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PS5 Pro at $700: ‘Lack of Competition’ Made It an ‘Easier Decision’ for Sony to Run With Higher Price

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Hear hear.

I used to have the flagship Samsung model (S3 and Note 2 2014) about a decade ago, and watched with great surprise (rather horror) at how high the price of flagship Samsung and also iPhone went fueled mainly by fanboys - Prices went right through the roof and beyond | I consider $999 to be the roof or max for non-essential gadgets.

The same happened to Nvidia GPUs. And now looks like to be happening to Sony PS. I for one envision myself gaming on PCs as at least they are an essential multi-purpose item for which even $2k seems OK if it means higher productivity at work (I belong to an IT field).


I'm also in the IT field and have had a similar path as you.

I used to have Galaxies and Galaxy Notes and when they got more expensive and more homogenous, I switched to iPhone and never looked back. I buy my phones outright rather than pay monthly even though I generally have had the same carrier for years.

I also own 3 OLED TVs (55, 65, and 77 inch). I have a UB820 4K Bluray player as well.

I like my gadgets and I don't mind paying for them. That being said, I also don't really spend money on things that I don't see value in. Longevity of these gadgets means a lot to me.

I used to game on PC in my teens and early 20s (in addition to consoles) and I tried it a bit more in the pandemic (1070 and a core i7) and I know it isn't for me, even hooking it up to one of the OLEDs. I don't like the structure of PC gaming and I don't like the multiple use nature of the machine. I prefer my devices to be good at one thing in particular and I prefer they be siloed in their nature, which is why I don't use my PS5's 4K bluray player. Despite the fact that I don't have a 4k bluray player in my bedroom other than my PS5.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
pretty sure Xbox series X just released the same Console with a Bigger Ssd for 600$ no one is bitching.

For 100$ more you get a Ps5 pro with 2tb ssd 50% stronger then any other console on the market.
Add a disc drive to PS5 Pro for $80 US, and also a $30 stand too, which PS5 OG both had. $810 US all in.

Never mind comparing to XBox. A better comparison is vs PS5 OG.

Right now you can get PS5 Slim Digital for $450 (no more stand I think), or get PS5 disc (with stand) for $500.

So it's really $700 vs $450, or $810 vs $500. Is spending $250-310 US worth it for Pro? Depends on the gamer, but from I see not worth it except for hardcore console gamers wanting the best console they can get.

PS4 Pro vs PS4 OG, and One X vs One OG were much bigger jumps IMO, res probably doubled alone, boosting load times, boosted old games automatically, lots of games got double frames and One X even had a 4k drive and was smaller in size. And the prices were flat (PS) or $100 more (X). PS5 Pro is way more with fewer feature improvements.
 
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Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
pretty sure Xbox series X just released the same Console with a Bigger Ssd for 600$ no one is bitching.

For 100$ more you get a Ps5 pro with 2tb ssd 50% stronger then any other console on the market.

That's where I think I feel genuinely disappointed in the discourse around it.

Like you can say 700 dollars is expensive, but you can't break down the price of the components and features and make a sound argument that this should be 550 like people are saying. Even 600.

The 2TB drive itself discounts that.
 

proandrad

Member
Alanis Morissette Reaction GIF by MOODMAN

Pricing of a premium "pro" console offering high performance is "absurd". Almost as if a cheaper option isn't readily available.

Your PS5 still works so why is this a problem?
There is no problem, adults that have deemed it too expensive an upgrade have moved on and are happy with their regular PS5. The children will continue to lash out because they got priced out of the toy they wanted.
 

reinking

Gold Member
So asking a legit question

You don't think Xbox not having a pro console right now to compete didn't make the choice a little easier for Sony to go with $700?

Maybe? Xbox is releasing their own $600 console that is literally just an additional 1TB of storage and it was announced before Sony released the price of the Pro. We have no idea what they would have priced an actual Pro console. I would assume higher than $600. I have come to accept that these companies are getting greedy watching their margins and are no longer wanting to subsidize consoles or at least take as big of a loss on each unit sold. It is coming at a time when components are getting higher too. I will pay it until they hit a price point where I no longer find value. When that happens., I guess I will hit up my retro closet and roll back time.


