Sony’s PlayStation 5 will “emphasise value” says Sony’s Jim Ryan

When Sony revealed the PlayStation 5 last week, the company remained silent on pricing, focusing their event on their future games and the reveal of the console itself. 

With the PlayStation 5, Sony claims that their system will deliver a “paradigm shift” for both game developers and gamers alike. This will be accomplished by the console’s new hardware features, such as solid state storage and the system’s use of 3D audio. In addition to this, the console will also feature stronger CPU and GPU hardware than ever before. 

With these hardware enhancements, Sony’s PlayStation 5 will be an expensive console. SSD storage is expensive, and so are the other hardware aspects of PlayStation 5. Sony will counter this somewhat with the release of a digital-only PlayStation 5 console, but the cost of a Blu-Ray drive is a minor aspect of the system total build cost. 

When discussing pricing, Sony’s focus is on value, emphasising that the cost of their new hardware will deliver higher quality games and open up new possibilities for developers. This costly hardware will reward consumers with better gaming experiences, which is what Sony means when it talks about value. Let’s be clear, the PS5 will be expensive, but Sony’s plan is to convince you that it’s a price worth paying. 

The Diskless PS5 won’t be cheaper because it will cost less to produce

As we have said before, the Blu-Ray drive on the PlayStation 5 is not the most costly thing on the console’s bill of materials. Removing it will not make the PlayStation 5 significantly cheaper, but it will force gamers to purchase games through the PlayStation Store. This will allow Sony to earn larger margins on the games they sell, allowing them to earn back their money faster on diskless PlayStation 5 units.

In this case, offering a lower-cost console at launch will secure Sony more money from future game sales, which is great news for Sony. However, this will create a dire situation for gaming retailers, as higher PSN games sales will remove sales from other online or high street retailers. This could bring an end to games retail as we know it.  

You can join the discussion on the PlayStation 5’s pricing on the OC3D Forums.