This thing will top the PS2!
Hmm...still have to see on that one. I think the PS2 did about 110 or so million by the time the PS3 came out, and an additional 40+ million after PS3's release, so 155 million in total. Insanely huge number. I don't even think the Switch is getting near that and the only way they realistically could is if they either release a Switch Pro model and even cheaper budget model, or the Switch 2 is counted as a "family device" and not its own platform, basically adding to the original's sales.
Which would be kinda lame, and I mean Microsoft are already doing that type of model with Series X and Series S, and that new streaming box rumored in development too. I don't think Sony will be doing anything like that and the market today is a lot different than from the mid-2000s'. I definitely think PS5 can outsell the PS4 (whose sales were partially hampered by the chip shortages), but I don't know if it'll reach or outsell PS2 lifetime. Especially if Sony actually considers either Day 1 PC ports for all the non live-service games or shortens the gap between PS5 and PC versions of those games significantly. That IMO would still have a pretty big impact on total lifetime sales.
But at least for right now, it really looks like PS5 should comfortably outsell the Switch for the rest of the year, let alone Xbox. With Sony's FY sales target, I at least expect PS5 to continue outselling Xbox (notably so in several markets) until at least Spring 2023. I guess we won't see Aaron Greenberg quoting VGChartz for a while
Note that most sales/shipment come in the late half of August that was the period Sony increase the PS5 prices (August 25).
Yep. Almost like the outrage and doomsday (gloating) by many online was all BS and means nothing to the wider customer market.
I still think Sony could've rolled out the announcement better, no doubt about that. But the actual decision is one they wouldn't had done if they could've justified. I think the vast majority understand that prices for lots of things in particular are going up so PS5 having an increase in MSRP won't deter almost any of them.
Looking forward to the NPD results.
I think Sony decided to go after the more expensive materials and raised the PS price to compensate for it. As a result, they are now able to ship more.
Xbox kept the same XSX price and, therefore, didn't go after the more expensive materials. As a result, their supply shortage situation didn't change.
More
expensive materials? I dunno. I'm thinking they are at least on the 6nm node and that isn't as cheap as it used to be or was intended, but the power consumption savings it brings would allow them to ease up on some of the cooling, and maybe a few other materials.
The price increase AFAIK, is because of the weak yen and several currencies running weak compared to the dollar. So PS5 could be using the same components more or less as before, but some of them are costing more, in some cases a LOT more, to include in production because the suppliers would have increased the prices. I'm guessing the new pricing kicked in when it came time to put in more bulk orders, because I can't see suppliers raising the costs on parts that were secured in a bulk contract at a then-established price point for the client. There're contracts to this stuff and doing that would violate the agreed-upon payment terms already set up. That's probably why Sony didn't increase the price until recently; they've put in new bulk orders and now the increased prices are reflected in the new contracts.
Microsoft didn't raise their price because, let's just be honest, they can eat the extra costs anyway. They saw a 2% growth in cloud revenue previous quarter, and that already makes them a crap ton of money. The type of cost increases they'd see for similar materials in Xbox that Sony has with PS5, at the end of the day that means nothing to MS's profits, it's literally pocket change to them, so they'll eat it. Not the case with Sony, when PlayStation's their biggest revenue earner (or at least a very close 2nd) and they don't have anywhere near the amount of revenue flow or annual profits to work with (which probably affects other things like certain tax writeoffs they can't do that Microsoft can, for example).
If Nintendo were making a PS5-like console, they would've done the exact same thing Sony did and raise the price. Not only that, but there'd be no kickback, no outrage more than a few hours, and the news would've been suppressed completely. Because for whatever reason Nintendo is allowed to get away with oft-overzealous pricing premiums but companies like Sony get dragged through the mud over a price increase they were forced into due to economic factors. It's crazy.
