Sony Announces PS5 Console Pricing, Exclusive Games Launch Lineup

[Trovaricon]

Given that the US is seen as one market yet has wildly varying levels of sales tax as these are determined by states and not on a federal level, sales tax is never included in MSRPs there. Heck, in most states I've been to sales tax isn't even listed as part of the price in stores, it's just tacked on when you go to pay. It's an incredibly stupid system.

So, just to be clear, in Europe you'll be paying €whatever-the-game-is-announced-at, while in the US, depending on where you are, you'll be paying $whatever-the-game-is-announced-at + tax (which can range from nothing at all to definitely noticeable). Is that fair? That's debatable. Used to be that EU pre-tax prices were lowered due to higher VAT levels, but these days that's a rarity. Likely a consequence of ever-slimming margins in the electronics business overall.

Avg. VAT in European union is barely over 20%. Four biggest members have standard VAT rate of 16/20/22/21% (DE/FR/IT/ES).
Exchange rate between currencies in question is almost identical to VAT. 1€ = 1.18$
It is a complete rip-off. Because why not. There is no other reason which can be said with a straight face.

 

[Valantar]

Avg. VAT in European union is barely over 20%. Four biggest members have standard VAT rate of 16/20/22/21% (DE/FR/IT/ES).
Exchange rate between currencies in question is almost identical to VAT. 1€ = 1.18$
It is a complete rip-off. Because why not. There is no other reason which can be said with a straight face.

Uhm... "barely over 20%". But you're complaining of $60 (before tax) v. €70 (after tax) or $70 v. €80 (same) pricing. Both of which are well below 20%. As I said, the main change here is that game distributors/console makers no longer seem to want to eat the VAT as a margin loss. Which sucks, absolutely, but calling it a complete rip-off? That's just silly. If they had instead gone to same amount pricing in the EU but without VAT (i.e. just announced MSRPs with "VAT not included" in the fine print) we would be paying €72 or €84 for those games. Of course Americans in states with no sales tax get cheap games, but those in states that tax game sales on a similar level to EU countries pay just as much. If anything, it's indicative of the EU becoming a much bigger gaming market in recent years - after all, it's much easier to accept slim margins in hope of building a customer base in a small market than to do the same in a large established market.

Im not happy with the price hike by any means, but at least I hope this trickles back to the least profitable parts of the sales chain at least. Back when I worked in game retail, we routinely had about 3% margins on many games, meaning our effective margin was something like -7%. Distributors get more, publishers get lots, and developers are again typically left with chump change. Both ends of that chain can use a boost in revenue.

 

[Octopuss]

Wasn't the thing supposed to cost like $900? Or is that actually the Xbox?

 

[kn00tcn]

Wasn't the thing supposed to cost like $900? Or is that actually the Xbox?

nothing was supposed to cost anything before the announcements this month

 

[Valantar]

Wasn't the thing supposed to cost like $900? Or is that actually the Xbox?

There were rumors all over the place, but in the end we have price parity at $499 for both fully featured consoles, a good deal at $399 for the PS5 digital, and an equally good deal at $299 for the XSS. Some people were speculating that these would be crazy expensive due to the very high end hardware in them (especially compared to the current gen), but thankfully console makers are once again selling hardware with zero or near zero profit.

 

[renz496]

Sony Play Station's strong point has always the exclusive titles and less about the hardware. Microsoft tend to outgun them in terms of hardware and pricing, but that does not deter people from still buying a PS over a Xbox. In my opinion, if you have a good gaming PC, there is very little reason to get a Xbox since most of the games you find on Xbox, you can get them on PC too. I would choose a console over PC for gaming due to (1) exclusive game titles, and (2) avoid the need to upgrade your hardware to keep up with the games. It is true that we get better visuals on PC, but that is only if you can afford good hardware. A console at USD 499 gets you a capable and fully functioning gaming system, whereas USD 499 can only get you a good CPU or graphic card for your PC.

for me exclusive is the only thing that can really sway towards console. point no. 2 can be more subjective. yes you need to upgrade your hardware if you always want to play on higher settings. but pc is about options and flexibility. with console there is no need to upgrade the hardware (well unless the pro version comes out) but game developer also tune down their graphical setting on future games to keep the playable frame rates (and this even counting the low level optimization that can be done on console). plus backwards compatibility. this have always an issue with console. with pc this is less of an issue. for the most part it comes down to operating system issue for windows based machine. right now i can still installed games that made in the last 10 to 15 years and the game still able to run on newer machine or operating system. sometimes there might be issues but if we look around there were fixed by mod community or somewhere when we can no longer expect support from the game developer that build the game itself. outlets like GOG even try to do something about this issue where they try to make older games work on newer operating system.

