Sony still has not decided on a price for its next-generation PS5, and it may depend on the conditions closer to the time of release that may determine its cost.
The company’s chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki, who was speaking during Sony’s third-quarter earnings call, gave what seemed to be a candid response when asked about whether it had decided on a price yet.
Transcribed by Spiel Times, Totoki said: “What is not very clear or visible is because we are competing in the space, so it’s very difficult to discuss anything about the price at this point of time and depending upon the price level, we may have to determine the promotion that we are going to deploy and how much costs we are prepared to pay.”
He also reiterated that Sony is in control of the production of the system, and the costs that are involved with that, including personnel, labor, and the ramp-up of production to the volume needed for launch.
Typically in the past, Sony has launched its consoles at a loss for the sake of keeping prices down and building the player base early for long term gains. In this generation, there was a launch price difference of $100 between the PS4 and the Xbox One in the former’s favor, and that seemed to do the trick for Sony as they have dominated the hardware market over their American rivals. The suggestion from Totoki could be that they are waiting on the announcement of the price for the Xbox Series X before deciding on a price for its console.
But Totoki also highlighted the need to balance the price with costs. “It’s a balancing act it’s very difficult to say anything concrete at this point of time. The best balance so that we will be profitable in the life, during the life of this product”.
Sony will not want to repeat the failures of the PS3, which launched for an eye-watering $600 for the 60GB model, and ultimately lead to the Xbox 360 dominating that generation’s sales.