* I want to add, Since Phil gets a lot of crap, this might be a time he made a good call if he saw what the cost a of a Pro console was going to be and noped out.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
That's where I think I feel genuinely disappointed in the discourse around it.

Like you can say 700 dollars is expensive, but you can't break down the price of the components and features and make a sound argument that this should be 550 like people are saying. Even 600.

The 2TB drive itself discounts that.
That's because most people dont care about a 2TB SSD. Out of all the tech rumours and gamers discussing what they want in Pro, how many of them said they want a 2TB SSD standard? Probably none or almost none.

Most would probably rather have a 1TB SSD and save $50-100. A lot of PS5 gamers (esp core gamers amped on Pro) probably already have an external 1TB SSD they added to their OG system. So they'd just transition that to Pro. And 1TB internal + a Samsung external 1TB drive, there's 2TB.

Another bad value factor is disc drive. Going from PS5 Slim to standard disc system, it's $50 difference. Pro has gamers wanting a disc drive now paying $80 (and a $30 stand too), which PS5 standard pack includes.

They decoupled stuff a gamer wanting it has to rebuy a Sony branded part at jacked up prices. But purposely included a bigger drive which they bank a higher price, making going external with a Samsung drive is moot.
 
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Hoddi

Member
I don't really see the problem. It's what those fans wanted, isn't it?
  • Nvidia fans rag on AMD but then act shocked when Nvidia increases their prices through market domination.
  • Sony fans rag on Xbox but then act shocked when Sony increases their prices through market domination.
Even my cats are more self-aware than this.
 

ChorizoPicozo

Gold Member
IGNorant.

Didn't Xbox make a more expensive all digital same series consoles more expensive?

That move right there is giving more leeway to PS to not drop the price of base PS5, which in turn makes the Pro more expensive.
 

tusharngf

Member
SOC+memory+mobo should cost 150-200 dollars , add another 50 dollars for PSU , another 100 for plastic case, add another 50 dollar distributers cut. Pro should cost around 450-500 range + 100 for profit.


SOC + memory +mobo = $200
PSU + case + wires = $150
Distributer share = $50
Ssd- $150
PROFIT = $100 -$150
 
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Bungie

Member
Hoping Xbox skipping the pro will mean we finally get next gen console releases up too a year apart. Like the Xbox 360 days. Gives time for the average gamer to get both & hopefully $700 isn't the standard. Thought the point of consoles were for companies to take a loss on hardware not take advantage.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
That's because most people dont care about a 2TB SSD. Out of all the tech rumours and gamers discussing what they want in Pro, how many of them said they want a 2TB SSD standard? Probably none or almost none.

I'll grant you that no one is advocating for a 2TB standard, but can you concede that most people have probably upgraded their PS5 to 2TB at least and that Sony has the metrics on that and made the pretty plausible conclusion that they should bake that into the SKU?

Most would probably rather have a 1TB SSD and save $50-100. A lot of PS5 gamers (esp core gamers amped on Pro) probably already have an external 1TB SSD they added to their OG system. So they'd just transition that to Pro. And 1TB internal + a Samsung external 1TB drive, there's 2TB.

I think most would rather have a cheaper price, but then ultimately spend more in the long run once they run out of space.

I bought a 2TB SSD, and I'll be transferring that to my PS5 Pro and I'll have 4TB.

One thing you haven't considered is that game sizes are likely to increase as a result of the Pro and the majority of people need more space.

Another bad value factor is disc drive. Going from PS5 Slim to standard disc system, it's $50 difference. Pro has gamers wanting a disc drive now paying $80 (and a $30 stand too), which PS5 standard pack includes.

This is where I think people are doing too much.

Who cares about a vertical stand? I got a Ps5 for my nephew and they lost the stand on the OG PS5 and still stand it up vertically without it. It drives me crazy. I myself have my PS5 horizontal and have done so with every PS I've ever owned. If the money is too much for you, just lay it flat.

