Reaction: Will Xbox Follow PlayStation In Raising Console Prices?

Microsoft now have a chance to grow there console sales, especially in the UK and Europe, where they have slowed right down.
What they should do now is a massive advertising campaign about the better price and game pass.

However Microsoft will do sweet fa, and let it pass them over like they don’t care about advertising and clever PR. I do wonder especially this year 2022 if that actually care about selling any consoles at all.

Ones a billion dollar corporation and ones a trillion dollar corporation, answer should be obvious

I don't think they will do the same thing no, and it makes Microsoft look even better by not doing it too.

"We'd like to think that Xbox Series S would remain a low-cost option at $250". That's not the correct price, it's $300.

A price increase in the UK to series s or x would kill sales right off.
I know I say this but they are sitting on shop shelf’s gathering dust for weeks now.

Always a possibility…but maybe instead of spending billions on that next acquisition they should price cut both the series consoles and make them look as attractive as possible against the ps5 consoles…that’s what I’d do. I would think that would secure more gamepass subs than crazy money on games you’re locked out on getting on gamepass for a couple of years anyway.

And if Xbox do increase the price of the series consoles everywhere but the USA then they should rightly get the same backlash Sony is currently getting.

Hard to say. The dollar gained a lot of worth compared to other currencies making it less interesting to sell the same product in Europe for instance since they get less dollars per console sold than before because of the exchange rate . Since the largest part of Xbox sales are in the US Microsoft will be less impacted than Sony which sell alot better in non US countries. So ms will probably have less need to raise their prices

@Dezzy70 they really don’t care about hardware sales…haven’t for years. They do care about gamepass sales though. This Christmas would have been perfect timing for that streaming box that was rumoured - I reckon that’s destined to be released in time for starfield.

But yeah, if they’re smart…and want to be aggressive, they should capitalise on this.

Not a chance.
The fact that Sony chose to keep the price the same in the more competitive American market highlights the cash grab move that it is.
I also recall way back before the consoles came out that even in production the Series X was cheaper to manufacture than the PS5. So there's also the likelihood that MS's mark up on the Series X is higher than Sony's, also negating the need for a price rise.
And the final point, MS is definitely more consumer friendly so again, not a chance they'll follow suit

@Bleachedsmiles
Sell consoles you then stand a chance of a game pass sale. That’s the simple way I see it.
Problem is I don’t Microsoft Xbox division are that smart to capitalise, or they just not bothered anymore 😂

Microsoft should advantage of this and hammer home the value proposition especially with the Series S and Gamepass combo.

Just been on Eurogamer, as expected the resident Sony apologists are out to defend Sony and are more worried if this will impact PS5 sales, you could not make it up😂.

I see the Sony defender(s) are here as well, as expected of course 😅.

No chance they follow sony and increase prices and the corporate bootlickers on pushsquare trying to justify this are pathetic.

@Lavalera Yes, PS is popular in Europe although I don't think Sony cares much about markets outside USA. The higher price in Europe and Japan but not in USA seems to reflect that.

Putting up the prices in Japan though and just made Nintendo's day, switch will definitely be breaking those records now, but deservably so.

@UltimateOtaku91

Man, you are so transparent its not even funny anymore.

Here is a thought to surely blow your mind, not so long ago every Sony fan was bragging about the record profits PlayStation was making, more than Nintendo and Xbox combined.

How about they fuc*king absorb this for us fans, instead of doing voracious cash grabs? By the way this should apply to Microsoft and Nintendo as well.
But yeah, you keep the Sony fight going....

I don’t think Xbox will raise its price. Both Microsoft and Sony were waiting for the other to announce the price of their system before the consoles were coming out. They both waited pretty much to the bitter end.

Sony raising the price of the PlayStation 5 I personally believe is a gift to Xbox. It doesn’t always happen, but looking back on the different console generations, many of the consoles that were more expensive ended up doing poorly in that generation. Now PlayStation 5 didn’t start off more expensive and they surly have built up hype for their system. I believe they will be fine, but it does give Xbox an edge in the markets where they have the more affordable system.

I hope not. Only time will tell. If Xbox are smart all they have to do now is…. Nothing. Sony have handed them a massive win for free.

My guess would be they absorb the added costs and keep the rrp. Then they can continue to just just roll around in all the free pr wins Sony keep giving them this gen. Why would they do anything

@pip_muzz these are my exact thoughts. Sony did it in markets where they sell bangers above Xbox (the only one I am not sure is México where I allways heard Xbox sells very well) because they can. In the US they would feel it quite a lot more.

Because of that I don't feel Microsoft will raise it this gen (or at least any time soon)

@Fenbops @Sakai Yep, Sony this generation is making Xbox look better and better. Of course, there are unconditional Sony fans (even on Xbox websites), but the rest of the world might get tired of PS. I don't think that Microsoft is going to increase the price at all and Series X/S and Game Pass, that goes beyond consoles, are generally seen as better value. That's a marketing win that just got better.

@UltimateOtaku91 go back to PS and shower them with your wisdom while blaming everyone but Sony for this. It’s a really good look, Oh and call me an xbot again over there, I need a bit of a laugh. Actually scrap that because I can laugh at Sony continually shooting themselves in the foot this Gen, it’s been enjoyable.

@Fenbops
"I can laugh at Sony continually shooting themselves in the foot this Gen, it’s been enjoyable."

you just proved my point

Now imagine if Microsoft still had Redfall and Starfield in the pipeline for autumn... They would kill it. As things stand I don't think this will change much. Even if MS refrains from a price hike, which they still might try. Time will tell.

No, if you're Microsoft you lower the price dont you

@uptownsoul

"No...Xbox Series X & S demand is too low to raise prices."

And that is absolutely cool beans if it means Microsoft not following Sony's lead with -
"similar consumer friendly moves", like this one.

