Sony Is Struggling With PlayStation 5 Price Due to Costly Parts

at least in this early batch of pre-orders, it absolutely seems like Sony has made way, way more of the higher priced disc stock available, meaning that those lucky enough to snag a pre-order are often doing so for an extra $100, even if they have no interest in the disc one.


https://twitter.com/CheapyD/status/1306626379526664195

While I don’t believe that’s the true ratio of disc to digital Sony has made available, it is not anywhere close to 50/50, and I would not be surprised if it was in fact something like 10:1. I’ve seen digital models sellout before the link was even fully live for a page at numerous storefronts.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulta...-to-sell-out-nightmarishly-fast/#7a068df216a5
 
Same thing every time a new generation of hardware is released, whether console or PC component. I gave up on launch days long ago because you cannot beat the Chinese bots and scummy resellers. Even preorder windows are a fucking joke now since they are bought out instantly because there are morons who will pay for the preorder slot.
My opinion to add to this is: there isn't really any launch titles that I want to play anyway. The closest/biggest one is CP2077, but I can choose to play that basically on any platform I want (although I don't have a card that supports RTX handly - and it's likely that RDNA is going to have the same sold out problems as both 3080 and PS5).

Anyway, that aside, buying a launch console is just buying into a hype train. The PS5 library (or XBSX for that matter) won't really have a ton of titles worth having until the end of 2021 anyway. Sure Ratchet and Clank looks cool. People <3 Demon Soul's remake. But absolute "must plays"? Even if I cared about playing this titles ASAP, buying this console 6 months from now after all this hoopla is over makes way more sense rather than going crazy over it. Let other people fight for these resources. I'll just walk in the store and buy something off the shelf or order it from Amazon like a normal person when it comes time.

Until then, I have plenty of other games I haven't played that I can work on. And the only game again that I care to play with any immediacy that's coming out soon is CP2077. So, I don't have much to worry about.

EDIT: People have no patience. If you have no patience, especially for launch items, at this point you're going to pay for it. The chances you're going to beat a scalper is slim. It's better to just think that every launch device "actually comes out" 3 months later. Otherwise, enjoy playing 2x-3x the price for 3-6 months worth of "extra" enjoyment.
 
Preorders worked fine when you had to walk into a shop and out down cash to do it. Now that it’s all online and no cost up front at a lot of places it’s just scalper/bot territory.

nice way to double your money though.

better to just wait it out. It’s not like Sony is only going to make one batch of systems and that’s it.
 
I haven’t had a PlayStation since I bought the PS4 Pro on launch day ( also got the Xbox 1 X on launch day )

but I always preferred the Xbox for the controller.
Preorders worked fine when you had to walk into a shop and out down cash to do it. Now that it’s all online and no cost up front at a lot of places it’s just scalper/bot territory.

nice way to double your money though.

better to just wait it out. It’s not like Sony is only going to make one batch of systems and that’s it.

Yes that’s true, there will be millions more PS5’s to buy.

problem is, gamers want it NOW. Like yesterday. Being the nerd tech junkie I am, I have absolutely no need for it with my 2 setups now but I still secured a pre-order just because I want one.
I’m just curious how the expanded m2 is going to work. They haven’t talked about it at all. Snap in a new one and your good?
 

At least Sony was candid about it. I really wish the company had been firm about pre-order timing like Microsoft was, when it said "it's on this day at this time." Saying "hey, orders open as soon as tomorrow!" and not making things patently clear to retailers? That's a surefire recipe for a mess. Sony should be thankful the PS5 itself looks like a good machine and will have lots of demand regardless.
 
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At least Sony was candid about it. I really wish the company had been firm about pre-order timing like Microsoft was, when it said "it's on this day at this time." Saying "hey, orders open as soon as tomorrow!" and not making things patently clear to retailers? That's a surefire recipe for a mess. Sony should be thankful the PS5 itself looks like a good machine and will have lots of demand regardless.

They probably were firm and clear. Reports are that Walmart decided to jump the gun and put up pre-orders hours early. At that point, Sony just let everyone else go as soon as they were ready.
 
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They probably were firm and clear. Reports are that Walmart decided to jump the gun and put up pre-orders hours early. At that point, Sony just let everyone else go as soon as they were ready.

Quite possible -- it just feels like it was a less coordinated effort.
 
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at least in this early batch of pre-orders, it absolutely seems like Sony has made way, way more of the higher priced disc stock available, meaning that those lucky enough to snag a pre-order are often doing so for an extra $100, even if they have no interest in the disc one.


https://twitter.com/CheapyD/status/1306626379526664195



https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulta...-to-sell-out-nightmarishly-fast/#7a068df216a5

Eurogamer has talked to a few retail sources in the UK, and they claim their allotments for digital were 25% versus 75% for disc models. Another source said it was 20% to 80% instead.

