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During Sony’s New York conference yesterday many things were revealed about the upcoming PS4 and the features that will come with it. Executives on the stage discussed how the machine will tout a chip containing eight X86-64 cores, 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM, and a “Supercharged PC architecture.” They also were very keen on emphasizing how the PS4 will embrace the social side of gaming and allow gamers to easily stream their gameplay. While there was no shortage of information on said features there was a woeful lack of information on two of them. How exactly will the bad boy look and how much havoc will it wreck on our wallets? While Sony was mum on the price, game retailers were quick to swoop in and slap on a few creative estimates of their own.
The most noticeable of which being EB Games. The product page for the PS4 has the preorder price of $899 in big bold letters placed just under an image that contains a small caption which reads: “Final price yet to be announced.” Most shocking are the early estimates on games like “Knack,” “Killzone: Shadow Fall,” and “Drive Club” which are set to $118 a pop. While these are obviously labeled as placeholders, it’s a little unsettling to wonder what caused the popular gaming retailer to value Sony’s lineup so high. Hopefully it is more along the lines of random guess work and does not actually possess a method to the madness.
When the PS3 was first released, gamers had to reach deep in their pockets and fork over anywhere from $499-$599 for the entertainment system. Sales trailed to the point that Sony’s marketing boss John Koller admitted the following in a 2012 Kotaku interview.
Why we’re in third… you know, there’s a lot of things that happen in the market that cause sales to occur. I think we’ve been very staunch in our belief that there’s a certain value behind the PS3 and there’s certain kinds of games for the PS3 that have stood behind that. There’s no secret that we opened behind a high price point. And certainly others got a relatively nice head start on us because of that. That’s certainly been part of it.
If Sony follows up with a high figure for the PS4, it would be quite a stretch for marketing analysts to predict skyrocketing sales right out of the gate. For now pricing information is strictly a matter of e-retailers slapping on numbers as they see fit. If the reaction to these astronomical figures is any indication, it is highly unlikely Sony will attempt the gun ho move of giving the gaming peripheral yet another big price tag.
Now excuse me while I go search my couch cushions in case I am wrong.
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Mitra Faridian first joined the site in 2011 under the handle “Persian Poetess.” Her gaming and entertainment taste is very eclectic and she’s always open to a fun new virtual adverture. Email her at the following address: mitra [at] dragonblogger.com