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Tober on 11 September 2024
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EricHiggin said:
SvennoJ said:

The PS3 sold at $300 loss, the price is that high now because Sony is not interested in loss leading the pro.

A comment on Eurogamer says it best

"They didn't want a mass market upgrade. They have plenty of data from the PS4 Pro and I suspect what their data says is that the Pro model was not good at capturing new customers, but was good at getting more out of existing customers - getting them to buy new hardware, getting them interested in buying more games, etc. So this time around the PS5 Pro is about selling the most lucrative of existing customers on a profit-driving piece of hardware, and one that hopefully will get them buying more games (and perhaps even prevent them from shifting their spending over to PC by "narrowing the gap"). In other words, it is about retaining "money is no object" customers, not about offering a mass-market upgrade."

And there are plenty that can afford and will buy a pro at that price. Remember the PS5 sold for more at launch via scalpers... You can blame them for setting the price people are willing to pay :/

PS6 will most likely start as a loss leading console again, less expensive than the PS5 Pro. Maybe with more difference between the digital and physical version next time. If the premium version still gets a disc drive. Otherwise their might be other differences like different tier storage space.
If the PS6 prices itself outside the mass consumer marker, a new competitor will have a way into the console market. So I doubt Sony will want to open that door. PS5 Pro simply isn't intended for mass market, just like the Dualsense Edge controller. And just like PSVR2, priced as an enthusiast product.

Depends a lot on what happens with inflation, but also the companies profits and what they can "afford to lose".

If inflation doesn't change much either this gen needs to be extended to like 10 years, or PS6 ends up not enough of a leap in power for previous PS5 Pro owners and then what? A $499 PS6 at 20TF? The majority will be fine with that, but how does SNY sell that to those who bought a PS5 Pro?

I don't see SNY going back to loss leaders unless they're forced to by competition, and I also see that as unlikely after MS' failed attempts vs SNY.

Gaming changed. I can remember an article where Sony published their top played games per region. It was full of free to play games like fortnite, Apex and such. Sure Gaas games do make money, because there are whales around that spend serious money on them. But a lot of people play those games with not spending anything. So if the non-spenders buy a Playstation that Sony looses money on, Sony possibly does not recoup that from selling games. The loss leader strategy therefore is probably not as effective anymore.