There have been a ton of rumors surrounding the internet regarding the PS4 pricing. One of the most prominent ones was that Sony had multiple price models ready and decided after Microsoft’s E3 conference.
“A multi-billion dollar corporation plans these decisions months and months in advance.”
Jack Tretton, head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, counters this rumor in an interview with IGN. “A multi-billion dollar corporation plans these decisions months and months in advance. We felt like we have a great value proposition for consumers, one that people will respond to, but you don’t know how you’re going to be positioned against your competition. We felt good about it, regardless where our competition came in. Lower is better than higher, we learned that with the Playstation 3.”
When asked about the 180 Microsoft did on their DRM policies he had the following to say: “We’ve spend 5 years listening to consumers. Better late than never, I’m sure they got the message.”
He says that he didn’t watch the Microsoft conference himself because he was busy rehearsing for his own part in the PS4 conference. “I heard applause in our own arena and thought that it must’ve been good news.”. Tretton also recognizes that there will be more battles to come and E3 was just the first head-to-head confrontation. “We have to convince consumer per consumer, it’s time to get back in the trenches.”.
He also stated that not including the PS4 camera is because they didn’t want to force it on the people buying the console on day 1. “We really felt like for the development community and the consumers it should be a choice. Force every consumer to have one on day 1 when some of them may be on a limited budget or don’t necessarily have the interest in it, ends up coming a bit short in terms of things people get excited about.”.
The PS4 is priced at $399 while the Xbox One will cost $499.
Published: Jul 2, 2013 03:07 am