Nearly 1/4th of PS owners probably have the slim and already have their disc drive if they want it to keep it and many simply don't want/need a disc drive. Sony is creating more options here and yes if you ultimately want the disc drive you have to spend an extra 30 dollars... Is that really worth crying over? It's the only area where I think there is at least some valid concern, but it's still 30 dollars.

They decoupled stuff a gamer wanting it has to rebuy a Sony branded part at jacked up prices. But purposely included a bigger drive which they bank a higher price, making going external with a Samsung drive is moot.

The entire purpose of the Ps5 Pro is to heal the margins Sony lost on the base PS5s. Of course they're looking for margins. They lost margins on the digital which is why they increased the price of it relative to the disc drive. There used to be a 100 dollar difference.
 

StereoVsn

Member
$599 PS3 was almost 20 years ago

Equivalent today would be over $900

PS5 Pro at 700 is still cheaper than PS3 in 2006

Amazing how y’all recognize the price of everything else (gas, groceries, etc) going up but still think video game should cost the same 20 and 30 years on
Throw in disk drive and stand, and you are getting awfully close to that price.

Also, not everything goes up at the same rate. Consumer Electronics in general reduced in price quite a bit. Well, before last few years at least.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
$599 PS3 was almost 20 years ago

Equivalent today would be over $900

PS5 Pro at 700 is still cheaper than PS3 in 2006

Amazing how y’all recognize the price of everything else (gas, groceries, etc) going up but still think video game should cost the same 20 and 30 years on
Thats because they included a BR drive which was new and standalone BR players were $800-1000. If they included a DVD player, it'd cheaper similar to Xbox. PS3 fat launch system also played PS1, PS2, PS3 games native.

After a few years of BR efficiencies, PS3 systems were half the price.

PS5 Pro does not have a a new to market optical drive. In fact it doesn't even have a disc drive at all like PS5 OG.
 
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Selling the PS3 at a loss hurt Sony immensely. The history of the PS4 Pro, which had a very compettitive MSRP of $400--the same price the base PS4 was at launch--still shows that it is only a small segment of their market that is interested in Pro consoles. The high price point of the PS5 Pro speaks far less to "arrogant Sony" and far more to an understanding of their audience for this mid-gen upgrade. It's a niche product that is only going to appeal to professional gamers and videophiles. Both of those groups will have no problem affording the system at this price point.

I got my PS4 at launch. I upgraded to the PS4 Pro. I was not at all disappointed in the improvement it offered in the back half of the gen--specifically in first party titles.

I'm interested in getting a PS5 Pro. But even trading in my launch PS5 towards one, it's still a very high price. High enough that if I don't have a windfall or have another way to blunt the out-of-pocket cost of the system to me, that I won't bother with this upgrade. That disappoints but doesn't anger me. From what I've seen, the upgrade is only so-so. I'll go for it if I can get it for $300 or less out of my pocket, but any more than that and I'll just stick with my launch PS5. It's absolutely not worth going into debt over in my book.

Really, the main issue is that Sony has done little to make a compelling case for this console. There's nothing about the PS5 Pro that screams "must have" to me and the overwhelming majority of PS gamers out there.
 
Throw in disk drive and stand, and you are getting awfully close to that price.

Also, not everything goes up at the same rate. Consumer Electronics in general reduced in price quite a bit. Well, before last few years at least.
$599.99 in 2006 is $936.88 today. So the PS5 Pro is significantly cheaper than the launch 60GB PS3 was in 2006. You are absolutely correct on this point. Even adding in another $79.99 for a disc drive on the PS5 Pro, the price is $779.98. The launch PS3 did not come with a vertical stand included, so I'm not going to factor that in to keep parity. All things considered, we're looking at a price difference between the launch 60GB PS3 and the PS5 Pro as $156.90. That's not an insignificant sum.

Source: US Inflation Calculator
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Just like I was joking about last week. Everything is microsoft and Xbox fault.

I bet if microsoft went under and xbox didn't exist, people would still blame them for sonys shit.

Also, I do get the 0 competition let's businesses run away with shit. It's not stopped apple really though.

Hardcore sony fans will take this pegging and reach for the lube blaming MS the whole session.

You gotta have some accountability no matter the landscape.

We all did a great job with concord. Now it's time to do it with the pro.

