I am very interested in what could happen if Sony unleashes the beast of subsidized consoles. How much of a wrench could this put in sales predictions?

With Playstation Vue right around the corner, and the number of cable boxes in the US and globaly still on the rise, how big of a factor could this be. Many places show an estimate of over 200M cable boxes in the US, and predict over 350M world wide right now. PS3 only sold ~30M units in the US according to VGChartz, and even the PS2 was only just north of 50M. This opens PS4 up to a market that is 4 at least 4 times bigger in the US. I think subsidizing sales through PSN could have a major effect on sales.

I am looking at the situation right now thinking, PlayStation Vue Basic,  and Playstaion 4 on a 2 year contract for as low as $50 a month. $30 - $35 a month for a real basic plan, and $15 to $20 towards the PS4. That would give Sony anywhere from $360 to $480 for every PS4 sold. 

Of couse there would be other plans. Playstation Vue Expanded, PS Now, PS Music, and PS+ with a PlayStation 4. Zero down. $100 a month for 2 years. $50 for Vue, $15 Now, $10 Music, $5 PS+, $20 PS4.

Then maybe PS Vue Complete, PS Now, PS Music, and PS+ with 2 Playstation 4's and a PSTV. Zero down. $150 a month for 2 years. $100 Vue, $10 Now, $5 Music, $5 PS+, $30 2 PS4's, a free PSTV. 

This program could be offered at all major retailers brick and motor (Walmart, Gamestop, Best Buy, Target, Video Only, etc.), and online (Amazon, Sony Store, and where ever else). Giving people the oppertunity to do all of their buisness at a local store could be another major benefit of OTT TV. With certified dealers for PSN and PSH all over the place, customers could deal much more quickly and easily with there store of choice as opposed to having to go wait in line at the one Comcast store every 30 miles.

This would allow Sony to bring the price of the PS4 down to zero dollars up front in a matter of no time. It could help them raise demand, and due to the higher production it could drive thre price per unit even lower. It would also give people more incentive to be in every one of the PSN services as the more they do the better deal they get. The best part about it for Sony is, just like the Cable and Smartphone providers, they can actually sell the hardware way over its sticker price by distracting people with the monthly price.

For all of us gamers it would benifit us in the fact that PSN would be raking in cash, and helping Sony put way more money into game development and network upgrades. It would also give us a chance to jump on the bundle bus, and pick up all of the services together with something like a 20% dicount compared to buying each individual service.

So what do you guys and gals think of this hypothetical possility? Would it send sales into a mad craze? Would you be interested? How about PSN service bundles in general?

If cable companies will get on board this could be amazing for gaming in general. Playstation is the strongest name in gaming and if they get Comcast on board (who will most likely be buying out Time Warner soon) you could combine the biggest players in two of the biggest mediums of entertainment. Also they could offer Sony pictures and Sony music incentives to the lineup to whoever signs on like you said, leveraging their other entertainment branches. That's something the other companies just don't have to in their arsenal. Comcast can't find a more open solution to what Sony offers. They have to get in bed with someone unlike with mobile or PC where they can make an app or website. Sony offers them content in all aspects of their lineup ALONG with the great reputation of their past shows unlike MS who is just now getting into live action stuff with Halo.

That would be an awesome team. I was just hoping they could get Best Buy, Gamestop, Target, Walmart, and other retailers to sell PSN service + PS Hardware on contracts like they do with smartphones.. If they could get Comcast to jump on board with them, then they would pretty much own the TV and Gaming buisness. 

But, I don't think Comcast is going to give up their position very easily, so I expect them to fight all of these OTT services at every step.

I'm not suggesting they replace Comcast.  I'm saying they provide content for Comcast other than games which will remain separate.  Like "buy a PC get an Xbox 360" except with Comcast and Sony teaming up.  Comcast would not feel threatened by this.  They get all of Sony's Music and Movies stuff like Breaking Bad, MiB and everything exclusively on their services while Sony gets to use Playstation services and put PS in when people purchase their cable perhaps.

I never even thought of this. I hope it comes to Canada though. They also have options of adding this functionality to the PlayStation TV.

I hope they make it available everywhere. They have not announced PSTV yet, but Major League Baseball Advanced Media announced MLB.TV is coming to PS Vita and PSTV this year. They are developing the backend to PlayStation Vue, so it is similar to how Spotify will power PS Music. If MLBAM has MLB.TV working, PS Vue, WWE Network, and HBO can't be to far behind, because they are all built on the same tech.

Exciting times for sure!  If they somehow get the NHL on it, good bye cable for me!

haha.. I've thought about this before and basically saw this coming. I think I even made a thread sometime last year talking about this.

all Sony has to do is offer the service up for $70/month. PSvue($30/month), PS+$4/month and $20/month for the PS4. that will be for the zero down option. and yes it could be the one single biggest boost to the PS4 or PlayStation in general. unfortunately though, this isn't easy to pull off at all.

I think Sony needs a good internal motto. Mine would be "Advertise and Subsidize". The hardest part is getting the word out, and getting people to try something new. But, once the ball is rolling, it is really hard for anyone else to slow it down. 

Basically, they need to go on a year long add campaign, and get all of their partener companies putting out all kinds of adds. They should get nice support through out the baseball season since MLB Advanced Media is the backbone of the service, and they also have the partnership  with MLB and MLBPA as the only official and authentic MLB game. Setting up Kiosks at Walmart and Best Buy, would do wonders as well. Having PS Vue in action at as many major retailers as possible to show how it works, and give people an idea of what it is, so they don't have to jump in without experience.

The one thing I hope they are not planning, is expecting this thing to take off by plain old word of mouth. Sony has a terrible history of just hopeing things will work out. Product placement and WOM have proved to fail them time and time again. They have been screaming from the mountain tops with PS4, so hopefully, they will take the same approach here, and shoehorn it into every marketing oppertunity they can.

Wouldn't work, just don't see it. You seem obsessed with making console do stuff and be what no one want them to do and be.

Its a interesting idea. Maybe could work at 10 a month for two years but anything more and well, hell i just doubt the likelihood for gamer's to adopt this on mass.