Next-gen price: Who will announce first?

[Zappykins]

Osc89 said:

Zappykins said:
Well, if the rumors follow at all I think it will be Microsoft, and if they follow with a $299 + 2 year Xbox live at $10/month it will be tough for Sony. Microsoft has enough cash on hand that they would not have to borrow the money to cover their customers.

But that would be only with one Controller. I think Sony will offer less expensive comparable bundles.

But I don't really think we will see a price till closer to launch. Wasn't it July that we found out about the price of the Kinect in 2010?

Would Sony not be able to copy the subscription with PS+? Also, what do you mean by less expensive comparable bundles? Are their controllers cheaper?

Sure they could. However, they are at a massive disadvantage.  It's that thing that often crushes small companies - cash flow.

Sony sold a large building (an assets) this year.  Something I doubt they really wanted to do.  Buildings can be great assets, and the longer you own them, usually the less you have to pay for them.  You rent them out, make money off your tenants and such.

Microsoft is as a huge advantage as they literally have billions of cash just sitting around – more than tens of billions – like more than 68 billion as of Jan 2013.  They can loan out money that they don’t have to borrow against because they can cover it in cash.

In strict business terms it will cost Sony much more to loan out the consoles to their customers – or pay the interest on the consoles while they get their revenue back over time.  They still have to pay for parts, workers, advertising, etc.  And to borrow money to pay that, while the customers are paying for a PS4 in installments will hurt their cash flow and bottom line. (Maybe that’s why they sold the building?)

Sony could do a down payment - joing PS+ model, similar to Microsoft - it just will not be as easy or as profitible for them.