Send the message imo. Or don't. Just don't be surprised when they lose half their fanbase to pc by the time the ps6 rolls around.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Sony didn't force MS to release a $600 4 year old XSX this holiday. 🤷‍♀️

That's the competition I've been hearing we need.

What does that have to do with anything? MS aren't allowed to release a limited edition console with 2tb nvme?

Just don't buy it, like the majority will not buy a ps5 pro.

If someone like me is not buying a ps5 pro that leaves you your absolute hardcore fanbase and that's it. Trust me. I buy everything normally but the ps5 pro is too far.

I would have stretched to 600 with the drive and the stand. Maybe even 649.

699 with a drive/stand may have even swayed me if I got a decent trade or sale on one of my ps5s.

I just don't get why this xbox has anything to do with it. Xbox is dying.

Plus, all anyone said on here is that Sony would still have competition with Nintendo and Xbox failing wouldn't do shut to their business model and now everyone's done a 180 and blaming microsoft for Sony dry fucking their fans.
 
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Chechack

Member
I'll just be like any sane simple adult

Product to expensive > i wont buy

And let the market dictates its price,if market decide to support the price and buy which leads to Sony keeping the price then nothing can be done as that what the market decides.

If mass market shows Sony that this is not the price point they are willing to buy, hopefully that will make Sony reduce their prices by themselves.

Simple as that

Becoz im a level headed individual
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Just don't buy it, like the majority will not buy a ps5 pro.
Bingo.

cOmPeTiTiOn and all that malarkey

I'll just be like any sane simple adult

Product to expensive > i wont buy

And let the market dictates its price,if market decide to support the price and buy which leads to Sony keeping the price then nothing can be done as that what the market decides.

If mass market shows Sony that this is not the price point they are willing to buy, hopefully that will make Sony reduce their prices by themselves.

Simple as that

Becoz im a level headed individual

This.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Bingo.

cOmPeTiTiOn and all that malarkey

Ok.

Anyway. I will be doing what I would be doing with an Xbox galaxy edition and not buying it.

I hope mine and many others message gets through to Sony because they are in a death spiral at the minute but they have so many die hard quick to jump on the grenade to protect them. Hopefully they realise that Sony clearly don't care about them and are trying to extort them.

The ps5 pro is a rip off at 700 dollars. That is a fact. The BOM of the console is not much more than a standard ps5.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Ok.

Anyway. I will be doing what I would be doing with an Xbox galaxy edition and not buying it.

I hope mine and many others message gets through to Sony because they are in a death spiral at the minute but they have so many die hard quick to jump on the grenade to protect them. Hopefully they realise that Sony clearly don't care about them and are trying to extort them.

The ps5 pro is a rip off at 700 dollars. That is a fact. The BOM of the console is not much more than a standard ps5.
Tells us more!
 

StueyDuck

Member
Since when is an analysts opinion a fact...

This is why journalism is fucked, it probably is why the console is 700. But to say that's absolutely the reason because it's an analysts opinion isn't news and isn't a fact.
 
I'll just be like any sane simple adult

Product to expensive > i wont buy

And let the market dictates its price,if market decide to support the price and buy which leads to Sony keeping the price then nothing can be done as that what the market decides.

If mass market shows Sony that this is not the price point they are willing to buy, hopefully that will make Sony reduce their prices by themselves.

Simple as that

Becoz im a level headed individual
While I don't outright disagree with your basic point, you're falling a bit into a fallacy that the PS5 Pro is a tentpole product for Sony. It's not. Neither was the much more affordable PS4 Pro. The PS4 Pro was a very fair and affordable price, but still captured a very small segment of the PS4 userbase. Many PS4 users did not bother to upgrade, and the vanilla PS4 still vastly outsold the Pro rather than later gen adopters flocking to it.

Is the PS5 Pro a fair price? Accounting for inflation, mostly. It's less the system itself and more the lack of the disc drive that harms it. It should have offered a $600 All Digital version and $700 for the disc drive and vertical stand included. But I can easily understand the pricing. Sony wants to make a profit with the PS5 Pro on day one. That's pretty much a requirement. This is not a model that is going to drive sales. It is not the launch of a new generation. The PS5 Pro is not going to cause a massive spike in software sales that subsidize losing money on the system.

