The PlayStation 5 price is hovering around $450 to $470 while Sony are still working out if they can push lower, with high part costs and Xbox Series X still to be revealed.
A shortage of components used in the PS5 manufacturing process is delaying an official decision on the next gen console's price, according to a report by business site Bloomberg today.
Suppliers of DRAM and NAND flash memory have been inundated with orders for new 5G smartphones making use of the technology, causing prices to rise in line with demand. The price per unit for the launch PS4 was estimated, by industry analysts IHS Markit, to be $381 and it originally retailed at $399. The currently estimated $450 price per unit for the PS5 could then mean the retail price comes in around $470 or higher, in order to maintain the same profit margins.
On an earnings call last week, Sony Interactive Entertainment's Chief Financial Officer, Hiroki Totoki, said the company was still waiting on a number of factors before settling on the price point of the PS5. One of the inferred factors was competitors in the space, as Sony will be looking to see what Microsoft believes the next generation of gaming consoles is worth to the consumer.
A stakeholder asked which factors Sony would be able to control and which are out of their hands, to which Totoki answered: "What is not very clear or visible is because we are competing in the space, so it’s very difficult to discuss anything about the price at this point of time, and depending upon the price level, we may have to determine the promotion that we are going to deploy and how much costs we are prepared to pay."
Sony declined to comment on Bloomberg's report of the PS5 price estimate, we'll keep you up to date on when an official price is revealed.