This tracks with a similar investigation Ars Technica did over the weekend with GameStops in the US, where availability ranged from 33% digital to just 13% digital, with an average of 25% digital, 75% disc PS5s overall.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulta...ailers-confirm/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
 
Now that I have both the xbox X and ps5 pre-orders I need to decide which one im keeping lol, I may cancel/sell my ps5 and wait a bit till I can get the cheap digital only version down the road. Till then I still haven't played any of the ps4 exclusives outside of 10 hours into spiderman so i can continue using that for now. All the PS games seem great but I'm more of an FPS fan and I'm honestly super excited for halo when it does launch lol
 
Amazon must have lasted about a minute before they sold out :eek:
 
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Amazon must had last about a minute before they sold out :eek:
ya they all sold out fast from every retailer, the biggest issue as usual was retailer websites not being designed to handle that flood of traffic lol. I had every Canadian retailer's website open, signed in and ready to go and the only one that worked when pre-orders went live was Walmart.
 
A new report by Financial Times says Sony is planning on bringing PS5 units from China to the US via air, rather than sea, to have enough stocks. As a result, we could see Sony lose money on the PS5 in the early months of sale.

According to the FT report, Sony is not looking to break even on PS5 sales for three years. Sony CFO, Hiroki Totoki told investors that hardware was not the focus anymore:

“I believe the essence of the competition is not the annual profits [from PS5] but how much we can expand the gaming universe over the longer term.”

“We [Sony and Microsoft] will both be supply-constrained more than demand-constrained. The battle for console demand will happen next holiday and beyond. In the beginning, I expect the shelves will be pretty empty.”

While Sony expects low initial stocks for the PS5, it’s looking at selling more PS5 units than the PS4 did from launch to end of the fiscal year, i.e. March 2021.

https://www.mysmartprice.com/gear/sony-loss-170-ps5-china-us-air-demand/
 
With exception to some Nintendo consoles, consoles as a rule are sold at an initial loss. This is standard; if a company doesn't work under this model, you should be suspicious.
 
A new report by Financial Times says Sony is planning on bringing PS5 units from China to the US via air, rather than sea, to have enough stocks. As a result, we could see Sony lose money on the PS5 in the early months of sale.

According to the FT report, Sony is not looking to break even on PS5 sales for three years. Sony CFO, Hiroki Totoki told investors that hardware was not the focus anymore:



While Sony expects low initial stocks for the PS5, it’s looking at selling more PS5 units than the PS4 did from launch to end of the fiscal year, i.e. March 2021.

https://www.mysmartprice.com/gear/sony-loss-170-ps5-china-us-air-demand/

Ouch...I mean I understand, but that's a big loss per console if that $170 is accurate.

I have a feeling they wanted $599, but got blindsided by the Xbox at $499 and had to counter.
 
Ouch...I mean I understand, but that's a big loss per console if that $170 is accurate.

I have a feeling they wanted $599, but got blindsided by the Xbox at $499 and had to counter.
It's entirely possible. After all, Microsoft and Sony were clearly playing chicken on the price so that someone (most likely Sony) would cave.

This is also why I have to laugh at the "I could build a better gaming PC for not much more" camp... er, no you can't. Even before this leak, it was generally assumed Sony was taking a loss on early units — what makes people think they could build a competitive desktop when they have to pay retail price for components?
 
I have a feeling they wanted $599, but got blindsided by the Xbox at $499 and had to counter.
There's no way. Sony has typically played the value card and the one time they didn't, they got burned. Its also a pandemic and they seem to be very aware of that. They made two SKUs again, specifically to cut even lower, without compromising the core hardware. With MS, you take a compromise on core hardware, for the lower price model.

And now with air shipping, Sony are doubling down on wanting people to be able to get Playstations. And I won't be surprised if they drop the price by next summer. AMD is moving quickly on R&D nowadays and I'm willing to bet they will have a matured process by then. Such that Sony can get lower cost internals and drop the price of the console.
 
This is a typical for console launches (availability) and more so with the leap in hardware performance this generation. Everyone that can snag one or the XBox enjoy them this season, should be awesome!
 
This is a typical for console launches (availability) and more so with the leap in hardware performance this generation. Everyone that can snag one or the XBox enjoy them this season, should be awesome!

PS2/3/4 were much much much easier to come by.
 
PS2/3/4 were much much much easier to come by.


Launch aligned the demand was an order of magnitude smaller.

Heck in 12h of pre-orders they got more incoming (pre-orders) than the first 12 weeks of the ps4 pre-order, and the ps4 was their old record setter.

Lets face it, covid forcing people to be at home has been an insane boom for gaming in all its forms, making these companies unprecedented profits like Activision blizzard announced regarding Call of Duty alone seeing a 4x in MTx spending for the last 3 months.
 
