Should consoles cost $500+ ?

[greenmedic88]

Here's another interesting thing about the 8th gen consoles: none of them were initially sold at a significant loss.

That right there plays a large part in why the specs and jump in performance were far less overwhelming than those of the jump between the 6th and 7th gen.

This can be directly tied to the 2008 economic slump that simply made it too much of a risk to the company to essentially sell hardware under the assumption that things like peripherals, game license fees, paid for online subscription services, etc. would not just compensate for the loss in revenue caused by selling a product for less than the BoM, but automatically expand the initial consumer base through marketing (using specs to sell hardware before there are games that use said specs to justify the higher price).

SCE sold a lot more PS4s simply by focusing on the basics and making their hardware developer friendly to spur development even though the hardware itself was hardly anything near revolutionary.

Notice how the focus of the 8th gen initially was not on how superior the hardware was, or all the custom, code-named ICs colored with marketing buzzwords to excite consumers about the hardware rather than the games and services they provide access to.