With the reveal of the specifics of the PlayStation 5, many have started to think that Sony could be looking into launching the next-gen console with a higher price tag in comparison with PS4 in 2013.
With the reveal of the specifics of the PlayStation 5, many have started to think that Sony could be looking into launching the next-gen console with a higher price tag in comparison with PS4 in 2013. But, according to an analyst, the platform owner could manage to keep it lower than anticipated.
Pelham Smithers, MD of market research firm Pelham Smithers Associates, is an expert in Japanese manufacturing and has tried and offered his vision about the specific components PS5 will be equipped with, and from that has made his prediction about the pricing.
Smithers believes that the console will be coming with an AMD Ryzen 3600G CPU, which was unveiled at CES 2019, since it is one of the less expensive of the line to drop 7nm 8-core and support ray-tracing; an identikit that fits rather well on what Sony has shared so far of the console.
The CPU is coming with a retail price of $180 and $220 per unit, and this should manage to be enough to keep the cost of the PlayStation 5 as low as $400. Should Sony choose another CPU, that could not be possible anymore.
Looking at the success of PlayStation 4 and the fact that Microsoft has released Xbox One X at $499 with good reception, anyway, there’s still the chance that Sony might be going with $500 upon day one, accepting the risk and trying not to reach the market losing money on each console sold.
The only official clue we have about pricing is Mark Cerny’s off the record statement at Wired, where he said that the next PlayStation would be coming with a price that will be well received by the audience of gamers. So that’s still a bit up in the air for the moment being.