Despite rumors to the contrary, Sony will have plenty of PlayStation 5 consoles ready for launch — more than it did when the PS4 first appeared, according to Sony Interactive CEO Jim Ryan. At the same time, he admitted that Sony wasn’t sure about either the supply or demand picture, considering the COVID-19 crisis. “Just as the supply thing was unclear, would there be any market? Would any shops be open? This has been a year like no other,” he told the Washington Post.
Ryan also offered more clarity on the PlayStation 5’s pricing ($499 with a Blu-ray drive and $399 without), saying it was decided “quite early this year.” That may be a response to rumors that Sony adjusted its pricing plans in response to Microsoft’s Xbox One Series X launch.
Ryan also defended the $399 price for the digital edition that’s $100 higher than Microsoft’s $299 Xbox Series S. “We want to future proof them so that they know the console they buy will be relevant in several years time,” he told the WaPo. In response to a question about the Xbox One Series S, he also told Yahoo Japan (translated) that “lowering specs in order to reduce the price of a device doesn’t have a happy history. We’ve had that experience and so have other companies.”
Contrary to an earlier Bloomberg report, Sony said that it won’t have any supply issues when the console goes on sale on November 12th in the US, Japan and other launch regions, and November 19th elsewhere. It didn’t say exactly how many units would be available upon launch, but Ryan said there would be more PS5s than there were PS4s when it launched in 2013. At that time, the company sold 2.1 million PS4s in the first two weeks after launch, and 4.5 million between launch and the end of the year.
Author: Steve Dent, @stevetdent
1h ago
Source: Engadget
