The Emperor
Member
PS4 is selling below average for a leading system
A price drop whilst not a necessity would be useful.
PS4 Japanese price cut: 34,980 yen (~5000 yen price cut) starting October 1st
- Thread starter Enter the Dragon Punch
- Start date
A price drop whilst not a necessity would be useful.
Because there's no reason to have that big of a gap price-wise on a region unlocked console?
Except it's not normally a 1.25 conversion rate, I remember when people went "what, it finally hit 1-100??"
Probably $50. If the rate becomes absurdly different, we don't have to care, since we could import for cheap then.
Petrae
Member
I don't see the necessity for Sony to cut its profit margins to stimulate sales in other territories. PS+ per buyer isn't a given to recoup that lost revenue, and-- especially in the US-- Microsoft isn't posing much of a threat to Sony's dominance. Playing the price cut trump card prematurely doesn't have a ton of benefits; let the fiscal year lapse, allow more games to drop into retail channels, and then spring the cut.
Obliterator
Member
Yeah I can see both sides. When conpared to the early years of something like the Wii PS4 actually isnt super impressive. That said Wii's opening years were insane so thats not exactly a realistic point to compare to and PS4 is doing great globally.
Then again it does seem to be *somewhat* cooling down. If Sony want to keep a really high trajectory on sales speed a price cut would be really smart about now.
There's pros and cons for both. I could see this going either way
eerik9000
Member
Not really. Cumulative numbers are good thanks to very strong launch, monthly numbers have been pretty lacklustre. Will get smacked in the face by Xbox One in the holiday season.
Not exactly true, it's struggling to stay flat compared to last year's numbers when there was really nothing to play notwithstanding the fact that this year has been full of amazing games like Bloodborne, Witcher, Batman, MGSV,etc.
This is a missed opportunity, they're losing potential sales and spikes from big releases are just keeping them flat yoy when they have the margin to easily cut the price.
50$ is nothing for them to recoup also considering the recent cut in manufacturing costs but will give them a nice extra kick in sales and will make them much more competitive and healthy duruing the key November and December months. Competition will also get stronger (at least in the US) and they don't want to see what happened last year to repeat.
Does anyone know if this is correct? PS4 is duty free? I had no idea. I guessed the $30 shipping, but it's still a lot cheaper in the end.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
2 years isn't premature and they are definitely not dominating MS in the US right now.
I truly believe there will be a price drop to 299. There are enough 299 ps4 deals. Many deals these days include a lot of extra games and accessories for less than 399.
Obliterator
Member
Without a price cut MS will likely win October. If they have Fallout and Tomb Raider bundles for November thats a threat too. MS holiday marketing is a site to behold
Napalm_Frank
Member
Put me on the camp that believes 50/$ pricecut at Paris Games Week or even before. PS4 sales don't need to hit a wall for them to cut the price.
SomedayTheFire
Member
What? Nah. Doesn't work like that. Yen is in the crapper right now, that's the only reason the price is so favourable.
Baron Doggystyle von Woof
Member
The wait is over. Will jump in at 349,- euro's.
NoPiece
Member
There is no normal, but historically, the Yen under 100 is more of the exception. This guarantees a price cut in the US, but could be $50 or $100.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/japan/currency
The UK has already seen discounts along these lines become commonplace at a range of retailers. An official price drop to £300 would probably make sense, but it would be as much a PR move as it would be an actual discount at this point.
Edit: In fact, on second thought, something like £279 or £269 might have more of an impact.
Edit: In fact, on second thought, something like £279 or £269 might have more of an impact.
Dragon Puncher
Member
Probably just Japan for now, but Paris Games Week conference is coming up soon...
Also it's going to be a 50$ price cut if it comes over. It's around a 12,5% cut of the price in Japan, no way they decide to cut 25% of the price in the markets where the PS4 is selling the best.
Also it's going to be a 50$ price cut if it comes over. It's around a 12,5% cut of the price in Japan, no way they decide to cut 25% of the price in the markets where the PS4 is selling the best.
Officerrob
Banned
Absolutely not
NoPiece
Member
Sony cut the PS2 price $100, from $299 to $199, a year and a half after launch, and it was in a much more dominant position.
