The price of the Xbox One has been somewhat of a Yo-Yo lately. The holidays saw a special promotion that put the pricepoint at $349, well below the price of its main competitor, the PS4. This was a temporary situation though, and the price went right back to $399 after the holidays, but after a short two weeks it went back down again, seemingly because sales had been so good at the lower price. With this now possibly permanent price drop in effect many wondered if Sony would follow suit and drop the price of the PS4 to match.
Someone was able to put this question to Sony during their latest overseas investor call, and the response seems to be a resounding “no.” According to Dualshockers, Sony’s Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida said that while Sony was aware of the price dropof the Xbox One,there were no plans on Sony’s side to do the same. This is mostly due to Sony’s current success with the PS4, making them confident that a price reduction isn’t necessary to draw in consumers. With them having shipped over six million PlayStation 4’s over the last quarter, that confidence is likely well placed.
With both consoles now having been on the market for over a year, price will likely become a more and more common topic of debate. If you are looking at the games available for the PS4 and Xbox One and don’t find one that stands out as a must-have exclusive then price can ultimately be the deciding factor. With plenty of exclusives on both sides this might not be as big of a deal, but as more casual consumers enter the current-gen it could become integral. We’ll see how long Sony can stay at their higher price point while still remaining on the top of the market.
Published: Feb 4, 2015 10:26 am