PS5/PC/Switch and every other PS console/handheld + Xbox 360). I'm also the demographic for both PS5 Pro and Switch 2 but what I'm saying is I highly doubt many consumers who are set on a PS5 or Pro will suddenly switch over to Nintendo once a Switch 2 is announced.

Nintendo won't be "fucking them into the dirt" as the two won't overlap enough to make enough consumers have to choose between the two. Plus the Switch 2 power wise will be nowhere close to PS5 Pro or even PS5 so while there may be more game overlap it won't mirror.

Now they will probably have a much better response then Sony, mostly because there is no chance in hell that a Switch 2 is anywhere close to $700. Plus Nintendo fans rim Nintendo so deep that even if Nintendo starts shitting down their throat they will still continue eating (I saw that mostly kidding, but we know Nintendo fans are very uh "passionate").
 
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Vick

Member
PS5 Pro pricing reflects Sony’s adjusted strategy to protect its margin (that is, it is unwilling to sell consoles at a loss)

Jim Carrey Omg GIF



Both Series X and PS5 cost 500+, with the 2TB Xbox SKU being offered for 600. So, the Pro should have been offered for the same price as these inferior systems? This would never have happened. And for kicks we'll add in Nintendo, who offers the Switch for more like 300 bucks and this device was released in 2017.
Eh. No point in doing this now, give it a bit of time for the hysteria to wear off. It's even impossible at the moment to discern who's genuinely concerned about a $699 complete machine playing current gen games at 4K and 60fps (including a GT7 at 8K 60fps), some with even additional RT on top at the same time:

It appears there's RT shadows on Pro, as seen from the tree in the background, which is a feature absent on the original version.

KIjK72i.jpeg

And who's simply fueling the hysteria, or calling people retards, for other reasons.

I'd bet it's all going to be different once comparisons start rolling, as there's a good chance we're in the "RDNA 1.5 9TF PS5 Power of the SSD Cerny lies" phase right now.
 
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Funny thing is.... if Sony/MS/Nintendo were to adopt the same model as Apple, with yearly updates to their consoles, they could likely keep the prices the same and make profit on it, which would also make it worth while for them. For gamers as well, because they'd have the choice to upgrade whenever they needed to, and have content to play.
i'm not so sure there'd be the same market for annual consoles as there is for annual phones. especially if they ran the same games. ps4 pro sales comprised roughly 12% of ps4 sales: https://www.ampereanalysis.com/insight/ps5-pro-sony-pulls-its-pro-strategy-lever-to-engage-playstation-enthusiasts#:~:text=According%20to%20Ampere%20data%2C%20over,12%25%20of%20total%20PS4%20sales
 

gerth666

Member
I think it's a fair point, wasn't there rumours that the exec's were debating pricing? Maybe that's the conclusion they all came to. We can charge a premium because our competition is not offering an option?
 

NEbeast

Member
Does anyone even know the cost to make the damn thing? I'm seeing alot of people saying they priced it high because xbox is struggling, with zero proof to back it up. Most of you don't even have a base ps5, you're just jumping on the bandwagon.
 
I honestly think Phil damaged the Xbox brand more than don matick the kinect and always online bullshit guy.
And now we are here where Sony is asking ridiculous money for a mid gen console and buy ur own stand If u want at 800 euros
 

Omnipunctual Godot

Gold Member
Oh I'm right there with you (PS5/PC/Switch and every other PS console/handheld + Xbox 360). I'm also the demographic for both PS5 Pro and Switch 2 but what I'm saying is I highly doubt many consumers who are set on a PS5 or Pro will suddenly switch over to Nintendo once a Switch 2 is announced.

Nintendo won't be "fucking them into the dirt" as the two won't overlap enough to make enough consumers have to choose between the two.

Now they will probably have a much better response then Sony, mostly because there is no chance in hell that a Switch 2 is anywhere close to $700. Plus Nintendo fans rim Nintendo so deep that even if Nintendo starts shitting down their throat they will still continue eating (I saw that mostly kidding, but we know Nintendo fans are very uh "passionate").
Well, even if you take a sales comparison out of the equation, Nintendo has the opportunity to turn Sony's PR loss into an even bigger PR win for themselves, and that's going to uplift their brand image in general while further lowering Sony's by comparison.
 

Crayon

Member
Oh, definitely. Xbox waiving the white flag, weak selection of <$300 gpus, switch 2 a mystery, streaming off to a slow start. And all of those things have been going on for a long time now.

I can see why they can't price drop the base ps5 but there is NO FUCKING WAY there's an extra $250 worth of stuff in there. Sony wants those margins. There's enough people for whom $700 is an impulse buy (must be nice) that sony sacrificed everyone else. If any competitor would have been stronger, sony would have not been able to do this.

Well... maybe they would have done it anyway idk. Seems counter-intuitive though.

Anyway, it's a bummer but play on whatever platform is a good value TO YOU and all will be well. My pc is not big money (maybe $1000?) and it's enough to run wukong at 60. That's a chunk more expensive but the important thing is that I already have it, making this pro somewhat redundant.
 

EmberMarkus

Neo Member
Many knew this would happen, many warned people we needed Xbox to keep Sony pricing in check and a lot of people continued to cheer Xbox demise and want them out of the hardware business yet here we are now people want to complain about the pricing of the pro
Sorry but had the customer to do? Buy games that do not appeal to him because if Xbox dies Sony will monopoly? Why it was not the other way around? Xbox making games that the customer wanted to play so they could stay in competition with Sony. It's not the customer fault that Xbox failed to deliver.
 

Fbh

Member
Yeah it's definitely a part of it. I've been saying it for a long time but as someone who has primarily played on Playsation for the last 15 years I never understood why so many fans wanted Xbox to fail.
What did people think was going to happen when Sony had less competition? They were going to lower the prices and become super consumer friendly? lol
 
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