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thismeintiel on 22 April 2019
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ironmanDX said:
thismeintiel said:

Well, partly because the X didn't really do anything for them.  Sure, they can boast about having the most powerful machine, but its not doing them any good when they are on the same trajectory as before, selling less than half of the PS4.  The other part is cost.  MS obviously doesn't believe in subsidizing its consoles as much as Sony does, otherwise the XBO could have launched at ~$399, as well as the X.  The SAD could have been $150-$200 if they wanted.  MS isn't going to want to take massive losses on expensive HW when they are moving their business to be more focused on providing services. 

I see them aiming at $499, again, but I think the max they will subsidize is ~$50, so the system would cost them ~$550.  Sony is in a better position than they were at the launch of the PS4, so will most likely be willing to subsidize theirs more heavily.  I think they may aim for $499, too, but will be willing to take a loss of $100-$150, meaning it would cost them $600-650 to make.  Add in the fact that Sony will be able to make better deals for their chips, given they will be able to leverage the fact that they have sold ~115M PS4s by the time the PS5 releases (as well as have a proven track record, with their lowest selling home console being ~86M), and Sony could definitely end up with the more powerful machine.

This, "Sony sold more thus can demand better deals" idea is poor. How many millions do you think they'll pay for in advance? 10 million? 12? 15? 20? No more than 20, which both companies are more than guaranteed to sell.

Prices will drop... They're not going to buy too far in advance for something they're likely to get cheaper... If it doesn't get revised within a year or two. It would be incredibly foolish.


Xbox launched at $499 because of the bundled Kinect. Though could have subsidised harder. I do think ms will have the more expensive console, so we agree here.

It's not poor, it's how bargaining works.  If AMD is convinced by Sony that they have an incredible chance to sell at least 85M units, which is the lowest they have ever sold, they will give them better prices upfront.  They will still make their money even at a lower profit margin AND have the added PR of being what powers the #1 console of that gen.  And, yes, as prices fall, Sony will be able to continue to make deals for cheaper prices.  They aren't fixed. Of course, we also don't know how much involvement Sony actually had in Navi's development.  If Sony shouldered some of the cost of its development, they would most likely use that as reasoning for cheaper prices, too.

MS doesn't have the same advantage, cause only Lord knows how much they will sell.  Could be around what XBO sells or it could be much less.  They are still going to want to make their money from those chips, so will sell them with a higher profit margin.  If the XB2 is a success, then MS can make better deals with AMD.

Yes, the Kinect helped add to the price of the XBO, but MS still chose not to subsidize it when they dropped the camera, instead matching the PS4's price, even though it was noticeably less powerful.  Only after months of being outsold by the PS4 did they start having random firesales, dropping the price to ~$349 every so often.  Of course, by that time, they were probably already at break even with a $349 price.