Predictions put PS4 price at $400

Wedbush Securities games analyst Michael Pachter believes that the PlayStation 4 will cost between $399 and $449.  The analyst believes that Sony’s success with the new console hinges on a low entry price for consumers, and thinks that the new console will definitely come in under the launch price of the PS3.

“We remain confident that the new console will have a lower initial MSRP than the PS3, which had a lofty starting price of $599 that we believe negatively impacted its longterm popularity.”

While last night’s PS4 reveal gave a good look at the possibilities of the next-gen system, Sony didn’t show the actual system itself nor did they reveal a price point for the system.  Speculation about price has been all over the place depending on what rumors you’ve been reading.  The hardware that was revealed by Sony isn’t cheap at current market prices, so some thought think that the PS4 could still come in hot, and much higher than Pachter’s prediction.

Could Sony be willing to eat some of the costs out of the gate on hardware to get PlayStation gamers to transition to the new console later this year?  We’ll likely find out the price of this new hardware by E3 2013 at the very latest.