Playing with the PS4 during E3
Both the Sony PlayStation 4 and the Microsoft Xbox One were launched at different price points. Sony’s was priced cheaper at $399 while the Xbox One was priced at $100 more at $499. Microsoft attempted to justify their price by claiming that it came bundled with a Kinect sensor, but we all know how that turned out when Microsoft eventually caved and released the Xbox One sans Kinect for $399.
That being said, it seems that Sony was extremely happy when Microsoft had initially announced the Xbox One for $499. Speaking to ArsTechnica, Sony’s Head of Worldwide Studios America, Scott Rohde, was quoted as saying that they were literally dancing in the aisles and high-fiving each other when they found out that Microsoft had made the decision to price their console higher than Sony’s.
According to Rohde, “I’m not gonna lie. I remember exactly where I was. We were in press conference rehearsals last year. We had a feeling they were going to come in at $499, but we weren’t sure. So yeah, we were dancing in the aisles and high-fiving. It was great. Anyone that came in on an interview, it didn’t matter what the question was, I could always just answer it with $399. It was the answer to every question.”
It seems that Sony had been eyeing the $399 price point right from the start, having learnt their lesson with the PlayStation 3 which was pretty expensive when it was initially released. However did Sony anticipate that Microsoft would eventually release a cheaper Xbox One? According to Rohde, yes. “I think that, to be truthful, we always assumed that eventually they’d have to release a SKU without a camera. So we were waiting for it to a degree, and we were ready for it.”
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft, PS4, Sony and Xbox One.