People can cry greedy Sony, arrogant Sony all they want. But this is a high end system and Sony doesn't want to lose money on it. If it only appeals to a niche part of their base, that's fine by them. They are not expecting PS5 sales to suddenly double because they launched the Pro. They know from experience that the PS4 Pro was not a large segment of the overall PS4 install base.

If Sony wanted mass adoption and for the majority of PS5 gamers to run out and upgrade to the Pro, they would have priced it to move and been willing to absorb selling the hardware at a loss. But a mid-gen update isn't going to make software sales majorly increase. The physical and digital libraries transfer from console to console.

Sony will not sell many PS5 Pros. They know this. They don't care. They created a niche product for a niche audience inside of their primary base. This notion that in a few months, executives will be wringing their hands and crying that the sky is falling because sales of the Pro are sluggish isn't a reality. There is zero reason for Sony to be concerned until they start losing ground with the base model. PS5 sales overall are still growing. Their Pro model for videophiles who have money to burn is for those who want it, not for the masses.

When the PS6 is revealed years down the line and the price point for it isn't one that the mask market is willing to get behind, that will be a big problem moment for them. This caterwalling of the masses over the high price of a niche product for videophiles isn't even worth the effort. As we've seen already in demonstrations, upcoming games are continuing to look just fine on the base PS5. As you stated, if it's more than you want to spend, don't buy it. No one is being gatekept out of the PlayStation experience by this optional and unnecessary upgrade.
 

hemo memo

Gold Member
Without a comparable product and competitive pricing....they just charge whatever they want?
Yes basically. Especially that first buyers are your hardcore audience. Cutting the price soon after could be part of the strategy to get as much from early buyers.
 

ToadMan

Member
Saw this on Reddit. Kind of interesting, but I'm wary of these graphs.

It's only corrected directly for inflation, but that doesn't reflect the price as a portion of median income for example, relative ubiquity of the tech used in the product, or manpower costs required.

But anyway, there it is.


QoqD91B.png
 
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Astray

Member
Now say the bill of parts is low and they are inflating the price. Some may say lack of competition from xbox, and that would possibly be a factor, if true, but there is another piece of this equation. Scalpers and people who couldn't wait. They showed Sony that they would buy a ps5 base for $1000 scalped. They showed them that they would spend 2k on a graphics card, many in this here forum. People were idiots, they sent the message that they will buy no matter the cost. That is also partly why graphics cards are the price they are. They know they have the demand. Without that demand they would have to make lesser costing devices or find another way.
This.

The impact of scalpers cannot be overstated imo. They will be with us every hyped hardware launch, for better or worse (mostly worse).
 

damiank

Member
Ok.

Anyway. I will be doing what I would be doing with an Xbox galaxy edition and not buying it.

I hope mine and many others message gets through to Sony because they are in a death spiral at the minute but they have so many die hard quick to jump on the grenade to protect them. Hopefully they realise that Sony clearly don't care about them and are trying to extort them.

The ps5 pro is a rip off at 700 dollars. That is a fact. The BOM of the console is not much more than a standard ps5.
How'd you know that? Do you know apu Die size? Anything?
 

Astray

Member
Then why bother to make it at all? They don't have any competition. There is no reason to create a Pro console for very little to no profit. My guess this is probably the most profitable console per unit than Sony has ever made.
Margin.

And as a testing ground for PS6 specs, technologies and pricing.
 

DragonNCM

Member
I prefer to pay premium than have MS as competition ... imho nothing good comes from that company .. only shitty ideas like gamepass.

So if paying more is the tax I have to pay to not have to deal with MS shitty practices... its ok by me.
Gamepass was great idea.....till they launched day one games on it. From there it is all downhill.
 

Radical_3d

Member
Saw this on Reddit. Kind of interesting, but I'm wary of these graphs.

It's only corrected directly for inflation, but that doesn't reflect the price as a portion of median income for example, relative ubiquity of the tech used in the product, or manpower costs required.

But anyway, there it is.


