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EricHiggin on 19 April 2019
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thismeintiel said:
The_Liquid_Laser said:

That article has some interesting info indeed.  Here is what I get from a business perspective.

Pros:
-Disc based
-Backwards Compatibility

Cons:
-Powerful (pricey?)
-VR is going to be a priority
-Not releasing this year

So far PS5 is not doing too hot.  It is looking kind of like the PS3, but it may be too early to tell.  If they are smart they will do an early 2020 release, and maybe the VR is mostly talk.  We'll see.

This is nothing like the PS3.  The PS3 was an incredibly expensive console to make. Supposedly, $800+ to make and was sold for $499 as the entry price, meaning Sony was losing over $300 per console. A lot of the price came from pushing the new Blu-ray tech, not from any powerful GPU.  Sure, the Cell was powerful, but because it was 100% custom and hard to develop on, gamers didn't really see the results of that extra $200 the PS3 coat over the 360.   For a year or more, 3rd party games actually looked worse on the more powerful system.

This won't happen with the PS5. Sony is waiting til next year for prices to fall. If they price it at $499, which isn't so bad with 14 years of inflation added in since the PS3, I doubt they would have to subsidize it more than $100.  It's also using slightly customized off the shelf parts, based on the same architecture as the PS4. If it's $50-$100 more than the XB2 because it's more powerful, gamers will see the results day one.

The only way PS dares try another PS3 priced $599 console, is if these Lockhart and Anaconda rumors are mostly true and PS5 follows suit. Based on the rumored specs you would expect Lockhart around 4TF for $299, and Anaconda at max 12TF for $499. Since PS likes their $399 price point, they could offer a base PS5 at around 6TF for $399, and a no compromises native 4k model at max 14TF for $599. (The exact TF isn't crucial for each model as long as the arrangement between them all stays the same) 

Now PS hasn't really said anything as of yet to make me think they will be launching two home consoles at once, but having one with a weaker GPU and smaller storage etc, would more easily allow for the $399 sweet spot, and if XB is doing it there's no reason PS can't either. While there could be a bunch of reasons why Cerny never mentioned RAM or GPU specs, I can't help but wonder, what if there were two PS5 SKU's and they were more like the XB1 models, where the premium version has a little more RAM and a much higher performing GPU than the base model?

Now if PS were actually going to offer a weaker base model 'home console', I would think this is less likely, and that a Switch like docking device was more likely. Neither of which are near as likely as a single subsidized SKU like we're used to.