Rumour: PS4 to be priced at £300 ($350-400?)

[Shinobi-san]

Screamapillar said:

Shinobi-san said:

Screamapillar said:

DigitalDevilSummoner said:

to sum up,

• we probably won't see a price tag before E3
•  400$ is more likely to be the base model price
•  PS4 to be sold at a loss

That's a certainty, unless PS4 is truly underwhelming, horsepower-wise.  Which I highly doubt.  With Sony's current financial situation they're in though, between heavy losses on TVs, computers, as well as horrible PS Vita sales, I have to wonder if Kaz Harai is going to want to take a bath on PS4 sales and hope to break even through the first few years purely on $60 software?  That's a big gamble.  I almost think they should price it to be closer to break-even, and even if sales are slow because of it, they will at least not have to post massive losses.  They can't weather another PS Vita-like situation, I don't think.

Where are you guys getting your information from?

And why is everyone expecting a cheap price to equate to a weak, underpowered console?

Someone please explain this to me...

Simply put, because Sony is in a much weaker financial state right now than they were in back when they were designing PS3, and to a lesser extent even when they were designing PS Vita. 

They can't afford to lose hundreds of dollars on every console sold like they could for PS3's first year or two.  Sony's been posting huge losses for a couple years now, and since Kaz Harai's mission is to make Sony profitable, it is also his job to make sure SCE is profitable as well.  It makes up a third of Sony's business. 

I think you misunderstanding my point. Theres been a multiple posts in this thread that suggests a low priced PS4 equals weak and underpowered hardware.

This is simply not the case. A powerful console can be released at a cheap price point without the manufacturer needing to take losses. It is precisely because of Sony's position that they cant afford to sell at a loss. And given the rumored specs (which are powerful), this would make a cheap AND powerful console very possible. No need for selling at a loss.

I'm talking strictly processing power here btw. Throw in a washing machine and things get pricey ;)....in other words i don't know what they plan to include as extras or "gimmicks" but the general consensus at the moments seems to be that sony is concentrating on the gaming aspect of the console...so i don't foresee to many added extras.