@UltimateOtaku91 keep thinking that bud. I don’t care what you think. You’re too blind to see anything any other way.

@Banjo- But then we all know the vast majority of a consoles install base are casual gamers…very few of those will follow any of the politics of gaming to call Anyone out on their bs.
What will translate though is cost/value…they see a cheaper console…they see cod aligned with it…they see cod part of a gamepass package…they have ‘gamepass’ firmly implanted in their vocabulary… it’s all the perfect storm for MS to capitalise this gen without the need of knowing about £10 upgrade prices etc

It’s no wonder the series s is doing well for xbox. They just really need to capitalise on this now with the right marketing so that the casual gamer gets the message…but, let’s be honest, xbox hasn’t had decent marketing since the 360 days. And there’s no point in being the platform that offers the best value if people who aren’t on gaming sites, watching YouTube gaming channels etc…don’t know about that value

This price hike would effect me if I could actually find a PlayStation console to purchase without paying scalper prices. By the time the system is readily available to the public, they'll probably have a different version / edition of it. But that will also probably get scalped to death as well.

@Bleachedsmiles Xbox marketing and product placement outside USA is poor. PS4 was the default/casual console last generation. This generation with Series S, X and Game Pass things are much brighter for Microsoft. This generation is also more digital than the last one and that benefits Microsoft.

Sony is being anti-consumer: upgrade fees, tricky cross-gen save system, paid cloud save files (like last generation), tricky or impossible upgrades when games are part of PlayStation Plus, more expensive games, console price hike outside USA, complicated and lacking subscription services, awful customer service... Even if PS is, generally, more popular than Xbox, with all the information available everywhere, Xbox might be ahead, at least in some markets where the Sony fanboyism is not as extended.

MS I expect won't put their prices up and will offset any financial hit on themselves with increased Subscriber numbers, game sales across their platforms etc. If you are selling games on PC day and date for example, that is not 'losing' money on a 'Console' sold to play it. PC gamers aren't 'forced' to buy the Console to play Day 1 and certainly won't of played the game before on a Console to make it more difficult to justify buying again.

Series S is Digital only and of course there are 'advantages' to buying Digitally on Series X too - cross-buy (meaning you can also play on PC without buying again - 1st Party games at least), works better with Quick Resume etc so of course will benefit from sales too but add in Gold and/or Game Pass growth - again NOT JUST CONSOLE Game Pass Sub Growth, they can offset the 'increased' costs.

For Sony to sell you a PS+ subscription, you first need a PS5 which means they are already 'down' (if they 'lose' money on each) and require that person to sub and buy games to eventually break even and turn a profit. MS could be in a 'similar' position - except they are also gaining Subs on PC/Cloud supported devices which hasn't cost or lost MS money on.

The Series consoles are 'optional' as all the games will also be on PC day 1 and have more avenues to recuperate 'losses' on hardware and still be 'profitable' every month despite taking a 'bigger' hit on console hardware...

@Royalblues should be more like me, negative everywhere 😜 what’re your thoughts man, think Xbox will increase their prices also?

Edit: I see you’ve already give your thoughts. Oops.

@Banjo- Xbox really need to step up their game with the marketing now. The guy on the street that only buys cod and fifa each year and spends the rest of the time playing fortnite doesn’t see a bus advertising the new cod next to a ps5 and think “cloud saves are behind a paywall”… they think “cod is on ps5” - this is why Sony is threatened so much about the activision deal.

Here in the uk every time I’ve been to the cinema I see adverts for PlayStation. I see PlayStation billboards. I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw an Xbox ad outside of the internet.
I do think as soon as they get the marketing rights back for cod they’ll capitalise on it. But I hope we see it with starfield and gamepass in general too soon. Xbox really could have a huge hardware sales year next year if they put a bit more effort on their advertising

@Balta666 Yes, here in Mexico, Xbox sales are very good.

I don't have the source at hand, but IIRC, Xbox is the top choice for many console gamers in Mexico.

Although I see them having the open window to raise prices as it's what the industry is doing i think they are still trying to get into as many households as possible and keeping the price static will just be that much more appealing to the casual market.... which is the largest market. Again they could do it but i really don't think they will

@Royalblues wrong I said I have the series S which I do, although I don't play it as much as I do the ps5 or switch, I actually have a couple of people added on here mousieone and something assassin I forgot lol

@Bleachedsmiles Microsoft should capitalise on Call of Duty (that they will own soon), Game Pass and exclusive games like Starfield, indeed. FIFA and Call of Duty are generally the top sellers in this part of the world. FIFA is not first party but Series S is the perfect console for selling the new FIFA while Game Pass Ultimate includes EA Play.

@Royalblues would you expect anything less Royal? The usual suspects will be over here bloviating for their company (which there is another site for that, should just go over there). I just see Sony's business model and "what about me" attitude being very interesting this gen, and their PR makes MS look better and better without them even needing to do anything. That's why #ChargeThemMore is so fruitful, because it's absolutely true. They'll pay it, so charge them more! lol Don't think MS will follow suit though, not when they have an acquisition on there horizon. Going back and seeing Sony's Brazilian talk of that is even funnier now!

@Royalblues I agree. I wouldn’t put it past MS to raise their prices either, even though they have a golden opportunity here. We will see, interesting times ahead that’s for sure.

@J_Mo_Money what you say with #ChargeThemMore is so true 😂 I like that.

I think MS should take the opposite route and make online MP free.

They already have the cheapest console with the Series S, the cheaper yet more powerful high end console with the Series X, Game Pass with an upcoming family pass.

They could make a big song and dance about having the cheapest barriers of entry. And when most money is made through microtransactions, getting people playing online together on your platform will be better long term.

@Fenbops record profits are one things, but being able to nickel and dime your consumers and have it be defended? That's priceless lol #ChargeThemMore

@Richnj They absolutely will make it free, but not until GamePass numbers are way higher. I think we'll see that change in a year or two, but not now.

