PlayStation 4 Price Dropped $50 Ahead Of Holidays To Fuel Sales
The PlayStation 4 has a commanding lead in the console wars with the Xbox One, but Sony is not going to rest on its laurels this holiday. The company announced a $50 price drop for the console on Thursday that will be effective almost immediately.
Sony announced a $50 price drop for the PS4 via the PlayStation Blog. The new $349.99 USD and $429.99 CAD price for the 500GB PlayStation 4 will go into effect on Friday, October 9.
Hey, did you hear? Starting Friday, PS4 starts at $349.99! Pricing chart, including bundles: http://t.co/FS5jRmJsOi pic.twitter.com/JrAs60CS6K
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) October 8, 2015
“Our goal at PlayStation has always been to provide the best gameplay experiences at the best value, and we feel this new compelling price will open the doors to even more gamers that have yet to purchase a system,” wrote John Koller, Sony Computer Entertainment of America Vice President of Platforms Marketing.
This price drop will also affect the numerous PlayStation 4 bundles that are coming out this holiday. The Star Wars: Battlefront and the Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection PS4 bundles will start things off at $349.99. The limited edition Star Wars: Battlefront bundle with the Darth Vader-themed PS4 and the limited edition Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars PS4 bundle will each start at $399.99. Finally, the limited edition Call of Duty: Black Ops III 1TB PS4 bundle will be $429.99.
Not mentioned was the Destiny: The Taken King and The Last of Us Remastered PS4 bundles. It’s likely we will have to wait and see what happens when Friday rolls around to these existing bundles.
The PlayStation 4 price drop move has been expected for a while and even leaked via a Target advertisement last Sunday. The console is in its second year, and the competition is expected to heat up with Microsoft’s Xbox One console this holiday. This is due in part to the number of exclusive games available to the Xbox One this holiday such as Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Forza Motorsport 6. By comparison, the PS4 has no new AAA releases and only the retread Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and indie-like Tearaway.
Instead, Sony is depending on third-party timed exclusive deals for downloadable content. Destiny: The Taken King is likely the most notable currently with its one-year timed exclusive for a Strike, multiplayer map, and a handful of weapons. There are also timed exclusive deals with Disney Infinity 3.0, Star Wars: Battlefront, and Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
The price drop is expected to give already strong sales of the PlayStation 4 an additional bump. Consumers should expect further discounts during the hot holiday sales season around Black Friday.
“By cutting the price at this time, we aim to fuel momentum of PlayStation 4 toward the year-end holiday season,” a spokesman at Sony Computer Entertainment told the Wall Street Journal.
On the Microsoft side, a second Xbox One price drop does not appear to imminent in response. A wide slate of bundles for the Xbox One was announced last week featuring Fallout 4, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, The LEGO Movie, and others.
In fact, Microsoft appeared to have anticipated the price cut move by Sony.
“I fully expect they [PlayStation] will drop price. When I think about the playbook they’ve used in the past, we feel good about the plans we have in place going forward in the holiday. If history tells, then we’ll see a price drop from them coming,” Xbox Head Phil Spencer told IGN in September.
“It’s great for gamers when price competition happens. We saw that last holiday, and we saw crazy sales numbers on all of the consoles,” Spencer added.
What do you think of the PlayStation 4 price drop? Sound off in the comments below.
[Images via PlayStation]
