ummm.. why? Shit costs money? That $399 360 was released 8 years ago.
That's really the big problem with subsidies all over the place IMHO... No one has any idea what shit really costs. You have people treating $650+ mobile phones like they are disposable because they "only paid" $99 for it... despite the fact that it's a $650 piece of equipment. Heck even consoles... Neither the PS3 nor 360 cost under $399 (or $499 or $599) to manufacture at their respective launches. So now Sony and MS are actually looking to be profitable on hardware at launch... and everyone is crying.
I think this has got to do with the fact that a lot of people in the western world are not very good at their finances. I know I am personally, bad with my own economy, always using more than I have before the end of the month.
My thoughts on this thread;
1)The Iphone was used as a comparison by saying it didn't count as it was a status symbol. I think that is only true for some users. I think a bigger universal group is just like I-need-this-new-electronic, which a console is a candidate for.
The more the manufacturer can convince the consumer that they need this in their life, the more they will forget about the long term loss. People buy subsidized electronics all the time because they feel its a long term investment. And a console is not something you replace unless it gets broken (usually).
And with this people have less of an incentive to sell it. So whats the deal.. - Will people be offered XBL Points for re-upping? a free game perhaps? Carriers provide lots of hooks to keep people hooked. Less likely for 360.
2) I don't think PS4 will be 400 dollars. I think it will be between 500 and 600. And if there will be a 400 Dollars version I suspect it will be a crappy SKU. Perhaps with a little-slow harddrive. Perhaps it will come with fewer ports, no HDMI cable, no wireless controller charger or whatever.
For everything we have seen and heard it just sounds like PS4 continues to be premium tech, and just because Blu-Ray is not the issue anymore, I don't think it will be cheap. It sounds expensive. If there is internal SSD for the OS, that can be expensive. It they bundle it with a move controller, or offer a Seagate Momunthus SSD/HDD hybrid drive it's going to be more expensive.
... And actually just launching a product is always overpriced. We have shaken confirmed over and over again that most normal consumers are not in the race before pre-250 dollars. 300 dollars and above is "core gamers" a group which has grown larger.
Then you have the absent of killer apps that usually appear 1-2 years after a console launch. So really, why not just launch your price at a high premium? you can always drop the price later, having established that your own product is of higher quality.
360s headstart has turned out not really to give them the long term advantage. Their lower price, the problems of Sony etc. Lets just accept that price and headstart is important in the short term, but games are expensive, and these companies want to make money of people buying call of duty passes and halo map packs. that is the new trojan horse. keep them hooked and juiced for a monthly service. Recoup your losses later.