Microsoft need to do the opposite and get a big marketing push going for the Series SX as we move towards Christmas. Whilst not everyone wants it, Sony's bundle of Horizon Forbidden West at the very least gives you a game you can play that illustrates just how powerful the console is. Microsoft should be selling the Series X with Forza Horizon 5 as a minumum. If split-screen co-op is coming soon then a Series S bundle with Halo and 2 controllers should also exist: never underestimate the value of a sub £249 console with multiplayer to the family market.

Given most of their profits are from Gamepass they need to start selling people on the idea of streaming which works incredibly well.

Do you guys remember that Sony waited and waited until Microsoft revealed the Series X/S before showing the PS5 console, that they overclocked and redesigned at the last minute because of Series X specifications, and that Sony also waited until Microsoft revealed Series pricing before revealing (=deciding) theirs? It makes this decision of increasing a console price even weirder. Now, PS5 is more expensive and still less powerful.

@J_Mo_Money Most likely, but I see it as one of the major hurdles for Xbox right now. If they could just let go now, then console and Game Pass sales will take an uptick.

Kinda like that scene in Forrest Gump with the braces. They've become so dependent on it to keep them up, they don't realise it's holding them back.

@Royalblues wtf are you talking about, I post what I'm playing across this site, pushsqaure and nintendolife, I post the exact same post across all three on the "what are you playing this weekend" post.

And the irony is so do 90% of the other people that comment in that weekly post, but no, only notice me 🤔

Hahahahahaha 😂🤣😂🤣 this has made my day!! All the rumours stated Sony wanted to charge more for the PS5, but Microsoft caught them royally out with their trousers and pants and G-Strings down their ankles when they announced the Xbox Series prices. Microsoft planned its pricing from the get go, it hasn’t lost anymore then planned apart from any interest rate rise impacts. Sony has lost more money then planned as it never intended to price the PS5 as it did.
I love it as more people will come to Xbox now.

Basically Microsoft did to Sony this gen what Sony did to Microsoft last gen. And the salt is sweeeeet.

@Banjo- yeah definitely. It amazes me just how many still don’t know ea play is included with gamepass ultimate…they’ve never really marketed that beyond those first couple
Of weeks.

@Richnj Pull the 'Gump lol

@Bleachedsmiles And Ubisofts store even rumoured more to be coming soon.

😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂 I just read the USA is NOT affected by the price increase 🤣😂🤣😂 yeah because of course it’s been totally immune to massive inflation and fuel rises… what a paper thin way to hide the fact you only didn’t rise prices to try and compete in the market place better.

I definitely don't think Microsoft will raise prices. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually did a slight price drop, just to make gamers more upset with the PlayStation increase and drive more gamers to Xbox.

@Widey85 the difference is staggering, honestly.

@uptownsoul

"funny thing is...in these particular markets, the consumers will still likely choose PS5 over Xbox Series anyways."

I don't see what is funny in mega corporations doing something virtually unprecedented in the console space with the knowledge their fanbase will lap it up regardless..

But hey - ho, whatever empowers you I guess.

Considering I’ve seen several bundles and prices cuts for the S; I can’t see that product raising. The X maybe but S competes with Nintendo and that isn’t raising prices.

This must mean all those £499 PS5 and game deals will now cost £529 and in some cases, those have been the only PS5 consoles available. Well I fully expect to see Sonys sales decrease now.

This weekend I am going to clean out my OG PS4 and use new thermal paste and pads, try and make it run quieter, and play some classic Sony games I collected last gen. To me that’s much better then being ripped off on a Sony PS5 plus it actually fits under the telly. And I may play my XSX too, just finished The Ascent DLC story line though on it.

@Widey85 the difference is amazing , I don't get how ppl can defend a billion dollar company raising prices when near enough every press release they do is "We are doing great making lots of money" and to b fair I'd b saying the same thing if Microsoft raise Thier prices which I hope they don't

@Banjo- it says 250 British pounds/ $300.

@Clankylad ahhhh the British way
Sir I salute you
Enjoy

@armondo36 They corrected it after my feedback.

lol this generation has been quite the cluster (expletive deleted), hasn't it? i think that Microsoft will do their very best to avoid raising the price, as they are still in 3rd place, technically. they can afford to hold out a while. HOWEVER, if they believe that a price increase is inevitable, they'll likely just go ahead and do it now.

I could see xbox opting to eat the cost, at least on the short term, to help generate momentum in the run up to starfield.

Why would microsoft raise prices now, that would be stupid!
They have never made money from selling xbox, so they have no need to raise prices now, and they can continue to make a loss to buy market share, which has always been their approach.

The market ecconomics of today have have played into their hands, and they wont be silly and throw that advantage away with no need.
Realistically I dont honestly think this will make much difference to the sales balance. Those people that were happy to buy a ps5 before are not likely to be horrified by £30 extra if they are not bothered by £70 games. Those people that need a cheaper option were always going to be tempted by gp and a series s, and todays situation just underlines that value proposition.

Microsoft has consistently shown they will be the loss leader in order to gain market share as is their whole subscription method and goal. Dont see that changing with the hardware

Sony's not doing this because they're just hemorrhaging cash and need to stay afloat, they're doing it to maintain their profit forecasts by shifting the risk to consumers in markets where they see their market dominance as unassailable.

MS is the underdog in those markets, with deep pockets to eat any loss to build market share (and a strategy that depends on it), and Sony just handed them a big marketing inlet to compete in markets they were not terribly competitive (and a few they were.)

No chance they raise console prices on either box. Heck, they could see a huge market share land grab if they dropped prices or ran promotions. Sony's operating like a bank (they are a bank), managing their assets and growth forecasts. MS is operating like a company claiming market share aggressively. Like Sony used to be.