They are not financially stable yet, probably have to let MS own winter.
Sony was super healthy late 90s and early 2000s. But today they are financially hurting.
odhiex
Member
With a price cut, Sony would be selling like super hotcakes even more. That's a good trade right?
There's nothing wrong to push more units in the region that you are selling well... It's been almost two years already.
Dragon Puncher
Member
If that was happening here, they would have cut the price down to around 30k yen in Japan. It wouldn't make sense to have a bigger price cut world wide, than in the only market where the PS4 isn't selling great.
Bitch Pudding
Member
Soooo Zhuge, what you say now? 
NoPiece
Member
Sony has to keep rough price parity or else it creates a grey market for imports. So think of it as a combo price drop/currency adjustment. They make their real money selling games not consoles, so they are incentivized to lower the price of the hardware as much as possible in all territories.
I see what you are saying I guess we will see.
What margins can grey importers eke out of a $50 spread?
SmartWaffles
Member
Good, was about to get a PS4 next month or so, should be dirt cheap on the Chinese import market.
Mendax
Member
shipping costs and import fees still put it over the standard price for one in your home country then
NoPiece
Member
shipping costs and import fees still put it over the standard price for one in your home country then
There is a $106 gap between the newly announced Japan price and the US price. Any shipping costs/fees are much lower than that.
That's true. If they are more concerned with short term revenue, maybe they'll only cut the price $50. But if they are secure enough to care about long term health, they'd be better off cutting $100 and getting a lot more consoles out there, and keeping Xbox One out of people's hands.
Dragon Puncher
Member
With shipping costs from Japan to US probably being at least 30 dollars, how many people are really going to import a PS4 from Japan to save 20$ (with a cut to 350$ in the US)? You can easily get better deals in the US already. And for the few people that do import, Sony are still selling consoles, so they're probably not too unhappy about that. And this is just in the US of course, you can forget about importing at a reasoable price if you live in Europe.
And while your second thesis is true in theory, it falls apart in practice since we still haven't seen a pricecut in the west, even though the console has been sold at a profit since day one. I can only imagine this is because Sony has crunched the data and figured that the extra 100 dollars per console is still worth more the boost in potencial sales. Considering how well PS4 is has been selling, that certainly makes a lot business sense. A permanent price cut of that size is a gamble that Sony has had no reason to take does far.
NoPiece
Member
Except it is now a $106 price gap, not $50. The new prices converts to $292.55 vs the current price of $399. And I'm sure ebay sellers will find ways to get PS4s in the country for less than $30 if the margin stays that high.
edit: A $50 price cut in the US is totally possible, and that would be enough to kill the grey market.
lifeexpectancy
Member
My sentiments. I could easily see some huge deals this holiday, but not an 'official' price cut, since it's still selling faster than my mom's home-baked meth.
I'm just kidding if you're reading this mom.
Dragon Puncher
Member
Edited to make sure you understood that I was referencing based a 50$ price cut in the US, aka what this conversation started with.
NoPiece
Member
There are two parallel threads.
One is whether a $100 cut is out of the question. I don't think so, Sony made a bigger percentage cut in the PS2 price at around the same time in its lifecycle.
Two is whether they have to make at least some price cut, and I'd argue they absolutely have to cut at least $50 to stop imports.
So I'm just saying there is definitely going to be a price cut, and it could be $50, and it could be $100.
I never thought they would cut the price this year, but yeah, this could happen. It would be a killer blow for the holidays.
Dragon Puncher
Member
You responded to my post where I outlined why the price cut will be $50 when it comes over (which it probably will. Annoncement at the Paris Games Week conference seems likely). Don't know why you'd think I was talking about no price cut happening.
They're really going for Japan. Makes sense as it's obvious they can take pole position in home console (such as it is in that region).
US has got to be next I reckon. They must see they can retain home console lead in US if they're willing to fight for it given they're still ahead approach 2 years since launch while retaining a higher price.
US has got to be next I reckon. They must see they can retain home console lead in US if they're willing to fight for it given they're still ahead approach 2 years since launch while retaining a higher price.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
But it isn't though, is it. 200-300k sales a month the last few months as the market leader is very average. It needs $100 temp price cut in US for Holidays to whip up a sales frenzy.