But casuals wouldn't see that. Neither would parents, they would just see "Console vs. Console + accessory".

Which would put them right back at square one and piss off people who don't care about the cameras (like me).

Seen as all the praise they've gotten for it from the media and gamers alike, i'm sure they're quite happy with it.

And Sony won't be making a loss on the PS4, there might even be a small profit right from the get go. There was an article about it around E3 time.

While all consoles are going to be sold out, what about after the fact. Pricing it at $400 and losing $60 per console they're going to be making a lot more than that back on the games. Honestly it's what they should have did with the Vita much earlier on and more Vitas would probably have been sold.  You can't say that people are going to buy the console and then not buy atleast enough games that Sony profits $60 from.  The way it is now at $400, just means that instead of dropping the price earlier, they can just keep it at $400 for a much longer period of time.  If Microsoft drops to $450, they could keep it at $400 or drop to $350, but when Microsoft drops to $400, that's when Sony should definitely price drop to stay ahead.

Take what Sony has said about the Vita. There's 10 Vita games per Vita sold. There are obviously a lot more people purchasing games than others, but an average of 10 games per Vita sold is quite a bit.

Also Sony hasn't really lost money. That's what their sales projections are. They sold less than they thought they would and to companies, that contributes as a loss in revenue. Until they come out and say their operating costs have been more than the revenue they've gained, which they haven't, then I don't see it as a loss. Last time I've heard anything, Sony was profiting, but like every single announcement they make, their TVs are making them lose a massive amount of money.

It makes you wonder why the hell Sony keeps selling TVs when for the past decade they've been losing money on them.  *edit*  A lot of their TVs in the past decade haven't been that great either, but they've still been overpriced, only recently Sony TVs have been getting closer to the quality of Panasonic and Samsung and they've lowered the prices a bit.  Sony HDTVs have far less input lag for large HDTVs than anything on the market for their last couple models.  17ms input lag for TVs 47"+.

Some shareholders with a lack of understanding might, But have a look at the facial expression on Andrew House after he the reaction from its announcement

Plus while they announced no DRM and 399, they slipped in the paywall and pretty much got away with it. The amount of new subscribers will make up that difference in no time

Most casuals probably won't buy a PS4 at $400 either. They will wait for price cuts. Look at PS3, it didn't sell well at $400. But it did gangbusters at $300, $250, and $199.

I don't think this thread is asking if they're happy because of praise they're getting from gamers. People seem to forget Sony is a company and a companies main objective is to make a profit. So, I think they may have been happier listing it at $450 and only losing $10 per console?

As someone who worked in videogame retail for awhile I can tell you right now that regardless of informed consumer or uninformed consumer, if your device is cheaper, "better", and has nearly all the same games as your biggest competitor... you might as well go ahead and order a house made out of soft, golden boobs. Sony doesn't just want to do better. They want to completely crush the competition. It is more important for Sony to establish a huge player base. Especially considering that they are charging for online play now. The faster they can get into the tens of millions of online subscribers for PS4 the faster they'll be swimming in cash. Sooner or later the cost of the system will go down for them and if you can get yourself a huge install base, especially if it means you're well beyond the competition, it makes it much easier for you to negotiate for exclusivity and secure your position.

You'd be surprised at what people will pay so there kids can have the newest thing for christmas. Why do you think reselling works?

Edit: Besides, Sony is still in a pretty good position with the PS4. It's a fairly small loss and Sony is pushing the accesories rrreeeeaaaallllyyyy hard. Did you think they released the camera and controller early just for fun ;)

A company would want the good sales to continue after launch. I expect bad sales for the Xbone at it's current price tag come february and onward. The PS4 will not suffer the same fate, which is also good in building the PS4 base faster, just like Sony wants this time around.