 

[Trovaricon]

Uhm... "barely over 20%". But you're complaining of $60 (before tax) v. €70 (after tax) or $70 v. €80 (same) pricing. Both of which are well below 20%. As I said, the main change here is that game distributors/console makers no longer seem to want to eat the VAT as a margin loss. Which sucks, absolutely, but calling it a complete rip-off? That's just silly. If they had instead gone to same amount pricing in the EU but without VAT (i.e. just announced MSRPs with "VAT not included" in the fine print) we would be paying €72 or €84 for those games.

You are mistaken, or did not understand my reasoning. I am not comparing numbers, but value they hold.
$60 vs. 70€
70*1.18*0.8=$66.08 (eu price before vat in usd)

Of course, exchange rate evolves, but are they already counting with usd/eur rate 1.071 (=worst rate in 1Y during q1 2020)

 

[Valantar]

You are mistaken, or did not understand my reasoning. I am not comparing numbers, but value they hold.
$60 vs. 70€
70*1.18*0.8=$66.08 (eu price before vat in usd)

Of course, exchange rate evolves, but are they already counting with usd/eur rate 1.071 (=worst rate in 1Y during q1 2020)

I know they aren't accounting for the exchange rate, but they never have - even at previous exchange rates the previous $60 (before tax) = €60 (after tax) was notably unfair in the opposite direction. Given that wages in the US have been effectively stagnant since the 70s or 80s while they have risen notably in the same period in the EU, one could reasonably call this a correction (though the average US worker still out-earns the average EU inhabitant, worker). Still, expecting Sony or game publishers to begin accounting for currency fluctuations in a way that could see them lose profits fundamentally misunderstands the motivations of corporations in a capitalist society. Their only interest is in maximizing profits, i.e. they will push prices as high as they can without hurting sales or becoming less competitive. Customers are only valuable as a source of revenue.

 

[kmetek]

wages in europe? yeah some countries are good, here in mine.

80€ is 10% of my monthly pay. so SONY no thanks.

Sticking with PS4 a little longer.

 

[Valantar]

wages in europe? yeah some countries are good, here in mine.

80€ is 10% of my monthly pay. so SONY no thanks.

Sticking with PS4 a little longer.

Yeah, low wage countries always get screwed in situations like these. I mean, there's a reason why the PS3 and X360 are still very popular in a lot of parts of the world.

 

[AsRock]

Because like most Japanese companies, they only really give a damn about the Japanese & North American markets, everywhere else may as well be the dark side of the moon.

Could not possibly be extra transport cost ?. Sure it's not 10$ most likely but still

 

[R0H1T]

console makers are once again selling hardware with zero or near zero profit.

They're selling it a loss, no way MS or Sony are making these anywhere near break even margins atm!

 

[Parn]

I don't have a PS4, but I really want to play FF7 Remake. This is about the only game that would make me interested in a PS5. Maybe I should wait as the main storyline in FF7 Remake hasn't been finished yet. Maybe SquareSoft would remake FF8 and 9 as well. If that was the case, it would certainly make PS5 worth more to me.

 

[randompeep]

Which offer? The only game that's included is Astro's Playroom. The rest of the list is first-party games available at launch - for purchase, that is. There are no game+console bundles (at least that have been announced).

I'm talking about Play Station Plus Collection, if it's either or not a limited time offer.

 

[Raendor]

Given I skipped over the PS4 Pro the past refresh, I think I'll go ahead and jump to PS5. It'll be a solid upgrade to my old PS4 and continue serving as my primary BD player and media center. I just wish it came in black or even classic gray to keep it somewhat hidden within the black media cabinet where the PS4 resides. That white is really going to stick out behind the glass door.

If they release slim versions in black down the line - I might pick one. But definitely not this humongous atrocious spaceship abomination with no games as it is now. Then there won’t be any need to hide it.

 

[Valantar]

I'm talking about Play Station Plus Collection, if it's either or not a limited time offer.

PS Plus Collection seems to be Sony's response to Xbox Game Pass. I.e. a subscription service that includes access to various titles - in this case they're promoting first-party games and exclusives, though it remains to be seen how broad the selection turns out to be. If they are serious about competing with game pass this service will obviously continue to be available as long as they aren't losing money on it. It would make very, very little sense for a subscription service to be a limited time offer - it's not like you'll own the games, after all.

 

[randompeep]

PS Plus Collection seems to be Sony's response to Xbox Game Pass. I.e. a subscription service that includes access to various titles - in this case they're promoting first-party games and exclusives, though it remains to be seen how broad the selection turns out to be. If they are serious about competing with game pass this service will obviously continue to be available as long as they aren't losing money on it. It would make very, very little sense for a subscription service to be a limited time offer - it's not like you'll own the games, after all.

Good point mate! I'm gonna buy one of the next revisions of PS5 anyways, so till then I know to NOT buy these games.