@Widey85 I find the whole "luxury" talk on PS freakish and bizarre and maybe says a lot of some of PS's clientele which is why they do what they do. On the surface they just mean "luxury" as in "non-essential". Under the strict economic definition, only food and shelter are essentials, everything else is classed as a luxury. Even having a refrigerator for food is classed as a luxury or non-essential good in a strict economic discussion. If you have instant ramen and a tarp over your head, you've got your essentials covered and are living luxury in pure economics discussion.

But there's a weird elitist bent to the discussion, both on NL and PS, but especially on PS, that seems to want to suggest that console gaming is some sort of high end status symbol thing, like buying Gucci shoes and BMW cars, as though some perceive gaming as this expensive thing for well off discerning individuals instead of being as mass market as owning a television. Which strikes me the weirdest because I see it most frequently on Push, yet PS' brand was built by being the low cost VALUE option for the masses, which is how they killed Sega. And how they stomped X1. IDK when their customers started seeing game consoles as a designer product/status symbol. High end PC? Lots of status symbols going on there. Consoles? Especially PS consoles? That was never the point.

@Zochmenos Considering how often XSS is discount priced for a promotion, they already reduce prices regularly, and XSX could easily do the same to build market share. They don't have to drop MSRP to effectively undercut Sony heavily on street price.

When Sony walked out at E3 and said the PS2 was $299, Sega died that moment. When they walked out with $399 at E3 for PS4, X1 died. "10% more everywhere but the US" may not be the equivalent of "six hundred ninety nine US dollars!" that almost killed all of PS with the PS3, but....there's some analogs here for an aggressive and cheeky MS to cash in on big time if they're willing to take a short term hit to build a long term market. And they are....they ate fortunes to launch the first Xbox that took most of the 360 profits to recover. That's how they roll. Sony handed them a huge gift they can afford. Most companies I'm not convinced are smart enough to take advantage of but....this is Phil.

Whilst you are correct in what you say, @UltimateOtaku91, it does need to be remembered that Xbox is a division of MicroSoft, and the profits that MicroSoft make are largely made outside of the Xbox division. I know some people like to conflate the two (cough) but it is a fact. That's not to say that MicroSofts' deep pockets could not be dipped into, but it is not a given...

I'm really hoping the Xbox/MicroSoft see the wisdom in not following suit. As a parent in these difficult times, that £30 difference between a PS5 and an Xbox might just be enough for them to choose Team Green when it comes to buying their child a console this Christmas. Whereas the PS4 outsold the Xbox One 2 to 1 last generation, this could be used as an opportunity for the Xbox to make up some ground, though I suspect that if Xbox is seen to be making up ground on Sony, they will quickly reverse their decision...

I actually expect Microsoft to fire back with lowering the price, not increasing it. To be more precise, I would not be shocked to see a cut in the Series S price. According to anecdotes, it does not sell as fast internationally as it does in the US, and by now I would not be shocked if they have managed to cut some production costs due to volume.

Would be a very nice surprise if this Christmas season we start seeing the Series S price slashed to $250 and equivalent international cuts "temporarily".

Edit:
I actually expect Microsoft to do a "stealth" increase in Game Pass prices. The price itself wont go up, but the introduction of a family plan will result in plenty of households upgrading to Family plans when, before, they only had one GP account. Hell, I am planning to upgrade from GPU to family plan to add my partner, so they going to get 67% more money out of me, and a few more users (since I might as well add my youngest sibling and best friend, that would never pay for these services regardless.)

That boost to GP subscriptions will likely be more than enough for them to counter any increase in production costs.

I think these big corporations eventually lose grasp of reality when it comes to consumers and what they want. It takes the consumers to show these companies through their wallets that their company has lost touch. Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft, and Sony have all been through it before in the past. Sony is going through it again. They’ll figure it out when consumers jump ship and go to their competitors. It’s what makes companies and competition better.

@uptownsoul

"Either way, it'll be interesting to see if PS5 still sells better than Xbox Series...if so, the consumers will have spoken with their wallets"

Its pretty much guaranteed that the PS5 will still outsell the Xbox Series, but we are not discussing sales here.

This, is about a company withh a product
PS5 that is comfortably outselling all they can manufacture and supply, yet it decided to do something unprecedented in the console space (to my knowledge) by raising its price, and the perplexity of it being that people are defending them.

Or are you implying that Sony should just keep increasing the PS5'S price ad infinitum just because people are willing to pay for it / or is outselling the competition 🤔.

Some tech companies have increased prices and blamed it on inflation/taken advantage of inflation depending on which way you want to look at it. Look at the occulus increase. Insane.

Its really not a trigger to start a Playstation vs Xbox battle again. Its a bigger issue with companies taking advantage of the issue in certain areas.

Capitalism is gross sometimes.

@SplooshDmg Yeah, it's not the first time, really (See conversation below). Technically Sony invented that model of designer electronics, it's just that it failed for them, over and over and over again. Apple stole Sony's model and somehow, inexplicably turned into the most profitable company on Earth. I honestly don't know how Apple did it, and I'm mostly convinced it was just pot luck of good timing with the right product and the right market. And Jeff Goldblum. PS does seem to be trying to go in that Apple market direction. But I'm really not convinced that model actually works for video game consoles outside a certain market. I love my PS1, 2, 3, 4, PSP, Vita. I'm...moderately warm about my PS5. But I violently hate all things Apple, and if PS6 is going all in on that Apple direction, I can't see myself owning one. iDevices are slick, pretty, and limited in function for offensive prices for people that somehow don't mind paying too much for not enough if it buys them social standing. It's the boutique experience.....I hate boutiques. Definitely not where I expected PS to go. Though my life will be cheaper if they go whole hog into it because i can't see too much reason to want such a device/ecosystem.

