Important day for the world of video games. The E3 show held in Los Angeles begins today with several very relevant keynotes. Among them, those of Microsoft and Sony, which could reveal, among other things, what the selling prices of the new Xbox and PS4 One?
The rumor mill and early indications have already hinted at what might be those prices. In the case of the Xbox One, an ad on Amazon Germany seems to have made it clear that the initial price of the Microsoft console will be 599 euros, but other sources point to lower prices, as in the case of the PS4.
Thus, the investment firm Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter and suggested that prices would be much more attractive in its output: the Xbox One cost $ 399, while the PlayStation 4 would be around $ 349. In both cases not taken into account subsidies would cost more attractive in those consoles for end users
The One copy Xbox model mobile subsidies
These subsidies would particularly affect the Xbox One, it could be quite expensive if users, especially in the U.S., the gain with some kind of pay-tv contract
Given the new capabilities of Microsoft’s console in this regard, some producers could follow the model of the mobile and the operators, but moving it to this segment of the consoles as multimedia entertainment centers.
We believe that the ability to watch TV from a cable operator, satellite telecommunications or through the Xbox One could make such subscriptions producing impelled through a console with subsidies in exchange for a multi-year contract. The consoles need to be “always connected” seems to mean that they will ever need broadband connection, which suggests that Internet providers also have an incentive to offer subsidies.
The Microsoft model looks smart: with these attractive subsidies (consoles could go even free in some contracts) would attract a large number of users, and that in turn attract the developer community harder.
Sony should be aggressive in pricing
Fulfilled those predictions for Xbox One, what is clear is that Sony should raise an aggressive pricing strategy. As noted Pachter himself, the high base price of the PS3 affected long-term popularity. Those 599 euros for the 60 GB version (the only one that included almost essential HDMI port) probably scared many potential buyers.
However, at the time the Blu-ray units were particularly expensive and initial production gave many missteps by the novelty of the format. In fact, supply problems caused the delay of the arrival of the PS3 to Europe, which did not occur until March 2007. The unique PS3 processors also did not help too much and those components so exclusive were the cause of these high initial prices.
Today these production problems seem unlikely to exist: with the adoption of a traditional x86 AMD APUs that paragraph seems well covered. The same goes for your graphics card or the Blu-ray probably should also be part of the PS4.
The only special costs could increase the price of the PS4 is interesting that GDDR5 memory will be starring in the Sony console, and it is clearly more expensive than integrated DDR3 memory on the Xbox One But it is also important to that in principle the PS4 does not include a peripheral like Kinect, which already should significantly increase the price of the Xbox One.
Pools and conclusions
Pachter is certainly not the reporter, who has hit more such predictions, and indeed the prices reflected by its consultant, and supported by other analysts, I seem excessively low, especially considering that we are talking about the first edition of a new generation of consoles.
Considering all the above-binding in the Xbox Kinect One, GDDR5 memory on the PS4-it seems likely that Microsoft console costs more than Sony, and in both cases the price could be placed somewhere between the estimates of these analysts cost and what previous generations.
In my opinion, the price of the Xbox One will be $ 499, while the PlayStation 4 would be $ 449 for base models. From there the arrival of subsidies seems likely in the case of the Xbox One, but only in the United States, where the PVR function seems totally geared to that market.
