News PS5 price and pre-orders: What we know (and don't know)

Zachary 99

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Feb 24, 2020
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In retrospect the price wasn't the leading cause of the xbox flopping. You have to consoder the fact that xbox's stupid anti-consuner policies didn't help, coupled with the general lack of focus on games, which is still kinda neglected over hyping the hardware itself, and the fact the system was so weak. So, basically a perfect storm of bad that nobody could consciously retread. With that said, aside from hardware, xbox haven't learned much at all and kinda done a 180, actually.


fast forward and both systems are on par with a 1.18TF discrepancy and hardware (nothing major) when both will target 4k 60 easy with increased particle effects, ray tracing and all that jazz (based on the URE5 demo running on ps5 with 8k textures). With that said, isn't and never was enough to win a console genereration. The fact of the matter is the OG PS3 at 600USD wasn't too great of an issue when you put it's price issues aside and into perspective, for instance:


Firstly, PS3 was perhaps very ambitious and perhaps a little too confident in the system at the time when they were selling them generally at a loss, however, the majority of console manufacturers do regardless. With that said, selling slightly more expensive systems with a certain number of units manufacturered and available makes this less of a logistical issue when the company start to break even naturally with a steady flow of demand instead of jumping the gun.


On that note, however, it wasn't hardware that closes the sales gap, though it did help being more powerful than the 360, but a cheaper revision in the form of the slim and the games with The Last of Us, widely being regarded as the definitive console defining moment, that boosted Sony prospects amd you notice this trend when you analize the data pertaining the the release of the system. It's precisely why games like uncharted, god of war, spiderman and the last of us sold systems that have a common theme that they all sold 10 million or more copies which boost sales witj bundles, etc. Currently xbox do not have any strength with forst party game, despite kimda tasting that sucess at the launch of gears, halo 3 and idk maybe a few others.


the bottom line is, If a hardware pissing contest truly equates sales, then the Xbox One X would not have flopped how it did as the damage control it was for the OG XBONE, even though the 500 usd price of the One X after the initial backlash and the confusion surrounding the XBONE S was pretty tone deaf. Sony kept pushing games just how they have now with smart marketing in spite of hardware that was slightly behind the One X, and guess what? The bonus of nailing the price, having an easier to develop system, having a flawless roster of games and a huge loyal fanbase was the perfect storm that drove the final nail in the coffin for Xbox.

Hardware alone is not the only factor and, if you truly think that way, then save money in the long run and buy a PC. Simple. You don't buy a console for the absolute defining cutting edge-- More on that later...


Secondly, Regardless of the price issue, they offered backwards compatibility from the start, which was pretty major then and still is now, considering it wasn't all to common in the console space outside of nintendo, and considering the recent generational buzz surrounding it, even going into next gen, I'd say the price was unfairly criticised for something so ambitious, influential and forward thinking.


Lastly, you can hardly say the PS3 was remotely the same situation as the XBONE since Sony had no control of issues that also factored in development time with new architecture. To bring the point back slightly, the backwards compatibility was only an afterthought. The point is Sony learned form that delivered almost the best selling Sony console next to PS2 with 108 million sales. The point is, in spite of a sales slump that eventually caught up, that didn't stop them from pushing some great titles and that isn't remedied by hardware brute force. There's no good spending [X] ammount of money if there's nothing justifying it and, to a lesser extent, xbox had but the same titles now are old hat.


On the issue of selling systems. Xbox are way too complacent and have no marketing or resources poured into first party studios outside of the usual suspects a la the old had roster of "oh wow another one [sarcasm]" coupled with their general mediocrity. The fact of the matter is xbox have never stopped being anti-consumer, only smarter about it by pandering to the lowest common denominator that don't know better and charging a premium for a thin veiled excuse to extort money out of them with subscriptions.


See, the issue isn't simple, while Xbox sold less aystems, they rely more on services. Ultimately, and this links in with what I said about paying more in the long run with an xbox, xbox generally don't care about games and treat them as some sort of consoaltion prize (just look at the tragerdy that was crackdown 3) e.g. so bad it had to be buried in game pass. For instance, you are paying 10 USD a month for a pass, right? OK, then what if, like netflix, a very small portion of thise games actually appeal to you? Then, essentially, what you have is a system designed to lock you in regardless of whether you play more games, and stick with me here, because you don't actually own those games and if you want to acess them, then you have to pay more money. So essentially you are locked in unless you bite the bullet and actualy pay for the games either digitally or physically new or 2nd hand.


The thing that bothers me is that's not pro consumer, like at all. Further, you actually have to pay a subscription for online, even for "free to play games" which is dumb. The very obvious thing most don't seem to get is that this is a lazy tactic deployed to actually negate competing with games and generally showing any ambition aside from slapping "most powerful system" and hoping the games they dont make, yet love to slapp their logo on, does the work for them which consequently creates a monopoly just like netflix and just like literally any streaming service consequently creating stagnation. Like could you imagine if xbox tried to push games similar to GOW, spiderman, uncharted, horizon, etc? That would be amazing and boost sales easily. But alas we got acaleboujd canned. Great.

Anyways, you pay like 500 for the xbox (it was trash), you pay another 500 for either the high storage capacity one s or xbox one x for "graffiks" and shell out 50 and 10 bucks for gold and game pass respectively. If you break that down that comes to a total of: 2,190 which is in the territory of a PC that has way more headroom and graphical potential, or even outright power if you source the parts and look for sales. Furthermore, there's no proposition to be made with xbox, considering it is still a Microsoft platform. A service is just lazy and anti-consumer that undermines the whole point really.

Finally amd simply, games come first. Exclusives should necesitste competition with more games and be beneficial to consumers on either and/ or platform, yet xbox seem to try their hardest to avoid selling 100 million systems (instead selling "services" to rake in the cash from lemmings and insist on recycling a roster of games that have any effort at all put into them. It may be controversial but their first party games mostly suck and the usual suspects died after 3. Cuphead, sunset overdrive and ori were passible, but ultimately not enough.

So in conclusion:

A 100 - 150 price bump is not much and I wouldn't expect the XBSX to be cheaper in the region of 500 based on the specs. Regardless, sony instantly have the upper hand with the established quality/ reputation of games hardware that is on par and way more features such as the dual sense controller and the new 3d audio core to push the other half of immersive gaming. It's not a big deal even if it was 600 comsidering refrehses and slim itterations exist.