That having been said, I don't think that strategy is actually going to work out for them long-term. Like, at all. I don't think there's room for a fashion icon gaming console on the market. Or if there is, it says nVidia on the side and has LED tubes. And I think they themselves can't figure out if they want to be a luxury icon or a budget product (PS Plus) They have internal mixed messaging. Which has always been a problem for Sony Corp.

@Tharsman I'd like to see the XSS price cut, not so much to affect Sony's market, but actually to constrain Nintendo from being able to go the Sony route and gouge on their next console. A super affordable Xbox power console means Nintendo has to be more conservative in their own pricing for the US market. Price-wise Sony's not even competing with Nintendo at all anymore while MS is.

@Zochmenos I'm not sure about the undercutting. Remember how secretive Sony was during launch in not saying when their announcement would be, very clearly the two playing chicken until the leak of the XSS forced MS to unveil, and only AFTER MS announced the price did Sony announce theirs? The rumors at the time, and still, have been that Sony was originally going to charge more, possibly $600, but wanted to watch what price MS was going to launch at and match it to not get undercut. (which is their classic strategy, go last and undercut, or at least don't allow themselves to be undercut.) So I'm not sure if it's fair to say "MS isn't undercutting" if the reality is "Sony dropped their price before announcing it so as not to get undercut.....but is now raising the price, so as to be undercut after all.)"

That's speculation, but I think them raising the price like this lends a lot of credence to the idea that they NEVER intended to sell as low as 500 to begin with but MS forced their hand.

Meanwhile XSS undercuts even Nintendo, and is often found at slight promotional prices even lower.

Which....is actually Sony's strategy in the PS1, PS2, and PS4 era. Not coincidentally, also their most dominant eras.

@Widey85 I can't say that snobbery helped Sony even during boom times. And I'm not sure Jim is really to blame for it. I give Jim a lot of flak but at the end of the day his real problem, I sometimes think, is he's a yes-man plain and simple, with lack of desire, and lack of personal product awareness to offer any pushback against (Ken) Yoshida. It helped him climb from "marketing guy" to running the company, because he's just a rubber stamp with feet for the brilliant ideas of the board room. As for Ken, he comes from the Sony Financial division. The banking/insurance arm of Sony. Spreadsheets and asset management is his game. Of course he'd run an entertainment company like an asset portfolio. When Kaz was out and Ken was in, things went downhill fast, as then tend to do when you but an investment/insurance guy in the CEO seat of a consumer electronics and entertainment company.

The problem is Sony is Sony's worst enemy and always has been. They don't need Microsoft, or the Korean electronics companies, they can shoot themselves in both feet just fine. From the corporate (Japan) perspective, Sony has always, in the face of competition, retreated to trying to move "up-market". And it has always backfired catastrophically. They did it with Walkman (remember when they were really expensive tape decks that ate batteries that were a prestige item in the face of a market full of players 1/4 the price that were nearly as good minus some features?) They did it with audio (seriously who even buys Sony hi-fi equipment? It's good equipment that costs 40% more than the price you can buy much better equipment for), their TVs....'nuff said. Good TVs that are worse and for more money than their competitors which is why they can't sell them. Their VCRs.... The PS3.....

The one place they made the best of it is cameras. They bought Konika/Minolta purely to get the medical imaging tech. They didn't care about the cameras. But when they got the cameras, they redesigned the line, increased the prices by 50-70% (that Sony tax), but also added features and focused on the live view display making it a niche, but indespensible product for a market segment. Then raised the prices again. So their cameras are outrageously overpriced, but have features that mean for a working pro that NEEDS their features, they just have to suck it. But they'll never be a market leader there, they're a pricy niche plain and simple.

Remember the embarrassing Sony Style stores in the PS3 era when they tried to go full designer boutique electronics and it didn't last long? Sure, Microsoft had retail stores they closed after 2020, too, but those were just sort of package deal stores to buy general market computers/surface/etc ,it was never presented as an electronic fashion boutique. And Nintendo has one store. Full stop.

I'm not sure how much Jim is responsible for that "prestige" image, and how much of it is Sony Corp default behavior that Jim is too cowardly/uninterested/self-serving to offer push-back on so long as the red line goes up on his quarterlies. It works for a certain market segment, but I've never believed that's where most of their actual market is. They built their market as the cheap console, and became the default console for casual players. That's not the "prestige" item market. It's the market that buys an RCA portable cassette player, not a Walkman. PS became their single biggest product line precisely because it was their only product line they didn't try to make "prestige".....until now....with the exception of the PS3....which....yeah.....

@Royalblues he has always sounded like an insecure little pony. Him and like so many other rush to defend Sony, but if this was an Xbox headline, he would singing a very different tune.

No, I don't think Microsoft will follow. Series X sales are slipping here in the UK, plenty of stock on shelves now, also the same for many other countries too. I would keep the same price and advertise in markets where the stock is sitting on shelves to try to capitalise on this..
But will Microsoft do this?? Probably not.

@Jaxx420 Not just electronics. The Tyson foods (the Dubai owned conglomerate that controls something like 80% of the US poultry market) CEO was on record at the investors meeting saying that they've seen (semi-quoted from memory/paraphrased) "continuous significant profit growth despite multiple product price increases to counter rising operating expenses, as consumer spending seems to remain steady."

The sell f'ing chicken! Was demand suddenly going to vanish?! No. People just stopped buying TVs to pay for their chicken as they beat their chest that the return to investors is better and better every day!

If these companies are raising prices to counter their rising costs....profits should not be going up, they should be holding steady at best!

It's the late 18th century all over again. And that doesn't end well.

I think they'll make up for it by increasing the Game Pass fees after the ActivBlizzard goes through and they put some of their games on there.

It would be a bold and smart move. People would be able to buy a console cheaper than PS5, and be able to justify it by paying a bit more for a game service with a lot more selection.

