One major misconception people often make is that they assume they represent the average person. You won’t pay $1,000 for an all-digital walled garden console, but there are a bunch of people who just buy the next console to keep playing Fifa or Madden or whatever, and don’t pay any attention to any of this. Sony is banking on those people continuing to buy their products regardless, allowing them to make more money charging more for cheaper products, even if they lose some of their more well-informed consumers in the process.
The point is, we don’t know how many people there are who would buy at that price point because it’s as yet untested. Most of the people with PS5s now got them when they were $500 or less. I’m genuinely interested to see how a console with a 4 digit starting price fares. It’s a given that the PS6 will sell out at launch even if it’s $2000; it’s what happens after the demand of the hardcore gamers with excessive disposable income is satiated that will be interesting to see.
You’re right, we don’t know. Hopefully everyone will collectively agree that it’s not worth the price, but I’ve unfortunately seen too many companies blatantly fuck with their consumers only to have record profits to think this is going to be any different.
Oh, yeah, that’ll happen. The tried and true method of making massive profits is to sacrifice long-term stability for short-term revenue, then abandon ship before it sinks.
One major misconception people often make is that they assume they represent the average person. You won’t pay $1,000 for an all-digital walled garden console, but there are a bunch of people who just buy the next console to keep playing Fifa or Madden or whatever, and don’t pay any attention to any of this. Sony is banking on those people continuing to buy their products regardless, allowing them to make more money charging more for cheaper products, even if they lose some of their more well-informed consumers in the process.
The point is, we don’t know how many people there are who would buy at that price point because it’s as yet untested. Most of the people with PS5s now got them when they were $500 or less. I’m genuinely interested to see how a console with a 4 digit starting price fares. It’s a given that the PS6 will sell out at launch even if it’s $2000; it’s what happens after the demand of the hardcore gamers with excessive disposable income is satiated that will be interesting to see.
You’re right, we don’t know. Hopefully everyone will collectively agree that it’s not worth the price, but I’ve unfortunately seen too many companies blatantly fuck with their consumers only to have record profits to think this is going to be any different.
My prediction is that they will make plenty of money, but console gaming will shrink as it prices more and more people out.
Oh, yeah, that’ll happen. The tried and true method of making massive profits is to sacrifice long-term stability for short-term revenue, then abandon ship before it sinks.