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Deleted member 11852
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It's a placeholder. There is NO WAY retail knows the price before Microsoft and Sony have formally announced it. Zero.
That's not to say that XSX (or PS5) won't be 599.
How to sell next-gen consoles, Marketing, Positioning, and Pricing [2020]
- Thread starter steveOrino
- Start date
That's not to say that XSX (or PS5) won't be 599.Still hoping $599 is the placeholder value to not tip their hand.
I believe the above video has Alanah stating it was a picture of a sticker with some "Do not display until X" on it.
Fake leak to test the waters? Photoshopped lie for shits and grins? Just one of many with different prices on them? Completely legit?
I do find it a little hard to believe that there is a price decided upon, that stickers have been made, shipped out and stored... and this is about the only leak we have on that. The other "leaks" being potential placeholder info on websites or an extrapolation based on prize money. Just seems like too many people would have to know not to have more confirmation available.
I really hope these "leaks" and speculations are dead wrong. I am certain Sony and MS have endless market studies stating this price can be supported (assuming the price turns out to be correct.) That my evidence is just personal and anecdotal. I am just as certain they had these studies before the PS3 announcement and the Xbox One with Kinect. Maybe announce your price around the time the second American stimulus checks are out? A bit like tax return season or a tax free day - meaning you look for a boost because of the extra money available. You launch in November, sell out for the Holiday season at whatever price, and see if it languishes and needs a price cut in February or March?
I know. Doom and gloom and no real evidence. Yet I can only see disaster or near disaster if these price speculations hold water.
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I agree.
Completely unrealistic for S to be half the price of X. I can't believe people are genuinely entertaining a brand new console launching at 2000s prices in 2020. It's just..
I agree.
Completely unrealistic for S to be half the price of X. I can't believe people are genuinely entertaining a brand new console launching at 2000s prices in 2020. It's just..
Maybe it is just me and my little circle. The talking heads at DF and other Podcasts don't seem too put off by it.
I can only tell you that for me, at $600 and $400, I am not a buyer. Stimulus check? Extra cash? Saving and don't have to pay for the order till it ships? Doesn't matter. "Value!" doesn't matter at some point. I am only willing, for any product, to pay so much for what it offers. Beyond that, it doesn't matter. Same way I don't care about eggs that cost $5 a dozen or attempts to up-sell me on fancy wheels on a car.
Just have to hope people are not like me I suppose.
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Part of deciding what to charge of launch is maximising the number of people who can and will pay for your console. Early adopters are generally those with more disposable income and I doubt Microsoft or Sony will have difficulty selling their launch allocations even if the consoles are in the 500-600 range
Your day will come when it's been out for a while and they reduce the price. How quickly they reduce price will be quite telling.
Really? And where does the information that has been circulating on the net for several months that half of the S model costs as much as X come from?It's a placeholder. There is NO WAY retail knows the price before Microsoft and Sony have formally announced it. Zero.
(proelit?
)It's interesting that the PS4 Pro is still selling for $400 and upwards (and fairly well by all accounts) and the slim is at $300 and upwards (and doing incredibly well), yet ....
... when it comes to next gen, $400 for a Lockhart with a big jump in GPU, massive jump in CPU, and staggeringly large jump in storage (unheard of since carts) would be seen as unacceptably expensive.
I'd love to see lower, but it not normal for next gen systems with high BOMs to sell for the same or a few tens of percent more than withered tech that was in some ways limited 7 years ago.
... when it comes to next gen, $400 for a Lockhart with a big jump in GPU, massive jump in CPU, and staggeringly large jump in storage (unheard of since carts) would be seen as unacceptably expensive.
I'd love to see lower, but it not normal for next gen systems with high BOMs to sell for the same or a few tens of percent more than withered tech that was in some ways limited 7 years ago.
The launch price isn't only about the launch.
You can't launch at 600 then couple months later drop it by 100 to 500.
The only reason XO could cut price by so much was the removal of kinnect.
If you do find the need to cut it by a huge amount it shows that you have failed in the launch and on going.
It doesn't show that you've milked your early adopters which wouldn't go down well if they thought that either.
Yes, i understand. But, this is where ms's strategy comes into play.
Mostly granted.
2 questions/ considerations:
1. Has any launch ever had a high price for the holiday season and then a steep price cut in the following quarter, or even the 2nd quarter after, without having sales/ perception problems ala' the Xbox One or PS3? Seems like this could have been done in the past but hasn't been. Not that I can recall anyway. The following "Holiday Season" tended to be bundles more than price reductions. - Again, going by my faulty memory.