Bizarrely, I could see Microsoft seizing this opportunity to reduce the price of the Series X. It would be a massive statement to have an £80 difference between both consoles.

At the time of the reveal of the prices of this current gen, there were some rumours that Sony had lowered the prices of both PS5 models to match the Series X/S prices, that were already revealed. If microsoft does not increase prices, that will be some kind of confirmation that PS5s would have been more expensive at launch.

@NEStalgia Totally agree. Public companies don't give a ***** about customers. CEOs and etc only care about their shareholders. They need to profit to make them happy and to not be kicked from their positions.

Take a look at JBS, from Brazil. Their net profit in 2021 was above 4 billion dollars, with more than 440m to be paid as dividends to the shareholders, despite the fact many people cannot afford meat anymore here. They just increased their prices and moved on.

@NEStalgia yep totally agree.

Similarly and ironically. I work in recruitment and Linkedin Recruiter licenses (vital to our business I might add as only viable network in the market) are going up further soon and rising costs was alluded to in the email we had . Who owns Linkedin?

They are all at it and capitalising on it in some way.

Sadly, all of this is going to get worse over the next 12 months before its better.

I voted MS will absorb it (they are raising costs elsewhere anyway) they dont need to protect their market presence in the US but do elsewhere so they will keep as is to give them more traction.

But you are right. 18th century here we come for a while.

@Sol4ris
I said the same earlier, but I don’t think Microsoft will do anything.
They seem sort of inactive at the minute UK wise in standard general public zone.

@Zochmenos Yes, but my point also stands, inflation in this current cycle affects ONLY consumers and not business as companies make these moves to shift the increases down to the consumer. Yet curiously instead of steady profits they're showing gains, which implies there's more than simply inflation going into these numbers, and in a healthy economy business and consumers would be hit relatively evenly by inflation instead of it being pushed down entirely to the consumer. I don't think they're making that up necessarily, but that doesn't change the lopsidedness of the equation. They're making more money, meaning their earnings are not hampered by inflation.

And for the record, this would mean they're still charging well under their original intended price, if the rumors were true. It's not that MS didn't know Sony's pricing, it's that Sony was waiting to see MS's price and dropped their intended price so as not to be undercut by MS. (If the rumors have truth to them.)

"Are you saying they consider themselves boutique (which I agree with) or more of an "affordable" console seller?"

Yes, it appears to be a new thing for PlayStation (but it classic for Sony Electronics), to see themselves as boutique. Which is bizzarre. Playstation itself, the popularity of the brand was built upon being an affordable console seller. PS1, PS2 undercut Sony and Nintendo with weaker, but cheaper hardware, with lower developer fees and media as well, and as a result catapulted to #1. They flubbed ROYALLY on PS3 by letting it go to their head and becoming very expensive, and it nearly ended the existence of PS had the PS4 not been successful.

PS4 however was the affordable console at not much more than Nintendo's unwanted WiiU, and well under X1's launch price. And catapulted, again, to near monopoly power.

So PS going "boutique" is a bizzarre, move for them. They built their entire market lead by being the affordable console, both for consumers and developers. They undercut Sega by $100, on purpose, at a loss, which is what ultimately destroyed Sega's console business. "Playstation=the cheap one" is how Playstation became the market leader. For them to go boutique now, when the one and only other time they tried that, PS3, led to failure, is purely bizzarre. There's nothing boutique about PS's legacy. But they seem to feel the desire to push that it is, now.

@raftos @Jaxx420 Really I'd love to see an end to publicly traded companies in general. That is largely what destroyed the whole balance of the economy, was the function of a business becoming infinite growth for investor return rather than sustaining and growing the business proper. The "good" old days when we think of symbiotic business/consumer relationship was when businesses were privately owned. Even more than "globalization", the investor focus destroyed the most.

And people are so well trained to knee-jerk that that could never work in the modern world and with expensive things like computers and electronics while conveniently forgetting that Valve (Steam) is privately owned, and Samsung (a.k.a. the company that annihilated Sony electronics and pretty much owns 70% of the entire phone industry is privately owned. While the rest of the world keeps trying to destroy them because they can't get a piece of the pie.

...although those 18th century companies were mostly privately owned, so it's not a panacea. At some point a built-in societal ethics foundation becomes irreplaceable for a manageable and organized society. And we sold ours in the 80's and 90's. It's free for all, "get what you can get however you can get it while the getting's good, so long as you didn't pull the trigger, it's not really murder" now.

@Microbius That’s a bold prediction. I still do not think Xbox will outsell PlayStation this generation, but they’ll gain ground. I think they may even lead in some markets like the US and UK, but globally I can’t see it.

The comments from the defenders of Sony have been pure gold today, both here and over at PS. I bet even Kim Jong-un would be proud of their loyalty.

@Microbius I’d love to see it. Even now the loyalists are jumping to their leaders defence in the 3rd news article of the day on the same news. It’s been endless entertainment.

I hope they don't I'm going for the Xbox over the ps5 because of Sony's greed but if Microsoft does the same thing after their big acquisition of zenimax & HUGE acquisition of Activision then I'll get neither

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-responds-to-playstations-price-hike

It’s just been reported that Microsoft will NOT follow suit and raise the price of the X|S. I know this comes as a blow to the ponies who have been holding out hope that Microsoft might share in the blame, but alas, this stage is for Sony and Sony alone.

Yeah, MS put out a press release saying no price increase for Xbox.

@Zochmenos True enough on the debt and value of profits, to a certain extent, however, no matter how you slice it the market gains are accelerating rather than decelerating on a technical level everything you say is true, however on a systemic level we're seeing a massive siphoning of value from consumer AND producer into investment at an entirely unsustainable rate. The other shoe is on the foot of debt spiraling out of control on the consumer side and remaining neutral or being sunk into growth assets on the producer side, and that shoe is absolutely going to drop, and it doesn't even matter which side it drops on.