QoqD91B.png
I had a Saturn and a Trey at launch. Does that mean that I’m being hypocritical for refusing the 950€ Pro?

1262417-trey_elpres.gif
 

reinking

Gold Member
Without a comparable product and competitive pricing....they just charge whatever they want?

How much do you think an Xbox Pro would be priced at? Look at the $600 Galaxy edition before you answer. It would probably be in the same ballpark as the PS5 Pro. I do not believe this is about the competition since the competition is also increasing prices. Maybe it would have an impact but I believe we are still looking at $650+ or a version with the included disc drive for $700.
 

Sethbacca

Member
The number of people thinking XBox deserved to be supported regardless of their trash output for the last decade is too damned high. Nobody was obligated to buy the damned box, and they sure as hell gave most of us a reason not to. I bought a Series S and a couple years of game pass cheap whenever it was like 180 or so on one of the last couple Black Fridays and barely touched it then traded it in for like $60 more than I paid for it (thanks GameStop!).

But all I’m reading is “Won’t someone think of the multi trillion dollar corporation!!!???”. If anyone is to blame for the lack of competition it’s XBox. You all should have been bitching at Microsoft for putting out fuck all and destroying their own business with the “great value” of gaming instead of bitching at the Sony fans for not buying the box.
 

Silver Wattle

Gold Member
I have no intention on clicking an IGN link, but the premise makes sense, also Sony need to justify the effort of even designing a pro so they need to get paid.
 
The high price is due to a lack of competition, but it has nothing to do with Xbox.

TSMC has continued to raise the price of silicon, and since both Samsung and Intel have shat the bed, they don't have any competition to keep them honest. That's why all high end electronics are getting ridiculously expensive.

Sony literally said that they set the price higher because they have no competition.

I completely agree that the TSMC monopoly has resulted in both higher prices for the base console and Pro. I made the same point back in the beginning of the thread. But Sony themselves said that the lack of competition was another driving factor in them rinsing the price to gorge on the limited number of day one adopters.

It's a niche device after all. One whose demand will considerably outstrip the available supply, no matter what Sony planned.
 

graywolf323

Member
Xbox have priced their 2TB model at $600.

Meanwhile Sony have put the pro with extra hardware and bespoke software which offers around a 50% performance bump, and a 2tb SSD at $100 above Xbox.

Compared to the MS offering, PS 5 pro looks like a bargain on dollar Vs performance.

Whatever one thinks of the absolute price of the PS5 pro, they're still offering better value than MS.
yep, is it really the lack of competition that led to the $700 price tag? or is it because Microsoft priced their 2TB Series X so ridiculously?

edit: also I don’t really understand the outrage over the stand not being included? a vertical stand has almost never been included with a PlayStation console purchase, I think the OG PS5 is the only time I can remember any sort of stand being included, even as far back as the PS2 you had to buy the stand separately
 
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
So many people here celebrating when Xbox would fail over the years, but the reality is that this is the result we get when Sony has no competition.

I don't think this has anything to do with a lack of competition.

As well as Microsoft still selling Xbox hardware, Nintendo is about to drop a new console, gaming PCs exist and there multiple PC handhelds like the Steam Deck. Playstation has competition in the gaming space.

I think Sony have set the price for the PS5 pro (ridiculously) high to test the waters. To see if there is demand for a £700 console. If enough people jump on board, then that'll be the cost of the PS6. If people reject the cost, then Sony can change course.
 
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xanaum

Member
I don’t think it’s about a lack of competition, especially because the competition is doing something similar. A regular Xbox Series X with just a 2TB SSD for $600 seems even worse than the PS5 Pro situation.

I think these companies are either testing the market or just trying to make big profits off of "luxury versions."
KeygOH9.jpeg
 

JackMcGunns

Member
Saw this on Reddit. Kind of interesting, but I'm wary of these graphs.

It's only corrected directly for inflation, but that doesn't reflect the price as a portion of median income for example, relative ubiquity of the tech used in the product, or manpower costs required.

But anyway, there it is.


QoqD91B.png


Damn that PS3 was a meme for a reason, but the pro is still up there.
 
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