2. The problem with "My day will come." - I have pretty much always been an early adopter. There will be plenty of extra cash around in the near future. Which I will mostly be saving but between stimulus, small inheritance, and insurance price cut - I will have money to burn by almost anyone's standard. And yet, I balk at that price. Extra money around or not.
I can certainly see your point about launch allocations getting sold out almost regardless of price. I just don't recall it being done before beyond serious issues.
Side note: Had a family member that stayed up late into the night to be a launch PS3 intending to sell it on eBay for more than he paid. 6 months later and he still couldn't sell it at the price he paid for it. Always felt a little bad for him on that one. He has not forgotten.
Edit: Last kinda side point. If my day comes, and it is 2 years later, I may well just skip it entirely. Basically because I would be wondering if it will be replaced soon with a "Pro" or "Slim" model of its own and saying to myself that I got that far and am just fine. Why bother for a 2 year old device? Could always just upgrade my video card....
You can always wait and get something better in the tech world. You save the most by not buying at all.
Both.
In a vacuum a $400 Lockhart could be seen a quite acceptable but at say $50 less than a full next gen PS5 Digital Only might be a problem if you aren't already ensconced in the MS ecosystem. IF you are already in the MS lifestyle then you might was well wait a bit for the price drop.
I could see a 299 intro price for the launch to get a few into people's hands quickly and then price drop here when Halo comes out or another big MS exclusive.
... and yet I still buy and upgrade. Timing and price matter. I should be exactly the kind of buyer that would be targeted as a launch purchaser. The same way I looked at the projected console specs and selected PC components that would match it, exceed it or allow me to upgrade easily. The same way I looked at tv's and decided to wait until the TCL 6 series gets a proper review to decide whether to buy that or cave and wait till Black Friday sales on a CX. The same way I have been looking for a new projector for the better part of a year after ours blew up, and decided to wait on the performance/ price of LED based projectors getting more competitive. And the same way I look at my busted PS4, which has been longer than a year, and decided to wait and just live with my PC, until the new consoles come out. At least 1 new console, at least 1 new display and a new projector are my highest disposable income priorities for the next year. Give or take.
I do upgrade. I have almost always been an early adopter. I have/ will have money to burn. I am not someone unwilling to invest in this kind of device. There comes that point where waiting/ not buying isn't worth it. (Like waiting for DDR5.) Even with a lone busted console and money to burn, those prices exceed my red lines. And yes, that is obviously just me. But when you feel you are in the target audience, and then suddenly (again, assuming the current "leaks" are correct) you are not.... you start to wonder who is. And just how many of them there are.
Not to mention pandemic and big economic recession worldwide.
Though maybe the first 10-20 million units will go to rich people. For instance most software engineers have worked from home and their employers are relatively unaffected.
Yeah MS could do with being careful about pricing relative to PS5. If Lockhart doesn't have an optical drive either and it's only $50 less than the PS5 then it's pretty redundant.Then again, I think the LH BOM will be a lot more than $50 lower than PS5. Needs to be a $100 retail gap minimum IMO.
I guess it's hard for us to know how much any of them are prepared to bleed. I'm sure lots of very highly paid people have been sweating over spreadsheets.
Regarding S and X BOMS, I don't think the difference will be as large as $200, but the retail price difference might be. I could see the X being used to lower the average overall loss. If you could get 1 in 3 customers to get the X where you only lose $40 instead of the S where you lose $80, you've kind of won. Or at least lost by less.
Things change over time though. With inflation, $400 in 2005 (the great selling 360 Pro) would be $540 according to some online calculator I found. MS intentionally ate big losses to gain market share from Sony. The question is whether they'd still do so again now that streaming, PC, and Gamepass very important pillars to also invest in.
For sure though, if the XSX comes out as low as $499 then that's insanely good value. And a $300 Series S would be pretty great too.
If MS aren't determined to be bold from the start, then I think it's probably Sony that get to decide the pricing as they're so dominant. And so far, doesn't look like MS are being bold on pricing.
Game Pass Ultimate is $14.99/mo of that $34.99/mo. It includes Game Pass for Console, Live Gold, Game Pass for PC & xCloud. No need for game bundles if you buy All Access. You'll have access to hundreds of games over the 24 months of your service.
BTW, all All Access bundles are out of stock & they discontinued One S All Digital & One X.
My thinking is they will move One S down to $19.99/mo, provided they don't discontinue it. Series S would come in at $22.99/mo or $24.99/mo. One X would fall in at the next higher rate. I don't think they would go higher than $29.99/mo but included them for comparison.
Tommy McClain