Before the iPod made Apple "cool", they were....devisive. "Back in my day" owning an iMac wasn't a status symbol, it was a public announcement that you don't know how to check your email without assistance.

@Kingleo31 LOL. Microsoft "We're not raising prices", Nin-freaking-tendo "We're not raising prices", Sony "we HAVE to, because inflation!"

In the minutiae I'm sure there's reasons that appear justified to them in a financial sense, but honestly the optics for Sony as a value proposition literally could not get any worse at this point, and the damage to them has all been done by none of their competitors. What company willingly creates gaping holes through which their competitors (one of which is already beating them) can assail them? Their making big money for now, but with management decisions like these, I can't imagine the gravy train lasting.

I can see them go either way. My guess is they stand pat and use it as a differentiator, hope to make up with additional subs to GamePass. But MFST is a big, evil corporate entity and they tend to like to squeeze $$$$ out of consumers any way they can.

There's really a massive marketing opportunity for Microsoft. If anyone in the US remembers the pivotal moment in the Bush1-Clinton election in the 90's, the moment Clinton said to Bush "it's the economy, stupid" is the moment he won. Appealing to people's finances is a massive, easy win. Sony just did the opposite outside the US. Microsoft, if they somehow became competent in market, which isn't likely, could put together a massive ad campaign outside the US hammering how affordable their ecosystem is. It would not take long for even deep-blue territory to start swinging hard(er) into MS's ecosystem once the marketing simply creates the perception of "Green=more stuff for less money" as just a starting perception. Being the bargain leader during tough times pretty much guarantees leading the market. There's a reason Kmart, then Walmart rose to the top over department stores when they did. And why TJX rose over them later on.

If I was MS I'd take the hit and announce a slight price reduction. That would be a generation ending move and damage Sony's prospects in a way that would be almost impossible to recover from.

@Kingleo31 they already made the excuse of why MS didn’t have to this morning saying it’s a trillion dollar company, they’ll just double down on that and play victims 🤣 they aint wrong, MS are the wealthier company but they still could have raised their prices like many other big tech giants and they haven’t. So 😂

Oh I know it. Microsoft following suit was their fall-back card and they lost. But since they obviously have no problem paying for $70 games and prefer NOT to save money through a subscription service, then by all means, charge the heck out of em I say.

Their model is around game pass. So makes sense that they wouldn’t raise the price of entry.

@Zochmenos Honestly much as I hate stagflation I kind of WANT the world to slow down and just go back to the 70's. That was manageable life. And the 90s-2000's have not been manageable in any way. People will hate keeping a vacuum cleaner for 30 years and repairing it a dozen times....but that was living. The world hasn't felt comprehensible since we left that. Largely because it isn't comprehensible and everything is out of control, and then every time it catches up to us they somehow "reboot" it with monopoly money in hopes nobody notices for another 20 years. The Series X should last the kids until they're 50. (Ok, mine didn't even make it a year.....but it was repairable!)

Apple boutique prior to iPod? You must live in Cali. It was a punchline to all but the long term die-hards that had Apple since the II. It was the thing they put in schools because they got them for free from Apple's school program. iMac was a relaunch after the disastrous Mac-S experiments without Steve Jobs, and the fashion color case was a joke to techhies, and a curio to non-tecchies. I don't think anyone took the thing seriously outside the Mac fandom. It wasn't really until iPod (the original HD models) that people stopped snickering about Apple and their cute little desk in the back of CompUSA where the "special" people shopped.... (the arty/DTP shoppers... )

I really wonder how Sony is run sometimes. You'd think from a business perspective it would be amazingly obvious that when they go value they're the top of the market, and when they go boutique they crash and burn. You'd think the recent trajectory of the boutique PS3 nearly killing the division, and then the value PS4 becoming a near-monopoly would have reminded them.....but....of course not.

Good to see the usual suspects defending yet another anti-consumer move from Sony on the Xbox site.

I was half hoping they'd knock a few pennies off the RRP everywhere just to see how that would play out.

@Kingleo31 @Fenbops how hypocritical can you be? Two guys who go to pushsquare to troll, and then call people ponies on here as well, yet moan about playstation players doing the same 😂

There's a difference, I actually have an xbox so I'm not really a "pony", but there's absolutely no way you have a ps5, no playstation owner goes round calling people ponies and bashes playstation like you two do on pushsqaure. I don't bash xbox I just defend sony by using logic and seeing it from a business perspective, not by bratting out thinking of myself.

@UltimateOtaku91 I own every PlayStation, multiple of most, and call people, including you, ponies all the time. . Technically I call myself a recovering pony too, tough.

@NEStalgia I've always considered "ponies" those who just bat for playstation and nothing else, same with "xbots" who only bat for xbox, don't know what people call the same for nintendo only fans lol

Whilst yes I do have some brand loyalty for playstation (been with them since day one) I do tend have the other consoles as well, I've had whatever nintendo put out since the gameboy and for xbox I've had the 360, the one (albeit for 2 months) and the series S for over a year and half now so atleast I'm branching out 😜

That being said I think over the last two months I've played the switch the most (mainly due to xenoblade chronicles 2 and 3) and even completed more games on xbox than on playstation in that time frame (back 4 Blood, house of ashes and gears of war ultimate edition) 😬

@UltimateOtaku91 "Nintendrone" is the Nintendo equivalent 😆

But yeah that's technically what it's really all about, though you can be excessively ps protective which is why I always call you a pony even though you're multiplat . I'm excessively cynical with modern ps but it's hilarious when the genuine ponies try to insist that I hate ps or am an xb or Nintendo (based solely on my avatar) fanboy when I can guarantee I own more PS gear than they ever will. I have three vitas, that eye toy card game and a physical copy of Haze and Knack... Can't touch that for ponydom unless you have mint Genji Days of Blade in A grade

Hah yeah, Xenoblade will do that. I'm glued to 3 (just getting to Keves Castle after doing level 50 side quests 😂) and will add Splatoon 3 to that soon. The power consoles would collect dust except soul Hackers 2 just unlocked.... So the series s and my streaming phone are about to get some use!

