Excitement for the PlayStation 5 has been steadily building over the last few months as more rumors are speculated upon. While many are looking forward to getting their hands on the latest PlayStation, the company itself does not seem to be convinced that the next console will sell as well as previous iterations. The console will have its supply limited, although it is still a huge amount of units, primarily because of its pricing.
The PlayStation franchise has been the most successful, in terms of sales, home consoles ever. With this in mind expectation for the latest console has been huge. Despite this, insiders who have spoken to Bloomberg have stated that Sony expects the set price, which is believed to be between $400-$450, will deter some consumers. For this reason, the company is planning to release between 5 and 6 million units by March 2021 which is a fair amount less than the PS4’s 7.5 million units shipped in the same window of 2013.
The PlayStation 4 was released at a price point of $399 and this figure is very similar to the lower end of the possible PS5 price. With this in mind, these unit cutting measures likely mean that the latest console will be closer to the $450 mark. While Sony has insisted that the coronavirus won’t impact the building of the consoles, there will be an economic impact that Sony can’t ignore. With the global economy expected to reach the lowest point since the Great Depression, the amount of disposable income for slightly more expensive consoles may be seriously impacted. Furthermore, consumers may lose the impetus to buy the PlayStation 5 with a lack of exclusives if the pandemic continues.
Exclusives such as The Last of Us 2 have already been delayed indefinitely amidst the pandemic and if this trend continues players may be reluctant to buy a console that does not have games optimized for it. It will be interesting to see what Sony does next as they plan to roll out the console in very trying times, at the moment it seems that the console will go ahead as planned with reduced numbers attributed to price.
Despite the focus on price point, the larger economy will likely make the amount seem larger than it has done previously. With huge economic repercussions of the coronavirus already coming to light, an extra $50 may seem like too much for consumers. For this kind of pricing reasons, Sony is cutting down on units to ship. The release of the PlayStation 5 will be different, not only because of new hardware or a new price point but because of the radically different economy it will be entering.
PlayStation 5 is set to launch Holiday of 2020.
Source: Bloomberg
