So are we thinking Sony will be officially dropping the 500gb price to $299 soon after the promotion ends? Or do we think that they will bump it back up to $350 and keep it there for the firs weave future?
If Microsoft is going to respond to Sony's extended price drop, they sure didn't let the retailers know in time to get it in print....Microsoft may have to rely on their own PR and communication channels to get any deals out there, at least for next week...
Right now, here is Target's ad for this coming Sunday though next Saturday..
So are we thinking Sony will be officially dropping the 500gb price to $299 soon after the promotion ends? Or do we think that they will bump it back up to $350 and keep it there for the foreseeable future?
Is he an insider?
Wrong...MAU is the real GOTY.
People are so ignorant in gaming, most people still haven't discovered MAU yet.
Even ARPU is better than Sales by a country mile.
Drop to $299.So are we thinking Sony will be officially dropping the 500gb price to $299 soon after the promotion ends? Or do we think that they will bump it back up to $350 and keep it there for the foreseeable future?
Side note: anyone know why BlackBuzzard was banned?
Like others said, I think Sony will announce a standalone PS4 for $299 for most of the year. I think we will see an Uncharted 4 bundle for $349 in March next year. As for your spoilered question, I have no idea.So are we thinking Sony will be officially dropping the 500gb price to $299 soon after the promotion ends? Or do we think that they will bump it back up to $350 and keep it there for the foreseeable future?
Side note: anyone know why BlackBuzzard was banned?
Yes, I believe so. Consumers aren't just gonna keep buying a product when its price is raised back to the pre-discount price. I hope Sony is smart enough to keep the price at $299 or at least offer a standalone PS4 at $299.Doesn't seem like anyone thinks they'll be dropping 500 BG bundled SKUs to $299. Some in another thread were saying "they'll officially drop the price to $299 with an announcement at PSX." Seems pretty unlikely to me but I guess it's possible.
Ok so here's another question:
If the price for the PS4 does return to $350 will the sales see a significant fall off like we witnessed with the XB1 with a similar discount deal last year?
If the price for the PS4 does return to $350 will the sales see a significant fall off like we witnessed with the XB1 with a similar discount deal last year?
So console market in the US was very healthy in november, right?
Surely.Doesn't seem like anyone thinks they'll be dropping 500 BG bundled SKUs to $299. Some in another thread were saying "they'll officially drop the price to $299 with an announcement at PSX." Seems pretty unlikely to me but I guess it's possible.
Ok so here's another question:
If the price for the PS4 does return to $350 will the sales see a significant fall off like we witnessed with the XB1 with a similar discount deal last year?
It's odd that it's taking Microsoft longer than usual to react to what Sony's doing. $299.99 vs $349.99 isn't a significant pricing difference, but mentally, $299.99 seems like it's much less than $349.99. It's not good for the Xbox One to be perceived as costing a lot more than the PS4 -- especially during the holiday season.
In any event, I think Microsoft have much bigger concerns for 2016 and beyond, so focusing too much on 2015 performance won't benefit them in the long term. Globally, the Xbox One isn't in a comfortable position. If the NX launches next year and is a competent machine that is affordable, then the NX will become the preferred secondary console. That would effectively kill the Xbox brand in Europe, making the Xbox Two a much much more difficult sell.
So console market in the US was very healthy in november, right?
'the only months that matter' to them
That target ad puts to bed the notion that Sony came up with their December price drop on a whim or in reaction to losing black Friday.
Which enforces Sony staying at $299 imo.It's true! These ads are created weeks ahead of time. There was definitely a plan in place!
It likely will anyways. This much promotional pricing and offers will pull some demand forward that would naturally come later. You add a price increase and the drop will be steeper. But separating what's seasonality vs pulled forward demand via promotion vs price increase sensitivity is impossible.
The three should compound each other thigh and, you would think, would lead to a much steeper sales decline as a result of all three factors taking effect. This is why I'm not 100% sure that Sony will raise the price back up without offering at least some sort of $299 purchase option. I doubt they want to encourage a steeper sales decline than they would already be facing otherwise given the factors in play.
Agreed... why I said that it'd be permanent in some way. The new price point is set as the baseline in consumer's minds now.
Which enforces Sony staying at $299 imo.
