Global Hardware 21 December 2019

[zorg1000]

Radek said:

xMetroid said:

It's not doing it this year but you expect it to do it next year when the next console will be shown and will repulse a lot of potential buyers, also even more knowing it is probably going to be retro compatible. They wont be able to be aggressive during the last quarter cause it will be all about PS5 and this is where like half the units are made doe a year. Also, games this late in a gen dont boost much. It will probably have a big drop next year and it will be also I intentional on Sony's part. 

What if they lower the price to $199 in February, before FFVII, TLOU 2 and Ghost come out?

We don't know Sony's plan and neither we know their 2020 sales forecast.

We know they arent planning a price cut in February based on them slashing their FY projections 2 quarters in a row.

But even so, price cuts this late in the game dont cause growth, they just help soften the decline. Take a look at holiday sales for the last few years

2016-6.2 million (lowest price-$249 w/game)

2017-5.9 million (lowest price-$199)

2018-5.6 million (lowest price-$199 w/game)

2019-~4 million (lowest price-$199 w/3 games)

2016-2018 are official numbers from Sony while 2019 is estimates based on this sites numbers.

As you can see sales have dropped for each of the last 4 holidays despite the deals getting better each year, this is diminishing returns so a price cut to $199 is not guaranteed to cause an uptick in sales outside of the first few weeks since it has been at that price on a few occasions.