Offering value is something that we know is going to be part of Xbox’s plan going forward. How does that factor into the whole approach for PlayStation? I think a number of things are going to happen. We’re going to see PlayStation match the Xbox approach in terms of affordability in hardware. It’s being mentioned that there are going to be various consoles at launch at different price points.
The reason for that is how disengaged most have been with this generation for whatever reason. Not only that, Sony knows about the economic situation and how the console hardware has increasingly increased over the last year with the PS5.
We all know what Microsoft intends to achieve. They’re going to have a series of mid-range to premium console specs in terms of offering different price points to Xbox fans. The way Sony I believe intends to do it will be the same. The newly rumoured PS6 S is making its round across the internet.
The interesting thing will be how Sony makes their entry point in gaming considerably cheaper and how they go about achieving that. That means for probably the first time we could actually see a PS6 Pro launch when the generation starts. That’s if Sony decides to go off script and cater to an entry level that needs to be there to get people onto PS6 as well ‘which is being rumored’.
Sony knows that ‘specs’ are really hitting a ceiling anyway, so it’s all about price points and doing a version that is still as next generation as possible. That’s at least my belief here anyway.
It’s about getting people to upgrade and I foresee Sony doing a lot more in that regard to achieve the sort of outcomes they want. Not only on the console front against Xbox, but also, on the handheld front as well against Nintendo where we could see some competitive situations unfold. If we think about how prices have increased over time with the PS5.
It does make a lot of sense if we see this situation with PlayStation come to fruition. Because it puts the power back in the player’s hands. It entices them to upgrade and you’ll be doing so from the beginning. It also allows Sony to control pricing a lot more where the economics of all this are concerned across most of that new generation.
Written by Craig Clark
From gaming industry headlines to all things Manchester United and entertainment, Craig covers the stories everyone's talking about — alongside his own published works.