Sony has yet to reveal the price and full design of its next-generation gaming console. Fans were a bit disappointed when the Japanese gaming giant earlier announced that the scheduled PS5 event in Jun 2020 is postponed. But, a recent interview with the company's top boss may have given away some details about the price of the PS5.
In a recent interview with gamesindustry.biz, Sony CEO Jim Ryan shared a few hints about the PS5. He said that he is aware of the challenges of launching a premium gaming console in a market suffering from a global health crisis. "Recent history has told us that gaming is one of the pastimes, and one of the businesses, that benefits in economically difficult times.... Who knows how this recession is going to look, how deep it will be and how long it will last, Ryan noted.
The Sony CEO sounded optimistic that the PS5 would sell despite the economic crunch experienced in various areas of the world. He also hinted that the price of the PS5 might be substantially high than the current generation gaming console PS4 when it launched a few years back. Based on history, gaming is a past time and one industry that economically benefits during difficult times.
Bloomberg reported in Feb 2020 that the manufacturing cost of the PS5 was around $450 per unit. IHS Markit in 2013 estimated that the manufacturing cost of each PS4 gaming console selling at $399 was around $381. If the Japanese gaming console maker would like to get the same margin with its PS5, it needs to sell the next generation gaming console at around $471 or higher.
Talks about the price of the PS5 have been rife even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. Game enthusiasts previously predicted that Sony's gaming console could launch at $499. Understandably, Sony is still sealing its lips about the price of the PS5 because it is still waiting for its rival, Microsoft, to reveal the price of the Xbox Series X. It can be recalled that Sony's PS4 was more popular than the Xbox One because the Japanese gaming giant undercut the price of Xbox One by $100.
As for when exactly will the industry know the price of the PS5 is still unknown. Venture Beat's Jeff Grubb, however, earlier predicted that Sony would not announce the price of the PS5 at its forthcoming reveal event. Nevertheless, Grubb is a bit optimistic that the company would disclose the price of its next-generation gaming console before August.