PS2/3/4 were much much much easier to come by.
You are remembering those launches incorrectly. The PS3, especially, suffered from huge shortages for months. The price kept demand a little lower at first, but they were still incredibly hard to find through X-Mas. The PS4 had the advantage of a thriving etail market but it still had supply issues into the next year. For the PS2 I remember several television news reports about how hard it was to find during the holiday buying season.
 
I worked at a gamestop during the PS2 launch. It was not easy to find anywhere for months after release.
 
I was expecting $499 retail as were many of my friends. I don't see a problem
 
You are remembering those launches incorrectly. The PS3, especially, suffered from huge shortages for months. The price kept demand a little lower at first, but they were still incredibly hard to find through X-Mas. The PS4 had the advantage of a thriving etail market but it still had supply issues into the next year. For the PS2 I remember several television news reports about how hard it was to find during the holiday buying season.
I waited outside BBY for about 30 minutes(i was at end of the line), walked in, walked out with a ps3. PS2 was same story, but Walmart. PS4 and Switch were ridiculously easy, casually went to amazon and pre-ordered, didn't think about either again till launch day.

If you want a proper comparison to 2020 PS4, i would say 1988 Super Mario Brothers 2. Took me 8 or 9 months to get my copy. The reasons behind the shortages are indeed different, but the struggle to get one feels similar.
 
I waited outside BBY for about 30 minutes(i was at end of the line), walked in, walked out with a ps3. PS2 was same story, but Walmart. PS4 and Switch were ridiculously easy, casually went to amazon and pre-ordered, didn't think about either again till launch day.

If you want a proper comparison to 2020 PS4, i would say 1988 Super Mario Brothers 2. Took me 8 or 9 months to get my copy. The reasons behind the shortages are indeed different, but the struggle to get one feels similar.

You do realize that anecdotal reports mean jack shit, right?
 

Just, in general. Singular reports don't really mean much when we're talking country or global scale launches. Of course some people were able to get systems day one, and even easily. However, there were only 500k PS2's on launch day in the US and under 1 and a half million by the end of the year. There were under 200K PS3 units in the US for launch. There were a lot more PS4's for launch and through the year, but they kept selling out when they showed up due to a rather immense amount of hype for the system. Due to changes in the market between the PS3 and PS4 it might have been a little easier to get systems as you could just "camp out" on Amazon or other etailers instead of relying on local stores.

Now, all that said, Sony just confirmed that there will be no PS5 systems on store shelves during launch. They will all only be sold online. That is a lot different from any time in the past.
 
Just, in general. Singular reports don't really mean much when we're talking country or global scale launches. Of course some people were able to get systems day one, and even easily. However, there were only 500k PS2's on launch day in the US and under 1 and a half million by the end of the year. There were under 200K PS3 units in the US for launch. There were a lot more PS4's for launch and through the year, but they kept selling out when they showed up due to a rather immense amount of hype for the system. Due to changes in the market between the PS3 and PS4 it might have been a little easier to get systems as you could just "camp out" on Amazon or other etailers instead of relying on local stores.

Now, all that said, Sony just confirmed that there will be no PS5 systems on store shelves during launch. They will all only be sold online. That is a lot different from any time in the past.
What I mean is that you can't deny people's individual experiences. I don't know how larger is the demand but product launches this year so far seem to be terrible in general. And I'm leaning towards supply being low instead of the demand being magnitudes higher. I doubt there are that much more people wanting a ps5 on launch than there were people wanting a ps4 on launch.
 
What I mean is that you can't deny people's individual experiences. I don't know how larger is the demand but product launches this year so far seem to be terrible in general. And I'm leaning towards supply being low instead of the demand being magnitudes higher. I doubt there are that much more people wanting a ps5 on launch than there were people wanting a ps4 on launch.

According to Sony they've sold more PS5 pre-orders in 12 days than PS4's in 12 weeks. While a lot are delayed, this still means they opened up pre-orders for multiple millions of units. The PS4 sold-through (as in, got into customer's hands) over 4.5m units by the end of 2013. They plan to sell 7.5m units by the end of March (for reference, the PS4 sold somewhere between 6 and 7m in the same time frame). That's a pretty significant uptick in demand.
 
And I'm leaning towards supply being low instead of the demand being magnitudes higher. I doubt there are that much more people wanting a ps5 on launch than there were people wanting a ps4 on launch.
Opposite is true. Consumer demand for electronics is through roof. Blame Covid and people at home more, blame anxiety buying, whatever. I see historical pricing charts all day long for hundreds of varied consumer electronics and average selling price and volume is highest it's ever been. And it's starting to trend even higher as we get closer to holidays.
 
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