Would it make sense for Sony to add an UHD drive in 12 months?

[Mr Puggsly]

Intrinsic said:

Mr Puggsly said:

Well they added a UHD drive and boosted the CPU performance of the X1 S and kept it $299. I believe they are willing to sell Scorpio at a small loss.

I don't think Sony is as willing to lose money on hardware, they are market leading anyhow.

They prpbably arent, but they also are in the best position to do it. Thats the major benefit of being the market leader. If by the time the scorpio comes around, and there are around 65-70M PS4s in the wild, that gives sony a lot of wiggle room. With an install base that size you can very well afford to lose $50-$100 on hardware cause you have the install base to make up for it. And as soundwave stated, hardware is constantly getting cheaper. So what they stand to lose and for how long they lose that much is minuscule at best of it means they can price their main competitor outta the market. 

And this isn't just wishful thinking, Sony has shown they are willing to do that in the past. Twice.  

And another thing, if Sony just intended to trade blows with the scorpio then they really had no business launching a year early (again being the market leader and all). Doing so and still pushing forward with weaker hardware compared to the scorpio suggests they are gearing up for a price war next year. 

Mr Puggsly said:

Huh, based on what I'm seeing you're correct.

Their lack of interest in UHD players is very odd considering they push 4K TVs, PS4 Pro, and media players. Frankly, it seems like X1 S and Scorpio are going to be the most popular physical UHD players.

Isn't that like saying you are going to be the most popular steam engine in a world of IC engines?

I think gamers are funny, we are the most experimental when it comes to tech adoption and we also are the most stubborn when it comes to tech obsolesence. 

its no hiddem fact that sales of disc based movies have taken a nose dive. There is extremely limited disc based support for 4k native movie content. And just like we are with BC, gamers will tout the whole 4k disc thing like it's the best thing since sliced bread and end up not even using it.

Just look at the 360 for instance. It didn't even have a bluray drive period. didn't stop it from being the most successful Xbox console so far. 

I know this is anecdotal, but I have not even seen a bluray movie in the last 5yrs much less bought one. The funny thing is that I believe I'm in the majority. 

Sony could probably afford to lose money on PS4 hardware, I just don't think that's something they wanna do. They apparently didn't even want to pay for UHD support.

Again, there would be more UHD disc support if more popular devices supported them. A lot of people I talk to only have Bluray players becuase of a game console.

I'm not saying UHD support is game changer or anything, but PS4 not supporting seems like an odd move for a device pushing 4K. Few games will actually be 4K, many users may not have the speed or bandwidth caps for watching 4K video steaming, so UHD discs would be ideal for those who want the 4K experience.