I think the PS4 will be sold for 399 €. But I would also pay 999 €, I don't even care. I mean, I buy a new console like every 5 years or so, so it can be a little more expensive. I buy a new smartphone and a new laptop every two years, that would be 800 € for a laptop and about 500 € for a smartphone. So for me personally, the price will be ok, no matter what it will be in the end. I paid 599 € for the PS3. It runs perfectly fine and it never had any problems. 6 years after release. Sadly, that isn't normal nowadays. I don't regret any penny I spent on PS3.

I don't know what would be the perfect price for the market, we'll see about that. But when it comes to USA, I think Sony really needs to consider a subscription based model, Americans just seem to love to hire purchase everything. So a 199 $ PS4 with two years of PS+ for 14.99 $ a month should do really well. For europe, I think 399 € will be the sweet spot. We have the money despite recession, especially in Germany the financial crisis doesn't have a noticeable impact in your everyday life.

But the games will be much more important. If they release Gran Turismo on PS4, us europeans would also very happily pay 500 €+. If they release Uncharted for it, I'm sure the Americans will also care less about the price. OR maybe some Call of Duty excklusive deal, hell, what do I know what Americans prefer. But games are what will decide about the sales of the PS4. So if they have a strong launch lineup, they can sell the PS4 for 499 $ with no problem. If they have less games or a drought like with Wii U is coming, they should go with 399 $ or less.

500 is fine... even 600 is fine... we do not live in 1998...

500 bucks is too much for a cablebox

Depends how expensive components are. Like how 3DS could afford a big price cut soon after launch because it didn't cost as much to make but over a year after release Vita needs one desperately and still has only gotten it in one region. If PS4 is $500 and costs that much to make and put on shelves then I say it's right. Same goes for Xbox.

Also it's kind of funny that no one has voted that they'll pay anything for Halo. Although it's not entirely fair putting 1 game against a whole multi-billion dollar corporation. I'm pretty sure Sony would cost more than $500 to buy.

Depends on what I get for the 500$. So far we do not know much about the PS4 or Nextbox to be able to choose. 500$ is fine for me if I know that I am getting something good.

I would say about $400 is a good price for the base model. $500 is a bit much though.

Careful now, I think you are getting ahead of yourself. No doubt smartphones sales are enormous, why bother telling me? I never said majority, I said decent amount.

The PS3 launch was not nearly as bad as some seem to remember. It sold 83k in Japan first day, 139k in the US with shipping issues, and 516k in Europe for a total of 738k. It went on to sell over 9 million by the end of 2007. Granted it had a price cut...which is kind of the point of my breakdown. It sold 3.8 million before that price cut in July.

The PS3 was also $500/$600 back in 2006. A console would have to launch at $550/$650 or more actually to compare. If the Xbox 3 is $500 or $300 with subscription it is around the same price as the 360 was at $400/$500 considering inflation. A lot of people are pinning PS4 at $400, not sure if there is a premium version or not. Who knows, maybe a subscription. If MS is going that route they are going to try selling their console at a substaintial initial loss, but end up getting an extra $40 (assuming a $15 a month sub) for those launch consoles. Meaning they actually lose less per console on the $300 one in the long run.

Anyway, things don't get cheaper due to inflation but these consoles have years ahead of them and cost reductions to have. The only console that is going to be cheaper than its predecessor will be the PS4, but really that's only reducing itself down to a better price point.

I find all the people who find these to be too expensive just want it to be cheaper because they want to buy it, so of course they are going to say it is too much, but this is the kind of price tag that comes with modern hardware.

If we did, the economy would be much healthier and 600$ wouldn't be too much like it is today.

We are talking about the mass market, right? Most people won't consider inflation, hell - most people even on gaming forums don't consider inflation unless someone reminds them with a nice graph. The number printed on the price tag is all that counts. Also, don't forget we're in the middle of a world wide recession right now, people won't fork out as much money as back in 2006 (the accepted price point will be even lower than back then).

@bolded: Well, if so many people want this then Sony and Microsoft should listen. With a console sold at a loss you at least can make the money back via software, while an unsold console won't make you any money at all.