DonFerrari said:
danasider said:
I'm going to say no.
Sure, the people on this site and other video game forums know what we'll get. Personally, $500 for high specs is worth it to me.
However, it seems that the general public isn't budging on console price points.
Console Launch Prices-
PS1 - 299
PS2 - 299
PS3 - 499/599
PS4 - 399
Notice the only system which didn't completely annihilate the competition was PS3 and a huge reason for that was the launch price.
And then we look at the competition. Nintendo always has been at the forefront of innovation, but innovation is only a piece of its strategy. Its biggest hits console wise were both innovative AND inexpensive (the motion gaming of the Wii selling at $250 and the combination handheld/console Switch coming in at $299).
I think it's worth it to Sony to keep the fans happy and maybe even sell at a small loss in order to not be so behind in terms of tech. I don't think the competition will be investing too much into tech that Sony will be way behind (unless we're comparing PC to console which appears to be a bigger disparity in tech with each generation). Console buyers seem to care most about influx of great games and preserving value from what I've seen of the last few generations, so I don't think Sony should raise the price now that they are ahead. |
For about 2 years Wii were sold much higher than MSRP.
And also you haven't seem the good posts regarding inflation and console price.. PS1 at 299 in 1994 is more expensive than PS5 at 499 in 2020.
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I don't know how much above MSRP it was selling for, but I doubt Wii was selling higher than $400.
And yeah, I'm aware of inflation. When I use the numbers to show the history of launch prices, I am aware that 299 in 1994 means something completely different than the same price today. However, just like box office, people still seem to compare them as if they're the same (Gone with the Wind sold many times more tickets than Avatar but Avatar is number 1). I believe these launch prices stay with the consumer despite inflation. They've stayed with me since being a kid and buying consoles, but that's just my experience.
Also, $299 may be well above what we're paying for in terms of value at its time, but things like manufacturing costs, adoption rate of consoles, etc. go into why we were willing to spend more.
I personally would pay $500 for something with a little more beef under the hood, but I think pricing determines which console maker sells more so I don't think it'd be in Sony's best interest.
