Recently a report surfaced which claims that the next console from Sony, namely the Playstation 6, will cost around $960 solely in terms of component prices which means the total price for consumers will easily go past the $1000 mark. And needless to say, it has drawn huge concerns over the possible price of the PS6 amid the currently overpriced condition of the industry which would make gaming in general far more expensive than it’s ever been. However, during Sony’s latest Q&A session, CEO, Hideaki Nishino has stated that the company doesn’t intend to sell it’s hardware at significant loss, which is perfectly understandable.
He was asked the following question: “Considering consumer behavior, could you update us on your current thinking regarding hardware pricing and profitability? For the next-generation platform, is it reasonable to assume that your pricing will continue to prioritize profitability of the hardware, as it does today?”
And to which, Nishino answered: “First, we regard hardware as the base for providing the gaming experience, and by offering products such as the PlayStation Portal Remote Player (PS Portal), we aim to provide experiences tailored to users’ play styles beyond the living room, which has traditionally been considered the primary usage environment.
“As for pricing, it is not realistic for us to absorb all component cost increases, and we have already implemented some price increases outside Japan. At present, however, sales are proceeding as planned, and we do not believe this has led to a decline in customer demand.”
He continued: “As a principle, we do not intend to sell hardware at significant losses. At the same time, we are carefully monitoring the market and continuing to evaluate our approach. We believe it is important for us to make every effort to ensure that customers fully understand the value we provide in relation to pricing.”
It seems the next-gen consoles from both Sony and Microsoft will easily cost north of $1000 which pushes gaming to a premier, almost luxury category that many players won’t prefer in any way. However, it there’s one game that can successfully build a bridge between the players and to the significantly expensive next-gen gaming, it’s going to be GTA 6 as one of the main USPs of both the PS6 and the Xbox Project Helix might be the ability to play Rockstar’s open world behemoth at fully maxed out visual settings. And it’s a well-known adage that software sells hardware, so GTA 6 might be the game that creates the pull factor for the next-gen consoles.