@NEStalgia damn haze and eyetoy is giving me some serious nestalgia.

Think il keeping u pace with you in xenoblade, just about to go to keves Castle as well, just went back to previous areas and got my first female hero from iota, thought it was going to be a dude fest for a while 😂

You just reminded me soul hackers 2 is put now plus its payday, going to get it after work

@UltimateOtaku91 I have a PS5. I’ll bash Sony all I want while they’re shooting themselves in the foot, if they weren’t being such turds this gen I wouldn’t have to. I’d do the same if Xbox where making similar moves. I didn’t even have an Xbox one because that launch was a disaster. You, in your small bubble, can’t comprehend people like me owning PS5’s and disliking what Sony have done since it’s launch. Also I can’t resist laughing at the PlayStation faithful over there right now it’s so funny, you included, it’s embarrassing. I haven’t called anyone a Pony, I’ve been laughing at the hive mind as a whole, it’s been gold.

@Widey85 they’re so narrow minded saying things like that it’s unbelievable. I don’t understand that logic, they want it to be premium so less people can afford to play it? That doesn’t lead to anywhere good. Even Sony know that’s not a good idea as they’re bricking it over keeping COD and the ‘casuals’ in their eco system. In the the short term we won’t see any difference, long term this could be bad for them.

@Widey85 That summarizes it really well I think. Though fourfold has a unique take vs most of the PS fanbase. He's not really a fanboy, considered getting XSS too but was disappointed by the hardware, and is mostly just a hardcore VR enthusiast at this point. IMO he's really a PC Master race VR guy who hasn't realized it yet, so he hangs out with Sony instead of building a rig, but snipes at them, too.

But yeah, there's a LOT of that sentiment there, not just from the VR enthusiast, a sense of elitism, Apple-style forming around PS, and that's what Jim is catering to. The idea of calling gaming a "luxury", while true in a pure economic sense in terms of discretionary/non-discretionary spending, I never hear people say "owning a TV is a luxury, just don't buy one." It's equally true, financially, but in 2022, owning a TV is considered "normal", not a luxury. The number of people expected not to be able to afford to have a TV would be considered poverty. And games consoles, even overpriced Sony consoles, are within shooting range of average TVs. But of course that crowd all owns TOTL large screen OLED screens for over $1.5k and thinks that's normal, too. The whole point of a console is that it's value/budget gaming compared to a high end PC rig. And PS, most of all has always been the cheapest/highest value platform. They'd have gone the way of Neo Geo if they tried to be premium in their heyday. If anything, Nintendo was the "premium" console most of that time until Wii. And it's why they had tiny market share And had to release a cheap console for retirement homes to make their losses up after years of "premium" bled them of market share to budget Sony:P

It's like people who buy Target clothes talking down to people who buy Walmart clothes for not being as luxurious and worldly while ignoring the Gucci and Hugo Boss shops next door.

There's this weird subset of posers who have extra money to blow and somehow think that spending more on PS makes them part of an elite group of prestige consumers, blissfully unaware of what the actual elite group of prestige gamers have on their PCs. I'm not sure if it's funny or sad. It's one thing to like the games, it's another thing to think the brand itself is granting prestige. They may someday figure out they're peasants, too. Some are just emotionally tied to the brand because it represents their childhood. I get it. Eventually you figure out your heroes are trying to kill you. OG Nintendo fans realized this long ago and accept it.

The whiplash is definitely hilarious though.

@UltimateOtaku91 Haha, yeah, those were the fun PS days back then. Ok, "fun" is just sarcasm when it comes to Haze.... But the rest was fun

LOL, I if you have Iota that puts you at about level 40 at least, so we definitely must be around the same spot. I left off at the castle entrance. Have you crossed High Maktha Wildwood on the way to the castle yet? There's a few female heroes available at that point from Iota, 4, Tau. There's another one coming up depending on how close you are to the castle area.

I started up Soul Hackers, made it through the intro stuff, got to the point I get actual control of my character and realized I should not be staying up playing Soul Hackers at launch hour and put it down until tonight, where I'll unceremoniously squeeze half an hour in and then go into Keves Castle....

So far I do like what I see of SH2. The reviews complained about the dungeons, but the first "dungeon" is basically the same dock warehouse I remember from SH1, and it's all normal Atlus quality, and I haven't battled yet (which everyone agrees is great) so I'm excited still.

@Fenbops On the business side there could be a strategy to it. Fanboys cheering the brand built on budget pricing trying to go premium status symbol aside, I can see the business side thinking that the future of cloud gaming is coming and they have to do something to shore up their existence. I can see them deciding that becoming a luxury premium brand that can command high prices (ramp up to $1k+ like phones eventually) over time, to differentiate itself from what will be "mainstream" gaming which will be free/cheap from MS, Amazon, Tencent, etc, is their plan. And if so, maybe that makes sense, and while fanboys cheer it on as improvement, internally it might be a form of accepting defeat in the mass market from the impending shift and trying to carve a niche as an Apple-like prestige product.

But, that's also Sony's default strategy in the face of ANY market shift or competition, as far as I can recall it has not worked well for them even once.

The fans are just bizarre with this new "luxury' line of thinking. Never in the history of games have i heard "luxury" thrown around like it is now in relation to hardware. Not even the 16-bit console war playground battles. Neo Geo owners probably talked that way. I never knew one, lol. But for the company, there could be a strategy behind it. Not a good one, but a strategy.