Sony had no qualms being very conservative last holiday. Why the sudden shift to being very aggressive? It seems like they were building up to this over the year. They have far more room to decrease price since they went that extra year at the $399 price point. Now they can drop to $299 with more stability.
See what I did?
Sorry for double.
Nope, doomed.So console market in the US was very healthy in november, right?
... if I saw it coming (I thought it would be for 1 week though), don't you think MS saw it coming too?It's pretty safe to say that the 299$ price cut for two weeks that Sony has announced was a surprise for everyone including Microsoft.
I think they will do promotions with gift cards and/or a free game during the week the Star Wars movie is released and during Christmas week.
Unification will happen whenever the publisher/developer agrees. The infrastructure is there and MS will do a lot to make this happen. How this works in each case can differ. If a game also runs on phone, tablet console or PC depends. I am sure this is also something where "unified" games can start on one platform and can expand over time.
Patience. They just started.
Microsoft wants unification but only within their ecosystem. Rocket League is already cross platform between the PS4 and PC. If Microsoft allowed PC/XB1 play they'd have to offer support for the PS4 too, and their business strategy can't allow that. They need for gamers to pay for Gold accounts in order to play online with XB1 players. Allowing PSN+ gamers access to XB1 players would be a huge loophole in that scheme.
Don't underestimate the MAU.
It's odd that it's taking Microsoft longer than usual to react to what Sony's doing. $299.99 vs $349.99 isn't a significant pricing difference,
... if I saw it coming (I thought it would be for 1 week though), don't you think MS saw it coming too?
2 options imo:
Either MS is planning to do their own extra promo (which may or may not imply $299. Probably will), but is waiting until right next to that promo period to announce it, to reduce the "me too" appearance and maximize the announce to availability (and risk less.impacting their immediate sales).
Or
They are unwilling to sacrifice margins further, which would tend to hint that they have less of a blank check for Xbox within MS as they did last year.
Imo it's option 1 (announce later today), but we'll see.
I would not bet on this if I were you.I don't really see them supporting games released only on steam. And unless they have a good plan for GFWL like service in the future (that takes off) I can't see games unification happening. I'm just confused how they intend to bring the Windows eco system into the mix.
PS4 will stay at 299. Maybe without game.
I think they want to go for the huge install base now, preparing the field for VR.
... if I saw it coming (I thought it would be for 1 week though), don't you think MS saw it coming too?
Anyone who works in retail saw it coming, Best Buy was holding back their Battlefront bundles black friday weekend (huge numbers in distribution centers very few in-stores). It was planned for sure
Anyone who works in retail saw it coming, Best Buy was holding back their Battlefront bundles black friday weekend (huge numbers in distribution centers very few in-stores). It was planned for sure
Anyone who works in retail saw it coming, Best Buy was holding back their Battlefront bundles black friday weekend (huge numbers in distribution centers very few in-stores). It was planned for sure
Hm, interesting. So Sony decided to withhold stock on BF (by some accounts PS4 was out of stock during the latter parts of the weekend) to have plenty of stock for this promotion.
Which begs the question with MS/XB1... if they didn't stock up for a huge push after BF weekend, then that could be a reason that they're not dropping the price yet. They may not have the stock necessary to survive a 2 week long $299 price point like Sony planned out.
Anyone who works in retail saw it coming, Best Buy was holding back their Battlefront bundles black friday weekend (huge numbers in distribution centers very few in-stores). It was planned for sure
What I don't understand is how the NDC bundle has remained #1 on the Amazon hourly charts all week long, even after Sony announced it's going back down to 299 next week.
Which would mean the UC bundle sold an absurdly high amount of units throughout Black Friday weekend.I think (someone correct me?) the Amazon hourlies are moving averages with a decay rate, not a per-hour calculation by itself.
This would mean that super-high, but concentrated sales hang at the top for a longer period of time even after they fall some.
Sure, but did Sony really need to be this aggressive? $50 off for more than two weeks in December? I do not think so. What if they raise the price and sales plummet? It would nullify the original $50 cut to $350.Every year is a new year with different goals and priorities. Just because something happened last year it needs to happen this year as well?
Last year they didn't have the margins on the hardware to cut the price and preserve profitability.
This year they can be more aggressive.
Which would mean the UC bundle sold an absurdly high amount of units throughout Black Friday weekend.